Throughout all the German courses I’ve taken during my time at MSU Mankato, I continuously faced ideas that challenged the values I was accustomed to due to ethnocentrism. One concept in particular that was difficult for me to grasp was how German, as is often the case for many languages, has instances where one is expected to speak more formally. In my everyday life I’m used to speaking very casually in English, and even when I adjust my speech and attitude in professional settings, I realized that this still felt far more informal in an American context. Although I try to be formal and polite with people I don’t know well, learning about German etiquette helped me realize how heavily my standards of formality and politeness were based on my identity as an American, and that there are so many aspects of life that I didn’t realize were so deeply entrenched in cultural values. This is an idea that’s developed in my mind throughout each of the German courses I’ve taken, but one assignment from GER 102 was what initially helped me think of it in the first place. Within this class, I was required to write miniature essays about various topics. One of them was meant to highlight some of the differences between formal and informal written German. My task was to write two fictional emails: an informal one asking a friend to do chores for you while you’re on vacation, and a formal one requesting accommodation from a hotel employee.

 

Each culture has different ideas of what is considered polite or rude, and the fear of potentially committing a faux pas can be very intimidating to new language learners. I’ve always felt tremendous anxiety about accidently coming off as impolite even as a native English speaker, and that fear is only amplified when I speak to my instructor in German. Although I took German all throughout high school, I wasn’t taught much about speaking or writing formally. Fortunately, the German 102 course gave me opportunities to practice things such as the formal version of “you,” and how to address people in a less casual manner than I had been before. Switching between the formal and informal versions of “you” was especially jarring for me at first, and I disliked having to memorize rules for each. However, I knew that it would be worth the effort in order to broaden my understanding of German culture. I haven’t learned much about social etiquette in Germany yet, but it does seem that German people tend to be more formal when speaking to new people, as opposed to a more casual style that I’ve often observed in American culture. When trying to understand new and confusing concepts in German, I’ve found it helpful to form a similar analogy in English. Of course, there will always be concepts that don’t easily translate across linguistic and cultural lines, but it may be of some benefit when first beginning a new language. I began with the informal email, as I figured it would be easier to start with a more casual tone so that I could work my way up to more formal phrasing. In the informal email, I addressed my friend as “du,” which is the informal/friendly form of the pronoun “you.” Although I asked, “could you do this for me?” a couple of times, I still listed the chores as commands. For example, “bring the mail in,” or, “sweep the floors.” In contrast, the I wrote the formal email with phrases that were more of a request than a command, for example, “May we please have an extra towel?” In the email to the hotel employee, I also refer to the employee using “Sie,” the formal version of “you.” Since the personal pronoun changed, verbs such as “can” (was kannst when used with du) are conjugated to “können.” Although this is more respectful than using “du,” I opted to make it sound even more polite by using the subjunctive form of certain verbs. Rather than simply saying, “Können wir darüber hinaus auch zwei extra Kissen haben?” I was able to sound even more courteous by using, “könnten.” 

 

In the end, my friendly email sounded far more formal than how I email a friend in English, so I was worried that I sounded too stiff and unnatural. However, I still haven’t had much interaction with German culture, so I can’t say for sure whether my writing is socially accurate. This assignment helped me make new mental connections between culture and language. Regardless of how many vocabulary words I’ve memorized, it's vital that I understand the contexts in which I should or shouldn’t use them. Going forward in my language learning experience, I believe that my general comprehension could vastly improve with the addition of more German cultural knowledge. Besides offering a more in-depth interpretation of the language, the presence of cultural-linguistic networks can make for excellent memorization strategies. Since I’m planning to go ahead with German as my minor, I can expect that I will be speaking with many more native German speakers in the future. If I’m able to visit Germany someday, this practice will be helpful so that I’m less surprised by cultural differences and able to adapt quickly.

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Attached below is a file of the essay.