Sunday, February 9, 2014

Answering the phone à l'allemande

The rules for writing good, concise, German emails also apply when you're answering the phone. I learned this pretty quickly (and early on) because the long, confused silence that followed my "How are you?" was too painful to endure.


7 comments:

  1. I also used to answer the phone like that or greet people like that. In Spanish when I say " how are you" as a greeting, I do not necessarily expect a long or honest answer; but then I was told that if you ask "how are you" in Germany is really a serious, personal question!!!!

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    1. Yeah!! I learned that relatively early on, but not early enough to avoid a few awkward interactions...! eep

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  2. I heard about the differences too. You can do a post (or many) on it.
    My previous professor once told me that she always used to say "Oh you are back." to her house-mate, which is a bit direct translation from chinese.
    Once, her house-mate finally told her the truth that it actually sounded like she is not welcome come. my professor was so surprised.
    it is just one of the many interesting differences between culture. =D

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    1. Hahaha! Yeah! We also say something like that when someone comes home, and it's impossible to translate into other languages (except in Chinese, now I know!) without it sounding superweird. I'm sure your professor was like, "I was just trying to be nice...!"

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    2. Yes there is お帰りなさい! but we don't say ただいま hahahaha. at least not that i know of.

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  3. I sometimes TMI people who ask that (yes, on purpose) because... well, YOU ASKED don't complain when I answer 8D It doesn't work with other Germans, obviously, we only ask that when we really want to know about the health/problems of the person we talk to, but with other nationalities... *trolls away happily*
    - Kerstin

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    1. Like, "Well, if you really want to know...my bowel movements are excellent today!" bwahahaha. Keep trolling!

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