I spent the weekend in Chicago, and I really enjoyed it, so here is my next post about language in the U.S., and how my English changed during my time in the United States.In the last week I got to know new formulas for greetings and saying good bye, and I learned how oldfashioned my English is that I learned at school. For saying "Hello" people here often use "How are you?", or "How are you doing?" though they are not really interested in your real behaviour, it's a nice greeting and more peronal than just saying "Hello".
In Germany it's common to use a greeting connected to the daytime like "Good morning", "Good afternoon" etc. You ask for the other person's behaviour only if you know him well and if you're really interested. That's a real difference from the States. Another difference is that people in the U.S. gesticulate less than people in Germany. People in my home country really talk with their hands. Though it depends with whom you are talking, I think that people here use their hands less! On the other hand, the other ways of nonverbal communication are similar to the German ones. We have almost the same distance when we are talking, for example. I think that this is like that because European people and American people originally have the same roots, and the immigrants to the U.S. learn these rules of communication.
When I spent the weekend in Chicago, I didn't really notice a difference between the Cincinnati accent and the Chicago accent, but I think that there is a difference that I can't hear because I'm not so adepted to the accents in the United States. The only thing I noticed was that there are many immigrants, primarily from Mexico, and their accent is very hard to understand, so I had some problems when I had dinner at Chipotle.
Finally, I have to say that I learned many things about the American way of communication. I'm now used to the American accent that was hard to understand in the beginning because in Germany we learn Oxford English. When I talked to some people at the barbecue, I got to know that some words I used are very oldfashioned and in British style. For example, I used the word "trousers", and a young girl broke out in a laugh because she didn't hear that word for a long time. Now I know that I have to say "pants" in the States.
So that's it for today!
I'm glad that you are used to the American accent in English. If you stay longer in America, then you also have to get used to the Mexican and African American accents as well. This can be challenging. The good part about British English in America, is that it is totally comprehensible. If you say "trousers", an American will understand just fine, but if you say "pants" in Britian (where it means underwear) they will not understand as well.
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