Staatangehörigkeit or What is Your level of German?

The other day, while I was taking the U-Bahn, I happened to overhear a conversation between a ticket conductor and an Asian student. He was going to be charged for taking the U-Bahn without a valid ticket in his hand. He struggled – in proper German – to explain how he was on a field trip with his class and homeroom teacher and therefore did not have his monthly train pass on him. This excuse did not mean much to the conductor as he was busy filling out his forms on the Schwarzfahrer (fare dodger). He was told to take this paper, another paper, his valid U-Bahn pass, his passport, and the amount of the fine, to the authorities.

The conductor’s final question was: “Was ist Ihre Staatsangehörigkeit?”, which left the young man with a blank stare. Then a passenger, sitting nearby, paraphrased it by asking: “Was ist Ihre Nationalität?”. I guess this is still not very much part of a sixteen-year-old boy’s vocabulary. The passenger, again paraphrased it down to simple German by asking: “Woher kommen Sie?”. This prompted a quick answer and he stated he was from Japan.

As a language teacher I really could sympathize with the young man’s anxiety. I would have never posed such a question to a young foreigner, using such a bureaucratic term. Then again, conductors are not language teachers.

Foreigners should really know certain terms for such occasions like riding the U-Bahn with or without a valid ticket, seeing someone at the Ausländeramt (foreigners’ registration office), etc.

To learn more specific German words in the category of the one mentioned above, visit German Words Explained