Bernd Springer analyses communication difficulties between Germans and Spaniards

Bernd F. W. Springer, lecturer of the UAB Department of English and German, recently published Das kommt mir spanisch vor, the first work published which focuses on Spanish-German communications. The title of the book can be literally translated as "that sounds Spanish to me", the German equivalent of the English idiom "It's all Greek to me".

18/12/2012

Springer specialises in German linguistics and bases his theory that a language is "the mirror, the glasses and the communication tool of a whole culture and its mentality". Based on this starting point, the author considers that the real problems in communication which can exist between those with different native languages are not grammatical, but rather cultural and thus these problems cannot be solved with the use of a lingua franca.

The book was written after a series of lectures on intercultural communication offered these past years at the UAB in which Springer and students analysed all types of real cases of communication problems. It was written with the empirical collaboration of Spanish, German, Austrian and Swiss students.

In 2013 the Spanish version of the book will be published, which will not only be the translation but also will deal with other related aspects, specific cases and focused more from the Spanish point of view.