In our four language courses (French, German, Italian and Spanish) we also teach how to call a waiter. When we started developing our German course I wanted to use what I had heard when growing up in Germany: "Herr Ober". However, our (young) native speaker reminded me that (except, maybe in very upscale restaurants) you don't use this term, nor "Fräulein" for a waitress, when calling for service. In Germany you may just call "Entschuldigung!" (Excuse me!) or "Bitte zahlen!", if you want to pay.
Play our FREE German Quick Game, "Bitte zahlen" for a 4-minute lesson or the earlier one, German in a Café .
Do you have any examples of how calling for a waiter or waitress has changed in other languages and/or countries?
This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.
The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?
