This is how mystery writer Phillip Kerr introduces a nefarious new character near the end of his trilogy Berlin Noir, set in Berlin and Vienna before, during, and after World War II.<\/p>\n
For me, the next best thing to travel is reading books set in other countries, particularly books like Kerr\u2019s where the way the language is spoken is as important as the architectural style or the food.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the book\u2019s hero, Herr Gunter, is caught trespassing, and since he\u2019s been grabbed from behind, he relies on clues in the guard\u2019s German to assess the situation: \u201cHe sounded big and not too bright.\u00a0 And it was a strangely accented German he spoke: \u00a0like Prussian, but different; more like the Old Prussian I had heard my grandfather speak; almost like the German I had heard spoken in Poland.\u201d \u00a0It turns out the guard is Latvian.<\/p>\n
In part I of Berlin Noir, a mystery caller\u2019s regional German accent is a clue to solving the mystery. In this sprawling, hard-boiled mystery thriller, Kerr describes six different regional German accents\u2014from Berlin, Frankfurt, Bavaria, the Rhineland, Vienna, Latvia, and Munich. These linguistic variations fit perfectly in a book that is more about evoking time, place, and people than the actual whodunit.<\/p>\n
The Donna Leon, Inspector Brunetti mysteries are set in Venice,\u00a0 and after two dozen of them, you begin to feel like you could navigate the labyrinthine streets without a map.\u00a0 You also want to know more about Veneziano, the local dialect which Brunetti uses to his advantage when interviewing witnesses of a certain age:<\/p>\n
\u201cHer voice flowed in the Venetian cadence:\u00a0 \u00a0in other circumstances, Brunetti would have slipped into Veneziano, but she was speaking in Italian, and so he did his part to retain the formality of the exchange.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s great about the Brunetti novels, beyond good advice on when to address a suspect or witness in the ancient Venetian dialect, is that you develop a sense of how native speakers balance the official language with the often more private dialect of their native locale.<\/p>\n
Brunetti\u2019s endearing sidekick, Vianello, describes a fanatical group they are investigating:\u00a0 \u201c \u2018They\u2019ve got to be a bunch of basibanchi<\/i><\/b> \u00a0if you ask me.\u2019\u00a0 With that word, Veneziano at its most pure, scoffing at people who knelt in church bowed so low as to kiss the pew before them, Vianello gave yet more proof of their dialect\u2019s genius and his own good sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
A consciousness of language as more than just a flat means of communication but as a living, breathing character in these books is why I love these authors and why they can evoke such a strong sense of place.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For me the next best thing to travel is reading books set in other countries, particularly books like Kerr\u2019s where the way the language is spoken is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2416,2418],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-german","tag-italian"],"yoast_head":"\n