Joan in GE Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I've had some recent cross-cultural communications which have made me wonder.... I know it is always hard to completely correctly convey ones thoughts in a non maternal tongue language and especially understand subtle communication in that language.... Also regentrude's comment from the Living in a Bilingual Environment thread: For example, there is no German equivalent for ...... "sophisticated". So I am wondering if we could talk about presentation of ideas in German composition - but it helps if the person has some idea of English composition and the use of figures of speech and techniques such as using the passive voice in cases where it is better not to name the doer of an action, for example.... Is 'understatement' used in German? I know French is considered the language of diplomacy - but wouldn't Germans also have a way of communicating that is not forward, maybe just not as highly developed as the French? Hoping someone can help, Joan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Joan, I do not understand what exactly it is you are asking. Or maybe it is that I don't quite understand German-ness of communication. Of course German, too, has all levels of directness, indirectness, ways to hint at what you don't want to name... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 All I can think of when you ask this is that Germans always say "Herzlichen glückwunsch zum Geburtstag" (Hearty wishes to your birthday) or "Wir gratulieren ganz herzlich zum Geburtstag" (we congratulate you very heartily to your birthday) instead of just Happy Birthday. :) I'd say there's more formality in written communication. Incredibly long sentences - and paragraphs - also do not seem to be looked down upon. It's not so unusual for paragraphs to last a whole page. And sometimes a sentence. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted December 15, 2012 Author Share Posted December 15, 2012 Joan, I do not understand what exactly it is you are asking. Or maybe it is that I don't quite understand German-ness of communication. Of course German, too, has all levels of directness, indirectness, ways to hint at what you don't want to name... The bolded part is what I'm trying to understand - how it is done in German.... There are times in conversation with a German (also this happens with Dutch) that there can be a directness to conversation that can just take me aback....Is it that I've gotten used to a different, possibly more French, way of conversing? Then a German referred to a sarcastic comment as a metaphor....and another German made an observation that it was difficult in the French speaking part of Switzerland because of not really being sure of what people meant...That they would say one thing and do another....(ETA - I realize that can happen in all cultures, but I think here there is less direct communication. Eg, if your hostess does not want to invite you back again, you will not be offered a second cup of tea) So these, and some other situations made me wonder about communication in German, and therefore in German writing, whether figurative speech and other ways of saying something difficult in a delicate or sensitive way were typically done... Not sure if that is well explained but have to run and I'm going to think about it more. Joan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted January 15, 2013 Author Share Posted January 15, 2013 ltlmrs - sorry I've been offline so much that I haven't had time to get back to this. I'm still discovering so many cultural aspects of life here - so other cultural insights just add into the pool of thoughts that I'm processing...I like to learn about other cultures - and as I look at my own from other perspectives, I think I understand others better - or at least try to... Over vacation I got to talk with a translator who had some insights, which I'll add later - but I have to run now as my 'free' time is up? I've been put on a short leash now for posting. :-) ETA - the translator - German to French (so native French speaker) said that she thought that written communication would be the same but that for spoken communication there is a big difference. The French way of approaching a situation (at least here) is to propose that maybe you hadn't understood what the person meant to say. So eg, if there is a document, instead of just saying to the person who wrote it that xyz was wrong, you would start out with a questioning position such as "I'm not sure I understood this...Did you mean this or that..." etc. But she said also that she hadn't really read that much German so she wasn't 100% sure.... Joan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted January 15, 2013 Author Share Posted January 15, 2013 Incredibly long sentences - and paragraphs - also do not seem to be looked down upon. It's not so unusual for paragraphs to last a whole page. And sometimes a sentence. ;) Sorry I'm just getting back to you now about this. Thank you for this as it is something that also is done in French. Good to know about German... Joan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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