Day 9 - Language is Hard.

"I know just enough German to just get frustrated by everything!"

Something I've noticed these past few days is that people are willing to switch languages whenever the confused American is around. That's a good thing! The bad thing is that it feels like people are forced to switch languages whenever the confused American is around. I've had this happen quite a bit in both the astronomy department and in a few other places I've been around. People will have small talk in English whenever I'm there, but they all look uncomfortable doing so, even when it doesn't concern me. The same group would be having the same conversation in German, but would be much more comfortable around each other. Maybe it's just because I'm the new guy, but it's kind of frustrating to know that so many people have been accommodating for me, but I can't really do much to meet them half way.

I found this poster walking through the physic's building here on campus and thought it a cute example of language barriers. It describes most people's experience with English here very well. Some speak is perfectly and have no worries speaking it to foreigners while others... Well it's more like the pink box above. But they're offering a way to communicate with me, so however they speak it, I'm completely grateful for it.