Zone 000
Fear and Loathing in Hamburg's Hauptbahnhof
I used to think that the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof was in Hamburg. I'm not so sure about that anymore.
Credit: Clarsonimus Maximus
Copyright: Clarsonimus Maximus
Published by Englishpro
I've done lots of travelling, mostly in Europe. I speak twelve foreign languages and can bench press 734 pounds. I have climbed the Materhorn without oxygen. That's not my picture over there. I translate Ger... View profile
6 Comments
Post a CommentMy friend who lives near Hamburg loved this! A great perspective. I'm glad Germany isn't stuck up over "language purity" like their, um, southern neighbor ;-), other parts of the world take English signs for granted now, and not so much for Americans, as for people who speak Russian, Bengali, Swahili, Chinese...
There was a story on NPR about a year ago discussing the fact that Germany is slowly turning to English. The language hasn't grown as it should. Laptop in Germany is "laptop" and many words just have no word in German so they have started using the English words.
There are many professors in Germany trying to fix this by creating German words for things that don't have german translations yet. I didn't understand why they were so upset at the time, but looking at your video I now understand it.
I love Germany and now I know if I decide to go I won't have to know perfect German to survive:P
THanks for the article. I actually love Germany. I hope to visit Hamburg- I've only been along the RHine river valley.
I spent 2 years in Germany with the U.S. Army, from '91 to '93. I never went to Hamburg, but Kaiserslautern was less Englishized than that (at least at that time), and it had several U.S. military installations nearby, including Ramstein AFB. That's incredible the amount of influx from the tourism industry.
Very nice. Well done video. I wonder what this is all about. Probably a tourist trap for Americans and Britons. Congrats.
Priceless! A++++. Even my 8 year old daughter thought this was hysterical. For anyone out there who might think driving in the vicinity of Hamburg would spare them your frightful experience in the Hauptbahnhof, don't be fooled. Hamburg is eerie all around.