Ask me about germany.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > Ask me about germany.

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

elwood posted:

As for the bavaria, austria questions.

If you compare germany to the us, bavaria is texas, austria is canada.

Exactly the comparison I always make when explaining Germany to people. I add that Berlin is New York City.

One of the most frustrating things for people from the other parts is getting lumped in with Bavarians, on which 99% of all stereotypes are based because they seem to get 99% of the tourism.

It's like being from New York City and being asked whether you're wearing cowboy hats at the rodeos there while swinging your lasso.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2009 03:01

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 14:25

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

Bong Goblin posted:

My german teacher at university told me that if you whistle to yourself, like a tune or something, people in Germany will think you're a crazy person. Is this true?

Ich moechte zu pfeiffen!

A) I generally think people who whistle in public are jerks who seek attention or are trying to show off how cool they think they are. I don't like to be forced to listen to your tuneless whistling just because you need to prove something to yourself.

B) "Ich m�chte pfeiffen!" is correct.

C) On the topic of good German bands, I'd recommend Blumfeld. The singer's pronunciation is a model of clarity and I'd think their songs would lend themselves well to learning the language. Also they're top notch musically (in my opinion). (They split up in 2007 and now Jochen Distelmeyer, the singer, has a solo career.)

# ¿ Jan 23, 2010 05:37

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

The shelfs also make everything stink nicely for a long time. The general occurence and acceptance of bathroom and other stenches is way higher than in the US. I remember visiting a cube-shaped, airtight little bathroom building near Ciceroplatz in Wilmersdorf one summer day where you could basically cut little cubes out of the air which smelled of concentrated stale and fermented urine. There are also a lot of pedestrian tunnels in and near train stations which serve as Ersatz bathrooms.

To add some observations and opinions that I haven't seen here:

Mustaches are accepted to the point of being a must (get it? what a pun!) for some tiers of society (blue collar workers and police must have somewhat thin mustaches while intellectuals must have bushy ones). Off the top of my head, two particularly instructive examples of how droopy or pointless mustaches can round out German intellectuals' appearances are G�nther Grass and Thilo Sarrazin.

While the US generally has sizable portions of the population on every issue, I've often described Germany as the "98% society" to other people: On most issues it'll feel like 98% of the population are on the "reasonable" side, while 2% are on the other. Consequently, those 2% are seen as weirdos. Just ask people about many things that are hot button issues in the US, such as the death penalty, abortion or gun rights. In some cases it even affects the availability of brands. Up until at least ten years ago, it was a major feat to fine any Pepsi products as opposed to the ubiquitous Coke ones. While the 2% often really are weird and stupid, the general climate of consensus stifles many discussions.

The autobahn sucks rear end in most places. It doesn't help you that you can theoretically go 500 km/h when there are only two lanes to choose from with the right one having all the trucks going 90 km/h (60 mph) and the left making you have a BMW illegally turning up their lights at you after about 30 seconds while riding you rear end. So unless you're an insane driver yourself, you'll be forced to switch lanes constantly. I made it a point to use trains instead whenever possible.

There are also some positive things, but these are the things that just came to mind and which I hadn't seen mentioned yet.

# ¿ Sep 23, 2010 00:00

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Allia posted:

Hmm... I think they're meant to convey an extra strength to what you're saying. You don't need them, but they accent what you're trying to say. What's the wiki page?

Interessant, da habe ich ja noch nie drueber nachgedacht. Das scheint wohl doch eine spezielle Eigenschaft der Deutschen Sprache zu sein. Jedenfalls koennen diese Woerter sehr wohl die Bedeutung eines Satzes in ihren Nuancen veraendern. Sollte man schon festhalten und sich als Deutsch lernende Person mal mit beschaeftigen.

This seems to be one of the more advanced subjects about the German language and you can probably get by without actively using these words, but it'll generally be good to understand what they mean when other people talk to you so as not to misread them.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2010 00:01

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bronin posted:

Nice to see an Allg�u-Goon here. I'm from the Ostallg�u, pretty close to Upper Bavaria and ~20km to the Austrian border/Alps. And yes the Trachten around here look like those pictures. Here are some pictures of our local "Trachtenverein":

I just wanted to bring some attention to the fact that it's not always appropriate to ask people born in Berlin (like me) about these kinds of activities. They are kinda derided and frowned upon in the more northern parts of the country. Asking people from the North about them is like asking New Yorkers whether they wear ten gallon hats, ride horses and visit rodeos every weekend.

I fully respect all that Trachten stuff (at least officially), but it's a faux pas and makes you look buffoonish to just associate any German with it.

Maybe I'm bitter because these people define the stereotype for the whole country and I've met maybe two Americans who had traveled to places outside of Bavaria.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2010 23:59

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AlternateNu posted:

Mensch...nach 9 Monate vom Lernen und ich mache noch Fehler genau wie das. Ich werde mich so wie ein Idiot anh�ren wenn ich n�chster Monat nach Rostock umziehe. Gibts irgendjemand im Ort?

Mann... 9 Monate gelernt und ich mache immer noch solche Fehler. Ich werde mich wie ein Idiot anh�ren, wenn ich n�chsten Monat nach Rostock umziehe. Gibt's irgendjemand am Ort?

Anyway, you're not terrible. After 9 months my English perfect was not.

# ¿ Oct 21, 2010 10:20

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Liface posted:

"War" would then be something that has happened in the past, but does not necessarily have an effect on today.

Does that really apply to World War II? :toot:

Isn't there already a thread where all this language stuff belongs? It might just be me, but I would limit it to tourists' needs in this one.

To contribute some observations from my recent trip to Germany (where I was born and grew up) that may or may not be helpful to someone:

Getting into the country was really quick and painless. No stupid forms to fill, quick passport check and I was in. They did question this one guy though who said he was coming to party, though it looked like they eventually let him in also.

A myth that never dies out but was debunked again was that of how everything is so organized over there compared to the U.S.: After arriving six hours late due to the weather, the helpful Lufthansa guy sent us to a flight which turned out to be the wrong one. Also, Lufthansa now has these highly convenient check-in terminals (kiosks) that only read your name from government ID but can't read pre-2008 U.S. passports. Additionally, if your flight is not booked under the full name found in the passport, get ready for some lecturing from the helpful staff.

Of particular intelligence is the fact that you can't get to the counter without a boarding pass and when these machines don't work for you, you can't get your boarding pass without help from someone at the counter. The solution was to ask Lufthansa staff from completely unrelated counters, like group check in. They were really helpful, but the system is silly.

Another thing that is thoroughly hosed is the S-Bahn (commuter train) system in Berlin. They have had disruptions for months now, with no end in sight.

After many years of experiences, my friends and I came to the conclusion that overall Germany and the U.S. are about on the same level when it comes to being organized.

Another debunked myth is how everybody in Germany has 9999999 TB/s internet while we in the U.S. are using dial-up. My friend who lives 5 kilometers from Hamburg has 1 Mbit/s DSL and can't get anything faster right now. My poorest friends in a podunk town in Texas have 3Mbit/s. 3G data on my pre-paid Medion GSM card was also not quite measuring up to AT&T here.

Random comment: The FSK stickers on all media are fugly.

Otherwise everything was cool and the trip was fun.

Es nervt nur auf die Dauer etwas, wenn hier nur noch Haarspaltereien ueber die Deutsche Sprache kommen. Das ist fuer typische Touristen, fuer die dieses Subforum ja hauptsaechlich ist, nicht wirklich interessant. (Reiteration of what I said about the existence of the other thread.)

# ¿ Jan 30, 2011 09:08

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Zwille posted:

You can turn the covers on most media - they usually have a sticker-free version printed on the back now, and if it's a steelbook or something you usually can just peel off the sticker.

I haven't bought anything yet where that would be possible. Some CDs and DVDs even have that poo poo printed into the cover (i.e. not as a sticker) and there's not way to turn covers.

Liface posted:

One guy had 1Mbit/s DSL?

MYTH DEBUNKED

Okay these were my personal impressions and I didn't go through all my friends here and there, but the overall picture was like that. So it was debunked for me.

Another thing that I found to be a little bit silly is the relative scarcity of ATMs. In the U.S., where in most places you hardly ever need any cash, you can find these in any convenience store, supermarket and so on. Over there the only safe bet was near banks. If you're going to require cash for many things or accept credit cards, but not Visa/Mastercard (like Saturn in Hamburg doesn't), at least have ATMs in your store.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2011 02:41

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FLX posted:

Can you guys really read ichwerdeeinberliner.com? I try it every couple of weeks, because he often does have some great points. It's just so over-the-top negative and one-sided all the time, which makes him sound like one of those arrogant "provocative" hipster bloggers, who also read on poetry slams and get totally off on all of that.

As somebody who grew up in Berlin I would confirm that the phenomena and the people he writes about mostly exist, but I've always tried to avoid them at all cost. It is possible to surround yourself with people who aren't like that, but the "default", particularly in academic circles, tends to gravitate toward what he describes. Of course he's also using some hyperbole in order to sell his book and his blog.
I don't know if the small movie theaters in Berlin are still like that, but I vividly remember times when you would have easily been able to hear a flea fart during the loudest parts of the movies. My main reason to visit those theaters was that they had movies in their original languages.

# ¿ Jun 10, 2011 07:59

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

I'd like to add that you don't need to renounce German citizenship in order to lose it. If you willingly become a citizen of another country, you automatically and immediately lose German citizenship (there is an exception if you become an EU citizen or if you file to keep the German citizenship, but that's not what we're talking about here with regard to your grandmother and both exceptions didn't exist back then anyway).

On the flip side, bam thwok, I'm not 100% sure in cases that involve persecution, but in all other cases, in order to become a German citizen, a person has to formally renounce all other citizenships, and not just in a non-binding declaration, but with real legal consequences. The German authorities WILL ask for proof of that. So only do this if you want to be EXCLUSIVELY German. (Again, I may be wrong about persecution cases, but Germany generally does not allow dual citizenship with non-EU nationalities, with the exception of some people who were born in Germany.)

(Edited for clarity)

Mr. Smile Face Hat fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Jul 9, 2011

# ¿ Jul 9, 2011 10:01

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Zwille posted:

They say Semmel in the Werner comics and that's, well as far from Bavaria as you can possibly get without leaving Germany.

If this is supposed to be a joke because the company who initially published the books is called "Semmel Verlach", then it's okay. But that's too subtle for the people in this thread who don't know about this.
Otherwise the default round/roundish little pieces of bread that are sold in bakeries are definitely not called "Semmeln" in Berlin or Hamburg (and probably nowhere outside of Bavaria). In Berlin, it's "Schrippen" and in Hamburg "Rundst�cke" (if I remember correctly), and you'll open yourself up to ridicule if you point at those and call them "Semmeln". They also look different.
(If you REALLY want to get technical, some bakeries outside Bavaria MIGHT sometimes sell Semmeln as a specialty, but that still doesn't make them the default.)

There are some significant cultural differences between the Southern and Northern areas of Germany. Local dialects are part of them.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2011 10:49

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Knust.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2011 12:07

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hankor posted:

I bought some "Br�tchen" today, let's take a look at my buns.

While I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert on all things Br�tchen, I'm feeling largely vindicated by this Wikipedia article: "Br�tchen" is the generic name for the superset and there are different regional types and names: Schrippen in Berlin, Rundstuecke in Hamburg and Semmeln in Bavaria. (Go to "Regionale Bezeichnungen" in the article.) The "Kaisersemmel" shown on that page is what I remember having in Munich.

Of course something can be sold as "Semmeln" in Berlin, but that doesn't make it the regional standard.

hankor posted:

If you live in the area support these guys, they are really good and cheap as gently caress for a bakery that actually bakes.

But they wrote "Bon's" on the receipt - ouch!

hankor posted:

Tomorrow I'll make some "R�hrei" with milk, Schnittlauch and salmon, I'm sure you are on the edge of your seats.

I am, that sounds very good.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2011 01:09

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HenryEx posted:

It's right up there with Portemonnaie and Toilette.

I think Zwille got what I meant: It's not about the word "Bon", but about the way they formed the plural with an apostrophe before the "s", which is wrong but common for uneducated "German's".

# ¿ Jul 23, 2011 20:24

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Zwille posted:

Soda/pop/coke/fizzy comes close I think. But really, we don't even talk about Endst�cke that much. Even the Schrippen "controversy" isn't that much of a problem as soda/pop in the States, I think.

I don't know, growing up in Berlin definitely gave me a friendly disdain for lots of things that come from Southern Germany, such as Oktoberfest, Karneval and their dialects. And since these people used to get all the foreign tourism (seems like Berlin has caught up a lot recently), I had to endure all these questions about "beer fests" and the like.
In American terms, I'd compare it to being born in New York City and having to endure questions like "So do you have rodeos every weekend, podner? You ride horses yourself?".

And it's "soda" :colbert:

.
Call it "pop" or "fizzy" if you must, but calling something that is not Coca Cola a "coke" is :haw:

as poo poo. (Edit: After talking to somebody who grew up in a "coke" area, it seems more like they're using it like a genericized brand name, as in people saying "let's play some Xbox" and then ending up playing the Wii/PS3.)

Mr. Smile Face Hat fucked around with this message at 01:31 on Jul 26, 2011

# ¿ Jul 26, 2011 00:55

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I grew up in Berlin with "Viertel nach Zehn" and only learned about "Viertel Elf" pretty late. It was not used in my more sophisticated circles. (Not really kidding, the more intellectual people there viewed a strong Berlin accent/dialect as low-class. This was not so much the case with other dialects in other regions.)

Also, "Sonnabend" is cool and "Samstag" is douchey. It's "sun evening" against "sams day", where "sams" doesn't evoke any mental image at all.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2011 15:03

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Hungry Gerbil posted:

That silly propaganda was made up after the fact. I also made it a point to never read that book. I could also write you a children's book why the earth is flat or why there's not evolution. Doesn't make it any more true.

Sereri posted:

You are wrong.

Oh ok, I'll be sure to consider that well-supported argument in the future. Whenever I'll talk about "Sonnabend" again, I'll pause and think "Wait a minute, Sereri said I was wrong... hm...". I'm sure "Samstag" is supposed to mean something and I could look that up somewhere, but "Sonnabend" has an immediately obvious meaning.

Alan Greenspan posted:

I grew up right at the border between purple and blue and this division runs through my family. My mom's side is fiercely in the 'viertel elf' camp while my dad's side is 'viertel nach zehn'. They are both wrong, of course, it's 'zehn uhr fuenfzehn'.

All humor aside, I think among the three options you're discussing "viertel elf" makes the least sense because there's the pitfall of thinking it means 11/4 = 2.75. (I know it's supposed to mean "a quarter of the hour before eleven o'clock has passed", but that's hard to grasp when you grew up with the other two expressions.) "Viertel nach zehn" means a quarter of an hour has passed after 10 (no pitfall there), and "Zehn uhr fuenfzehn" is obvious also.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2011 16:33

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Sereri posted:

Excuse me, your opinion that Samstag was douchy because the origin of sams has been crippled beyond recognition is of course the definition that should be taught in schools.
One is the continuition of the germanic zoning of the day times in which used the previous evening was part of the day. The other is basically the day of saturn / star of sabbat , the same as in Spanish, French, Italian and English.

But one of those was used by communists so you are wrong.

I gave a semblance of an explanation. Granted, it wasn't highly scientific, but it showed some level of reasoning. A plain "you are wrong" doesn't add anything. Anyway, now you've given an explanation and it's all good.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2011 17:03

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bronin posted:

The only other really different word for a day I know is "After-meta" for Dienstag, which some old people around here use.

Huh? What's the German word for that, and what location is that? Sounds pretty meta to me.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2011 17:23

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bronin posted:

Southern Ostallg�u. And that's the word for Dienstag. The week goes like this:

Meta(g) - Aftermeta(g) - Mickde - Donnschda - Freita(g) - Samsta(g) - Sonnta(g)

I'm not too sure about the g's at the end though.

The "After-" part is a little suspicious, because that means "anus" in German. In German, it would be "Nach-". What's also suspicious is that the only Google results I could find about Aftermeta meaning Dienstag link to one of your posts in the German language thread on SA. Last but not least, you also posted there that your grandma called your father "boy", so unless I'll see more substance, I'd say your grandma like English and somehow made that up.
I think it's cool if people make up words by the way, so I'm not thinking badly of her for it.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2011 18:43

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bronin posted:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dienstag

You probably wrote that wikipedia entry yourself and... (okay I concede). Just goes to show that anything goes in language.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2011 19:16

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Nosy_G posted:

I understand that the German government requires all German citizens to forsake all other citizenships. Is this still the case?

Yeah and it's not just a legally non-binding affirmation, you actually have to legally relinquish your other citizenships and bring proof. And if you somehow get your old citizenship back, you'll lose the German one automatically. (There are some exceptions, notably for EU citizens, but those wouldn't apply to you.)

Nosy_G posted:

What is the general attitude of the German people to immigrants? I consider myself to have a modest grasp of the German tongue, but there will surely be a bit of a transitory period as I become more familiar with the language. Are there particular parts of Germany where English wouldn't be of use to help communicating?

The general attitude is positive, but you won't be regarded as German anytime soon.

Nosy_G posted:

On a similar note, is there any substantial differences in dialect across the nation? I studied German in school, and was told that I was learning something called "High German", or something similar.

The differences are substantial, but any normal person will also speak Hochdeutsch.

# ¿ Aug 13, 2011 05:29

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Alan Greenspan posted:

Not always. The Internet's #1 resource for Germans who want to have multi-citizenship is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zweipaesse/

While that's really nice, judging by the stories on its front page, this looks more like a site for Germans who are about to become citizens of other countries and not the other way around. Nosy_G is not even German yet. (By "Germans" he obviously, based on his situation, meant people about to become Germans.)

There are all kinds of exceptions for people from EU countries, people born to parents from two different countries etc., but none of that changes the fact that Nosy_G will have to renounce his U.S. citizenship legally and officially if he wants to become German.

[It would be actually interesting if then, as a German, if the U.S. wants him back, he could get a Beibehaltungsgenehmigung. I guess it would depend on how German authorities view somebody playing citizenship games like that in order to circumvent the renunciation.]

I actually think Germany's stance on multiple citizenship is terrible and outdated and prevents lots of people from becoming German citizens, thus hampering integration. I wouldn't mind having a discussion about it, but this is not D&D.

# ¿ Aug 13, 2011 22:54

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Hamiltonian Bicycle posted:

the place was stolen by Germans quite early

What's that supposed to mean? Prussia was stolen by Germans? It was German all along.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2011 12:57

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Hamiltonian Bicycle posted:

Not until like the 13th century or so. It's named after a Slavic people that used to live in what was later called East Prussia.

In those terms any place on earth is stolen. I thought you meant something more meaningful.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2011 13:38

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Hamiltonian Bicycle posted:

The only point I was making is that those guys are where the term "Prussian" comes from even if they were already pretty much entirely irrelevant by the early 18th century or so when German-run Prussia really became prominent.

And that point was mostly irrelevant to the question. It may not be fair to the poor people who inhabited it before, but they aren't exactly what people tend to mean when they ask about Prussia and its people. Also you didn't exactly make that clear when you said were talking about a '"Prussian" identity in the original sense' - people can easily confuse that with the Prussian identity of the kingdom or state of Prussia.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2011 06:10

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Swiss knifes were Swiss originally before they got stolen by Bavarians!

# ¿ Aug 15, 2011 12:41

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eine dose socken posted:

There has actually been a long-going debate about whether the city-state of Berlin and the state of Brandenburg should be reunited into a state of Prussia

Bullshit. Nobody was calling it that, at least not in 1995 when I voted against it. I'd be interested in knowing who's calling it that now. The resulting new state was supposed to be called Berlin-Brandenburg.

eine dose socken posted:

, but there's not much support for the measure.
Already economically weak Brandenburg doesn't want to get saddled with non-too-shiny Berlin finances, and the very cosmopolitical Berliners don't want a bunch of province hicks to dictate their policies. It will never happen.

From my perspective back then as a Berliner (and hypothetically if I'd still be one): The union of the two states was sold as being more efficient and prosperous than the sum of the individual ones. My problem with that was that German states, like states in most countries that have them, exist for people to identify with them and not just for efficiency. I can also think of several important and successful world cities that are either their own country (Singapore), are special administrative regions within their country (Hongkong) or are near the border of their state with several others (New York City). Therefore that campaign didn't have a leg to stand on.

eine dose socken posted:

I have both German and Italian passports, but this is only possible because of a special legal agreement between the two nations.

That special agreement between the two is called "The EU". Germany accepts dual citizenship when the other one is an EU citizenship.

eine dose socken posted:

There was a very heated and partisan debate about double citizenship in the late 1990ies, the CDU/CSU tried to stir up the anti-foreign vote by outlawing it (they succeeded), so now the laws are very strict.

Mostly wrong. You're right about who's against it, but the law used to be that there was no dual citizenship at all. So they didn't succeed in outlawing it, but in largely keeping it that way. The rules about the EU citizens and the Beibehaltungsgenehmigung (possibility to keep German citizenship when getting another one under certain conditions) are more recent and are more open.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2011 09:58

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eviljelly posted:

If you're an American, your credit cards are going to be worthless.

That's actually interesting to learn. I used my American credit cards around Germany on order to pay for things and get cash when I went there at the end of last year.
So they're worthless now?

# ¿ Aug 28, 2011 03:19

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I understand that you're probably not identifying with all these points you're mentioning, but rather describing them, so this is really not meant as a personal rebuttal. I've seen several of these points before, so I thought it interesting to address them.

hankor posted:

That's sort of a complicated issue, in general people from east germany hate you for being imperialistic assholes and people from the west will hate you for not having "your own rich and diverse culture".

When I grew up, the talk was more about how old and sophisticated the culture was. Never mind that it hasn't prevented the Nazi regime at all. Several other countries that had or have had murderous regimes also had very old countries.

hankor posted:

Students will hate you for both of these and dislike your systemic racism (since we don't really have any significant amount of brown people we have no opportunity to disadvantage them more efficiently than you ever could, loving over the turkish population is fun but they are simply not dark enough).

Consider that due to Germany not allowing dual citizenship for non-EU people (therefore including the Turks), the system creates lots of permanent second class citizens because not everybody is ready to give up their existing citizenship. This is of course not intentional...

hankor posted:

The average working man will hate you for the phrase "old europe" and the classic intellectual (pseudo or not) will hate you for what you do with our mass-media and our language.

Does the average working man still remember that speech from 2003 or so? I haven't seen "Old Europe" being mentioned in the German press for a while now.

hankor posted:

I think there are two main dividers, from a german point of view your whole political system is all kinds of hosed up and your constitution is far too lenient when it comes to changing things,

The German constitution became very specific and restrictive only due to what happened under the Nazis. One nice thing is that if any German state would flout federal law in the way Arizona is doing right now with immigration law, the German federal government could immediately void those state laws and, if necessary, go on to depose the state government and establish a new one and use the army for help as needed. No need for endless lawsuits. (It's called "Bundeszwang".)

hankor posted:

when we hear things about political groups in the US they always bitch about the constitution being violated and misused, most germans don't know what actually is or isn't part of the constitution because they don't have to care about it . We just don't get your approach towards your political system. While you seem to hate and distrust everything your government does we are pretty satisfied with ours and have been for decades, while it's not all peachy you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that is afraid of the police or that thinks that a state run health care system is a bad idea.

On the other hand, if you look for laws that are founded on a deep (I'd call it paranoid, but not the good kind) distrust of the government, look at the information privacy laws. Those are a reaction to what happened during the Third Reich and in East Germany.
And I don't know if East Germans were so satisfied with their government over decades (Though the argument has certainly been made that East Germany was "more German" than West Germany.)

hankor posted:

The other major divider is probably the attitude towards our own country, you'll not find the average german using "Germany, Germany, Number one"(which is eerily similar to a part of our anthem that is no longer in use) as something to shout when he's feeling particularly patriotic, as a matter of fact it's generally seen as pretty stupid to be patriotic in the first place. Don't get me wrong, the people are glad they live here and while they think of nice weather and great beaches most will never really think twice about actually living elsewhere. But actually saying that we are the greatest country in the world? That's completely hosed up, especially if you are in no position to actually compare it.

I'd agree that it's generally not displayed like that (outside of soccer games), but ultimately Germans do feel that their country is the best. That most Germans are so discrete about this is a consequence of the Nazi era.

hankor posted:

since traveling to europe is a privilege for assholes that think it's going to make them more cultured and conservative idiots, the americans that actually come to germany can , for the most part, gently caress off.

Is this really your opinion? Americans who don't go to Europe are bad because they don't go and the ones who do are bad because they do? I guess some people just can't win with some others just because of their national origin.

hankor posted:

Before I forget: We universally hate you for asking if we are still Nazis (gently caress the family that made a friend of me a swastika cake for her birthday when she went for a student exchange), your inability to drive stick, your ignorance towards european culture ("it's basically one little country, right?") and we especially hate you for asking if anybody in our family knows your great great grandfather Hans and that you "feel" german because of him.

The Nazi thing is universal and not limited to the US. I've been asked by very well educated people from several countries how Germans see Hitler and the Nazis. It's a little bit funny because Germany has spent huge amounts of time and money trying to show the whole world how much they repented and changed. It seems it hasn't made too much of a difference.

On any trip you're bound to be confronted with some idiots or funny situations. You just filter them out or categorize them differently if they're your compatriots.

I certainly grew up in Germany with different attitudes around me: First, we didn't really hate Americans or any specific nationality and even if somebody comes from a country that did bad things, we still tried to see him as an individual who might not have anything to do with that. Hatred of people for their origins was frowned upon.

Executive summary: Cultures are different, the Third Reich has profoundly impacted German culture and you can't expect people from countries who didn't have to go through that to behave like those who did. Hating people for their origin is petty.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2011 11:26

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

hankor posted:

I really only wanted to give a list of what to me are the most common prejudices against Americans.

Yeah, I figured those weren't all really your opinions.

hankor posted:

It's not that I generally dislike Americans, it has more to do with the fact that I dislike the "gently caress your culture, I'm a tourist! Now put on these Lederhosen, play some Hasselhoff, bring me a Strudel and show me the way to the Autobahn!"-attitude, which is not exclusive to Americans but since it's relatively expensive for them to travel to Germany compared to other Europeans, you are bound to run into these stereotypes more often with Americans than with other nationalities in Germany (Asians tend to stick to tours so you barely meet any, South Americans get thrown into a pot with Portuguese and the Spanish so it balances out). Oddly enough I have never had this problem with Australians or New Zealanders but that's probably because quite a lot of them come to study abroad and not exclusively to piss me off.

Okay... When I lived in Germany, the tourists and foreign friends of people that I met were all highly intellectual, comparatively, because I haven't seen these behaviors from anyone. (On the other hand I haven't been working in any industries where you'd typically meet the worst kinds of tourists or any tourists at all.)

# ¿ Sep 1, 2011 01:47

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

hankor posted:

Things that make this a great Bewerbungsfoto:

Judging by the colour of the tie and the suit I'd say this photo was taken around the mid-90s for a middle management position.

Is that Michael Eisner with glasses?

Anyway, hello institutionalized prejudice. With the exception of fashion models, actors and possibly some other professions, people shouldn't be judged on how they look. It's also a really good way to check someone's ethnicity. Another strike against Germany being "holier than thou" about racism.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2011 01:58

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

There's no such thing as a completely objective, prejudice-free hiring process. The only thing you can do is limit discrimination as much as possible. Not having pictures gives some people a better chance to at least get interviews.

And it's relatively easy to quickly get a qualified person to dress a certain way, while it's not so easy to have someone who doesn't possess the necessary skills to get them real quick.

Mr. Smile Face Hat fucked around with this message at 06:55 on Sep 1, 2011

# ¿ Sep 1, 2011 05:43

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

Previously on GBS posted:

I doubt that not including a picture significantly decreases discrimination given that there are so many other things that give away ethnicity/nationality/race. Chance is you can find a picture of the applicant online anyway.

Somehow you can always hand-wave anything away. And several of my German friends have names that are so generic that you'd be hard-pressed to find them online, even if you knew their professions.

Previously on GBS posted:

Either way, the potential discrimination is only delayed to the interview. It's a nice idea and everything, but it really seems pointless.

Well one idea is that once you give some people a better chance, you might not discriminate against them so easily because at least you'd get to see them in person. With your kind of reasoning any anti-discrimination measures would ultimately be pointless.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2011 09:03

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

BaconPigbutt posted:

That`s totally true. The schwul-schw�l case for instance, both sounds like the same to me, and I don`t even dare trying to use schw�l becouse I`m pretty sure I`m gonna embarrass myself.

I was going to say that they kinda used to have similar connotations ("warm") and origins and then I found proof:

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/wortwoertlich-koydls-kleines-lexikon-schwuel-war-mal-schwul-1.740758

# ¿ Sep 8, 2011 03:05

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

If only SA had a long-standing German language thread in the Science, Academics and Language forum. Then those "Helft mir bitte mit meinem Deutsch"-Posts would have a place with all the other language discussions.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2011 18:44

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

Glass of Milk posted:

Just wanted to update about our trip- had a great time, thanks for the tips everyone.

A couple of questions:

3. No screens on windows. I like the windows that open at the top, but there are no screens on them. Why?

No good reason, it just never came up when I grew up there. Getting some insects into your place was a fact of life.

Glass of Milk posted:

5. We drove by McDonalds and it had a banner with "American favorites" which depicted a big burger with a side of fries and mayo. We don't do that in the US (the mayo, that is)

Welcome to inaccurate food marketing. One of the most puzzling examples here in the US is the Wienerschnitzel chain, which has never ever ever sold Wiener Schnitzel (writing it as one word is wrong).

Glass of Milk posted:

6. Tap water. I suspect this was just because we were tourists, but nobody wanted to give us glasses of tap water when we were eating at restaurants. Are you a dehydrated people?

When I was a kid, I sometimes actually had trouble getting something to drink in summer because water fountains were (and probably still are) virtually unheard of. So you either had something with you or needed to pay to get something to drink.
Water fountains are one of the atypical "socialist" aspects of the US.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2011 07:08

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

Jiminy Krimpet posted:

But the Germans are a private people, and if Google Street View is to be believed, a blurry people, so that's probably not a downside at all to the average German.

On the the other hand, they put their names on the door and respond to phone calls by saying their last name first thing after picking up.
And that Google thing is just disgraceful. Sometimes I really wonder why some international companies put up with crap like that.

Mr. Smile Face Hat fucked around with this message at 09:00 on Sep 21, 2011

# ¿ Sep 21, 2011 07:14

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

Glass of Milk posted:

What did Europe do before bottled water was a thing?

They didn't drink any water. I grew up around a lot of people who exclusively drank coffee, tea, soup or alcoholic beverages. The first time I saw bottled water was in Spain when I was 12.
Of course I drank water all the time as a kid, just never out of bottles.

[Some German language bullshit of no international interest:]
Und nat�rlich kenne ich Max Goldt und auch die Passage �ber das Anrufen. W�re toll, wenn es einen deutschsprachigen Thread g�be ohne Tourismus und das ewige "Helft Sie bitte mein Deutsch" (jaja, ich weiss ja, ich bin gemein), das jede sch�ne Diskussion abbricht, die man gerade hat. Einfach nur zum Rumfr�sen.

Kennt eigentlich jemand hier Fil?

# ¿ Sep 21, 2011 09:18

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 14:25

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

elwood posted:

Ich w�rde ja jetzt nen d�mlichen Spruch von Mario Barth posten (ich hasse den), aber dann w�rde ich wohl abgemahnt werden.

Na das hilft mir ja enorm weiter, ein vager Hinweis auf einen Spruch von einem Komiker, von dem ich (nach den konsistent negativen Bewertungen seiner Person hier wohl zum Gl�ck) noch nie geh�rt habe.

Also in der Bibliothek von Alexandria ist ein Buch verbrannt, das meine Antwort enthalten h�tte.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2011 09:47

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > Ask me about germany.

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