{"id":451,"date":"2012-07-18T13:12:53","date_gmt":"2012-07-18T20:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/?p=451"},"modified":"2012-07-18T13:17:46","modified_gmt":"2012-07-18T20:17:46","slug":"ich-bin-ein-berliner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/ich-bin-ein-berliner\/","title":{"rendered":"Ich bin ein Berliner!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Vienna\"
The perfunctory Vienna shot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ok, that’s better than “I am a Weiner”, which may be more\u00c2\u00a0apropos\u00c2\u00a0to\u00c2\u00a0Vienna but far more risible…<\/p>\n

I think most of what we call cultural differences can be summarized in\u00c2\u00a0differences in communication styles. \u00c2\u00a0I seem to frequently trip over\u00c2\u00a0them as I cross cultural divides, both in my personal and professional\u00c2\u00a0lives.<\/p>\n

Today we crossed over to Austria in search for hidden Mozart treasures\u00c2\u00a0in Vienna. \u00c2\u00a0On the train ride over we met a young Spanish couple\u00c2\u00a0thoroughly confused at the Czech-English instructions being doled out\u00c2\u00a0by the attendants. \u00c2\u00a0After the usual “where have you been and where are\u00c2\u00a0you going” we decided to tag along since they had a better thought out\u00c2\u00a0plan with regards to accomodation. \u00c2\u00a0The clever reader may infer\u00c2\u00a0“cheaper price per night” and would stand uncorrected :).<\/p>\n

We arrived in Vienna, and after much fumbling about, arrived a few\u00c2\u00a0stops outside the city center. \u00c2\u00a0Our new found friends had reserved an\u00c2\u00a0actual hotel room for 40 euros, which clearly beat our 40 euros for a\u00c2\u00a0hostel (and this with breakfast included!).<\/p>\n

I asked for a room, and the clerk said 90 euros. \u00c2\u00a0I looked back\u00c2\u00a0puzzled and inquired as to why my friends had booked for only 40\u00c2\u00a0euros. \u00c2\u00a0He said, “internet booking 40 euros. \u00c2\u00a0Here 90 euros”. \u00c2\u00a0Trying\u00c2\u00a0to be clever, I replied… “do you have wifi?”. \u00c2\u00a0“Yes, here is wifi\u00c2\u00a0password.” \u00c2\u00a0“Can I book online?”. \u00c2\u00a0“Yes, here is site to get cheaper\u00c2\u00a0price”.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately everything was booked, and Yano was upset as to why we\u00c2\u00a0couldn’t get the cheaper price. \u00c2\u00a0So we looked around on google maps\u00c2\u00a0and decided to meander over to the city center and at least get\u00c2\u00a0something more centric. \u00c2\u00a0Right before leaving, I politely asked the\u00c2\u00a0gentleman “I can’t find the cheaper price on the internet. \u00c2\u00a0Can you\u00c2\u00a0help me?” \u00c2\u00a0He browsed the aforementioned website for a while and\u00c2\u00a0replied “Oh, I see. \u00c2\u00a0Internet booking all booked up. \u00c2\u00a0Sorry.”.<\/p>\n

All of a sudden I clicked my German communication translator and\u00c2\u00a0decided to give it one more try… “Would it be possible to get your\u00c2\u00a0internet price but book in person?”. \u00c2\u00a0He stared back nonchalantly and\u00c2\u00a0replied “of course, no problem. \u00c2\u00a0That will be 40 euros.”<\/p>\n

It may seem funny, but I still get tripped when dealing with eastern\u00c2\u00a0European engineers, because I feel I haven’t perfected the art of\u00c2\u00a0asking the right questions in a language that is equally\u00c2\u00a0understandable to both parties. \u00c2\u00a0You see, it’s not that the man was\u00c2\u00a0being difficult, it’s that I clearly didn’t know how to ask the right\u00c2\u00a0questions. \u00c2\u00a0I’ve been bitten (no pun intended) by this many times, and\u00c2\u00a0I’ve obviously not gotten the hang of it. \u00c2\u00a0But at least now I try not\u00c2\u00a0to get frustrated, cause I know it’s mostly my fault.<\/p>\n

And in the Germans’ defense, they’re not alone on this. \u00c2\u00a0There’s an\u00c2\u00a0entire profession of people that think and communicate\u00c2\u00a0similarly… they’re called engineers (and all of their affiliates)\u00c2\u00a0:-).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ok, that’s better than “I am a Weiner”, which may be more\u00c2\u00a0apropos\u00c2\u00a0to\u00c2\u00a0Vienna but far more risible… I think most of what we call cultural differences can be summarized in\u00c2\u00a0differences in communication styles. \u00c2\u00a0I seem to frequently trip over\u00c2\u00a0them as I cross cultural divides, both in my personal and professional\u00c2\u00a0lives. Today we crossed over to Austria … Continue reading Ich bin ein Berliner!<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":470,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions\/470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}