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Chiming in from germany here, perhaps I can answer a few questions too...Alan Smithee posted:I know the Nazi thing is beaten to death but, Actually, I guess it is several factors combining here: on one hand the post-WWII GDR-era which maybe led to a different way of dealing with our national heritage. I can't tell exactly, since I'm from the Ruhr area in western germany. On the other hand, and I personally think that this will be the major factor, the lack of perspective in the eastern states weigh in much more heavily. Due to high unemployment and a bad outlook on the future many youths seek shelter, so to say, in extremist organisations. From all I know there's not only neo-nazi tendencies but also ultra-left views which don't make their way into the news coverage as much as neo-nazi-parties raising their ugly head again. quote:2) Other than the Dutch, are there other nationalities who have heavily stereotyped you or discriminated you? In my personal experience it's mainly a question of what generation you are talking to. I have a lot of dutch friends of my age who don't care about our mutual past, but the parents of one of them actually left for vacation specifically when I was visiting my friend in the Netherlands because of my being german. I was rather shocked, as you might understand, since I don't see myself responsible for the deeds of my ancestors. I have heard about similar expriences especially with polish or english people. So I guess it's those countries who suffered the most from german aggression that also tend to stereotype or discriminate us. quote:3) Being in the military, do you find certain elements gravitate towards it? For example you mentioned the violence thing, do some people with "itchy trigger fingers" or "gun nuts" join up the military for easy firearm access? Do certain right wingers tend to join? In my time in the Bundeswehr (back in 1997) there were no "gun nuts" worth mentioning. I was serving in a signal battallion and most of us conscripts shared a feeling of "Oh boy, please just let those 9 months be over ASAP". Shooting was fun, but basically we were all happy to be civilians again. It might be different with the volunteers striving towards a long-term service in the Bundeswehr - can't tell much about that, though.
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Sep 23, 2009 10:16
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Arthur Bowlsworth posted:do you like mayo on your chips? Chips as in potato chips? No! Chips as in Pommes (french fries)? Hell yeah! quote:also what is that drink called that was like coke and orange fanta mixed? mezzo mix or something, do they still do that? Yeah, that's still very popular - the actual slogan is "Cola küsst Orange" (Cola kisses orange). Whoa, there's even an awful commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VvVjtadQZo&fmt=18 quote:German food loving owns Order a Currywurst with it for heaven's sake!
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Sep 23, 2009 11:20
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fret logic posted:What can you tell me about Aachen? My family is from there and I've always felt much closer to the german side of my family and the small amount of traditions they still keep. I've been there only once for playing paintball (which is very complicated in germany, due to our crazy gun-laws. Paintball is "simulating killing other people" and therefore close to being illegal here) - I found it to be very beautiful, the Aachener Dom is worth a visit, it has a renowned University and has a nice blend of rural and densely populated areas. quote:I've wanted to move there to live for a long time but somewhat recently I decided to forget about it because of how conservative Germany is. Am I wrong or is it conservative along the lines of America, or worse? I'm genuinely interested in the political climate of Germany and how progressive it is comparatively. Well, the election for the Bundestag (which is our parliament, if I got the right equivalent in english. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundestag for more information) is coming up this sunday, so politics are filling newspapers and headlines here at the moment. The political climate here is very diverse, as you can see from the Wikipedia-article too. With the current economical crisis the fear of losing your job is very high in most areas, thus a lot of people would love to see politicians having ideas for sustainable development. Most of the people I talk to about this are rather disenchanted with most of the established parties. Both the SPD and CDU (the two "main" parties in germany) are losing votes in each election and the percentage of people actually going to the election is dropping further and further. In harsh times as these, a lot of people move towards parties that try to solve things differently, so Die Linke (left party), die Grünen (the greens) and a few of the extremist parties (like those neo-Nazi faggots) are gaining votes. A promising and interesting new party is the Piratenpartei (yeah, you read that right) which is addressing issues like freedom of information, anti-censorship, privacy and copyrigh - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piratenpartei for more information. quote:also Depends on what you want to say  If you indeed own a small snake, it should read "Ich habe eine kleine Schlange"  @Movendi: I think the OP can tell you more about bavarian public transportation - the question about public toilets I cannot answer either since I am at a loss there too. That's a lot better in many other countries, but then a McDonalds or gas station or restaurant should be not that far off in most cities, I usually just go there. Also taking photos in clubs in my area is allowed, so I will simply judge Berliners as dumb
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Sep 23, 2009 13:35
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Galsia posted:How do Germans feel about the British? I'm having difficulty describing it but most people in England love to hate Germany in a friendly kind of way. Not that we don't like German people, but we absolutely love beating you in sports. Its a rivallry obviously in place due to World War II. Have to agree an what another poster said: we love to hate you in a loving way too - I find Great Britain and the British are awesome people and I love visiting the UK.
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Sep 23, 2009 21:29
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icantfindaname posted:When did you start learning English? Also, how much harder is it really to learn english than say French or Spanish? We start learning it at 5th grade, mostly - there are some school projects which start teaching the kids bilingually fromg grade 1, but they are rare. Since most of the computer stuff I was fiddling around with as a kid was in english, I had little struggle with english in school and thought I was prepared for the 2nd foreign language we learn with entering 7th grade (french or latin in my school). I thought french would be easy since I already knew english but hell was I mistaken. Now it's just english and german for me with a word or two of french strewn in krakened posted:Do a lot of people speak English as a second language there? Which leads me to this: nearly EVERYONE here learns english at school - but then most people don't really get to train their english skills so many people will have forgotten most of it. This also leads to many being shy on using their english - but I'm quite sure that anyone you talk to in english will at least try their best to talk to you, just be prepared for funny grammar and pronounciation
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Sep 24, 2009 09:26
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Ziir posted:Sup (future) NRW buddy? How do you like that Kölsch? I met a ton of Germans from Cologne when I was vacationing in NYC. We went out to a German biergarten one night and they told me to order a liter of Kölsch because that was their best beer and the beer I'd be drinking. Can't say I enjoyed it too much though. Also Kölsch sucks, noone but them strange Kölner weirdos drink it anyway. Got I hate that stuff with a passion. And most of germany does, too.
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Aug 15, 2010 17:41
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I think you should be fine asking in the "Du"-form unless it's some random stranger you've just met. Then "Sie" is more polite, also in any kind of business setting.
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Aug 26, 2010 21:21
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Hamiltonian Bicycle posted:edit: in fact, I would go so far as to say that "Wie sagst du..." would almost instantly mark you as a non-native speaker, and probably as an anglophone. This. Even "Wie sagt man ... in deutsch?" sounds a bit off to me as a native speaker, I guess saying "Was heißt ... auf deutsch?" ("what does ... mean in german?") would be the smoothest way of asking for a specific translation.
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Aug 27, 2010 10:42
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Zwille posted:That's too bad but they look like they're a mess to eat anyway and make me wonder why McDonalds doesn't offer Currywurst or Bratwurst anywhere. Or Pommes Spezial. Because we got enough native frittenbuden for that and don't need our Currywurst from McDonalds? Thank you very much! 
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Sep 7, 2010 12:11
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Ziir posted:*slow cards stuff* Well, I don't know how it's handled over in the US, but the banking cards / insurance cards etc. are being ordered at your local bank and then printed at some central place or with a subcontractor of the bank. That just takes its time, I can't see how it could possibly go faster than 5 days.
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Sep 10, 2010 08:49
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On my Deutsche Bank account it's 1.000€/day, but I think I upped it sometime in the past when I needed money on some vacation or so... just call them and ask.
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Sep 16, 2010 13:15
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Broken Dictionary posted:Anyone know of any good websites that sell camping equipment and stuff? Also try: http://www.decathlon.de
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Jul 25, 2011 09:45
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