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GAF spricht Deutsch, zumindest hier drinnen...

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Milchjon

Member
What an odd bump. I got orders to Frankfurt, Germany today. I will be asking a lot of stupid questions of y'all.

Not sure I understand this. Are you in the military and being deployed here? Or am I totally off.

Either way, welcome!

As far as know, fellow AFC East fan Wrayfield is also based in Frankfurt.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Not sure I understand this. Are you in the military and being deployed here? Or am I totally off.

Either way, welcome!

As far as know, fellow AFC East fan Wrayfield is also based in Frankfurt.

Yeah, in the military and got orders to move there. And you and I have to catch a drink or 7.

Frankfurt is a very international city. Don't worry too much about language barriers or anything.

That's good to know. However, I fucking refuse to be the asshole American. I have 7 months to pick up some rudimentary language skills. Anybody here have a good starting point?
 

TTTR

Member
Gott, wenn ich nur an solche mehrstufige Bewerbungsvorgänge denke, wird mir schon schlecht.
Gratulation jedenfalls. ;)
 

Krelian

Member
That's good to know. However, I fucking refuse to be the asshole American. I have 7 months to pick up some rudimentary language skills. Anybody here have a good starting point?
If you're serious about language learning you should probably go to a course here. I'm living in Frankfurt too, btw, though I'm not a native Frankfurter. If you got any questions, just ask them.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
If you're serious about language learning you should probably go to a course here. I'm living in Frankfurt too, btw, though I'm not a native Frankfurter. If you got any questions, just ask them.

Ok. So, um. How's it living in Germany as a non-native? How is Frankfurt? Can I really ride the rails everywhere? Is the beer as delicious as advertised?
 

Milchjon

Member
That's good to know. However, I fucking refuse to be the asshole American. I have 7 months to pick up some rudimentary language skills. Anybody here have a good starting point?

AlphaBromega, who lived and learned in Germany (and hated it), posted this.

He mentions memrise, which a rather smart Facebook friend of mine is obsessed with, so it might be good. Never tried it myself though.

And a good entry point.
He's Austrian, don't blame us.
 

Krelian

Member
Ok. So, um. How's it living in Germany as a non-native? How is Frankfurt? Can I really ride the rails everywhere? Is the beer as delicious as advertised?
Living as a non-native is relatively easy. I know several people who don't speak German and they're doing just fine. Most people are able to speak English, you'll see lots of people from different parts of the world in Frankfurt. The U-Bahn and S-Bahn will take you almost anywhere in the city and the beer is great, of course! I must admit I've never tasted American beer, though.

I would still recommend to pick up at least a little bit of German, might help every now and then.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
my question was specificaly designed to fuck with that.

sorry. we're talking about sausages. basically hot dog sausages. in germany they're called Wiener and in austria they're Frankfurter

Ah. lol.

He's Austrian, don't blame us.

Oh god no.

Living as a non-native is relatively easy. I know several people who don't speak German and they're doing just fine. Most people are able to speak English, you'll see lots of people from different parts of the world in Frankfurt. The U-Bahn and S-Bahn will take you almost anywhere in the city and the beer is great, of course! I must admit I've never tasted American beer, though.

I would still recommend to pick up at least a little bit of German, might help every now and then.

Of course. American beer isn't as bad as it used to be in the 70s - 80s. We have fantastic beers now. I've had imported German and British beer. As for the multi-culturalism of Frankfurt, that's great to hear. I will definitely be hitting Rosetta Stone and Memrise and taking a German course here before I go. I can't move to another country and know jack shit about the language.
 

Red-Shift

Neo Member
Ok. So, um. How's it living in Germany as a non-native? How is Frankfurt? Can I really ride the rails everywhere? Is the beer as delicious as advertised?

There is a strict no aliens allowed policy for rails! It's called Deutsche Bahn for a reason. Milked from the teats of a billion faeries, German beer is even more delicious than advertised, unless you drink Veltins, which is made out of horse p#ss.

Jokes aside why shouldn't you be able to ride the rails everywhere? Buying tickets is super easy and even if you can't there is at least one friendly soul around with enough broken English skills to help you out. Frankfurt am Main is pretty expensive in terms of rent though, if you want to live in the city. Finding an apartment in major German cities is often a hassle even for native Germans. Find yourself a pal over there with a decent apartment and crash on his couch for a month. Than you can decide if you want to stay and you have someone who can help you find a good apartment yourself if you like to stay longer.

Pretty awesome for Americans there are still major military bases all around Germany and I'm pretty sure you have free access to the American malls there, if for some reason you get the urge for Doritos or Taco Bell, cause Mexican fast food doesn't really exist here.

There is also that Coconut vs Peach stereotype that can be true, meaning Germans aren't as inviting as Americans often are, keeping their distance at first until you cracked open their shell and they consider you a good friend. So don't take it personally if it takes some time until people warm up to you, which doesn't even have to be the case. Besides there are a ton of international students in big cities like Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt etc. there is always someone to bond with tanks to teh interwebz.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Thank you for the detailed explanation! I asked the question about rails because American rail systems range from pretty decent (NYC) to utter shit/nonexistent. The living arraingements are pretty unique. I literally have no experience in what I'm about to do. So, that'll be new. It's on the military's dime, so I'm assuming a military base for the first year, then elsewhere afterwards.
 
Random question, but what do you Germans think about still having US military bases in your country? Why do you even need them?
You clearly don't
 

Milchjon

Member
Pretty awesome for Americans there are still major military bases all around Germany and I'm pretty sure you have free access to the American malls there, if for some reason you get the urge for Doritos or Taco Bell, cause Mexican fast food doesn't really exist here.

Fuck, I forgot all about this! WW, you MUST supply me with Popeye's at some point. Military bases are the only place in Germany where you can find them. I once semi-seriously thought about applying for a minimum wage job at one of the bases near Stuttgart to get access to them.

Sadly even 6$-per-hour-janitors seem to be required to be a US citizen, though. Thus my dreams of godly chicken were shattered :-(

Thank you for the detailed explanation! I asked the question about rails because American rail systems range from pretty decent (NYC) to utter shit/nonexistent. The living arraingements are pretty unique. I literally have no experience in what I'm about to do. So, that'll be new. It's on the military's dime, so I'm assuming a military base for the first year, then elsewhere afterwards.

Railways are prone to delays and kinda expensive, but in many ways very awesome. You can get ANYWHERE in Germany using public transport.
 
Pretty awesome for Americans there are still major military bases all around Germany and I'm pretty sure you have free access to the American malls there, if for some reason you get the urge for Doritos or Taco Bell, cause Mexican fast food doesn't really exist here.
Sorry, but these two can't be in the same sentence ;)
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Fuck, I forgot all about this! WW, you MUST supply me with Popeye's at some point. Military bases are the only place in Germany where you can find them. I once semi-seriously thought about applying for a minimum wage job at one of the bases near Stuttgart to get access to them.

Sadly even 6$-per-hour-janitors seem to be required to be a US citizen, though. Thus my dreams of godly chicken were shattered :-(



Railways are prone to delays and kinda expensive, but in many ways very awesome. You can get ANYWHERE in Germany using public transport.

Renounce your Patriot ways, and the spoils of a Popeye's plunder will be yours for eternity.
 
Turns out there's a German Bakery within walking distance from my University. Although the curry chicken pie I bought from there probably wasn't very traditional.
 
Keiner scheint die Militärbasis in Yokosuka zu mögen, da man annimmt dass die Angehörigen 'trouble in the neighborhood' verursachen.

My experience with 'traditional German stuff' outside of Germany is hilarious. Went to the Christkindle Market in Chicago, paid 5$ (in 2007) for a plastic cup of 'Tradtional German Glühwein' which turned out to be more grape juice with additional sugar than actual 'Glühwein' (which, honestly, is often awfully bad).
After this disappointment I decided to grab so 'Traditional German Christstollen' - the next disappointment. A super soft, toast like, texture, way to sweet (which is hardly possible) and no marcipan! Also, very expensive.

Traditional my ass.

/edit

Foreign food in Japan = foreign looking food adjusted to Japanese taste. Ex: Spaghetti Bolognese is super sweet, same as having ketchup instead of a good tomato sauce. German bread is not HART and DUNKEL enough, French bread again to sweet.
 
Keiner scheint die Militärbasis in Yokosuka zu mögen, da man annimmt dass die Angehörigen 'trouble in the neighborhood' verursachen.

My experience with 'traditional German stuff' outside of Germany is hilarious. Went to the Christkindle Market in Chicago, paid 5$ (in 2007) for a plastic cup of 'Tradtional German Glühwein' which turned out to be more grape juice with additional sugar than actual 'Glühwein' (which, honestly, is often awfully bad).
After this disappointment I decided to grab so 'Traditional German Christstollen' - the next disappointment. A super soft, toast like, texture, way to sweet (which is hardly possible) and no marcipan! Also, very expensive.

Traditional my ass.
That's pretty much the same for every country-specific food in America
BTW, Are you working the night shift? ;)
 
Yup, right now in Tokyo. Bought some bananas while wandering the street to resemble the hairy, long-nosed, uncivilized huge white barbarian.

Where are you? How comes you know German? And how comes you use 'Sie' for me?
 

Pennywise

Member
Yup, right now in Tokyo. Bought some bananas while wandering the street to resemble the hairy, long-nosed, uncivilized huge white barbarian.

Meehhh jealous about both, being in Japan and having 18°C :/

There are some still some bits of snow left here, but at least the sun came out.
 

Red-Shift

Neo Member
Thank you for the detailed explanation! I asked the question about rails because American rail systems range from pretty decent (NYC) to utter shit/nonexistent. The living arraingements are pretty unique. I literally have no experience in what I'm about to do. So, that'll be new. It's on the military's dime, so I'm assuming a military base for the first year, then elsewhere afterwards.

Well if you are stationed on a military base you should have a great time. It's an awesome way to get used to the people without being pushed immediately out of your comfort zone, because you have your mini America to retreat to. Just be open and don't spend all your free time at your base. As far as I know you'll be able to take a lot of organized trips to the usual sight seeing highlights of your region. And if you are allowed to invite German friends to go shopping at your base, please do so. Don't forget to take a picture of their faces, when they see the wall of cereals for the first time, hilarious.
 

Krelian

Member
Ich bin in Mexiko und ich noch lerne Deutsch. I use Sie for most Germans here as a sign of respect ;)
You don't show respect on the internet! :p

But seriously, nobody uses Sie online, the only exception is someone who is new to the internet or maybe someone who chooses to ignore these conventions for whatever reason.

Oh shit, schon wieder Zeitumstellung. Fast vergessen.
 

Hackbert

Member
Dumme Zeitumstellung. Muss ich mir wieder 4 Monate meine Mutter anhören die meckert ihre innere Uhr sei kaputt ....Können wir uns da Russland als Vorbild nehmen und den Kram abschaffen.
 
Meehhh jealous about both, being in Japan and having 18°C :/

Weather is great, but the bureaucracy is killing me sometimes. Wanna know more? Keywords for the search engine: "foreigner wants to rent an apartment in Japan". Put your focus on the the requirements and the amount of money you have to pay upfront.

You don't show respect on the internet! :p

But seriously, nobody uses Sie online, the only exception is someone who is new to the internet or maybe someone who chooses to ignore these conventions for whatever reason.

One exception: snobs and pricks on the Spiegel Online forums use 'Sie' quite often. I guess that's their thing to show that they are 'discussing'.

/edit
Ever heard Yinz?
 
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