Hallo,

I thought we could start some conversations here about Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the EU?

How about Spain beating Deutschland to win the EM 08 in Wien?
I thought Austria and Switzerland were great hosts!!!

Share questions about the Language, culture?

How about shares memories about Trips to Europe? or planning a trip?

or just chat in English or German

Here is a comment I received from Tina about my other forum.

Hi John, you might want to start a new topic to discuss Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and EU. This posting is titled introduction and may not get as many people checking it out whereas if you start a new one and title it appropriately you may get more visitors interested in participating in your discussion. Enjoy!

Kurt will be in Hamburg for a student exchange program – I would like to know more about that area and I’m sure Kurt would too – anyone been there? Live there?

I would love to learn more about the culture in Germany…don’t know if I’m ready to learn the language just more about the traditions and happenings in Germany.

I loved living in Belgium. I rented a house in a little town called As. I lived there for three years and it was close to my friends in Erfurt. I was able to go to Germany anytime because I was so close to the border. The food was great and the people are friendly. Most people are very excited if you can speak german.

That was the most amazing thing to me about living in Europe – I could go to another country for a day-trip. Here in the US most of us can’t do that.

I know! It was the best! I was so close to Germany and the Netherlands I could get to either in 20 minutes.

I like the conversation I am hearing and reading about.
This Site is give people more than anything a place to hang out and talk about all things German…Deutsch!!

Living and studying in Wien I was able to travel to Hungary and now with the iron curtain gone in 45 minutes you are in Bratislava.

As a matter of fact, the city of Vienna I read is going to reopen a local railway line between Wien and Bratislavia that was damaged during the War!!!

One of my students asked me recently to give links to German Vocabulary, German Grammar. newspapers, radio, and TV and Music etc. Here is one I think is useful for everyone.

This website is a Vocabulary Trainer (the alphabet, numbers, the body parts, clothing, parts of the house, food, colors, etc.

They give the word, the picture you click on, and a native speaker pronounces it to you. I checked it over and found no mistakes. If anyone finds a error, please email me or post it here!!!

Occasionally, I will post useful links for learners of German here as well.

http://www.languageguide.org/deutsch/

Please comment on how effective you find this for you!

OK, I love BERLIN. I know, it;s maybe not too original but Berlin just kills me… It is something soooo special about that city, I can’t catch my breath every single time I’m there. This wind, this Fernsehturm, this so special atmosphere, during the day, in the night. Alexanderplatz, Kurfursten Dam Strasse, Brandenburger Tor, where the time stops – ah! Ich liebe Berlin:)
John (Hans), wars Du vielleicht in Berlin? Oder irgendjemand hier?

Iwona, it’s interesting that you mention Berlin. I wanted to travel there the last time I was in Europe but this was before the “fall of the wall”. My ex-husband works on a government related contract so he has a “security clearance”. When we were planning our trip we had to give his employer our itinerary and clear everything through the Dept. of Defense. When we told them that I wanted to go to Berlin but that he would not be on that part of the trip – they told him that if I booked a train ticked to Berlin (since I would have to travel through East Germany) he would immediately lose his clearance (and therefore his job) and he would be questioned when he got back and it would possibly be reinstated – but no promises.

What a different world it was and not that long ago, either.

Ich war in 2008 in Berlin.Berlin ist ein Traum.

Iwona, I was there in 2000 as charpone to 40 High School exchange students who won the National German Examination that year. Our home city and Gymnasium was in Nurenberg but we stayed in Berlin for week.

What a week that was…everyday walking Unter den Linden from Alex to the Brandenburger Tor……the Kudamm, the Gendarmenmarkt..we went the Wintergarten to see a Variety show….we went to Potsdam.
We attended Cabaret and Theater Sport at the Hackische Hoefe.

Going to the Top of the Reichstag… at Sunset was so beautiful :)

For the Americans,,,we went the Checkpoint Charlie Museum.

Berlin has changed so much since Unification and I know it has changed since I was there 8 years ago.

I WANT Go BACK WITH MY NEW WIFE SO BAD. THE DOLLAR NEEDS TO DROP SO
I CAN AFFORD IT AGAIN:)

sorry for shouting :(

The best link for Berlin is:

For those that don’t read German…click on the British Flag for English

www.Berlin.de

Sandra,
what an amazing timing was for you when you wanted to go there! Just before the fall, unglaublich! And the same way so bad you couldn’t go there. Now Berlin is so different. I was there for the first time when it was the biggest building place in Europe. Practically everything was covered in all the types of scaffoldings and the Bundestag was covered with a huge white something. How amazed I was when few years later I saw the Bundestag sooooooo beautiful! Einfach wunderbar!

And as far as your problems with going there and the possibile consequences – I totally understand! I was living in a communistic Poland that time so such a similar wall was all over!
And yes, so different and so not long time ago. But in Berlin you can still see (if you watch carefully) on which side you are…

And John! Did you see San Sou Si Schloss? I just loved it!
I loved the museum am Checkpoint Charlie! Did they have this car with a human as a front passenger seat, still?
And have you been in Pergamonmuseum?
However, the most amazing place in Berlin is for me die Gedaechtniskirche. Umwerfend.

San Sou Si Schloss was Fantastisch!!!!
Yes, we went to the Pergamon museum..the Wilhelm Gedaechtkirche for those who have never been to Berlin is a church that stands a ruin and memorial to all those who died in Berlin in WWII.

Well I’ll finally pop in this forum now….seems to be the perfect topic for me! Thanks for mentioning me Sandra I feel special! Anyways, after all this talk about Berlin sounds like the family and I will have to take a trip! Although I’m sure there is plenty to learn about Hamburg first! Oh and I must say the mixing of the German and English here is brilliant…lol…

Mixing German and English is what this Deutsch Haus is all about..they call that Denglish.

Denglish – that’s great!

With Kurt’s trip in mind (of course you are special Kurt!) I’m curious how the dialects between Hamburg and Berlin differ. Anyone know?

Is there anyone out there that knows anything about the Hamburg or Berliner dialects?

Here are some links to look at on the Subject

http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa051898.htm

http://webgerman.com/german/dialects/

The Deutsche Welle has a dialektaltas of Germany: (you actually can take a tour of Germany listening to all the dialekts spoken-enjoy:)

http://www6.dw-world.de/de/dialekt.php

Great links John thanks! I love learning about different dialects and their places in the country’s history.

Danke, Marco!!!

I would like to hear from the other German speaking Tutors about the different dialects they speak in German-Speaking countries or anyone else who was been exposed to them!

Are some of the dialects so different that they can be described as almost another language? Where my father is from in Northern Italy, they have a local dialiect that is nothing like Italian at all. Yet where my mother was born in the south of Italy everybody can understand their dialect even though it is unique to that area; they just have a different way of talking rather than using different words.

Macro,

This is true some dialects are separate languages inside the same country. There are many examples of this around the world.

Thought so, though always good to have it confirmed. :) Danke!!!