Germany Four - Text
Running time: 00:04:27.
TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH
"Uh..I was born in Ludwigshafen Germany, but was basically..spent the first seventeen years in, or around Waldorf Germany, which is a small town um..about ten miles south of Heidelberg, which is in the southwest corner kind of Germany. Uh, I first came to the U.S. in 91-92 as an exchange student, I stayed with a host family in Leawood, Kansas and ah.. went to Rockhurst high school, ah I then returned to Germany for two years, again to Waldorf, um.. to finish my high school..I then embarked on a study in an international business administration program. I spent the first two years in London, England where I went to college, and also worked for six months..um..I then returned to Germany.. various locations three months.. in Frankfurt four months.. in Royfien(?) six months.. in Cologne and another ten months in Royfien. So after these two years finishing my undergraduate program, again working part of the time I then came to the U.S. to pursue a doctorate program, uh..PHD in business.. and I've been here for about a year and a half in Lawrence, KS. Uh..My first exposure to English, uh... like most Germans.. fifth grade, in high school, some where between three and five lessons a week and.. then I had it in a high school all the way through thirteenth grade and uh..in..at first..a not very successful experience always kinda the "C" range..ah.. because it requires one thing that I don't like to do..and that's study, learning by heart, and so my vocabulary was always a problem, but ah.. once I came to the U.S., spent a year in a family environment, and a high school environment, where you actually talk much more than if you come to the U.S. as a undergraduate or especially graduate students ah that's been a really... mostly exposed to English on a much higher level and also learned um.. the cultural background, the cultural artifacts, the cultural references um..that give me really the head start it's not necessarily the language, it's the cultural background knowledge. The one year of U.S. History, the one year of American History, ah.. cause if you're a foreign student and you like watching television around Christmas time and you don't know what Charles Dicken's Christmas Carol, half of the references are lost on you... that's just plain fact. Ok, um.. in some sense from a grammar viewpoint English is fairly easy to learn, there's no genders, there's no three different genders, ah.. there's a lot more um.. words that adhere to rules rather than German that only consists of exceptions. In terms of pronunciation the German stumbling blocks tend to be the "th" which is most German humorous accents are based on the lack of the "th". Ah.. the real problem for me is the old problem that the "v" and the "w", because the English "v" pretty much corresponds to the German "w", so the um.. cough drops "Vicks" in English is spelled V.. I.. C.. K.. In German the same brand is spelled W.. I.. C.. K.. Um.. yeah, everywhere that's a particular just tough word, the "w", and..ah.. the "v" because the German "v" sounds a lot more like an "f" probably. "R's" are difficult, but we say humorously... in Germany if you want to sound American.. just eat while you speak. Ah, this is probably the first rendition of the German National Anthem that I delivered since I had to learn it by heart in the fourth grade.
[SPEAKS GERMAN NATIONAL ANTHEM]
Fur das deutsche Vaterland- Danach laBt uns alle streben, Bruderlich mit Herz und Hand. Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit Sind des Gluckes Unterpfand- Bluh'im Glanze dieses Gluckes, Bluhe, deutsches Vaterland.
[ENGLISH TRANSLATION:]
Unity and right and freedom. for the German Fatherland, For this let us all fraternally Strive each with heart and hand. Unity and right and freedom Are the pledge of happiness. Bloom in the splendor of this happiness, Germany, our Fatherland.
Um..the.. at least the first..I don't..I'm not too positive on the second stanza of the German national Anthem or.. no longer the German national Anthem, their use is ah..very much discouraged I don't know if it falls under the law that prohibits use of fascist symbols, but certainly if would sing it you would be considered extremely "right wing"and would be associated with the Hitler regime.."
Transcribed by Jeffrey Brown