Want to know what it feels like to be an immigrant in a land where you don't know the language? Take a foreign trip without a guide. Leave the tourist areas and try to communicate. This can be most frustrating. Even more so if you get caught in local expressions or slang.

I know enough German to get into trouble. A word will pop into my mind and I'll often mispronounce it or find that it is not appropriate to the situation. Ignore those umlauts or mispronounce them and you're in real trouble.

When visiting Pinka Mindszent, Hungary I tried to find the cemetery. I asked in English, no response, in German all I got was a head shake, so I reverted to sign language. I laid my head alongside my folded hands and pointed to the ground. I was told "kein (camping) platz." I never did find the cemetery.

My immigrant grandmother Hedwig Mühl-Pöltl Sorger liked to tell this story. Seems an immigrant cousin and his wife Julia were told to go to "Allentownpa" when they got off the boat. The train stopped in Allentown, PA and the man asked if it was the right place. The conductor said yes so the man hollered to his wife "Eulie, Eulie, steig aus, steig aus (get off - get off)! Allentownpa, wir sind dort (we're there)! All the other passengers laughed. Just another instance of something immigrants had to learn, town name followed by state name abbreviation is not pronounced that way. There are also stories of some immigrants going to Allentown, NJ by mistake - maybe Allentownnj.

Many people know a little of another language - I've traveled a lot and I've picked up some other languages in addition to the German I've been studying for years. Not enough to correspond but enough to be courteous and let others know I'm trying to be friendly. When exposed to a foreign culture, we should always try to understand each other. Let's not be ashamed to use what little we have. Is this not the best way to be accepted anywhere? So what if we make a little mistake. I've found in my travels and correspondence that a little can go a long way. I think our Burgenland immigrants found that out also. 

I'm pleased to see that this publication now has articles in both German and English. Perhaps we will all try to read both.

Edited by G. Berghold <GBerghold@aol.com>