On Humor and Language
What signals fluency and true understanding of a language? Is it successfully mastering the four core skills of a language; reading, writing, listening, and speaking? Or is it impeccable grammar and an extensive vocabulary? In my opinion, it is none of those things. For I truly believe that unless you comprehend and appreciate its humor, you can never really master a language.
I have been learning German in one form or another for almost three years and while my reading and writing skills could use improvement, I can get by. I am able to carry on an intelligible conversation and understand the people around me, even when they speak with a thick Bavarian accent. However, when it comes to German humor with all of its wordplay and cultural references, I am still more often lost than not.
There is a very popular variety show here along the lines of Saturday Night Live. This summer, one of its skits was developed into a feature film called “Traumschiff Surprise.” A. and I watched this skit a few times and in its most basic form, it is a Star Trek parody. However, I always noticed that when we watched, there were things that obviously soared over my head: Not only would the audience be laughing, but out of the corner of my eye I would see A. smile and look at me to see whether or not I got the joke.
The same people (I think!) that did “Traumschiff Surprise” also did a movie a few years back entitled, “Der Schue des Manitus.” The first time I encountered this film I had only been learning German for a few months and at the time I didn’t sit down to watch it. However, it was on again a few nights ago and A. thought since I know more German now I should sit down and watch it with him. So I did.
“Der Schue des Manitus” is a parody of Winnetou, the most popular series of books (and films made of the books) by the 19th century German author Karl May. Though he didn’t visit America until long after he wrote his books, May wrote adventure stories of the Old West and even today, his stories are quite popular with German boys.
Since “Der Schue des Manitus” is a parody, it had a lot of sight gags and slapstick humor which I believe translates into most any language. And truthfully, there was a lot of humor in this film that I really did understand. However, much like “Traumschiff Surprise,” there were also lots of cultural references and wordplay that, from those sideways glances A. was giving me, I obviously didn’t understand.
I doubt I will ever reach a level where I fully understand German humor, but that’s OK. One thing that I have learned while living with my multi-cultural partner is that even though he lived for so long in America there are still many things he doesn’t understand either… like when I had to explain to him what “cut the cheese” or “choke the chicken” meant.
15 February 2005 at 16:25
I totally agree with what you wrote, but I’d also say it is a very difficult subject. I noticed one time that when I was watching TV shows or movies in English I would notice when there was a word I didn’t know and I would either understand it immediately from the context or I would look it up. In either case I would easily remember it, even though I only heard it once.
It was that point when i realized that I must be pretty fluent because I would only occasionally stumble upon a word that I didn’t know. Of course there are a lot of words that I don’t know yet, but they’re not so much every day words.
I remember a time when an American friend told me he had his hair cut and then added that it was a navy cut now. I just said something agreeable like ‘Uh-huh’. He then told me what a navy cut was. Apparently he had expected me to react a lot stronger to what he said and I think I would have if I’d only known what he was actually saying.
15 February 2005 at 21:34
I think in undertanding the humor you begine understanding the culture and that always plays into understanding the language. I have always heard that German humor is very different than what we call humor. How is it different?
Blue
15 February 2005 at 21:54
i love it when someone posts a cross cultural post like this..i can never expect david to learn chinese or how to use a chopsticks, and he’s even watched chinese movies with me on the DVD and as i roared with laughter, he’d say “but the subtitles weren’t remotely funny!”
16 February 2005 at 02:35
Choke the chicken! Ahahaha. And I don’t even know how to say the equivalent in German.
I agree with you, humor is the final frontier as far as learning language/culture goes. Marty and I went to see (T)raumschiff Surprise at the Mathäser a couple of weeks before we moved home. So much of the humor went right over both our heads. The entire theater was full of Germans roaring with laughter (and it was the biggest theater I’d been in in Munich, absolutely huge). It was really quite humbling, after all the German I’d learned!
16 February 2005 at 19:42
Understanding humor is definitely one of those marks of acculturation. I still don’t understand the simultaneous extreme obsession and revulsion with homosexuality among Mexican men. But I guess social taboos make good natured friendly jokes in many cultures. How else could Cheech, Chong, Tom Green, and other low brow entertainers have found careers in the U.S. without playing off social taboos? And could they have had careers in places where using drugs and going to bathroom were not considered “unclean” activities?
17 February 2005 at 07:58
A word on Karl May. I don’t believe that he ever visited America, but as an amusing side note, German tourists who did visit the American West often stated that it was “exactly as Karl May had described it.”
17 February 2005 at 11:31
According to the following well-known literary biography site (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/karlmay.htm), in 1899-1900 May travelled in the Orient and Asia and in 1908 in America.