Survival Guide for Germany
Jan 9th, 2009 | By Jonas | Category: English
First of all, I want to make sure that we can at least skip over most of the romantic clichés of Germans and their home country. When planning a trip to Germany, there is no need to come dressed as the Bavarians with Lederhosen and Dirndl unless you are heading to the Oktoberfest, Cologne Carnival or just fancy making a complete fool of yourself. Still, the beer stereotypes remain true for the Germans, which means some weeks of intense beer studies would be good preparation for your stay here.
The weather in Germany… let’s not talk about the weather in Germany, just bring along your umbrella, gumboots, hats and gloves, medicine for the likely case of you getting a cold, and expect stormy autumnal weather, regardless of when you come and where you go. This country has some beautiful spots, and I am sure the Germans would spend all their holidays between Flensburg and Oberstdorf if the weather Gods were a bit fonder of us. However, due to the climate conditions, we do have a diverse flora and fauna as well as every kind of fruit and vegetable, though to be honest, I don’t care to much about this joyous fact of German life when I get drenched to the skin every time I leave the house.
As for matters of social etiquette, I quickly asked a British friend on the matter, and received this interesting reply: “For me, as a Britain, especially hard to get used to was the direct way of talking to people, with a lot less humour and politeness than would be found in a typical English conversation. I have found from experience that making lots of jokes in a conversation isn't quite as easy or acceptable to do with Germans as it is back home, which is something that certainly takes some getting used to.” Furthermore, foreign friends keep telling me that either the Germans are too rude and direct or too cold and distant, which sometimes is also interpreted as behaving overly politely and formally. So, getting mentally prepared for a slightly weird social life might also be a good advice for all those who want to stay longer in Germany.
With regard to food, I asked some Chinese friends, actually they tell me all the time anyway. They hate German food – with good reason. They say it’s boring, salty, it comes in huge lumps instead of being cut into mouth-friendly pieces and cooked without love, which admittedly might be true for some of our dishes. Sorry guys. But even though German food draws no comparison with the Chinese cuisine, we do have some nice dishes here as well. A good way to try some is to ask a German friend if they can introduce you to their grandma in order to learn more about the German history and tradition. The chances are very high that this grandma will serve you some delicious German food! Easier though more expensive is going to an upscale German restaurant and ask for something delicious that is also edible for foreigners. And then please post here if you liked it or you got thrown out.
Last but not least, the language: German isn’t easy to learn, but there is a logic to it. That’s not very reassuring? With the right attitude and some German friends to talk to, mastering German is surely doable! Just a tip for English natives: Say you are from a country that nobody knows in order to avoid having to speak English all the time. I have also listed a few useful words:
Sie and Du: Important difference which also touches upon the German politeness mentioned above. The impersonal ‘Du’ is for people in your age group, friends and family. ‘Sie’ is formal and for all those who don’t fall into these categories.
Scheiße: Is a common swearword. Avoid it if possible, just know what it means.
Moin: Means „Hello“, sometimes just “Good morning” and is mostly used in North Germany. The origins are uncertain.
WG: Abbreviates the word “Wohngemeinschaft”, a shared flat, the place to be to learn colloquial German, particularly recommendable for students.
Gesundheit: Is the German counterpart of “Bless you”.
So I really hope this can help, but as we all know some mistakes you have to make yourself. Just try to enjoy your time in Germany and take everything with a smile. In case you encounter a rude German, don’t take it too personally: they don’t mean it, it’s the salty food that makes them act like this…
Great source:
http://de.bab.la/trainer/vokabeln/lektion-ansehen/englisch-deutsch/survival-guide/51.html
Moin, Jonas!
It is nice that You didn´t go for the cliches, like talking about the delicious Wurst
There is something about the food that you could add though, which is the Turkish/German food! The Dürum became an important part of the eating habits around here I guess…
Not only the Turkish food! What’s with the Italian stuff! Greek restaurants! The German-style Chinese specialties an so forth… So, I think maybe you’d better add a whole new category because you can write a lot on how many countries have influenced the German cuisine, to what extent, etc. Yet, for a survival guide, this is far too much…
Good advice! Thx Corentin, but I have to admit: I do it all the time. Maybe I’m a bad German;)
Well, those are really useful words for foreigners, especially the word “Scheiße”. I remember the first time I went to Germany, it was a cold and rainy October. I didn’t know much about German, but I heard people say “Scheiße!” A LOT! At first, I thought maybe it’s something like “awesome”, ’cause I was once in the USA and the people said awesome all the time. And somehow the word “Scheiße” sounds really soft and elegant for me(you know it doesn’t sound so strong like “shxt” or “fxck”, could not be a bad word) , I though it would be very chic to use this word. When I came up with this idea I was so happy and wanted to use it, then I asked one of my friends how to put the word Scheiße in a sentence, all I remember is she laughed out loud and ran to another group of people then, they all laughed like crazy. I don’t really remember who she exactly explained that word for me, but my intuition told me the word is something special and…bad.
yes, it’s true, German food is too salty. But some kinds of food taste very good, different from Chinese food, like the fry fishes and steak. I love Chinese food.
from a Chinese guy.
thanks for the article, great points you made, true all the way!
the Germans do really have a big thing for Wurst and Bier… Rain or sun, they always find some reason to have a little Bierfest in the city square…they drink it everywhere: on the street, at the cinema and even at New Year´s Eve instead of champagne:D…
i am doing an internship in Germany and found that the stereotypes are indeed true; the Germans are ridiculously punctual, rule-lovers and rule obeyers, straight forward to the point of sounding rude to the more delicate folks, efficient, very polite & highly-educated.
i was taken aback by the fact that people working for years together in my office still use Herr/Frau + family name when adressing one another. also, since they never ever confuse work with personal life they are totally humourless at work, but compensate in their private life (or maybe i just know the very funny ones:)
geert hofstede´s cultural dimensions were helpful to me when trying to understand Germany better before coming here:
http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_germany.shtml
Germany ….BEER, the weather, the horrible and confusing language that even Mark Twain hated, the rudeness and the pork/potato loving culture! You pretty much touched every aspect of what Germany is all about. I have a love/hate relationship with the German culture but the world be dull without the Germans!!!
Viva Oktoberfest!!
Hi everybody,
many people think that Germans are rude. But I must disagree.
Germans believe that saying nice words while thinking bad words is an outright LIE. And our mothers tell us that lying is rude. For this reason, the German who thinks badly of anything you do will either say just that or shut up. They will not lie to you about their opinion.
So if a girl asks her German boyfriend “How do I look?” she should expect him to say “Awful, darling! This dress is impossible. It makes you look like Kelly Osbourne stole Britney Spears’ stage-attire” Still it’s not rudeness. It’s not meant to be rude! It’s him being honest. If he lied to her saying “Babe, you look great!” THEN he would be rude indeed. It would mean that he’d have her wear a dress that doesn’t look good on her, thus exposing her to the malice of the detractors out there. And he would be rude, lying to his girlfriend. You’ll surely understand that he absolutely couldn’t do that. No way!
Likewise, Germans will take questions literally. If you ask a German about his Opinion on your presentation, he’ll think that you are interested in his Opinion on it. And he’ll tell his opinion. Even if it hurts. He’ll reliably point out any mistakes you may have made – in order to help you correct them or avoid them next time. He won’t even think about telling you “oh you did great!” in case you failed. Instead he’ll make proposals on what you might want to improve.
There are exceptions to this though: Small children will be praised for painting scratchy-doodle pictures or torturing musical instruments with kiddie-melodies. The mentally retarded may be treated likewise.
So, If you want to be praised for anything you do, act like a mentally retarded cretin who can’t stand reality.
WARNING: This also means that, if a German tells you you did really great, everything was perfect and nobody could have done better he EITHER means just that OR he thinks you’re a mentally retarded cretin. The general rule to spot the difference – the more exaggerated the praise, the more likely is the latter. Switch on any detector for irony and sarcasm you might have.
Then, if a German praises your deeds, he might also be one of your subordinates, hoping for promotion for saying “great” to anything you do – but this doesn’t necessarily exclude the possibility of him thinking of you as a retarded cretin. Be aware.
You might also stumble across a few Germans who will adapt to your culture rather than to their own – for your comfort and to avoid misunderstandings – they’re rare though.
So if you are in despair and want to hear a compliment from a German – maybe because there are only Germans around – ask for compliments, not for opinions. If they see that you are nervous and that you need to be reassured, they’ll freely give you all the soul-balming words you need. Really. They might even overcome their averseness to lies when they see you really need some friendly words.
Grüße from Germany
Astrid