Hofmannsthal on Prussians and Austrians

A brief survey of the Prussian and Austrian national characters by Hugo von Hofmannsthal recently popped up (g) on my Twitter timeline:

Here’s my translation, based on a slightly different online source (g):

Hugo von Hofmannsthal Prussian and Austrian: A Typology In General:
PRUSSIA:	AUSTRIA:
Made, an artificial construction, country is naturally poor,	Organically arising, fabric of history, naturally rich,
Everything in people and from people, therefore: Orientation toward the State as a unifying force,	Everything from outside: Nature and God, God, love of homeland as a unifying force
more virtue,	more piety,
more diligence.	more humanity.
[…] The Individual:
THE PRUSSIAN:	THE AUSTRIAN:
Up-to-date worldview (cosmopolitan around 1800, liberal around 1848, now Bismarckian, with almost no memory of bygone phases).	Traditional mentality, almost unchanging through centuries.
Lack of historical sense.	Possesses historical instinct.
Strength of abstraction.	Minimal talent for abstraction.
Incomparable in orderly execution.	Quicker on the uptake.
Acts according to regulations.	Acts according to ideas of decency.
Strength of dialectics.	Rejects dialectics.
More skilled in expression.	More balanced.
More consistent and responsible (Konsequenz)	More ability to come to grips with his given situation.
Self-confidence.	Self-irony.
Apparent masculinity.	Apparent immaturity.
Transforms everything into function.	Turns everything towards the social.
Stands up for and justifies self.	Prefers to remain ignorant.
Self-righteous, arrogant, schoolmarmish.	Bashful, vain, witty.
Forces things to crisis.	Gets out of the way of crises.
Fights for rights.	Nonchalance.
Inability to imagine what others are thinking.	Ability to think self into others going all the way to loss of own character.
Character is product of will.	Drama.
Every individual possesses one part of authority.	Every individual possesses one entire humanity.
Striving.	Love of pleasure.
Predominance of business.	Predominance of the private sphere.
Hard exaggeration.	Irony going all the way to self-dissolution.
First printing: Vossische Zeitung 25 December 1917. In: Hugo von Hofmannsthal: Gesammelte Werke in zehn Einzelbänden. Reden und Aufsätze II (1914–1924). Hg. von Bernd Schoeller in Beratung mit Rudolf Hirsch. Frankfurt a. M.: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag 1979, S. 459–461.

Advanced Colloquial German: Apotheken Umschau

Take a look at this ad:

All these fun, friendly people are telling you to be on the lookout for new issue of Apotheken Umschau (g). 

Apotheken Umschau (roughly, ‘Pharmacy/Druggist Gazette’) is a free publication lying around in every German pharmacy, and many other places as well. It contains articles designed to appeal to the prime customers of pharmacies: old people, of which there are a lot in Germany. Open it up, and you’ll find nutrition tips for aging bones, how to choose hearing aids, the best insoles for your aching feet, natural arthritis remedies, how to strengthen your immune system with homeopathic globuli, etc. You get the picture. The only sizzle comes from the occasional article about unusual funeral choices or erectile dysfunction.

Because of its safe, soft, soothing content, Apotheken Umschau has become a by-word for boring in all contexts of German life. You might hear someone described as being “about as exciting as Apotheken Umschau“; or a young journalist for a local newspaper might complain about being assigned “Apotheken-Umschau type stories”. Die Zeit once sardonically labeled the magazine: “The Nation’s Support-Stocking“.

Armed with this knowledge, you can now begin your next conversation with “I just read an interesting article in Apotheken Umschau…”. The response will reveal what sort of person you’re talking to. For better or worse.