We recently decided to take a road trip up to Berne, Switzerland’s capital city.  As I’ve mentioned before, Berne is only about 100 kilometers from our home in Geneva, and yet when you get about halfway there, all the French road signs and the French names of road side businesses disappear, and are replaced with signs in German.  This causes me some consternation, because while I have confidence in my ability to navigate most situations I encounter in French speaking Swiss Romande, my German proficiency is limited to only a very few words that I picked up watching Hogan’s Heroes as a kid.(e.g. “danke” means “thank you” and “sauerkraut” means “sauerkraut”. )

But then, to my utter astonishment, it turns out my concern was all for naught!  We arrived in Berne and I soon realized that I must be some sort of linguistic savant, because I discovered that I was able to understand quite a bit of the German we encountered.  And as a public service to my loyal Swiss Sojourner followers, I offer this lesson.  Continue reading →