Misunderstandings – stumbling stones of language

And with language, or rather the multitude of languages that exist in the world, it’s one of those things: sometimes what you want to say remains incomprehensible to your counterpart. Or it is misunderstood. Or you both have the feeling that the communication has been successful – but in reality, a misunderstanding has occurred without you realizing it. This can get dicey, because you can feel offended and an argument can arise. But looking back, many misunderstandings are funny. Talking about them later can be funny.

In her workshops, our illustrator Rosa helps to turn misunderstandings into amusing anecdotes – using drawing techniques. Today, more than a dozen people have gathered in the Malteser neighborhood café in Dresden’s Prohlis district to learn German or volunteer to help. And Rosa has arrived with her suitcases full of paper, stamps and pens.

They are ethnic German repatriates from Russia, former local German workers from Afghanistan or from Ukraine. Arabic, Igbo and Pashto are also represented as mother tongues. But I also face a challenge as a native German speaker: it’s surprisingly difficult to remember a misunderstanding that happened to you straight away. Give it a try! I can’t think of any and I can’t think of any.

Rosa gives tips. Sometimes it’s proverbs and idioms that lead to misunderstandings. After all, it doesn’t rain cats and dogs in every country like it does in England! The conversation around the table soon turns to the rather tricky question of what exactly the difference is between a proverb and an idiom. One thing is clear: a proverb can be recognized grammatically by the fact that it is a complete sentence that is not incorporated into other sentences when spoken. Abdul knows a lot of them. He has even memorized German proverbs. Or, as he puts it, “turned out”. The word doesn’t really exist, but everyone understands it!

Alexandra and Anatoly have now come up with a funny misunderstanding. The couple were walking with their children in the Großer Garten recently when an older German woman approached them: “Are you the parents?” – “Yes, of course!” Alexandra and Anatoly replied, somewhat confused. It was only afterwards that they realized that the woman had probably asked “Do you see the ducks?”. As a small, colorfully designed booklet with 8 pages, the punchline is particularly effective: there are of course two ducks answering the woman’s question.

Birthe Mühlhoff

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