Español en Alemania
Living in New Mexico has already exposed me to a culture of multiple languages. It is not uncommon to hear a student on the phone in Spanish, then seamlessly switch over to English to converse with a teacher. Everyone inserts Spanish filler words into our everyday English conversations. Trilingual signs (English, Spanish, and Vietnamese) exist at nearly every doctor’s office and in restaurants in certain parts of town.
I made a big mistake when preparing to visit a foreign country: I did not learn the language. I fit right into the stereotype of the ignorant American. Before I left, I asked the German exchange students at my high school if I could rely on speaking English, and they assured me that I would be fine if I just learned a couple phrases, the standard "hello, goodbye, thank you" etc. Instead of most people here speaking my language, as I expected, they speak German, which is far more logical for the region. Whenever trying to cross language barriers my default is to transfer to Spanish. I find myself saying "sí" and "aqui por favor" to shop owners that only speak German and Turkish. After the first day here, I never thought l would be able to use one of my familiar languages in a real situation here.
At the East Side Gallery, there were street vendors selling beautiful jewelry. I reached for my phone, ready to use Google Translate to converse in German, when I heard him using Spanish to talk to another customer. I was ecstatic to use my skills and completed a transaction entirely in a language other than English, even getting something custom made.
The whole transaction made me so much more appreciative of the multicultural background of Berlin. I have heard people speak German, Turkish, Hindi, Spanish, and English, where I traditionally would hear a maximum of three languages spoken. There are more Indian restaurants in the Mall of Berlin food court than there are in the whole city of Albuquerque. It is truly amazing to watch all these people interact. Watching people switch from German to English, or Spanish to German. The blend of cultures and languages is a special thing that I have only seen in Berlin, and I cannot wait to explore the rest of the world to see if they communicate in the same way.