有句俗话说是这么说的：奥地利和德国之间最大的差别是他们共用拥有的语言。
There is the saying: What separates Austria and Germany is their common language.
我的一个维也纳朋友在柏林生活。
So, a Viennese friend of mine went to try to earn a living in Berlin.
刚到那里的时候，他一直迷路，所以一直需要问路。
In the beginning of his stay there he got lost quite often and asked his way.
有一天他发现了一句德语标示“
Da musste da hochlaufen und dann…
”，大概翻译成“你必须跑到那里然后”，
One day the answer he got was something like: ”Da musste da hoch laufen und dann…” Literally translated: “You have to run up there and then..”
这里的含义是啥呢，德国人用“
Laufe
”这个动词（跑）作为走
/
散步的同义词
Subtext is: German use the verb “run” “laufen” synonymously to “go/walk” “gehen”.
而奥地利人用的动词“
Laufen
”的只在你真的需要“跑”的时候。
Whereas Austrians use the verb “laufen” “run” only when you are really meant to run.
对方只是想要提醒说，要去到某地真的是需要用跑的，并且耗费一些体力体力的。
Just to remind you: running is a much more faster and much more exhausting way of moving from one place to the other.
所以我可怜的朋友哆哆嗦嗦的回复道：我就不能用走的嘛？“
Kann ich den nicht auch einfach gehen
？”
So, my poor friend already quite tired from stumbling around replied:”Kann ich denn nicht auch einfach gehen?” “Can’t I just walk there?”
这个场景清晰的显示了跨文化沟通对于不同语言地区的人来说真的很重要。
This episode shows nicely that intercultural communication is a matter of cultures and not always different languages.
同时，也告诉了我们同为德语，奥地利和德国当地人之间的文化差异。比如，我的朋友就会有一种“去哪里都要用跑的吗”这样的困惑。
What does that tell us about German culture, that they, as my friend would put it, run everywhere?
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