Oh, a cleverly devised title!

Yes, this is Nick, and I have returned with a post, thus ending Aza’s reign of blog dominance (though I will need pictures of my own).

There is much which cannot be accomplished without a decent knowledge of the language of the people you plan to interact with. There are, however, instances where language (or lack of it) don’t play major roles. Buying groceries is a pretty straight forward process: put your items on the belt, wait for the amount to show up on the register display, hand cashier the tender, and receive the change in return.

Groceries
Slight variations do exist, such as in Hamburg you don’t get your grocery bags for free. About half the people bring their own bags (or rollable luggage) and the other half pay the few extra cents it costs for a bag.

I remember Aza and I watched the grocery lines for a couple of minutes to make sure we understood the process and then we accomplished our shopping without a problem. This type of check-out purchasing works fine, and generally does not have anything really to do with the language (or barrier) as much as the concept of check-out lines.

Furniture
Furniture purchases are a bit more difficult because unless the grocery store, we do not frequent it two or three times a week. We live next to a small furniture store, from which we’ve purchased our bedframe, table and chairs. That’s two purchases (table and chairs were together), in almost two months. The process here is different because you have to flag down a salesperson, check the store inventory for that piece and if it’s missing, place an order. Not quite as easy as putting your items on the conveyor belt.

So now we come to what I wanted to discuss. There are repetitive types of interactions which one can accomplish once you learn the basic steps. They are more complicated than the conveyor-belt check-out, but less frustrating than furniture shopping.

Display Counters (Baker, Butcher)|
I don’t know too many people who enjoy fresh bread. It’s sort of luxurious to have a loaf that was baked that morning, that wasn’t put in a plastic bag at any time, or shipped anywhere. Bread is a decent staple, and with my new sandwich press, even more delicious than before. To ensure good bread, we buy it fresh, which means a half- or whole loaf every 3 or so days.

There are two ways to get meat and cheese in the grocery store. You can get it pre-sliced, and packaged, or you can get it pre-sliced and on display in a viewing case. At first we were doing the packaged kind (with much regret) simply because we didn’t know all the types, or even how to order from the counter (you have to learn the steps…).

Today I ordered both hackfleisch (ground beef, for Swedish meatballs) and salami (for sandwiches) from the butcher. It was quite an accomplishment because unlike a check-out stand, display counters require a few more things:

1. You have to know the name of what you want. You have to ask for that loaf, meat or cheese. This can range from simple to difficult. You have to know how to pronounce the name of the item, which means you have to understand the basics of the target alphabet. Difficult is also increased based on the proximity of the label to the product.

For example: At the bakery, each label has a card in front of it, but at the butcher, all the labels are together, not next to each item.

2. You have to have know numbers and fractions. For bread loaves this usually isn’t an issue unless you want half a loaf. For meat, or anything which comes in kilograms you need first realize how much a kilogram is, and then know how to order 200 kilograms of salami or 500 kilograms (1/2 kilo is another way of saying it) of ground beef.

3. The typically asked questions. In a check-out line this is “Do you want a receipt?” At a counter, it is “Is that all?”, “Do you want it sliced?”, and “Do you want a whole or half?”

Luckily, there is one easy thing to do at a counter which makes it bearable without too much frustration for anyone who knows absolutely nothing of the target language. You can point. I do it even when I know how to say the item. If I’m slow at figuring out what to say, the baker is a step ahead of me, loaf in hand.

 

Obviously a better handle on the language makes all interactions easier, but for those who don’t know much, or are learning, or are/plan to be tourists, you can rely on some very familiar routines with just a little patience for figuring out the slight culture differences.

The Swedish meatballs this evening were fantastic.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 26th, 2009 at 9:07 pm and is filed under Hamburg. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.