Das Fräulein vom Amt

Das Fräulein vom Amt was the name given to the telephone operators at the beginning of the last century.

Young women were employed to connect phone calls in the days before direct dialling as their high voices carried better on the early telephone wires than the lower men’s voices. They did this by connecting sockets on a so-called Klappenschrank.

Whilst the need for this service reduced with the introduction of direct dialling, many calls to other countries were still connected manually and it was possible to reserve a time for a particular call in advance.

The job services in the form of the Telefonistin in emergency call centres and on the switchboard of large companies.

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)

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Which language to speak

Visiting Lanzarote is an interesting situation for me linguistically, as I speak all three of the main languages that you hear on the island: English, German and Spanish.

Which language do you speak as a tourist? My rule of thumb is to use Spanish as much as possible – in supermarkets, shops and restaurants. Of course the people serving could speak to me in my mother tongue, but I find it better that way.

It can often be to my advantage as well. Some locals are more welcoming if you make an effort to speak their language. At Teguise market you can often get a better bargain for making the effort and an even better one if you are fluent in Spanish. In restaurants the waiter’s English may only extend to taking your order and presenting you with the bill – it may not extend to sorting out complaints.

Obviously if I’m talking to an English or German national, then I will talk to them in their language. But it gets very interesting when sitting in a restaurant where I talk in Spanish to the waiter, English to my parents and German to my wife! It can confuse the staff as well! 🙂

But it can also be very funny, as being able to read all three versions of the menu I often find translations that have gone wrong.

I just haven’t got round to learning Swedish yet…

How to pay for things in Germany

Today in the Monday Podcast I talk about how to pay for things in Germany.

Cash still rules in many parts of the country and people and some businesses are vary wary of paying with cards.

Restaurants, for example, often prefer you to pay cash. Supermarkets accept ec-cards – a debit card linked to your bank account. But only larger businesses such as petrol stations, out-of-town supermarkets and shops in larger cities such as Frankfurt will normally accept credit cards.

As Germany no longer issues eurocheques, payments between private people are often done by bank transfer – called Überweisung.

Paying bills can be done with an Überweisung but often you will be required to agree to direct debit – Einzugsermächtigung or Lastschrift. Except in special circumstances you can require the bank to return any money within six weeks that has been wrongly taking using this method.

If you order goods online you may be required to pay in advance – Vorkasse – but some online shops will send their goods by Nachname, meaning that you pay the postman when the goods arrive.

To find out more, listen to the podcast:

(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)

Download the MP3 file | Subscribe to the podcast

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