Since February 2025 the German Railway Service (Deutsche Bahn, DB) no longer has any restaurant services in long-running intercity trains, such as from Amsterdam to Berlin (a trip of about 6 hours). That may be quite inconvenient if you didn’t know about that change and did not bring enough food and water.
The conductor on my journey shared this sentiment and made it quite clear to all passengers on the train. Shortly after departing in Amsterdam, the conductor announced in three different languages that there would be no restaurant service on this journey. He even encouraged passengers to use the feedback option on the DB website if they are unhappy with this change in policy.
So, why bother? Because the way the identical facts were expressed in three different languages was extremely interesting. We heard three different formulations of who made the decision to drop the restaurant services. This is what he said:
German: “die Deutsche Bahn” (Engl: the German Railway Service)
English: “our German colleagues”
Dutch: “de duitsers” (Engl: the Germans)
Oh how much opinion, how much world view can be communicated by the choice of a noun phrase!