My student Dita (not the real name) has given birth to her first son in Germany. She must give birth to the baby in Germany, because she just studied there. Her husband Dion (not the real name) lived also in Germany due to Dita's study.
Both of them take the course offered by me, because they just wanted to learn German again. They haven't spoken German for a long time since their return to Indonesia.
Dita und Dion are Batak people. Batak or Tapanuli tribe come from North Sumatera. The Batak people have family names and children take automatically the family name of their father. A Batak woman, who marrys a Batak man, will take the family name of her husband. A Batak man, who marrys a Batak woman, keeps his family name.
It was interesting. As Dita gave birth to her baby, the hospital asked her whether she will give the baby her family name. It surprised Dita. It was new for her. She never knew that. As a Batak woman she thought automatically, that her baby takes Dion's family name.
As Dion heard that, he was angry. He explained the hospital, that Batak people take automatically the family name of the father.
So, in Germany a baby belongs to the mother, not to the father. The mother decides which family name the baby should take. Nice. -)
Back to text 17: "ueber", "an...vorbei". Which Preposition Should I Choose?
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