International Students

So of course there are many things to be learned and many things to not take for granted and many regrets about how I treated some kids at Artcenter who couldn't speak English. So when you don't know a language and somebody starts talking directly to you, and you're scared or whatever, a common response might be to just not say anything at all. A couple times now, some people have asked me something of which I don't understand a single word. A couple of valid responses would be:

1) I don't speak German. (in English or German)

2) Wie Bitte?

3) Nien English. (which doesn't make sense but sometimes comes out)

So instead of saying one of those flavorful sentences, I decide to just sit there and not say anything at all. Just straight up dumb founded. This usually brings on a German person thinking, well this guy's an idiot. They say something and then leave.

Now more than once, I've been at ArtCenter and have asked some Asian kid, "Hey, is that printer working?" He looks at me and doesn't say a word. I'm like, come on man, just a response would be nice. But now I know how it is to not say anything at all. It's just something that happens sometimes.

Also because the response from people in Germany is usually the same when using broken German versus just coming out and speaking straight English, I've decided to just bounce between the two. Things that involve Trinken, Essen and numbers aren't too bad, but heaven forbid there is something wrong with what you ordered.

You might say, "Hi, I would like a Tuna Fish sandwich." Any response other than the person behind the counter punching the register signals that they must be out of Tuna Fish. So I order something else. But all they really asked me was if I wanted my bread toasted. I say, nein? ok give me a salami baugette. She asks the same question again. I'm starting to think that they are out of everything.

So everyone speaks German, and instead of helping you figure it out, they just speak English. Imagine if you didn't know how to ride a bike and every time you were trying to ride it down the road and you fell in front of a stranger, he just threw your bike away and told you to walk. That's how it is. But I guess if you hardly knew the basics of how a bike works and could get to your destination faster by walking then maybe you would spend a little alone time practicing on the grass.