GRAHAM BUDGETT: BERLIN BEI NACHT

[Berlin by Night, 1987]


Fast Deutsch

Fast Deutsch is 'almost German', but - language being language - not quite. Fast Deutsch is snappier, quicker than common German, a truly modern language. Deejays and neon-signs use it. It reflects the Berlin tempo and nourishes the culture like fast-food [the Hamburger has contributed at least as much to the world-wide influence of German culture as the Goethe Institute].

Living here in Berlin, I am of course interested in speaking German, but when Germans talk fast I don't understand. The written word is much easier; you have more time for subtleties. 'Fitneß-studio', for example, is not too different from the English: 'Fitness Studio', and 'Doppel-whopper' translates readily to 'Double Whopper', illustrating perfectly the Germanic origins of modern English.

Such words however do not simply signify objects. They are simultaneously signs, objects, and cult; they embody and offer, in themselves, a culture. That culture represents a gift to the German tongue that, apparently paradoxically, bears the dedication: MADE IN GERMANY.


[+] Deutsche Version... [-] Deutsch Version

Fast Deutsch

Olympiastadion

[Zoo]Logical Garden

Photographing Berlin...

Europa-Center

Schnuppe!

The Void

Reichstag Proposal Nr.2

The Angel of History

Georg Grosz Platz

Teufelsberg

Berlin Radiates

Berlin Bei Nacht

Kuenstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, 1987

© Graham Budgett 1987 - 2017