Can't Say Strawberry

There are always certain words and phrases that you’re never going to really grasp unless you’ve lived in the country of the target language. Think about it ; how many German students learn about ‘minging’ or ‘chavs’ or even the word ‘wicked’ used as a positive exclamation. They’re the kind of words that you may find in the dictionary, but you’re unlikely to use them in your lessons because they’re colloquialisms used among native speakers.

Not to mention that slang differs between regions – think about what you called the shoes you used for sports in primary school, either like the ones above or those black ones with the elastic in the front. If you asked me what they were called, I’d say daps. Ask someone from England, they’re plimsolls. Then go across the Atlantic and ask an American and they’ll say something different again!

Germany’s no different. Thankfully I haven’t encountered many problems in the way of difficult dialects, but I’ve heard tales from other year abroaders who’ve struggled with Schwäbisch (you’ll hear this in Baden-Würtennberg) or Bayerisch (Bavaria).

For example:  order a Bratwurst here in Dortmund and you’re wanting a ‘Bratwurst mit Brötchen’ – head to Bavaria and you’re wanting a ‘Bratwurst mit Semmel’ . Ever heard the story about how John F Kennedy once called himself a doughnut when giving a speech in West Berlin? It’s a long- standing urban myth that the oft quoted ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ actually means ‘I am a doughnut’ because of a grammatical error. Perhaps in Nordrhein-Westfalen, but not so in Berlin, where Berliners are called Pfannkuchen. The differences are even more noticeable when you compare Austrian German with Germany’s German. Heuer instead of dieses Jahr (this year), Grüß Gott instead of Guten Tag… it’s enough to make your head spin!

These kinds of linguistic differences with regards to slang are what make studying a language both difficult and interesting at the same time. Language is constantly changing, you’re never going to be aware of all the colloquialisms of your own language, let alone those from other languages!