Learning two foreign languages at once

Last year was a challenging year for me on many levels. First I was living in a big city in a crazy country. Second, I was actually TEACHING English, and felt like I had a real grown up job. And third, learning a new language, straight from scratch....and Russian was HARD. I thought, hey, if I can learn Russian, I can learn any language pretty easily, right? Well....Then I moved to Luzern. Admittedly you can cheat here, people tend to speak some other language, whether it be Italian, French, or English. But still, everyone around me speaks a language that, although I understand more and more day by day, I'd really like to speak.

So I decided to go to school, and study German. I've studied a language before, I knew exactly what to do. But the instant I opened my books and stared at the words on the page, I came to the realization that they didn't look like any of the words I'd heard people use all around me, seven days a week. At first I thought the German language must have some strange pronunciation rules, but then it dawned on me: what I've been hearing is nothing like what I'm learning in school. It was almost like two different languages. And in fact, in some ways, it turns out they are.

In many ways, Swiss German and German are different. Although the base is the same, and the vocabulary can look similar, the problem is that the pronunciation is so skewed and the Swiss seem to throw grammar out the window so that you end up with sentences that don't look the same at all. What really throws a learner off are the basics in Swiss. Instead of a simple "Guten tag," (high German) you get thrown a "Grüetzi," (Swiss German). To make it even more confusing, they often throw in a French word or two, borrowed from their fellow Swiss, French neighbors. The first time I heard the word "velo" (bicycle in Swiss German), I was convinced I must have heard wrong. The list goes on.

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, my friends, so worry not. Although your schoolbook German may not resemble anything you hear in der Schweiz, you'll be happy to know that for the most part, Swiss German is only a spoken language. That means that all official documents, books, magazines, and newspapers are written in High German, so you actually can understand (this also avoids that confusing spelling that Swiss apparently have, where they spell words however they feel like writing them). And all Swiss German pupils (and French and Italian ones for that matter too) learn High German in school, so that they can communicate themselves properly in other German speaking countries. A caution to tourists, is that be forwarned, your average Swiss person may understand High German perfectly, but they are also likely to have an aversion to speaking in that foreign language. My good friend Elizabeth once traveled to Zurich and attempted to ask in her best German where the train station was. Her face dropped when the reply came out in some odd sort of jumpy language she couldn't understand. "Like drunken Germans," someone once said. And that would make sense, except it's hard to picture a serious faced Swiss businessman drunk, when he's speaking to someone at 9 in the morning on his commute train. Odd.

This Old House

There's a reason why they call America the "New World." Let's face it, most of what is still standing there was built in the last 300 years or so....everything else was destroyed or disappeared thanks to the sands of time....what an American can appreciate as "old" is quite simply stated as thus: if it's older than you, it's OLD. For example, one of my favorite walks around the Portland on my way to the Rose Gardens gives me the opportunity to gaze upon the "old estates" of the area. Not only are they 100 years old (WoW!!!), but they have these shiny placques adorning their doors, stating they are therefore an American heritage site, part of our true HISTORY. Now that's ancient!!!!

The problem is, is that I now live in the "Old World," as we fondly call our neighbors across the pond. And old it is, in comparison, the way they have preserved and culminated really old things. Just look at Rome. The same works for houses, however, and I could not be living in a better specimen of what an American would call "a REALLY OLD house." Built in the 1850s for an Italian aristocrat, this "villa" is a true work of art, and I can't feel luckier living and working in it, even if my cozy little room happens to be in the attic. I think of it as my apartment, with my own bathroom and a floor to separate me from my work.

Anyways, the estate is quite impressive. We have a chapel, fountains, small lion statues, and an outdoor pool to boot! (sorry mom, it isn't olympic sized). The icing on the cake is a perfect view of the Lake with Mount Pilatus perfectly framed by large windows opening up onto the balcony. You feel like you've passed into another time, as the wood stairs creak under your feet, the rugs feel thick under your toes, and the paintings and dead animal ornaments glare at you from every angle. My boss once asked me jokingly if I had seen the ghost, and I couldn't quite shake off the slight panic in my thoughts. After all, a house this old MUST have at least one ghost....and if I were a ghost, what better target could I have to torment than the helpless little au pair in the attic??? I'll try not to think about that one...

So the house is old, and grand, and amazing....but what about the inhabitants? Well, there are actually 7-11 people who live here at any given time. Relatives, blood related or not seem to be lodged in one spot or another, although there is still plenty of room to spare. But despite the gradeur of the place, I've noticed that my employers and their family are refreshingly simple....not in their means of intelligence (they are extremely bright individuals) but in their lifestyle. It is more modern dare I say, with a complete lack of snobbery or finery. In a way, I find this old house just old in structure, but deep down, in the roots of its family, perhaps it has changed and evolved. Despite the house, the people live in the now, and never look back.

The micro salad bowl

I had the opportunity to go home recently, just in time for the wedding of close friends. I was happy to be back in California, the place with many things I love and miss while I am away. As always I met with friends and family, ate my favorite foods, and of course, took as many trips as possible to that city by the bay: good old San Francisco. Although I can say many good things about this place, which many claim to be very European in style, I will always love one thing above all others: the cultural diversity. As I wondered through China town, where I was completely immersed in a different language, different smells, and music, I appreciated that feeling of being somewhere foreign and exciting. Many people know that famed term "the melting pot," an expression used frequently for this American city phenomenon of many cultures living in one city. But as anyone can tell you, it's not exactly fondue. Instead you see cities within a city - the Chinese in one giant community, the Latinos in another, the Italians in North Beach. None of them need to learn English to navigate around their day to day life, instead there is a sense of isolation, one group from another, which often causes friction. We call this the "Salad Bowl."

When I came back to Switzerland, I became even more aware of the relative uniformity of the country which I call home for the moment. For example, the trains and busses all look the same, the mountains and nature are EVERYWHERE, and well, fondue is fondue, from border to border. At least that how it seems at first glance. But this isn't quite true.

We have to look at the history of Switzerland for starters. Although not an official state until 1848, the country's origins come from a loose agreement formed between different people living in the Alps who wanted to keep relative peace among themselves. However these people came from different backgrounds concerning their religion, language, and culture. To this day you can still see the differences from Canton to Canton, where one may be Catholic, the other Protestant, and where language is a distinct sign of their identity, depending on which of the 4 languages they speak.

I came to grips with this when I first arrived in Suisse Romande (the French part of Switzerland). Although I had been to the German side of Switzerland multiple times before, and was close with many of my Swiss German friends, I couldn't help but notice a slight difference overall in the stereotypical Swiss French: as their language dictated, they carried a more "Frenchlike lifestyle." Instead of being painfully on time to everything like many of the Swiss Germans I knew, time seemed to be less important somehow, and being late was well....ok.

Even speaking to the Swiss, they will be the first to admit this. "The Swiss Germans are in line with the rules, the Swiss French more relaxed, and the Swiss Italians.....well you know how crazy Italians are," my half Italian half Swiss German boss explained to me with a grin. Depending on your geographical location, you could be dealing with people who remind you of a different country or culture.....almost like a salad bowl. But then add in the geographical size of tiny little Switerland with a population of 8 million people, and it blows your mind.

So are there any differences between the Swiss and the US salad bowls? Well, yes. Although there are distinct differences between the cantons and regions of Switzerland, they appear to fall into a few distinct groups, often based on language, whereas in the US we have immigrants pouring in from hundreds of different cultures speaking so many languages it would take a lifetime to learn them all. I think of Switzerland as a Ceasar Salad, and the US cities as an extremely varied mixed greens with the works of toppings.

And yet there are immigrants in Switzerland, alhtough they seem to be extremely unwanted by the local population. There must be something in that country that unifies the people against the outside world, whether it be the cheese, watches, or the extremely high standard of living....or just the fact that they are the descendants of simple mountain folk who wanted nothing more than to live their lives in peace, away from all of those crazy warring neighbors. Whatever it is, to be Swiss is definitely an identity stands out all on its own.