久久久无码人妻精品无码_6080YYY午夜理论片中无码_性无码专区_无码人妻品一区二区三区精99

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
World
Home / World / First Person View

Guess what Bürger means in German?

By Zhang Zhouxiang | China Daily | Updated: 2025-11-14 09:23
Share
Share - WeChat

Welcome to Europe — a continent with a famously complicated linguistic map.

If one draws a circle with a radius of 500 kilometers with Paris at the center, then inside that circle alone there is French, the Belgian version of French, Dutch, Flemish that originated from it, German and its various dialects, Italian and its variants.

And if we look beyond this circle to the whole of Europe, the diversity becomes even more overwhelming. Across the continent, the number of languages in active use approaches 200. Linguists generally divide them into more than a dozen families or subgroups, ranging from the Germanic to the Romance, from the Hellenic to the Slavic, plus several languages that came from outside, such as Turkish.

This rich linguistic landscape makes Europe a paradise for philologists, but a nightmare for travelers.

In July, I went to Paris. I spoke English to the locals, but they replied to me in French, with a charming friendly smile but firm eyes that they will never compromise.

A month later, I traveled to Berlin. This time I had done my homework and spoke to the locals in their mother tongue. However, upon hearing my heavy accent and watching my red face trying to pronounce the uvular trill, they replied to me in English.

My disappointment, I must say, went beyond words.

Yet for those who do not suppose they speak German, Berlin must be one of the friendliest cities a tourist can visit. By "friendliness", I do not mean the trains, restaurants, or infrastructure. The trains into and out of Berlin, mostly run by Deutsche Bahn, habitually go off schedule as they do elsewhere in Germany, the U-Bahn often traps passengers in its automatic doors, to which I was one of the victims, while the meals are both expensive and hard to swallow.

But wherever you go, to a hotel, a cafe, or even an ice cream stand by the street, the first sentence Berlin people ask is always: "Deutsch or English?"

That small question is a great gesture that shows people in Berlin truly recognize the gap between languages, and are willing to bridge that gap through their own kindness and effort.

The friendliness of Berliners is especially valuable when we realize that linguistic gaps are often hard to cross.

For someone who only knows English or another single European language, it is sometimes possible to guess the meaning of words in other languages by their similar spelling, a trick that does work on some occasions. For example, the word university is spelled almost the same in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish, because it spread gradually across Europe through history.

But sometimes, this trick can backfire badly, especially when one encounters words that look identical but mean completely different things.

An example comes when US sent relief packages to German after World War II. People wrote a big "Gift" on the packages, which, unfortunately, means poison in German.

Dutch also has its share of such pitfalls. The word room in Dutch means "cream", while brand means "fire". Imagine your Dutch neighbor running out shouting "brand", but instead of helping or running for life, you calmly ask: "Which one? Chanel or LV?"

Moreover, a nation's language often reflects how its people think, which makes some words hard to translate, and even harder for foreigners to understand.

For instance, in English we use sense or feel. In German, there are several corresponding words, one of which is wahrnehmen, which literally means "to take or grab truth". So a German speaker can "feel the cold", or, more precisely, "grab the truth of a drop in temperature".

Even more astonishing are the languages that redefine how their speakers perceive the world. One noticeable example is the Hawaiian language, which originally had no words for east, west, north or south. Directions are described instead using mauka, meaning "toward the mountains", and makai, meaning "toward the ocean", because wherever one stands on the islands, one can always see the mountains on one side and the ocean on the other.

Just imagine centuries ago when some European traveler met a local Hawaiian, and how they tried to explain directions to each other. For people recognizing the world in two completely different ways, that gap can hardly be crossed.

The perishing gap

It cannot be denied that such linguistic diversity is one of the roots of Europe's cultural richness. Every distinct word represents a people's unique history, which explains why Europeans are so proud of their languages.

A frequently studied example is the German word Burg, meaning "castle", corresponding to the English city. From it came Bürger, not the burger as food, but citizen as an identity. Following this logic, the German Bürgermeister literally means "master of citizens", while the English mayor comes from a different source, reflecting divergent historical paths. Oh, I cannot even imagine the day when Burger King opened its first branch in Germany.

That's only one of the words that has preserved its national history inside. Life is too short to study them all, but to get to know any additional one of them grants the learner a sense of joy.

Moreover, as technology keeps advancing, even those who don't speak European languages can now travel conveniently with an AI translator in hand. During my travels I have seen, far too many times, how travelers from China or Japan talked to the apps on their smartphones and then handed their smartphone to the recipient. They can, at least, solve basic problems in life.

In some sense, Europe's linguistic diversity remains a fascinating cultural phenomenon, but in the foreseeable future, it will no longer be a major obstacle for travelers.

The author is the China Daily EU Bureau Chief Correspondent based in Brussels.

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
久久久无码人妻精品无码_6080YYY午夜理论片中无码_性无码专区_无码人妻品一区二区三区精99

    不卡av免费在线| 久草视频这里只有精品| 大西瓜av在线| 污污网站免费观看| 人人干视频在线| 亚洲国产精品影视| 免费国产成人av| 黄色激情在线视频| 日韩精品在线播放视频| 成人在线激情网| 老子影院午夜伦不卡大全| 免费黄频在线观看| 成人黄色一区二区| 91丨porny丨探花| 99精品一区二区三区的区别| 在线观看免费成人av| 久久久久久久久久久99| 日本福利视频在线观看| 午夜影院免费版| 污片在线免费看| 99久久久无码国产精品6| 国产欧美久久久久| 最新av在线免费观看| 中文字幕免费高清在线| 手机看片福利日韩| 国产又大又硬又粗| 丰满爆乳一区二区三区| 国产69精品久久久久999小说| 欧美一级黄色录像片| 午夜xxxxx| 天堂在线中文在线| 在线免费观看视频黄| 国产精品亚洲a| 人妻熟女一二三区夜夜爱| 91九色丨porny丨国产jk| 国产成人一区二区三区别| 日日噜噜夜夜狠狠久久丁香五月| 永久av免费在线观看| 欧美激情第一区| 中文字幕在线视频一区二区三区| 亚洲综合婷婷久久| 日本中文字幕精品—区二区| 午夜在线观看av| 久久久久久久久久久久91| a在线观看免费视频| 中文字幕第100页| 国产三级三级看三级| 99热一区二区| 激情图片中文字幕| 999热精品视频| 97超碰人人爱| 免费看欧美一级片| 免费 成 人 黄 色| 国产欧美在线一区| 黄色av免费在线播放| 亚洲黄色a v| 怡红院亚洲色图| www.久久com| 99久热在线精品视频| 丝袜人妻一区二区三区| 高清在线观看免费| 手机看片福利日韩| 中文字幕在线视频一区二区| 日韩不卡视频一区二区| 日韩a级在线观看| 黑森林福利视频导航| 色婷婷成人在线| 国产精品h视频| www.av毛片| 992kp快乐看片永久免费网址| 污网站免费在线| 99re8这里只有精品| 欧美人成在线观看| 无人在线观看的免费高清视频| 免费一区二区三区在线观看| 日本久久高清视频| 女人和拘做爰正片视频| www.99r| 日本黄网站色大片免费观看| 久久亚洲中文字幕无码| 一路向西2在线观看| 久久免费一级片| 久久美女福利视频| 亚洲精品在线网址| 国产精品无码一区二区在线| 天天视频天天爽| 国产一区 在线播放| 日韩精品无码一区二区三区免费| 一级做a爱视频| 狠狠97人人婷婷五月| 国产无套内射久久久国产| 国产美女三级视频| 亚洲综合在线一区二区| 国产原创中文在线观看| 蜜臀一区二区三区精品免费视频 | 99视频精品免费| 精品一区二区成人免费视频| 免费无码国产v片在线观看| 污污网站在线观看视频| 久久亚洲中文字幕无码| 久久久久久久久久一区| 国产精品无码一区二区在线| 久久久久久久久久毛片| 中文字幕无码精品亚洲35| 人人爽人人爽av| 人妻有码中文字幕| 特级西西444| 三上悠亚av一区二区三区| 国产xxxx振车| 黄色a级三级三级三级| 亚洲中文字幕无码中文字| 国产三级中文字幕| www.涩涩涩| 男人揉女人奶房视频60分| 日本精品免费视频| 久久国产这里只有精品| 国产精品50p| 黄色一级片黄色| 红桃视频一区二区三区免费| 中文字幕在线观看第三页| 精品国产一区三区| 青青草综合在线| www,av在线| 超碰在线人人爱| 精品国产免费av| 精品少妇人欧美激情在线观看| 91插插插影院| 视频在线观看免费高清| 欧美精品第三页| 精品人妻一区二区三区四区在线 | 日韩有码免费视频| 18禁网站免费无遮挡无码中文| 黄色网址在线免费看| 亚洲免费黄色录像| 一区二区三区韩国| 久久久久久久久久久久久久国产| 黄色一级视频在线播放| 特级西西人体www高清大胆| 精品国产乱码久久久久久1区二区| 亚洲精品中文字幕无码蜜桃| 国产特级黄色大片| 亚洲 自拍 另类小说综合图区| 欧美美女黄色网| 日本一本草久p| 999久久久精品视频| www.天天射.com| 十八禁视频网站在线观看| 97成人在线观看视频| 777久久久精品一区二区三区 | 日本免费在线视频观看| 亚洲av无日韩毛片久久| 四季av一区二区三区| 91福利国产成人精品播放| 亚洲国产精品毛片av不卡在线| 欧美 激情 在线| 男人天堂成人在线| 久久午夜夜伦鲁鲁一区二区| 日本男人操女人| 一区二区在线播放视频| 爱情岛论坛成人| 97超碰成人在线| 色18美女社区| 天天爱天天做天天操| 五月激情五月婷婷| 亚洲精品国产久| 中国老女人av| 大西瓜av在线| 日韩欧美亚洲天堂| 国产自偷自偷免费一区 | 男人日女人逼逼| av天堂永久资源网| 日本免费一级视频| 91福利国产成人精品播放| 污视频网址在线观看| 永久免费在线看片视频| 青青青青草视频| 天天影视综合色| 视频区 图片区 小说区| 天堂8在线天堂资源bt| 777米奇影视第四色| 欧美精品性生活| 做爰高潮hd色即是空| 免费看欧美一级片| 日日摸天天爽天天爽视频| 午夜两性免费视频| 三级在线免费观看| 日本三级免费网站| 成人不卡免费视频| 激情五月六月婷婷| 人妻熟女一二三区夜夜爱| 久久久久xxxx| 国产美女在线一区| 成人免费在线观看视频网站| 国产精品av免费| 国产l精品国产亚洲区久久| 青青草久久伊人| 免费一级特黄毛片| 亚洲精品午夜在线观看| 亚洲 欧美 综合 另类 中字| 成人在线观看a|