Name: How I Faked Being American
Uploaded: 2018-03-22T09:45:05.000Z
Duration: 4 min 51 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

I'm a retired and reformed ex-undercover KGB agent.

what it took to morph from a German to an American,

where I was successful and where I was not.

I spent all together about four years studying English,

perfecting to the extent possible an American accent.

For instance, one of the hardest things for Germans,

but I hadn't become an American culturally.

Having now learned the difference between

Germans are in your face, they will tell you

what they think even if you don't ask for it,

and they will criticize you at any chance they get.

And there's still a residue of that left.

wrap everything, every piece of bad news,

in some kind of a velvet cloth so it doesn't hurt that much.

The clothes and the food, that was taken care of

by a three month practice trip to Canada.

Before I was sent to the U.S., that was I think 1977,

and Canada is close enough so I learned menus,

I learned what beer there was being drunk,

what wine and liquor, and I bought all kinds of clothes.

to send me on this kind of a training trip.

First night in Montreal, I go to a restaurant

So I'm looking at this bottle, I'm calling the waiter,

Eventually, I found out watching television,

reading the newspaper, and so forth, and eventually

started to think, feel, and act more like an American

When I came to the United States, I was fundamentally,

culturally, and psychologically unprepared.

The one thing that saved me was that in the early years

I managed to stay away from inquisitive folks,

particularly say ladies who were Americans who would

quickly find out there's something different about you.

What saved me from making these fundamental bad mistakes

was that I started interacting with people who didn't care.

I worked for two years full time as a bike messenger.

You know, one day they work and the next day they're gone.

Nobody cared a whole lot and nobody was inquisitive.

So I listened a lot and I learned what it was like

to have lived in the country for many years.

Includes the sports, the movies, celebrities,

And so I slowly got to a point where I felt comfortable

talking and acting as if I were an American

even though I was not aware that my behavior

was still clearly traceable to my German roots.

If you're looking for people who pay attention to history,

if you're looking for people who are spiritual,

this country provides such a variety to folks who live here

that you can always find what you're looking for.

that I believe in no where else in the world

Subtitles ListPlay Video

How I Faked Being American

eventually

approach

accent

pretend