Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi, I'm Alexa and I'm Rory, and together we are the Romies. We are married.

Speaker 2: 0:07

To each other.

Speaker 1: 0:08

Right, we are a touring musical duo.

Speaker 2: 0:11

And our music has taken us to all kinds of places all around the world and keeps us always on the go.

Speaker 1: 0:16

So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while running around working to keep all your plates spinning.

Speaker 2: 0:22

And we hope, to facilitate your busy lifestyle and feed your inner travel bug. Hi everyone.

Speaker 1: 0:32

Hi everyone, welcome back to the Robie's Podcast Podcast, podcast.

Speaker 2: 0:38

Yes, podcast, okay Y'all. Today we are going to be diving in. We're continuing our series on learning languages for travel and kind of. The next language on my bucket list is German. Because we go to Switzerland every year, we usually find ourselves in the German speaking part all the time, and it not only helps with Switzerland, but Germany, austria.

Speaker 1: 1:03

Yep, we're usually in Germany every year too.

Speaker 2: 1:05

And then actually the people we're staying with right now. They're Finnish, but used to live in Germany and he was touring with us and you might even hear some music, because we're getting ready for a session tomorrow but when he was touring with us and we went to the Netherlands, where they speak Dutch, he noticed that his German. He made the point of letting us know wow, like I'm kind of understanding this Dutch thing because of my German background and you know he was fluent in German because he lived in Germany. So it's really fun how, how much German would be helpful in your travels.

Speaker 1: 1:40

And one of the things you'll notice with German is that you'll hear a lot of things that sound similar to English, because English developed partially out of the Germanic languages. I believe that's correct. Dave can correct me on that.

Speaker 2: 1:54

So that's why I want to dive in today with David Durham, and we're very excited to have him today. Thank you for joining us, David. You're a language genius.

Speaker 3: 2:05

Perhaps you should call me genius. I'll never live up to it. I'm glad to be here.

Speaker 2: 2:11

Besides being a very smart, intelligent human being, you are also a very fun guy and a very well-traveled soul, worldly guy, worldly guy. So y'all, today we are going to dive into German.

Speaker 1: 2:28

Of course, David speaks Dutch as well.

Speaker 2: 2:29

Yes.

Speaker 3: 2:30

Well, only because I lived in the Netherlands for five and a half years and, speaking of your friend, yes. I had had just a little bit of German in college. I took it as an elective, but that was the best professor I ever had of a foreign language. And so after two semesters I was conversant. Wow, that is crazy. And so when I moved to the Netherlands, that German helped me so much learn Dutch, because Dutch is a Germanic language.

Speaker 2: 3:05

Well, there you go.

Speaker 3: 3:06

Especially when you see it written, sometimes when you hear it spoken as well. But yeah, there's a lot of similarity.

Speaker 2: 3:13

Great. So, david, what do we need to know Diving in if we're going to visit a German-speaking country? What are some phrases we need to know so that we are welcoming to the people we're visiting?

Speaker 1: 3:27

and Welcomed by the people we're visiting.

Speaker 2: 3:29

Yeah, appreciated by and make them feel respected and loved and, like you said, change that cliche.

Speaker 3: 3:36

Change that cliche. Yeah, Bust the stereotype of the typical American. Yeah, well, like we said in our episode on speaking Italian. Italian.

Speaker 2: 3:49

Yes.

Speaker 3: 3:49

We have to remember that there is a way to address people formally and address people informally, and this is just as true in German as in any other language. Before we even get to that, we've got the greetings right. Language, Before we even get to that, we've got the greetings right. And so the best greeting. Just like buongiorno in Italian or bonjour in French, in German we say guten tag, Guten tag, and that means good day, literally good day. It means hello, speaking to anyone. But if you are speaking to someone you already know you have some kind of relationship or at least rapport, you can also say hallo, and it's H-A-L-L-O, hallo, not hello, Hallo. So guten tag. And then, when you get to the evening, you say guten Abend, and so in the afternoon it's the same guten Tag, and then in the evening, guten Abend, A-B-E-N-D. And then when you're saying good night and only when you're saying good night, as in you're leaving or you're going to bed or whatever you say guten Nacht.

Speaker 2: 4:59

Okay, and would you say each of those slowly please.

Speaker 3: 5:02

You got it Guten Tag. It ends in a G, but the sound is more like a K Guten Tag, guten Abend, gute Nacht. So in Dutch, in German, you've got a little bit of that guttel thing going on.

Speaker 2: 5:21

Yes, that I'm scared of as a singer.

Speaker 1: 5:24

So is it Guten Nacht, ortennacht.

Speaker 2: 5:27

Can you say the syllables separately?

Speaker 1: 5:29

Guttennacht Okay.

Speaker 3: 5:31

For reasons that are much too complicated for our purposes here.

Speaker 1: 5:34

Totally, Totally. One thing I will point out you mentioned that Abend ends with a D, but just like the other sounds more like a K, the D sounds a bit more like a T.

Speaker 3: 5:44

You're exactly right, Rory. You have a great ear. I've always known that about you.

Speaker 1: 5:49

It's my left one.

Speaker 3: 5:52

My right one is terrible. And then goodbye, as we've probably already all heard before auf wiedersehen, auf wiedersehen, and literally that means until the seeing again.

Speaker 2: 6:07

Okay, we've heard that word so many times. Would you again say it syllable by syllable?

Speaker 3: 6:13

slowly.

Speaker 2: 6:17

Because even where you place the vowel is different from what my ear is used to hearing.

Speaker 3: 6:22

Okay, so Auf, wiedersehen. Now they say it quickly and sometimes we even leave off the auf, and so you'll hear Wiedersehen a lot. Wiedersehen is technically Wiedersehen, but sometimes they kind of leave out that last E and it's seen, wiedersehen, wiedersehen. We used to say your feet are stained there you go, there you go.

Speaker 3: 6:50

Auf Wiedersehen. But once again, just like you can say hello to someone that you already know, when you're saying goodbye you don't have to say Auf Wiedersehen or Auf Wiedersehen, that's the more formal one you can say. Tschüss, tschüss. Have you heard that before?

Speaker 2: 7:06

Yes, in Switzerland.

Speaker 1: 7:10

So many times they would say Ciao, Tschüss, like together when you're visiting a shop.

Speaker 2: 7:13

That's what they say to us. Yeah, when we're leaving.

Speaker 3: 7:16

Yeah, it's very common. So, yes, you mentioned. You said Ciao as well. That's kind of bled over into multiple different languages from Italian right Big time. So ciao, tschüss, wie das wehen.

Speaker 3: 7:31

Now, how about please and thank you, okay. Please is bitte, bitte. B-i-t-t-e. Thank you, is danke, thank you very much, is dankeschön, or sometimes you'll hear danke sehr. Sehr means very, so you could say sehr gut and that means very good, danke sehr or danke schön. Danke schön is probably a little bit more common, and so when you say danke schön, they will say bitte, and you might say well, wait a minute. I thought you said that means please. Yes, the answer is yes. So if you're asking for something ein Apfel bitte, one apple, please, yes, the answer is yes. So if you're asking for something ein Apfel bitte, one apple please Then they give it to you and they might say bitte when they're giving it to you, and then you say danke schön and they say bitte schön, so bitte. You'll hear a lot, just like in Italian, when we said the waiter is taking your order, he'll say pre schön, so bitte. You'll hear a lot, just like in Italian. When we said the waiter is taking your order, he'll say prego. In German, they'll say bitte.

Speaker 1: 8:40

Okay, please, and you're welcome, sort of.

Speaker 3: 8:43

That's right, uh-huh.

Speaker 2: 8:44

Okay.

Speaker 3: 8:46

And that comes from the verb for to ask or to ask for something.

Speaker 2: 8:51

Which would be like pray, like you mentioned in our Italian one in our previous episode, prego.

Speaker 3: 8:57

Prego, that's right.

Speaker 2: 8:58

You're asking yeah, okay.

Speaker 3: 9:02

Yeah, and the word for pray is very similar in German, but it's not the same. It's beten, which is to pray. So dankeschön, bitteschön. You can also say danke sehr, and yes is ja, no is nein, but you might hear some people say nee. In certain regions, depending on where you are, you might hear them say nee instead of nein. Closer you get to Switzerland, nine, closer you get to Switzerland, yeah, switzerland. We could do a whole episode on Swiss German, which I'm not qualified to do.

Speaker 2: 9:38

It's awesome though.

Speaker 1: 9:39

But there's 600 dialects.

Speaker 3: 9:42

It changes.

Speaker 1: 9:43

I love it.

Speaker 3: 9:44

I love it so much and just the way it sounds.

Speaker 1: 9:47

Swiss, German is super fun and every canton you go to it's a bit different, Like it's a. How do you spell that?

Speaker 2: 9:55

Well, and I'm just predetermined I don't have the brain space for all the dialects. So if I just learned German, that's going to help me, that's right, that's right.

Speaker 3: 10:04

It is just so fascinating to me as a language freak. But I lived for six years in the French speaking part of Switzerland. Okay okay, French is actually my second language. I've got two degrees in French and the French speakers can't stand the sound of Swiss German. No, you're right about that Fingernails on a chalkboard, but I personally love it, but it's just so sing-songy, you know, kind of like Swedish. I love the sound of Swedish.

Speaker 1: 10:33

Really interesting how it's so much more sing-songy than Hochdeutsch, than the German you hear in Germany or even in Austria.

Speaker 3: 10:40

It's, yeah, really cute almost right, it is so cute, rory, explain that term. You said Hochdeutsch. Explain that. What does that mean?

Speaker 1: 10:50

Basically we would say hi German.

Speaker 2: 10:53

So it's the official German language that you learn, which you're learning in this episode, which you're teaching us now, because, whether you're in Germany, austria or Switzerland, they all speak and understand it. That's right, They'll learn hi German in school.

Speaker 1: 11:07

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 11:07

That'll be kind of the….

Speaker 3: 11:09

So if you're at a conference where all three nationalities are represented, they speak Hochdeutsch, high German, so that everyone understands. But for example, if I want to say did you sleep well? In High German, that would be hast du gut geschlafen? In Swiss German, that would be hast du gut geschlafen?

Speaker 2: 11:29

See, it's so much cuter in Switzerland.

Speaker 1: 11:31

It's way more personable, and it might sound different if you're in Berner Oberland versus the Udekanten or whatever.

Speaker 3: 11:38

Yeah, it really is fascinating. I guess we better get back to some Hofer.

Speaker 1: 11:41

Yeah, oh sorry, we could talk about Switzerland a long time. Yeah, okay, yes, we could, yes, we could.

Speaker 3: 11:46

So how do you say excuse me, that's very important, right? Entschuldigen, entschuldigen.

Speaker 2: 11:55

All right.

Speaker 3: 12:02

Syllable by syllable. Please Entschuldigen. Or you might hear some people say schuldigung, so entschuldigen or schuldigung, and that's a way of getting someone's attention, or if you're trying to slip by someone or slip behind someone same thing.

Speaker 2: 12:15

Same thing, slowly, one more time, please.

Speaker 3: 12:19

Entschuldigen, I'm sorry, tut mir leid. Es tut mir leid, and I love that expression, because literally it means it does me sorrow.

Speaker 2: 12:35

Okay, now, when are you going to say that versus? Excuse me, like if I'm trying to get through a crowd and I bump you with my elbow accidentally, which one am I going to use?

Speaker 3: 12:45

You're going to use both. If you're trying to slip through them, behind them or whatever, you'll say schuldigen and schuldigen, but if you accidentally bump them, es tut mir leid If you're apologizing. That's the key word. If you're apologizing, then es tut mir leid is the more appropriate expression.

Speaker 1: 13:05

Okay, Now yes, no, good, bad, I mean, the thing we love to do is yes when we don't understand what someone's saying in another language so let's learn how to do that.

Speaker 3: 13:17

Yeah, yeah, now jawohl. You've heard jawohl before.

Speaker 2: 13:21

Yes.

Speaker 3: 13:23

That's just a way of emphasizing your agreement. Ja, jawohl. As we said, no is nein, good is gut. So if I want to say, how are you? You say wie geht's, wie geht's, and that literally means how goes it, which we say sometimes as well, wie geht's?

Speaker 3: 13:44

And that is appropriate for anyone. If I were to speak specifically to a friend, I'd say how is it going for you? If I were speaking to a stranger, someone to whom I show respect, I'd say but that's getting too complicated. Like I said, vigates by itself is good for anyone. Okay, great, and chances are you know you're in a shop. It's not really normal for you to ask them how they are. That's generally what you say with someone that you're already familiar with. Right V Gates.

Speaker 1: 14:24

Yeah, it's only in America where we use it as a greeting and not a question hey, how are you, how you doing, how you doing, yeah, yeah, exactly are you how?

Speaker 3: 14:31

are you doing? How are you doing? Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1: 14:33

It doesn't happen in Europe. That's not the same.

Speaker 3: 14:35

That's right. Do you speak English? Sprechen Sie Englisch? So in that word sprechen there are two different consonant sounds. One is the sch sprechen and the second one is hin, and that's kind of a difficult sound for English speakers. We tend to make it the same as the sh like sprechen, but it's actually sprechen, and that hin is similar to the beginning of the word human or Houston in English. It's a lighter sound than shh Shh. Do you speak English? Once again, sprechen Sie the Z? Is you English? Not English, but English? Sprechen Sie Englisch? I don't understand Ich. There's that same sound again Ich, not ich, but ich verstehe nicht. Ich verstehe nicht. I understand not.

Speaker 2: 15:45

And can you slow down the word understand for us.

Speaker 3: 15:48

Yes, ver, ver. That's a V-E-R ver, but the v is pronounced like an f, but an st is always and that's so. Not is nicht, no is nein. Ich verstehe nicht. Es tut mir leid. I'm sorry, ich verstehe nicht, I don't understand.

Speaker 2: 16:22

Now, if we want to get somewhere and we want to say where is the, where is the water? And the toilet and the station, not the water in the toilet, but where's the water? Drinking water?

Speaker 1: 16:28

And the toilet.

Speaker 2: 16:29

Those are always ones I need to station, not the water in the toilet, but where's the water Drinking water?

Speaker 1: 16:32

In the toilet.

Speaker 2: 16:33

Those are always ones I need to know.

Speaker 3: 16:34

So the word for where is wo spelled W-O, Wo ist Is, is, is, is. Wo ist das WC, the WC or die Toilette? Wo ist die Toilette, bitte? That's a good place to put the please. Where is the toilet, please? Wo ist die Toilette, bitte? Or wo sind die Toiletten? Where are the restrooms? Wo ist der Bahnhof? You know, what Bahnhof is?

Speaker 2: 17:08

That's the train station, that's right.

Speaker 3: 17:10

Wo ist der Bahnhof? Wo ist die Apotheke? The pharmacy. I love that. It's akin to the word apothecary. Yeah, totally. Wo ist die Apotheke?

Speaker 2: 17:24

It sounds like you're also saying a D in there, so wo ist D? Is like the.

Speaker 3: 17:30

That's correct.

Speaker 2: 17:31

Okay, and then the whatever, and they'll use that, like we use the word the the train station, the toilet.

Speaker 3: 17:40

Actually no, Okay, it's a little bit more complicated than that. We don't have time in this session to go into all the reasons, but there are three different genders in German Masculine, feminine and neuter.

Speaker 2: 17:56

Okay.

Speaker 3: 17:56

And so the train station, that's a masculine word, Okay, and that is der D-E-R Bahnhof. But the pharmacy, that's a feminine word and there's no logic behind that. Don't break your head trying to figure out why pharmacy is feminine, you know.

Speaker 2: 18:14

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 18:14

Why is the table masculine? Whatever so, that's feminine and it's diapoteca.

Speaker 2: 18:22

Okay.

Speaker 3: 18:23

But das is the neuter for the and that goes before a lot of words that have been borrowed from another language or that are common to another language, like hotel, das hotel.

Speaker 2: 18:39

Okay.

Speaker 3: 18:40

I think we'll leave it at that.

Speaker 2: 18:42

Yeah, that sounds good, so a quick question for you.

Speaker 1: 18:45

When you were asking about the toilets, maybe think of French, where you would ask it in the plural, so it's not impolite.

Speaker 3: 18:53

That's right.

Speaker 1: 18:53

Does it same in German, or does it matter?

Speaker 3: 18:56

If you say la toilette in French, it wouldn't be considered impolite, just incorrect. Okay, all right, it's always referred to in the plural. In French, german die Toilette or die Toiletten. Die is also the the for anything plural.

Speaker 2: 19:14

Okay.

Speaker 3: 19:16

So wo sind die Toiletten? That is, where are the toilets, and that's probably the most polite way to ask it.

Speaker 2: 19:23

Can you repeat toilet toiletten slowly.

Speaker 3: 19:26

Toiletten, toiletten. How about? I would like. Yeah, that'd be great In a restaurant or if you're asking for something in a shop. Ich, that's I, once again Möchte. That was a little tricky. There's that vowel sound Mö, and then that human sound Möchte, ich möchte. Yes, yes, great. How about to end with my name is, and what is your name? Yeah, okay, that'd be good, yeah.

Speaker 2: 20:03

That'd be good.

Speaker 3: 20:04

Ich heiße. My name is Ich heiße. Ich heiße David, german David. Okay, ich heiße David. Wie heißt du? What is your name? Ich heiße David German David. Ich heiße David. Wie heißt du? What is your name? Now, du is familiar and in your circles, most likely that's what you will be using the most often. Even if you're arriving in a place, the people are hosting you. You feel like friends already. There's already a rapport, you've been corresponding or whatever. Wie heißt du? But if you're in a more formal situation, wie heißen Sie? Wie heißen Sie? Ich heiße Rory, ich heiße Alexa, etc. Wiedersehen, danke schön, bitte schön. Ich danke euch. I thank you guys. This is really fun Well thank you very much.

Speaker 2: 21:02

We'll see you in a future episode. Yes, sounds good. We hope we've inspired you this episode, so join us next time. Please subscribe to rate and share our podcast with your friends or you know whomever. And please like and follow us on Instagram, youtube and Facebook.

Speaker 1: 21:24

We are also on X and on all social platforms. We are at TheRomies, that's T-H-E-R-O-A-M-I-E-S, and our main hub is our website.

Speaker 2: 21:34

At wwwtheromyscom, that's right, that's D-H-E-R-O-A-M. I-e-s Dot com. We'll be there until next time. Yeah, thanks for listening, bye.