Dialect

I was talking with a few of my research colleagues at the university yesterday about one of our projects. Slowly but surely the conversation drifted into Viennese dialect. I still understood what we were talking about perfectly well, but my High German responses paled in comparison to their deep-throated, diphthongal Wienerisch. Our exchange reminded me of a story from the teaching orientation in Graz a few weeks ago.

At dinner one night, one of the teaching assistants was sharing some of his experiences in Bavaria with the other people at the table. He had apparently been visiting the area around Munich for a few weeks and was infuriated that the local townspeople refused to speak High German with him; they would only speak Bavarian dialect. He insisted they were being intentionally rude by speaking dialect, which he did not understand. I can relate to his frustration; Bavarian dialect is extremely difficult for any non-Bavarian to understand. However, the language is part of the local culture there.

The other people at the table tried to persuade him to view the situation in a more positive light: If the Bavarians spoke dialect to him, they must have thought his German was good enough that he would understand dialect. Of course, given that I didn’t know much about the particular situation, it is possible that the locals made an extra effort to alienate him as the lone American, but I highly doubt that would have been the case.

Dialect is a huge part of the culture, not only in Bavaria, but throughout Germany and Austria. If you can speak the local dialect, you are an “insider”. If someone speaks dialect to you, they either don’t speak High German (which is uncommon, but still occurs) or they feel your German is good enough that you would understand dialect. Switching from High German to dialect can be seen as an invitation into a circle of friends, those that have the local language and the associated culture in common.

Being spoken to in dialect is almost always a compliment … regardless of whether or not you understand what is being said! When in doubt, you can always ask someone to slow down. They’ll probably either slow down or switch over to High German, realizing that you don’t understand dialect. As long as you make an effort to understand, you really can’t go wrong.

Financing an Education

One of the teachers I taught with on Monday asked me to speak about the Fulbright Scholarship: what it is, how I got it, what am I doing with it, etc. I told the class of seventh-graders that I am teaching English, studying engineering, and doing engineering research (in a few more words, of course). This gave me the opportunity to explain what engineering was; most of the students didn’t know what the German word meant either.

I told the class that not only can American students apply for Fulbright Scholarships to Austria and other countries in the world, but Austrian students can apply to teach German in the United States. A few of the girls in the class and one boy seemed very excited by this opportunity. (Actually, I may see if I can get some literature from the Fulbright Commission to share with these students.)

When one student mentioned that his parents would never have enough money to send him to the United States for such a program, I reiterated that the term “scholarship” means that you don’t pay any (or pay very little) money to participate in the program. The teacher then chimed in by telling the class that they could also get scholarships to go to Austrian universities. Not a single person in the class knew this! They assumed that if their parents could not pay for university, then they simply would not go. They would get a job instead.

I might further criticize such ignorance if it weren’t for the fact that there have recently been great changes made to the Austrian university system. Higher education used to be completely free. Now, citizens of the European Union need to pay approximately $400 per semester and non-EU citizens pay about $800 per semester. When compared with tuition fees in the United States, $400 is laughable, but the situation is anything but laughable here. In Vienna alone, thousands of students protested last year against the introduction of university fees. The protests didn’t deter the administration, but they certainly drew attention to the issue. As of the moment, it looks like the fees are here to stay, but whether or not they increase in the coming years remains to be seen.

First Day of Teaching English

As you may have guessed from the lack of entries lately, I began teaching English this past week. I started on Friday by teaching the three lessons I mentioned previously with my “contact teacher” or “Betreuungslehrerin”. This teacher is the closest thing I have to a supervisor; essentially, she is my "go-to" person for any questions and concerns I may have.

In three of the eight classes I've taught so far, I have played Tracy Chapman's "Across the Lines". After working through vocabulary and context, we establish that the song is primarily about racism in America and also briefly mentions the American Dream. I then ask the students two questions:

1. What do you think of when you hear the words "race" and "racism"?

2. What is the American Dream?

The 7th and 8th grade classes answered similarly, but there were large differences in answers from the 5th and 7th grade classes. According to the 5th grade class, racism does not exist in Austria. It only exists in America. When I questioned them on this point, they said that there aren't enough black people in Austria for racism to exist; there are many more blacks in America, so it must be a bigger problem there. They're partially correct; there aren't many blacks in Austria, nor in Germany. I vividly remember the first time I visited Germany and never saw a single person of color during my entire two-week stay. It was extremely unsettling to see only white faces everywhere I looked.

That, however, does not mean that racism does not exist in Austria. It is just expressed in different ways.

The 8th-graders were quick to point out the institutionalized racism in form of the FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria, formerly led by the Nazi-rooted Jörg Haider, now Governor of Kärnten in Austria). Yet they still insisted that racism was confined to the “ghettos”. When I asked where the ghettos were, I received answers ranging from the 5th to 23rd district. Vienna only has 23 districts, so are the ghettos spread throughout the city or are they just where these students are not?

Only one person out of all three classes mentioned Hitler and the Nazis as a group that practiced racism. One person. Most students with whom I spoke considered racism to exist only between blacks and whites. Since (most) Jews in the Nazi Era were not black, then they were not victims of racism (according to the students' logic). That is more than a little disturbing.

When asked to cite examples of racism in Austria, two Turkish girls, one in the 7th and one in the 8th grade, looked at me knowingly, but did not offer any examples even after I encouraged them. Turks are indeed the fastest growing “minority” in Austria and, depending on location and the situation, often endure daily discrimination. At this point, the discussion of Viennese ghettos ensued.

In response to the question: "What is the American Dream?", the 5th-graders answered:
-peace on earth
-peace between neighbors
-equality
-money
-democracy
-bringing democracy to other countries
-freedom to do what you want

The 8th-graders answered:
-freedom
-democracy
-peace
-equality
-education
-good job
-happy family with kids
-Land of Opportunity

True to their position between the 5th- and 8th-graders, the 7th-graders generated a list that combined elements of both lists above. Every list mentioned equality and peace. I find this very interesting. Is the American Dream portrayed as a dream of peace and equality or is this a reaction against the relatively violent times in which we live? Has the American Dream changed? Has the perception of the American Dream changed? (After all, the perception of America has certainly changed.) I mentioned my surprise to the teachers (aged mid-30s to late-50s) and they had the same reaction I did. Their perception of the American Dream included educational and economic opportunity, increase in standard of living, house, family with 2.5 children, car, successful career, etc. Of course, these English teachers have also had formal training in American and British Studies, so they have repeatedly discussed the idea of the American Dream and perhaps are biased in this manner.

I wonder how non-European students in Africa, Asia, and South America would answer the same questions.

Cafe Culture

The Viennese love coffee. They love pastries. For some reason, they think both of these taste better while smoking.

I've been doing a lot of reading and research in the past week and I often like to go to the cafes to do this work because I can only concentrate for limited periods of time in the library. Listening to every page turn, every footstep, every keystroke of a student frantically pounding out a term paper is enough to drive me berserk. So I thought what better city than Vienna--the capital of cafe culture--to do some reading and people-watching while enjoying a pot of green tea in one of the city's hundreds of cafes.

Inevitably though, I walk into cafe after cafe and walk right back out again. The rooms are so smoky that I can see a gray-blue haze rising from the tables against the back wall. One cafe owner even thought to display a sign in his window: "Smoking establishment, but non-smokers welcome, too." Oh, thanks for making me feel welcome as I hack up a lung. How thoughtful of you.

Today I finally found a cafe with a non-smoking section, thanks to a Viennese guidebook of eco-friendly establishments. A smoke-free anything is way too much to ask for here, so I was delighted to find a cafe with a non-smoking section. The section was even physically partitioned from the smoking section, as opposed to simply being labeled "rauchfrei". What a concept!

So today I finally enjoyed some green tea, read some more baseline studies for my research, and was able to breathe freely while doing so. I will surely be returning to Welt Cafe soon.

*~*~*~*

By the way, the non-smoking section of this cafe was packed! I know of a few other establishments who could improve their business by following this example.

Word of the Day: rauchfrei = smoke-free

Courses - Winter Semester '07

I've registered for two Master's classes for the winter semester:

1. Water quality management for municipal and industrial water use
Gewässerqualitätsmanagement für siedlungswasserwirtschaftliche Nutzungen

Topics include:
-Typical uses and requirements of municipal and industrial water management
-Institutional and legal conditions
-Requirements for data aquisition and processing for decision support
-Stakeholders within management processes, decision support systems and measures.
-Examples for development and implementation.


2. Sustainable Development I - Principles of sustainable economies
Nachhaltige Entwicklung I - Grundlagen nachhaltigen Wirtschaftens

Topics include:
-Non-sustainable trends
-Theories and concepts of sustainable development
-History of the term "sustainable development"
-Global networking
-Integrated Sustainability Assessment
-Measuring ecological sustainability
-Empirical trends of environmental usage
-Economics and sustainability
-Labor and sustainability
-Quality of life and happiness
-Taxes and governance
-Political instruments and measures

The courses this semester are primarily based in the social sciences, i.e. management and principles of sustainable development. Next semester, the department is offering some technical case study classes that I hope to take.

William Shakespeare meets Tracy Chapman

I have been given my first English lesson assignment. I'll be teaching three classes this Friday:

1. 3rd grade = 13-year-olds
2. 5th grade = 15-year-olds
3. 8th grade = 18-year-olds

13-year-olds
The students will form groups and write as many questions as possible to ask me in an interview. I will answer everyone's questions and the group with the greatest number of correctly written questions wins a prize.

15-year-olds
The teacher told me to pick a "controversial" song about America and/or race. I chose Tracy Chapman's "Across the Lines". I will give the students a worksheet with the lyrics and blanks to fill in. Then we will discuss the text. I'm interested in hearing their perspectives on race and if they think racism is any different in the US than it is in Austria.

18-year-olds
I was originally told to discuss Macbeth, as in "one-two-three: discuss Macbeth!" Luckily, the English teacher had second thoughts about the magnitude of this request and instead asked me to talk about how Shakespeare is taught in American schools. Do students read the plays aloud? Do they act out the scenes? Do they learn the American history of the time? Do they learn the British history? Is Elizabethan English difficult for American students to understand?

Each of these lessons are actually "mini-lessons" of about 20 minutes each within 50-minute class periods. So in an hour, I get to talk about myself, teach about one of my favorite singer-songwriters, and talk about my 9th-grade English class. And that's all in English! I think I can do this ... we'll find out for sure on Friday.