Foreign in Cleveland

It’s an odd feeling to be sitting in a restaurant in Cleveland speaking German, surrounded by people dressed for the Indians game that day. Or standing in front of the Rolling Stones exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

My friend and colleague Viktor was in the U.S., and we had gone downtown to visit the Rock Hall and get something to eat.

In Germany, I was self-conscious that my German gave me away as a non-native speaker. Here I could sense people around us turning their heads and noticing that we weren’t speaking English. I imagined what they might be thinking – that we were foreign tourists out sightseeing. It seemed a bit comical -- and fun-- to be a foreign tourist in the place where you live.

I had asked Viktor what he might want to do, and offered some suggestions such as the Indians game, or visiting museums at University Circle. I was surprised when he said he wanted to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It turns out he had played bass in a band when he was younger, and he was pretty knowledgeable about bands from the 60’s and 70’s.

I suppose it would be natural to go to a Beethoven festival in Germany, or to a Mozart exhibit in Salzburg. So it shouldn’t have been too surprising to visit the Rock Hall in Cleveland.

We took the train (the “Rapid”) from the Rock Hall to the Tower City complex to get something to eat. Not having done this in Cleveland before, I realized that I knew more about taking the train in Germany. I had no idea how often the trains ran, how much they cost, and where to get a ticket. We played tourist again, and asked some other people waiting on the mostly-deserted platform.

The difference between here and Germany was striking, as there was no ticket machine, no timetable for the train posted, and no display that told you when the next train would depart. We had to pay the driver on the train – something that would create a certain delay during busy times.

On the short trip we noticed the driver continuously chatting with one of the attendants, beneath a sign that said “No unnecessary talking with driver.”

Viktor turned and said, in German, “That must be necessary talking”.

Here was a cool benefit of a foreign language: being able to talk about someone and not have them understand.