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Changing the topic momentarily away von dem Arschwagen, I have some cultural questions that we've been discussing in German class. . . I wonder about the German perspective. Do Germans feel that "multi-kulti" is really dead or is it mainly top-down populist political rhetoric? Why are Germans so apprehensive about Google Street View? The reaction to seeing one's home on GSV seems to be  no matter where you live, but in America that face means AWESOME and in Germany it means something less positive, from what I gather.Are you happy that Germany is in the EU? And the fun one, what's the easiest way to spot an American tourist?
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Nov 19, 2010 16:37
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Jiminy Krimpet posted:Why are Germans so apprehensive about Google Street View? The reaction to seeing one's home on GSV seems to be I think it was just bad/non-existant PR on Google's side. The media only reported sensationalist horror stories and there was nothing positive to counteract that. Also, the WiFi-sniffing incident didn't make Google any more popular. EDIT: I would also say that the German population wasn't really familiar with Street View's concept, because if you didn't travel abroad outside the EU/to the States, you probably never used the feature, if you even knew about it. Das MicroKorg fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Nov 19, 2010 |
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Nov 19, 2010 16:48
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Ziir posted:Also hilarious how they play a ice cream commercial and then pause everything so a guy can come in with ice cream for sale. Yeah we had that too but it didn't work so well so they stopped that and play a beer commercial now and sell that. Seems to be working better. E: oh hey new page  Jiminy Krimpet posted:Changing the topic momentarily away von dem Arschwagen, I have some cultural questions that we've been discussing in German class. . . I wonder about the German perspective. You should read the recent D&D thread on that. Actually don't. Basically the media used the same rhetoric the post-9/11 media used on terrorism. It was a rather one-sided "IT WILL EAT YOUR CHILDREN" and voices saying otherwise were mostly not heard. The minister of consumer protection was going fully overboard on personal data protection from the internet and it hit GSV instead of facebook or regular google. Basically people are retarded. It's basically paying for being able to pay with your currency in vacation countries like Spain or Greece and easily crossing borders. They visit the Octoberfest. Sereri fucked around with this message at 17:04 on Nov 19, 2010 |
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Nov 19, 2010 16:50
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Multi-kulti: It's complicated. Germany as a whole doesn't know I think. Street View: bad Google PR, there are tons of people that love Street View EU: Germans love the EU. American tourist: tourist clothes + obnoxious drunken behaviour = American
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Nov 19, 2010 17:01
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Jiminy Krimpet posted:And the fun one, what's the easiest way to spot an American tourist? Sneakers, white tennis socks and fanny pack.
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Nov 19, 2010 17:01
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I've been kind of surprised by the answers about the EU. . . according to the news I read, the German opinion is more or less that the Greeks and Spanish spend like drunken sailors, the French are lazy unless picketing against work is involved, and the Italians are lazy altogether, and then they all stagger in at 5 am drunk and disheveled with their hand out looking for cash from Germany, who is more or less bound by the EU to bail them out. But I guess that's only economics, and only on a macroeconomic scale. I can see how it would be pretty awesome to be able to go anywhere on vacation without using passports, and always end up in places where your money goes father than it does at home.
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Nov 19, 2010 17:09
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The EU is generally beneficial on many levels. People realize that. The EU is just an easy scapegoat for dumb politicians, but fortunately this tactic is getting less effective.
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Nov 19, 2010 17:12
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Jiminy Krimpet posted:Why are Germans so apprehensive about Google Street View? The reaction to seeing one's home on GSV seems to be So essentially it's a general fear of the unfamiliar paired with a desire for older, simpler times when you knew what's what. I think there's also a certain desire for authority in Germany, i.e. when confronted with a new phenomenon the populace tends to look for an expert who can tell them whether it's a good or a bad thing rather than figure it out on their own, which leaves the door open for pretty much everyone. And bad news apparently just plain sell better. There is also a current in traditional media that paints Google as an antagonist; many newspaper publishers are pushing for a law to keep Google from displaying their headlines and article snippets in search results, claiming it's hurting their business and Google unduly makes money from their work (that they put online themselves, mind). I wouldn't go so far as to claim that there's a large-scale campaign against Google as a whole (many do), but this happening in the higher-ups might give reports about Google's projects a certain spin, perhaps not even consciously.
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Nov 19, 2010 17:14
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Jiminy Krimpet posted:Do Germans feel that "multi-kulti" is really dead or is it mainly top-down populist political rhetoric? - I have no idea. "multi-kulti" is kind of an old-fashioned term though. - 1. because we're private people 2. because we tend to be sceptical about companies making profit of public goods 3. because we've had two surveillance states in the past hundred years and are more sensitized to the issue - I don't think the EU would even exist without Germany, at least not in its current state, so the question is more whether I like the EU. Kind of, but I used to be a lot more enthusiatic about it. - Either very fat or very skinny, badly dressed, always walking in the bike and speaking too loudly
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Nov 19, 2010 17:23
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Hungry Gerbil posted:American tourist: tourist clothes + obnoxious drunken behaviour = American I stepped onto a train at like 6am and the only thing I wanted to do with go to sleep for the ~1 hour ride home and a bunch of dudes from the back of the train yelled at me (well, my friends, I just happened to be in front) asking if I liked to party. In my drunken state I yelled back hell yes I like to party and they told me to come over and pulled out a bottle of beer from a bag. So I walked down the aisle and they gave me a beer and started yelling obnoxiously telling me about how awesome they are because they're in the  UNITED STATES MARINES and how it was a public holiday back in god's country and that they just need to walk into a bar and up to a girl and show them their SEMPER FI tattoo and they can get her in bed just like that and asked me why the gently caress "we" (I didn't mention that I'm American) don't ever let Americans into bars and clubs. As soon as I walked back to my friends one of them said something like "drat I didn't know you could say gently caress and poo poo so many times in one sentence."Sorry Germans we're not all like this. At least I got a free beer. Edit: I hate our military. Edit 2: Completely unrelated but the strangest thing I've ever been asked was wether or not most people in the US were Jews, because this girl watches Sex and the City and apparently there's one episode where someone sleeps with someone who wasn't circumcised and the rest of the episode was them gossiping about how everybody they've all slept with was circumcised, and since circumcising is a Jewish thing she thought everyone in America must be Jewish. ... then she asked if I was circumcised and asked to see it in bed and sadly no but I can dream. Ziir fucked around with this message at 17:45 on Nov 19, 2010 |
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Nov 19, 2010 17:34
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Ziir posted:Sorry Germans we're not all like this. At least I got a free beer. I know. But the obnoxious ones stand out. And we Germans like to see the negative side of everything.
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Nov 19, 2010 17:55
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It should be noted when talking about the EU that Germany has benefited from a lower Euro due to the economic considerations of the EU as a whole, vs a currency that represented the economic strength of Germany alone. A lower euro due to concern over Greece or Ireland or whatever makes German exports cheaper, bolstering the how competitive they are globally, which in turn strengthens the German economy further. It is not unlike the current situation in China. Also if the US military is so good why couldn't they win in Afghanistan or Iraq 
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Nov 20, 2010 00:03
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Jiminy Krimpet posted:And the fun one, what's the easiest way to spot an American tourist? North Face Denali Jacket Wearing New Balance/ASICS/Nike trainers with shorts or jeans Walking in the bike lanes (that's a good one, Previously on GBS  )Eating Döner or at an American fast food place Talking really loudly in English Wearing a Jansport backpack I used to play the "spot the fellow American" when I was studying abroad in Freiburg (I'm also American). I won every time. Previously on GBS posted:- 1. because we're private people 2. because we tend to be sceptical about companies making profit of public goods 3. because we've had two surveillance states in the past hundred years and are more sensitized to the issue I think #3 is the big one. The average German is so much more in tune with individual privacy than even the American "conservatives" claim to be. Jiminy Krimpet posted:I've been kind of surprised by the answers about the EU. . . according to the news I read, the German opinion is more or less that the Greeks and Spanish spend like drunken sailors, the French are lazy unless picketing against work is involved, and the Italians are lazy altogether, and then they all stagger in at 5 am drunk and disheveled with their hand out looking for cash from Germany, who is more or less bound by the EU to bail them out. I think those are more playful stereotypes, though.
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Nov 20, 2010 01:30
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Jiminy Krimpet posted:Changing the topic momentarily away von dem Arschwagen, I have some cultural questions that we've been discussing in German class. . . I wonder about the German perspective. The Green party still stands strong to the whole multi-kulti idea, the rest is slwoly shying away from it. Neither camp has defined what multi-kulti is actually supposed to mean, let alone agreed on it. For the cultural conservatives, it is some sort of horrifying dystopia where the sharia is law. For the rest...no one really knows what multi-kulti is supposed to be, and so everyone has an opinion on what it is and why it sucks. You have to remember that we Germans used to style ourselves as a people without immigrants. Even today, the leader of the right wing CSU thinks he can rightly claim that Germany is a country without Immigration. Hell, until a few years back German citizenship was awarded by blood. Turkish guy who's parents were born and raised in Germany, speaks perfect German, married a German and named his firstborn Klaus? Not a German. Guy from Russia who's great-grandparents were hired by Catherine the Great in Germany to colonize Kazakhstan? German the moment he crossed the border. quote:Why are Germans so apprehensive about Google Street View? The reaction to seeing one's home on GSV seems to be To be honest, I was somewhat apprehensive about GSV as well, but then realized that the exterior of your house is open to the public by virtue of its very existence, so why bother when it shows up on the Internet? Any gathering of data of any kind is always frowned upon in Germany. Half the country was run by a government that ordered new telephones to come with a Stasi-bug preinstalled for over 40 years, after all, and such things stay in the memory of people for a good long while. Plus illegal data gathering is one of the few areas where the government still has to back down from public pressure (or gets slapped around by the BVerfG), so it is an area that people feel very strongly about. quote:Are you happy that Germany is in the EU? Personally? Yes. Very happy. But then I always think that the EU could be so much more, if only...I mean, we Europeans have a history of killing each other. We did that for at least the last 2000 years, and probably a good while longer. Now, for the first time in history, there is a true and actual chance that this continent might unite in peace. We could be the example that not all human history has to be a history of constant conflict but could be one of cooperation as well, an attempt to build a world where everyone can at least live in peace. We could become the second democratic superpower, one that the rest of the world does not have to be afraid might fall into the hands of religious fundamentalists because people don't like socialized health care. Instead we get rules about what constitutes a banana. I get why this is necessary to constitute a common market, but drat...so much potential, and it is just so wasted by this little crap. Every time they make one step towards a united European nation (which is something that most Germans wouldn't mind seeing, I am sure, even if they are not as ecstatic about it as I am), they take another dozen towards a bureaucratic monstrosity. One shouldn't play stereotypes, but Germans do like efficiency, and a giant apparatus of civil servants without a clear cut purpose is something abhorent to them. Even the German administrative apparatus is already considered way, way too large and inefficient (but don't you dare cutting down on the funding for <x> because you want to save money!)
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Nov 20, 2010 01:51
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unixbeard posted:Also if the US military is so good why couldn't they win in Afghanistan or Iraq Because not all of their equipment is named after animals.
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Nov 20, 2010 03:15
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ArchangeI posted:Guy from Russia who's great-grandparents were hired by Catherine the Great in Germany to colonize Kazakhstan? German the moment he crossed the border. I still wish I could get in on this. I can trace both sides my family from Russia back to Germany, but they all moved to Canada long before I was born.
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Nov 20, 2010 03:37
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For the American temporary ex-pats living it up in Germany: are you doing anything for Thanksgiving, even if it's just a little extra something for dinner than you normally would do? Are you planning on putting up a show for your roommates to give them a taste of the holiday?
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Nov 24, 2010 16:54
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Brokyn posted:For the American temporary ex-pats living it up in Germany: are you doing anything for Thanksgiving, even if it's just a little extra something for dinner than you normally would do? Are you planning on putting up a show for your roommates to give them a taste of the holiday? I'm making pumpkin pie for my flatmates for Thursday and then another one for my friends on Friday cause we usually all do some kind of dinner at someone's house before we go party so my flatmates get to be the guinea pigs. They don't sell canned pumpkin or premade pie crust here, so I've had to make everything from scratch. Already made the pumpkin puree but it smells like crap to be honest so I hope adding sugar fixes it. Tried making the pie crusts (with flour) today but that went horribly wrong so now I found some crackers that taste similar to graham crackers so I'm just going to crush them and add some butter instead.
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Nov 24, 2010 17:49
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Ziir posted:I'm making pumpkin pie for my flatmates for Thursday and then another one for my friends on Friday cause we usually all do some kind of dinner at someone's house before we go party so my flatmates get to be the guinea pigs. They don't sell canned pumpkin or premade pie crust here, so I've had to make everything from scratch. Already made the pumpkin puree but it smells like crap to be honest so I hope adding sugar fixes it. Tried making the pie crusts (with flour) today but that went horribly wrong so now I found some crackers that taste similar to graham crackers so I'm just going to crush them and add some butter instead. Coincidentally, Food Network just showed Good Eats's pumpkin pie episode the other night. A friend of mine did this recipe a couple years ago as an experiment and it turned out really well. If you have time and the inclination, give it a shot. Using gingersnaps for the crust was a great, great idea. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pumpkin-pie-recipe/index.html That's weird that they don't sell pre-made pie crusts there though. Do you think it's just your town (I forget where you are, and I'm not going to be a stalker and find out) or do you think it's a Germany-at-large thing? It seems like a country bent on efficiency would be all over something like that. Brokyn fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Nov 24, 2010 |
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Nov 24, 2010 19:28
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Brokyn posted:It seems like a country bent on efficiency would be all over something like that.
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Nov 24, 2010 20:05
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Fellow Deutschgoons, what should one do and where should one go in Hamburg on new year's eve?
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Nov 24, 2010 22:58
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People who studied German before going to Germany: how quickly did you pick things up once you got there? For someone who is intermediate(ish) based on classroom learning, how long does it take to actually get any good at the language? People on student visas: How easy is it to find work on a student visa? I know you can only work so many hours, how easy is it to get enough work to fill them and how much do students manage to make on average (after tax)? I'm mostly interested in Dresden and Berlin.
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Nov 25, 2010 01:07
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FLX posted:Fellow Deutschgoons, what should one do and where should one go in Hamburg on new year's eve? Go to the central railway station, I hear there's a train that'll take you to Berlin within 90 minutes  Seriously, though, it's probably neat to watch the fireworks from the other side of the Elbe, but I am pretty sure they close the old Elbtunnel for the 31&1st. So you could do what I did with a couple of friends on New Year's Eve some years back - go to the Veddel and trek to the Elbtunnel from there. We got lost along the way and watched the fireworks from the theater where they show the Lion King musical, but if you take the right route, you'll stand a good chance of ending up just on the opposite side end of the old Elbtunnel. Other than that I guess you can just go to the Reeperbahn. Strangely enough I think I never spent New Years' there so I wouldn't know what it's like. Probably pretty insane.
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Nov 25, 2010 01:54
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Fasheem posted:People who studied German before going to Germany: how quickly did you pick things up once you got there? For someone who is intermediate(ish) based on classroom learning, how long does it take to actually get any good at the language? It all depends on your level of commitment to learning the language. If you put some effort into not only studying, but hanging out with actual Germans and experiencing 'real' German, you'll be set. You'll have to get used to different styles and dialects of spoken German, of course, which can be quite challenging at times, but that's one of the funnest things for me with regards to German. Languages are best learned in the most intimate of situations. You learned English from countless hours as a baby bouncing on your mother's knee, etc. Obviously, you aren't a baby anymore so that experience is gone, but you can still learn quite a lot of German on the pillow, so to speak, with lots of cute German girls or boys (whatever floats your boat).
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Nov 25, 2010 02:54
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FLX posted:Fellow Deutschgoons, what should one do and where should one go in Hamburg on new year's eve? I was there last year and we ended up at Grosse Freiheit 36.
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Nov 25, 2010 06:03
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Fasheem posted:People who studied German before going to Germany: how quickly did you pick things up once you got there? For someone who is intermediate(ish) based on classroom learning, how long does it take to actually get any good at the language? I studied German for the year prior to moving here (wasn't planning on it, just wanted to learn another language originally). My first days here sucked. Every time I walked into an office (and you have to go to a lot of offices to register and other paperwork) the first things that came out of my mouth were "Entschuldigung, können/sprechen Sie Englisch?" and ordering food consisted of me pointing at something and saying "das." Just last week I went to my health insurance company to give them some forms and talk to them about my dental work and didn't even bother asking for an English speaker.
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Nov 25, 2010 11:24
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Ziir posted:I studied German for the year prior to moving here (wasn't planning on it, just wanted to learn another language originally). My first days here sucked. Every time I walked into an office (and you have to go to a lot of offices to register and other paperwork) the first things that came out of my mouth were "Entschuldigung, können/sprechen Sie Englisch?" and ordering food consisted of me pointing at something and saying "das." Just last week I went to my health insurance company to give them some forms and talk to them about my dental work and didn't even bother asking for an English speaker. And you've only been in Germany a few months right? That's good to know. I've also only studied for about a year. Wanted to wait another year mostly to save more money to be extra safe careful, but I think I'm just being ridiculous at this point. I already have enough to last 3-4 years according to the official guidelines. How much do I really need?? How accurate is this website? http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de Specifically interested in this part: quote:Furthermore, citizens of Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and the United States of America may obtain any residence permit that may be required after entering Germany. Citizens of all other countries planning a longer stay in Germany must apply for visas at the competent mission before arriving in the country. So I (Canadian) can come to Germany on a tourist visa, then change it to a student visa without leaving the country? I found a different site that said only Americans can do this. I'm not in my home country and I really don't want to waste a flight back to Canada to apply for a visa if I don't have to.
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Nov 25, 2010 12:19
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Fasheem posted:So I (Canadian) can come to Germany on a tourist visa, then change it to a student visa without leaving the country? I found a different site that said only Americans can do this. I'm not in my home country and I really don't want to waste a flight back to Canada to apply for a visa if I don't have to. I'm pretty sure you can trust that site since it's an official government website. What's the other source?
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Nov 25, 2010 12:45
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Fasheem posted:And you've only been in Germany a few months right? That's good to know. I've also only studied for about a year. I just got here in September. My rent is about €210 including everything, health insurance for students is €63.38, I didn't have to buy any textbooks (but god drat why are school supplies so drat expensive, there's no reason why a binder should cost €5), I refill my phone with €20 every month, and the rest just depends on your lifestyle. Beers are about 60-70 cents at grocery stores for a .5 L bottle, milk is about the same price, etc etc. I don't know how it is for Canadians, but that's exactly what I did. I walked through customs and the guy stamping my passport didn't even ask why I was here. After dealing with bureaucracy I went to officially enroll at my university and they issued me a residence permit right there. As far as I know I didn't get a student visa.
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Nov 25, 2010 12:57
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Ziir posted:etc etc. Are you living in a dorm? On that budget, I could last a really long time. ZwobotJones posted:I'm pretty sure you can trust that site since it's an official government website. What's the other source? Student information on the Technische Universität Dresden site. I still haven't decided on a city so I'm looking at different schools to see if any of them seem particularly interesting.
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Nov 25, 2010 13:16
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Fasheem posted:Are you living in a dorm? On that budget, I could last a really long time. Kinda. The place I live in is managed by the Studentenwerk but it's not a dorm. It's more like an apartment complex in the US. I have 3 roommates and we share a kitchen and such. I think the other buildings managed by the Studentenwerk are more like dorms where each floor has 8+ people.
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Nov 25, 2010 13:20
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Fasheem posted:Student information on the Technische Universität Dresden site. I still haven't decided on a city so I'm looking at different schools to see if any of them seem particularly interesting. Yeah, Canada definitely isn't listed on that site. But in any case I'd say what the Auswärtiges Amt says has precedence over what the university says, especially concerning visas. I'd suggest calling the German consulate in Canada, maybe they can help. They also have some information here.
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Nov 25, 2010 14:01
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So, here is an odd question. If I want to get a regular haircut in.....say, Berlin or Rostock, where would be a good place to go? Is there a standard chain of barber shops? And...would the colloquialisms be the same? (ex. Little of the top. ´Scheiden Sie ein bisschen aus daoben.´ Fade the sides. ´Blenden Sie die Seite ab.´)
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Nov 25, 2010 21:07
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AlternateNu posted:So, here is an odd question. If I want to get a regular haircut in.....say, Berlin or Rostock, where would be a good place to go? Is there a standard chain of barber shops? And...would the colloquialisms be the same? (ex. Little of the top. ´Scheiden Sie ein bisschen aus daoben.´ Fade the sides. ´Blenden Sie die Seite ab.´) I would just go the the next place that doesn't look shabby or hasn't got that hipster feel to it (e.g. "Hair Killer" where everyone comes out looking like Bill Kauliz) . Concerning the cut I'd just describe it with "kürzer oben und an den Seiten" and maybe add how many centimeters you want cut off. The hairdresser should then show you how much that length actually is so you can confirm it again  I don't think we use the term blending, but you can describe it.EDIT: Of course you can also take a picture of a cut you like to the hair dresser and go from there. Das MicroKorg fucked around with this message at 21:42 on Nov 25, 2010 |
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Nov 25, 2010 21:40
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ZwobotJones posted:Yeah, Canada definitely isn't listed on that site. But in any case I'd say what the Auswärtiges Amt says has precedence over what the university says, especially concerning visas. I'm not in Canada, and also not currently a resident of Canada. The residency thing seems to complicate things a lot. quote:This Consulate General only accepts applications from persons being permanent residents of the provinces Ontario and Manitoba. Awesome. I'll still try to contact them though. Edit: quote:You have to submit your application in person. 
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Nov 26, 2010 00:08
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Loan American goon in Berlin until Wednesday and able to hang (and needing German practice) should anyone be willing.
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Nov 28, 2010 10:59
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How is Berlin in January? My plans to go camping and hiking on the Alps like in those Jack Wolfskin posters isn't going to happen cause my Edit: I've spent a week in Berlin already, so I've seen all the museums and buildings and whatever else there is already but no one else has.
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Nov 28, 2010 21:14
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It's cold as gently caress. January this year started off with lots of snow that didn't thaw away until February I think, and the city at some point just gave up trying to clean off the streets, and eventually ran out of salt/dirt to make walking around safe. Also if the last couple years are any indication, public transit is gonna be hosed if the weather is anything but above freezing temperatures. You might be lucky and it'll just be cold and wet, though.
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Nov 28, 2010 22:07
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Ziir posted:How is Berlin in January? My plans to go camping and hiking on the Alps like in those Jack Wolfskin posters isn't going to happen cause my Wow, camping and hiking in the Alps in winter sounds pretty crazy to me. Are there even any camping sites or Hütten that are open? I thought in winter everything there goes into total skiing mode.
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Nov 28, 2010 22:46
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Im currently in the process of learning German, fairly early on but I generally hit a snag when it comes to ordering words.. Im mean't to say Ich möchte Wein kaufen - I want to wine buy but I say it in a more english structure Ich möchte kaufen Wein - I want to buy wine Does phrase number 2 still make sense in german? EDIT: Also for saying "Mit inhen". I tend to say it at the end of the sentence ("I would like to eat with you "where german would be structured like "I would like you with you eat"). Again, would that make sense at all? A LOVELY LAD fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Nov 28, 2010 |
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Nov 28, 2010 23:13
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