Absolutely 😃 I think the north is very similar to the uk or to Netherlands and denmark, while the south is more similar to Austria/Switzerland (I know Austrians probably wouldn’t dare to agree haha but so it is in my opinion)
Absolutely same here, even considering the language. I hooked up with someone from Franken a while ago, who would forget to speak Hochdeutsch with me and I simply couldn't understand him!
Ha, true! I once lived in Baden-Württemberg and experienced some culture shocks, too. "Kehrwoche", "Schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue!" and "Fasnet". And I must admit - the people from Bremen are more open and friendly then the people from swabia.
@@jackundmarija20VA4 Thank's for your comment!👍 I couldn't write it better. Why does englishspeaking people create their own versions of a Name? München not Munich Berlin not Börlen Deutschland not Germany And so on... That's a culture shock😂😂😂
@@truckeronprivatetour4730 actually Deutschland is the made up word as it originally was the "Germanische Reich". Germany is much closer to Germania then Deutschland, don't you think ;)
@@Skyy-ue5ln No, I don't think so. Why are you saying England and not Angel-Sachs, or Scotland and not Pictenland? What about America, instead of Indiansland? Rhodhesia changed his name into Simbabwe. And look, the englishspeaking are saying Simbabwe. The same is with Myanmar. But NOT for Deutschland? When you call us Germans, it has always a smell of Nazis, because Hitler, and specially Himmler always argumented with "germanische and arische Rasse". Maybe, the englishspeaking people think about.
Well, i as a german can say that the trains in germany are delayed if you are on the train station on time but if you are in a hurry and you come to the train station 2 minutes late than you see the train departing right on time.
An meiner Schule hatten wir mal einen Lesewettbewerb gehabt, bei dem unsere Schüler französisch gelesen und Schüler von einer französischen Schule Deutsch gelesen haben. Es waren bestimmt drei Leute dabei mit perfekter deutscher Aussprache und das war in der sechsten Klasse! Die Texte waren leider total langweilig und wir wollten irgendwann einfach nur noch nach draußen.
@@wolly4u Thank's for the explanaition but I already knew The Elsass region often switched nation in history My joke was relating to the fact that during WW2 Paris belonged to Germany for some time
I can understand a lot of cultureshocks in Germany. But the one thing which I absolutely cannot understand is the point when people complain about almost everything is closed on Sundays. This point is especially annyoing, if it comes from people, which are generally exhausted by the fast, never stopping livestyle of their homecountry. Like the british lady in this video. I know a couple people from England and a lot of them complain about the fact, you dont really have a break from work or a general lack or absolute relax time. There is a reason, why Germans vaule the Sunday (and other holydays) very highly and so far most political attempts to scrap the workfree sundays, have been braodly denied by the public. If you get annoyed by a state-granted, absolute workfree day every week, the problem is seriously on your side and you should see someone to introduce you to actual relaxation...
I find that funny. I'm from Germany and I've been living in Spain for 5 years. Everything is closed also there on Sundays. Everything is dead there on Sunday. There are hardly any cars on the streets anymore thst day, but nobody complains about that.
For a long time a lot of shops were closed in Australia on a Sunday. I still remember trying to find petrol on a Sunday and having to find the rostered petrol station that was open for a few hours, having to drive a few extra kms on the smell of an oily rag hoping I didn't runout. But even today, most shops close at 6pm, although some supermarkets are open until 9pm and on weekends are closed by 5pm. Very few are 24x7.
@@utha2665 Gas stations are actually open on Sundays in Germany - one of the exceptions. And since almost all of them have small shops attached you can always get some basic food if you forgot to plan ahead. These shops are usually quite expensive though. Restaurants are also open. Cinemas, theatres, museums, parks, amusement parks...all open.
I love that the Russian girls appreciate freedom of speech and tolerance. When I see Germans sympathizing with the Russian government I cringe so hard because they have the privilege to live here and don't really understand how lucky they are to live in a country like Germany. Big respect for these girls!
6:50 The skill of being a true german is KNOWING that the Deutsche Bahn isn't punctual all the time but still managing it to arrive 5mins early wherever you have an appointment.
In Berlin you always double the estimated time. Even more hardcore German is, if you wait 10 minutes outside in the cold, before you ring the bell right on time.
The skill is guessing which obscure chain of delayed and actually punctual vehicles will take you to your destination the quickest (though it's getting better, the route planers still show tons of routes that regularly miss a connection or are inefficient due to needlessly long transfer times). Some connections are usually on time, others are often delayed (though they often completely flip once you arrive when they usually depart).
One recommendation! It'd be nice if you keep the country name for each person on screen, maybe on the bottom left or something, so you can always see where they coming from when comparing! :) Incredible video!
yes, that would be nice, really. At the beginning of the film there were some who had specified their whereabouts , but it was very rushed.. Funny is, every person who comes from other parts of the world than the US, mentions he/she is coming from Russia, South Africa, Denmark...etc. People from the US they're different! They assume that everybody on this planet knows where De Moines/Iowa or Gainesville/Florida is, so no need to mention the country. If we "the others" introduced ourselves like this, saying "I'm from Mainz/ Rheinland-Pfalz" or "Vaslui/Romania" I wonder if an US citizen would know to pinpoint it on a map. Just saying 🤓
@@einarthegolden8637 Maybe also add their name that way it's easier to refer to what they said in the comments. Really fun video, you seem like such a sweetheart!! :)
Bro if the French guy wouldn’t have made those little grammatically mistakes I wouldn’t have guessed he’s from France! 😳 His pronounciation is ON POINT 😮 4:45
I'm a Brit. When in France a young lady working in a shop helped me by speaking English. She spoke so well that I asked if she'd been to the U.K. Mais non. Incroyable.
As a german, one noticable culture shock even in close europeon countries was how slow compared to german discounters like aldi or lidl the cashiers at the supermarkets are. Here there is an unspoken competition when paying at the checkout between the customer and the cashier, who can move the goods and handle the process faster :D
@@honkytonk4465 They could do it as in the US, a nice cashier talks with you a nice baggager bags your groceries into paper bags in the meantime you get the whole life and love story of the cashiers dogs and you tell her about your last one night stand and ... ok i stop now. 😂😂🤣🤣😂😂🤣🤣
Grew up in Germany, spent 13 yrs in Sweden, outgrew Germany, lived in Ireland, England and Switzerland. Came to the conclusion there are always some ups and some downs to each country. My perfect country would contain British pubs, sarcasm and humour, great people all around. Swiss cleanliness, reliability and public transportation. Swedish nature, the work to live instead of live to work approach, the ocean, great air and sea food. Add Germany’s diversity in opportunity and produce and you’ll have one pretty nice country. Something down the line.
The way to always be in time is to take the earlier train. If you rely on public transportation to be in time, than you dont understand what "pünktlich" actually means. You are not late because your train had delay, you are late because you decided that you can only be right on time if everything goes according to the plan. But for me as a german, if i have a date at e.g. 8am, i plan to be there at least till 7:30-7:45 if everything goes right, then a lot can go wrong and I will still be "pünktlich" when i have to be there.
I always wonder why people are complaining about delays in western world. For the rest of the world delays are normal. Spent a long time in different countries in Africa and that’s normal life there. You’re still “punctual” if you come the next day.
That works when you’re in the city. But when further out on the country side missing a train means you’re gonna be an hour late this gets a bit more complicated. You won’t show up 1 hour early for every meeting in case your train has a delay or gets cancelled. Maybe for super important ones … but generally you just live with being late and sadly with the DB that happens too often.
@@Qwertworks That is partially right. Your talking about an hour. This is not the reality. Since the many decades I travel with public transport it rarely happened to be this late. It could happen that some incidents cause a delay but it’s the exception. In cities, during the day, the next transport comes within the next 15 to 20 minutes. On the countryside it could even be much longer but that’s normal. We Germans are very much used to organize our time-schedule very well. Other cultures handle it differently.
I’m a cashier in Germany. It’s definitely true that we try to shove the items in the customers face. It’s just so much fun. And it’s painful in other countries, no front. 😂
As a german I never saw a problem in that because I really don't care if I am to slow. The cashier is not fast because he wants me to be fast packing. He has to be fast because in case I am fast packing. If I am slow he will wait until I have finished. If he starts to Cash the next guy, I will pack his stuff and leave
After coming to Germany I stopped having cultural shock I suffered my whole life living in the Czech republic. The Germans are genuinely kind, reasonable and no nonsense people.
As a Brit in Germany, it was the half hours that caught me out at first. In the UK it’s half past and in Germany it’s half an hour before. So.. half 8 in the UK is 08:30 in Germany it’s 7:30 I was an hour late for everything for quite a while
I am German and when I was a kid (40 years ago) I had the privillege to live one year in Brazil. I have never known more friendly and happy people in my life! Yes, I also saw the poverty, environmental pollution, crime and so on, but the people in general knew how to smile, be happy and enjoy the simple things in life and life in general. Best time ever!!! After one year we came back to the cold (literally, it was January)... Cold weather, cold, sad people and the fruits and veggies I enjoyed and had for one year fresh from the market tasted like shit* or like a very watered down version. If I had had a choice back then I would have been on the next plane back. And for all people living in a foreign country for an extended period of time: learn the fuc*ing language! After that year I was pretty fluent in Portuguese... Well, speaking, not writing, but I could talk to people and watch TV without any issues. Unfortunately I had nobody to talk to in Portuguese and over the years I forgot pretty much all Portuguese I had learnd.
You look at it one-sidedly, as if the Germans and Germany are inferior in some way and the Germans "need" to look at other cultures with an open mouth and change in accordance with someone else's lifestyle. But in fact, every country and culture has pros and cons. Germany has a misty Harry Potter-esque aesthetic (as does England, oddly enough), it needs to be understood and felt, not compared to southern or tropical cultures. Behind great sociality there are always low material ambitions and conformity when the whole nation is like that, then they are simply doomed to poverty and high criminality
@@sanich0811 I don’t think he meant to say Germany is inferior to Brazil. If you look at the stats, it objectively isn’t. And sure, each country has its own unique way of being and that should be appreciated, I think. And I agree that tropical countries have something different but not more to offer than those in the far north/ south. Thing is some people do prefer the tropical way of being and that’s fine (I’m not one of those btw, I’m just saying it’s ok if somebody doesn’t like living in Germany or in the UK or whatever that much and prefers living in the Caribbean, for instance). The one thing I disagree about is the “friendliness” being equal to a lack of material ambition and dooming people to poverty. Take Australia as an example, a developed tropical country with people that are a lot more “open” than in, say, Sweden. I don’t think this lively way of being correlates to lack of material ambition. I think that it’s something that happens in spite of most Brazilians not having enough money to get all they want/need (that’s not to say they don’t wish to have a good car, tho, saying that is just beyond ridiculous). When it comes to different cultures and lifestyles, everything is very nuanced. And even though there are things like HDI, freedom of speech and tolerance/ discrimination that should be taken in consideration, generally, no culture is better than other (I say generally because cultures where people think it’s ok to openly harass women or give gay people the death penalty do have some obvious issues that need fixing). Anyway, those are my two cents. But basically, maybe the guy likes Brazil better than Germany, so what? If you’re like me and disagrees w him, that’s cool, just don’t live in Brazil if you can help it. Edit: bad sentence structure
hi, very nice to hear so positive points about brazil and the Brazilians. I got very happy for that. I"m Brazilian. I'm a teacher of Portuguese for foreigners. If you would like, I could help you with the language! Greetings from Brazil Alexandre
Während meines Studiuns hatte ich eine Bekannte aus Frankreich. Ich habe gelernt und, immer wenn wir uns verabredeten handelte ich mit ihr einen Zeitpunkt aus, der 30 Minuten vor dem, den ich im Kopf hatte lag. Sie kam immer zu dem Zeitpunkt, den ich im Kopf hate... 😀
Das macht meine Schwester und alle die mich gut kennen heute noch so und ich bin geborener Allgäuer..... In diesem Land hat man es mit etwas/chronischer Unpünktlichkeit wirklich nicht einfach.... So gar beim Zahnarzt haut es mir jedes mal den Vogel raus.... Da bin ich meistens 5 - 10 Min. zu spät (trotz mit vollgas hinfahren....) und jedes mal, wenn ich dann Heim komme, haben die mir schon auf das Band gesprochen, "ob ich noch komme"... Die alten Panikmacher.... Gruß!
@@wahrheitsliebender geht mir als schwabe auch so.....meine freunde rechnen die zeit in olis..ein oli ist eine halbe std.😂😂mit der zeit gewöhnt sich jeder daran -mann muss nur ausdauernd sein.
Well, i haven't been in Russia for a while, but i still have family there. Let's just say, it's not at the point yet where you disappear without a trace because you mention in public that the ruler of the country looks like a dumb cartoon character. But it's getting there. That one phrase contains a lot.
@@christopherstein2024 true. In this case it was just about, to improvise if smtg is missing. But at all, to test and try new things, is what makes it interesting and gives u new impressions
improvisieren is easy... aber wenn ich einen schweinsbraten machen will dann will ich einen schweinsbraten machen. fehlt da knoblauch oder kümmel dann ists halt gebratenes schweinefleisch aber kein schweinsbraten. salz, pfeffer, knoblauch, kümmel...mehr braucht ma ned aber auch ned weniger.
@@devilskitty5032 würde da die Theorie aufstellen, das nicht jede Region für einen Schweinebraten genau diese Komponenten verwendet 😉 Aber ja, manches braucht man sicherlich. Aber etwas neues zu probieren, soll ja auch den geschmaclichen Horizont erweitern können 😋
I'm a german woman and got a kind of culture shock after I stayed in Ireland for a while and then came back to Germany. People in Ireland are so much more friendly and polite, smiling and all, I wanted to turn round and go straight back to Ireland.
Fifty years ago i visited beautyful Scotland, i was 17 and came their with my school english and understood nearly nothing . Nice to hear it again. Greetings from Hamburg
That French guy appears to be very gifted with languages. His German pronunciation was spot on. I do not totally agree with his assessment of the French though. I always experienced the French to be very friendly (except perhaps - quite understandably - for the old folks who still have personal memories from WWII).
I think some French can be slightly arrogant when it comes to their cuisine. They may be right, but it's not a sign of politeness to emphasize this everytime. ;) And many refuse to talk in foreign languages, even when they are abroad, they don't even bother to try. So your own French has to be quite good to have a real nice chat with somebody when you're in France, you won't come too far with English. This does not apply to every French, obviously. And of course they have their own advantages as well. Their films seem to be a lot more artful, many people are dressing more tasteful than Germans do, music in their native language seems to be a lot more distinguished (even if the Brits are the real geniuses here imho) etc.
What you said about the French and languages could also be said about the British... Many of them refuse to talk in a foreign language even when they are abroad, they don't even bother to try. So your own English has to be really good to have a nice chat when you are in Britain
I guess that depends on where you are and where you are from. At the french-german border the french ppl are incredibly arrogant, especially towards germans. Even more so, when they are on the german side of the border. They refuse to talk in german (even though they speak german) or even in english. And if you make clear that you don't speak french they react as if you are eating children and insultin their mothers.
@@olgahein4384 I spent some time in Colmar and Obernai last year and the people there were the most friendly I´ve ever met. They all talked german with me cause my french sucks. They were lovely and friendly and sooo soo helpful!
He means that the French are mean, which is true, like they want to seem polite and gentle but it does not mean anything, instead they hate you inside and don’t want you to be there, because, oh my God, foreigners take their poorly paid jobs that they don’t want to do anyway, and now they got no job at all because there is no more job in France.😅😅😅
I loved watching this, being German myself and have lived in 3 different countries ( USA, Switzerland & South Africa) for 25 years. Moving back to my home country Germany last year was a bit of a shock on how much it had changed, but I love to be back and within my culture.
I moved to Bucharest, Romania for one year after school. The biggest culture shock I had was that everything (playgrounds, schools, parks,..) is guarded by security. Couldnt get used to that during my time there.
Not that true, mostly they are old people that have nothing else to do. Like 60yrs old bodyguard . Romania is a very safe country, they are just telling people what to do before entering a building or so😀
I'm swedish and I live in Sweden, but I've lived in Munich for many years. I liked it very much in Munich and Bavaria and I had a great time there. However, the culture shocks were : opening hours of shops, often quite rude waiters in restaurants, difficulty to pay with credit cards, bad service in many shops and it wasn't allowed to wash cars on sundays. But apart from that, it wasn't much on the negative side. Most people are friendly and if you speak german it's quite easy to find friends, the city is clean and safe, great beer, terrific food, nice nature withe the alps and "Alpenvorland", great skiing close by, MVV (public transport) works quite well and they have nice beergardens.
Not wash cars on Sundays - that's a misunderstanding. You can't wash cars in the street on any day bc of water contamination. You can wash.your car at a filling station on any day of the week😜 14:18
@@lumina9995 It wasn't possible even at gas stations when I lived in Bavaria and I'm sure that I didn't misunderstood it.For religous reasons they told me.
@@flyfishing_and_hiking Actually, you're right. Car washes can open at 12:00 noon in Bavaria but the municipality has to permit it. So it depends. Wieder was gelernt!😅
My culture shock going to the States : From the moment we landed at the airport the expression on my American partner's face changed! He warned me several times to be very careful, not to trust people when they are approaching you, even locking the car doors from inside while driving!
Reminds me of a story: Two guys sitting in the plane to the US (Chicago). One gets more nervous the closer they get. The other asking about that. The frightened one said: "I heard a lot of bad stories about Chicago. So many murders and crime going on there." The second guy answers: "Not to worry. It is not really as bad. I get along fine." First guy: "So what do you do there?" Second: "I am a tail gunner on a pizza delivery truck."
@@badhombre4683 Thanks to the US system of transportation, any visitors still have to go through the urban hellscape before getting to the nice parts of the US.
I enjoyed the video! Very relaxed interview atmosphere, nice young people and a humorous nice presenter! Overall, the perceptions of the young people were very benevolent and friendly from the point of view of a German! And far fewer clichés than expected! Thank you for sharing!
It is notable that there's quite a few differences between regions in Germany, here in Berlin for example shops all close at 10 and or even 12 instead of 7-8 like in Bavaria, and when people go out they definitely go out late and they dance here.
Dicker meinst du wir haben keine Clubs hier in München? :) Techno meinen Latinos nicht, das ist für uns tanzen aber für viele Südländer ehwr seltsam.. also bleiben nur Salsa, Latino, Jugo Clubs ect.. und von denen haben wir auch in München genug. Was sie meint ist einfach ein unterschied des Temperaments. In Lateinamerika müssen die sich nicht erst drei Longdrinks kippen um abzugehen, wie sie sagt da ist alles Musik und Leben 💃
German who moved to Ireland and there were more culture shocks than expected to be honest :D biggest one is probably how relaxed everyone here is when things go wrong and how safety issues are not that much of a concern 😂 Pub culture is a massive thing and I gotta admit I love it! :D Irish are way more open and friendly but also tend to be late and more chaotic, which is something a German really needs a long time to get used to.
In germany a lot of cities are built pretty small. Like houses and even streets can be just big enough to function but nothing more. I never noticed that until I returned from China where everything was ginormous. I really got the impression that germnanay was sort of like fairy-tale-like. Yk like when you go to a small traditional village in the alps, but even bigger cities had like a similar vibe. That feeling quickly disappeared again though after a few weeks back in germany haha
Yeah, it's interesting how quickly you can get used to everything, when you have experienced it as normal before. Whenever i interact with all those students from all over the world at our university in Freiburg they are always in awe about that medieval fairy tale fantasy feeling they have in the city center, the great food, the high quality beverages, the healthy lifestyle, the history that ouzes from every corner of the city (especially americans love that) and so on. And for me, it's just another tuesday.
Wow, super video. I'm originally from Spain but I live in Austria. Every now and then I travel to Germany for Holidays or to spend a weekend and I have to say that I haven't found yet one "unangenehm e people". They are always nice and helpful. I love Deutschland.
I am living in Munich since more than 12 years now and there were two points made in the video which I couldn't relate to. First one was someone saying that you have to book weeks in advance to go out. I have never experienced this problem and I am going out with a friend like 3 times a week, mostly on the weekends where restaurants and bars are very crowded. Sure there are some locations which are full during prime time, but Munich has so many good places where you can go, its usually not a problem to find something. The other point was made about having to pay with cash everywhere. Another TH-camr actually put this rumor to the test and asked around how much cash German people carry with them and the large majority has little to no cash and pays everything by card, google pay or whatever you prefer. Its mainly farmers markets, christmas markets and other temporary outdoor shops where you have to pay with cash.
Ich glaube sie meinte aber, dass man sich mit Deutschen Wochen vorher etwas ausmachen muß um mit ihnen fortzugehen...Als Expat hat man ja in Deutschland keinen "Freundeskreis seit der Schulzeit" wo dann jeder für jeden immer Zeit hat/sich spontan die Zeit nimmt. Du schreibst ja selber du triffst dich regelmäßig 3x die Woche mit einem Freund. Wenn dann dich nun wer anderer fragt auszugehen wirst du es wohl dann auch in die Zukunft planen, weil 3 Tage in der Woche sind ja bereits regelmäßig mit deinem Freund verplant...
Yeah, it is true to some extent that paying with cash is largely unnecessary. But I did notice a lot of stores (more-so even in the Netherlands and Belgium) that only accepted Maestro. I also ran into a number of German bakeries that didn't accept card. Cash is definitely more necessary in Germany than most European countries.
@@teddysmith8725 The reason is that the shops have to pay fees to the credit card companies. The fees for debit card transactions (e. g.maestro) are much cheaper.
@@teddysmith8725 bcause cash is the only lawfull currency backed by law thats why. and why the fuck does your bank and goverment needs to know what you are spending your money on. its mind buggling seeing all those people with their thousends and thousends of creditcards. also it helps to manage your money better...
Spent some time in South Korea and was astonished by the highly functioning public transportation network and simple paying System all over the country whereas in Germany every area has its own ticketing system :)
My main culture shocks returning to Germany after living in Denmark were the unreliability of having internet reception and how much Germans like to complain and judge each other.
Munich is vastly different from the other larger cities in Germany. That said Hamburg, Köln, Düsseldorf and Berlin have social and cultural differences that one only recognizes after spending a longer time in each of the cities.
@@sirbonobo3907 It’s not the people or their culture but fundamentalist outliers… we live in a world where a multi cultural society is unavoidable, the danger is religious dogma that perverts peoples humanity. Your point about Muslims is what they said about the Jews… the only solution is integration which means adhering to the rules of the society one finds oneself in and no ghettos. We can’t turn the clocks back which means we have to look for positive solutions.
Was für eine Ehre und wirkliches Privileg die zu sein die Wir sind, danke für diese Videos und danke an alle Ausländer😉 den interviewten die ihre eindrücke hier mit uns teilen. Es ist immer wieder schön zu sehen und zu hören das wir mit unseren eigenarten doch etwas besonderes in der Weltgemeinschaft darstellen und darauf können Wir gut und gerne stolz sein und wenn es ebend solche videos dafür braucht um mal ein bisschen stolz auf seine Nation zu sein dann ist das gut, da aus deutschen Mündern in Nachrichten oder egal welches Medium es anscheinend verpöhnt ist seine Heimat toll zu finden und ja egal wo man auf dieser Welt hinfährt kein Land ist wie Unsere Heimat und das müssen wir uns bewahren für unsere kinder dessen kinder und dessen dessen ihr wisst wad damit gemeint ist. Danke an alle die unseren makken doch was abgewinnen können, we Love and be Germany thanks to all our Guests.❤❤❤
I actually love the general good quality of real estate we have here in Germany. Cheap and good food is also a big plus. What i don’t like so much as an example is the often not very elegant functional wear a lot of us germans love so much. I as a german have to admit that being punctual is actually super important to me, especially professional wise.
One of the things I loved about South Africa was that all the shops were open on Sunday it was so convenient, whereas at the time all the shops in Britain closed on the Sunday it was horrible. Thank you John Major for changing that and giving us Sunday trading!
I'm English, but I left England in 1969 to work and live in Germany as a Gastarbeiter. I stayed for 13 years. My biggest mistake in life was returning to England. I'm now 77, but if I was 30 years younger, I would go back to Germany. I was a computer programmer for some years and programming is something that has to be done right. I always feel, when I visit Germany now, that things are just done right over there, while in England we just muddle through. Look at Britain right now. It's failing in so many ways, thanks to Brexit and Boris.
apart from commenting on one of your interviewers thoughts, i'd rather like to mention your absolute positive attitude. it is you as a person, so enjoyable seeing and watching your videos. good job.
I disagree. Yes, germans also use idioms but there are way less german idioms in comparison to English idioms. I am german and therefore a native speaker. Still, I know more English idioms than german idioms.
I agree that native English speakers tend to say things much more indirectly than Germans which can be fun and playful but can also lead to uncertainty and misunderstandings I haven't noticed them using more idioms though (when I was in America)
I (a native German speaker) notice when talking to language learners that I use idioms in almost any conversation and need to step back in order to not confuse them. But most of the German idioms also exist in some form in English. Just not the regional ones I learned from my parents/ grandparents.
Nice Video and Interviews, but I must say i think they only experienced the typical behavior of urban Germans there. In the villages or small towns, people are often more relaxed than in the city, easier to get friendships. The people there are also more practical, for example a good german housewife can actually cook a good meal from anything... even if an ingredient is missing from the recipe. Also, on sundays are some options to buy groceries.. especially in the big cities. The punctuality is just for the planning of the day, the woman from Colombia said it right, and it also serves as security for planning family life. Also the 'canceling- 5-minutes-before' is something that is against such a security, so don't wonder if people don't like that behavior. If you want to cancel then you should do it as early as possible, so that the other person can reschedule, don't waste other peoples time or let them wait for nothing. It doesn't matter if it's something trivial, but matters much if it's something important.
My cousin married a Scottish man, many decades ago. He came over with the British Army and stayed. Most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen for real. (No, I was not trying to flirt with him, never told him! I respect my cousin's marriage!)
@@franhunne8929 ah thats cool! My grandfather was stationed outside frankfurt I'm the 50s in the British army. I think many Scottish men did their national service in Germany then
Strange to hear public transport suffers from so many delays. I lived in different cities in Germany and always could rely on public transport. Yes sometimes there is a delay now and then. But that‘s so rare. Working as a trainer I used to experience that those who came in late were those who came by car. Traffic, parking, …
In my personal experience, public transport in cities is very reliable. But I currently live on the countrside and trains here are annoying (No S-Bahn btw. only busses). They come hourly at best and delays are anywhere between five and 20 Minutes regularly. If there's some kind of problem on the rail, they have to call in some railworkers which take ages to get there. I remember once being stuck on a 45 minute ride for a bit over 3 hours because of that. And for the buses the infrastructure is not ideal. They are heavily denpendent on the general traffic going well and generally also drive hourly or some times every 30 minutes. -tldr.: public transport in cities: great - out of cities: meh.
Oh I thought that in Hamburg and Schleswig Holstein, but now moving to Munich. I don’t feel like it’s that reliable anymore, I have to always plan for delays on the S Bahn if I want to arrive on time, so maybe it’s a regional problem.
The idiom fact I found very accurate as well, I have had countless conversations in German and then used idioms as we do in English, and then people just get so lost. I might be South African but will go drink a pint with the Scott any day; finding people with a sense of humor similar to what I would call "English/British humor" is complex in Germany.
I think that‘s always the trickiest part about learning foreign languages or conversing with someone who has a different linguistic/cultural background: idioms can rarely be translated literally, and they are often so deeply rooted in a specific culture, that the meaning isn’t obvious for someone who didn’t grow up or live in that culture for an extended period. We use idioms in Bavaria, whose meaning would be completely lost on a person from Berlin and vice versa - even though they’re all in German.
@@Sturmhut that is so true. Idioms are deeply rooted into a language and culture. I geuss looking back at it, using English Idioms in German seems like a dumb idea. It is interesting though learning a language is quite easy to get to the point where you can have fluent conversations with people but really getting into the smaller cultural elements of a language you need a lot of time, C1 only brings you so far.
Funny how Americans will always say they're from "city/state" except from the country. The girl from Chicago does this, and I found Americans always do that lol
the US is just as large as the EU, and diffrent regions have their own cultural specialties. I think it makes a lot more sense naming the state and not just USA.
@@scribblescrabble3185 how about mentioning both? If someone from the USA met someone from… let’s say North Macedonia, would the person from the USA know where that is without the addition of Europe? Most Europeans I know would only know the general region where to search for North Macedonia on a map.
@@scribblescrabble3185 the differences in culture between us states are next to nothing compared to that of different nation states it doesnt make sense at all
I work for a German multinational. I had to cancel a meeting 1 hour before it was to start. Was out of my control. I could tell my German colleagues were not happy, but they remained polite.
Its ok if you cancel because something happened. And you inform the people as soon as you know. But if you cancel some date because you dont feel like it 5 min before. That’s a no go because germans then mostly cancelled plans with other peoples or whatever, to make your date happen.
The only country I stayed more than a few days and not for holidays is England and in the 2000s. What surprised me, was how beautiful the countryside and the small towns and villages are. At this time our impression of of England here in Austria was only dirty coal miners and broken down factories .... What negatively impressed me was if you wanted to eat good it was really expensive, normal priced food was awful.
One reason why Germans are so direct with their language is the fact that it is THE central country of Europe. People from all over have forever been moving through it. I read somewhere that, today, 80% (?) of all European traffic touches Germany at one point, and it has been like that since forever. Major trade routes have existed almost since the stone age. Germany still hosts a lot of major international trade fairs etc. So, in order to communicate with people who are not native speakers, you have to be direct and succinct. You don't want to speak in idioms,. You don't want make allusions, that could get you in trouble. Germany themselves used to speak in dialects that differed so much that people from the north could not understand people from the south f. ex. When we talk among ourselves, we use a slighlty different language, and you really cannot say that we don't have idioms, proverbs and so forth. After all, we are also a country known for literature.
We have relatives in the Netherlands, and any time we go there (by car) we find it much more relaxed driving there. The same is true for Belgium, and the Scandinavian countries. And whenever we come back to germany we outright hate driving here, because many people drive so aggressively and much too fast. I cant say about the other countries around.
@@freidenkerin5198 you'll get used to it but it really is very stressful to drive there imho because many people's attention is elsewhere and you constantly have to watch out for others cutting your way. I always felt like the best highway experience is the German Autobahn when there's no trucks. You can drive very fast and it is very relaxing because everyone can handle their own speed. On busy days slow drivers tend to cause traffic jams though because they attempt to overtake trucks improperly and everyone has to slow down which leads to quick congestion on the left lane.
As a german, before I studied abroad in sweden, I always thought the so called german directness didn't really exist. But in Sweden the teachers and fellow students got really upset with me after directly telling what I thought and what was in my opinion the truth. 😅 So I learned it the hard way.
Lived in Taiwan for a year - it's been a while back so some of the minor things I've already forgotten. But man. Convenience stores sure are convenient.
Visiting an elderly french couple and their kids late 90´s. Dinnertable was flooded with food and everyone sat 3 hours eating and conversing,and that was an ordinary workday. At my house dinner is over within 20 minutes. I kind of liked it. I wonder if France long sitting dinners are different now after the digital revolution ?
Hi! We often make slow meals on special occasions: family dinners, reunions with friends...etc. But in everyday life, professional imperatives, the cost of fresh products, or simply because we are lazy to invest too much time in cooking, many of us also eat very quickly, without making more effort than that !
When I was an expat in the US a couple of years back I really enjoyed being able to shop 24/7. It was awesome to wander around in an almost empty store at midnight although I didn't really need anything...
I can imagine some things i would rather like to do instead of wandering around the streets and grocery shops @ midnight in a US city. Without at least a loaded Kalashnikov to defend myself.
Not sure how true that is anymore. I live in St. Louis, and other than some gas stations and pharmacies nothing is 24 hour anymore. A lot of super markets, and at least one Walmart and Target used to be 24 hour. I miss being able to hit the store on the way home from my evening job.
@@wolfgangpreier9160 Yeah, but in the suburb I live in, crime is low. It was perfectly safe to shop at night, I did it for decades until everything stopped being 24 hour. Now, only a pharmacy(with a small general store) and a few gas stations with limited c stores is all that is open, and that's expensive even assuming they have what you want.
@@drh3b Shop at night? You can not shop at night in Europe. Maybe on the Christkindlmarkt for Glühwein. Or on the beaches in the tourist centers in summer. The workers want to go home to their loved ones. In my youth they shut down @ 6 in the evening. Now they have t stay until 7. Poor people.
@@wolfgangpreier9160 What's that got to do with what I said? You made a stupid comment about shopping at night in America, and I pointed that out politely. And directly, something a German should appreciate.
0:04 At first, I really heard the Scottish lad saying 'Dortmund', maybe because it's not far from where I live. :D The French guy's German is outstanding, you can even barely hear his accent. That's very unusual for French people talking in foreign languages (no offense).
Different countries, different customs, when I decide to live and work in another country, I usually find out how things are done there, so I'm not shocked or surprised when certain things are done differently . That's part of life.
But having a cultural shock when moving to another city is part of life too. Personally, I only look for the tips that helps me to not be in trouble with the authorities. When it comes to the rest, I like to have surprises and not be that prepared with learning everything from the internet. I personally think this kind mess the magic of learning others people culture.
I experienced major reverse culture shock when I came back to Germany from my Japan travel. I loved it in Japan, of course everything was new and interesting to me but coming back was so gorrible. It took me a long time to adapt. My first impression arriving back home was that Germans are rude, loud, unfriendly, chaotic, messy, because in Japan everything and everyone was quiet, polite, orderly, friendly, organised, clean... I loved it so much!!!
In Franconia, the directness, the closed off personalities, stores closed at 8pm, Sunday everything closed, nice cozy cafe's don't open until 10am... Reverse culture shocks (Midwest USA), big...everything is big and spacious, the options in the grocery stores, polite language usage, only tasting sugar in things, and the smell of chlorine in tap water, and of course the amount of water in toilets. The biggest annoyance for me is the store hours. I've been here 5 years and I still can't get used to it. I hate buying food in advance because I'm an intuitive eater. I also am frequently disappointed that the best places to get a coffee don't open till 10am. It makes no sense to me. The coffee at the bakeries are shi*****!!!! I miss my early morning routines working on my laptop in a cozy Cafe at 6:30am....
I never understand why people always say that germans are so direct. The most direct people I've met have always been people from other countries like USA, Italy, Brazil and others. They always tell me how much they hate the german language and the people and so on. If that's not direct, I don't know! I would never do that visiting another country. Same thing with punctuality. In almost every country I visited they wanted people to be punctual - for trips etc. and got really angry sometimes if you weren't super punctual. But I have to say that a lot of germans are rude and aggressive, especially in Berlin. People there are often horrible whereas I find the people in Franconia very nice, open and chatty; in Nuremberg, Wurzburg and Regensburg for example.
... as a German Biochemist - I was a Post Doc at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY from 1982 -1985 it was a sacred paradise not 1 Incident to worry about there are those outworldly sacred places of serenity and peace ... - the deterioration of American Society may lead to self extinction I would not go back to the USA... we breed the same fate in Europe ...
Its become a greeting, like 'Hello'. When you're asked 'How's it going?' you simply reply, 'Good, and you?' They'll answer 'Good'...and off you go. It trips folks up who mistake it for an actual inquiry.
Actually I got some experience with other cultures. It is the most valuable change of my general perception of Germany. Spending many years in Africa I was confronted with a very different and strange culture. Working for an American company here in Germany before, I had my first encounter with a different culture. They are quite different in values and behavior. Also they maintain their way of lifestyle with very few tolerance to the environment and culture they live in. The next level of experience with a different culture hit me when I went to Africa. It was nearly the opposite of our western culture. More like a time journey some hundred years back in time. It took me a long time to cope with it and it’s still not easy. On the other side I discovered some very important things that we lost in our western culture like family (it’s really different there!) and good traditions. If I would have the choice, I would prefer to live in Africa instead of living in an insane woke western culture that appeared here in the last decades.
@@hansschmidt1880 Everything has advantages and disadvantages. Nothing is perfect. That’s the lesson I learned. But when I sum it up I definitely enjoy life in Africa much more. I was living in Ghana and Zambia and think about to settle down in Zambia. I’ve never been that typical “German”. I don’t like football, drinking and watching this stupid comedies on TV. My thinking is not limited by BILD and ARD.😉 Give me one reason to enjoy enjoy Germany in this time of wokeness and intolerance.
@@kbityy This is exactly the response I expected from an ignorant and arrogant German. If they don’t understand they start bullying. It starts the same way like 1933 …
@@kbityy I’m born in Germany and live here for over 60 years. I went to Africa to help the people over there in orphanages and schools. What is wrong with it? What did you do for the weak and vulnerable?
I came 40 yrs ago from SA and one of the first things I noticed the people don’t like to dance spontaneously. First a drink. The food is incredible. If u make friends then they are most probably for life.
My biggest culture shock I had in 1992 visiting London for the first time: When the doors at Heathrow opened after collecting the baggage and a crowd was waiting for people - this crowd was so diverse! All skin colours, all types of clothing, it was amazing to me because Germany was not like that at all at the time. This has changed now but still London is far more diverse than Berlin or Hamburg or Munich probably will ever be. But this is London. When I lived in Bristol from 2018-19 I joined a theatre club - not one single black or brown face in the club. There was one Latino - and me as a foreigner, as the "odd ones out". Everyone else was white British. Equally in the company I worked with, 150 staff, someone else and me were the two foreigners, everyone else was white British. Rather disappointing, I have to say. I would have expected to see more diversity outside London as well, but apparently that's not the case. That is also some kind of a culture shock to me.
@@jackundmarija20VA4 'England is for the English'?What a nationalist crap. I hope that's just cynicism considering Marijá's name. But I decided to accept the choice of the 52% that voted us Europeans out and left after 16 years of making it my home. I've never regretted returning full time to Germany, but I've sorely missed the England that I experienced until then with my pink glasses on.
@Tracchofyre we never stop having cultures. They may just become more subtle. Just consider how long it takes you to simply forget to ask yourself where a former foreigner originated from. It takes many generations. Simply because you (instinctively) see their more or less different culture, not only any different looks.
@@annvoy7698 I am nationalist, England belongs to the English. I have nothing lose seeing as though Prussia no longer exists, so I know the pain. And Marijá is the name of my Slovene fiance, but that's irrelevant to this
I do have to say, THE most beautiful(!) clip I've ever seen about others talking about our country!!! Thank you so much! Though, I have to say, if we're going for metropolitans only, do the exact same clip in Frankfurt, Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg and so on. There is a big difference between the north, south, east and west here. I am sure you will get quite some different answers 😄 (Deutsche Bahn will be equally disastrous, though... 😜😜😜)
To sum it up: all the culture shocks people get,are mostly about Munich/ Bavarian things.Its not really about Germany! Munich is indeed a very special place.
hmm, I live in Munich and for sure cannot agree. Munich is a very international city like other major cities in Germany. More than 40% of the population have their origin in other countries. And Munich is definitely different to rural Bavaria. As Berlin is to Brandenburg.
Skillful storage of food, in your larder, your fridge and freezer is also a germanic cultural trait. Many people, even those without their own gardens regularly make their own marmelade and pickles.
Not so much of a culture shock, but I went to the USA and their toilet paper is like super super soft. Like, a blessing. We should really have that in Germany aswell.
My culture shock was hearing the Anthem of Great Britain "God save the king" and simultanley see pictures of Germany. I'm Austrian, living in Germany since 1960.
Come to Nürnberg… The City is very interesting and just one hour from München , and with a lot of foreigners. Here there’s big companies like: Adidas, Puma, Siemens, Bosch, I’ m from Brazil and i will love to be interwied 😂.
I married a Spaniard, so I am in Spain quite often. One thing that always takes me a while getting used to are the late hours for eating and going out. Also the time you spend eating, it can go on for hours literally. But they value good food much more and appreciate quality ingredients.
Most British do not realize it was the German anthem, too (until 1918 and always followed by Die Wacht am Rhein) Not saying at all I am wanting these times back, though.
@@bigernie9433 Ach, 1914 ohne die Kriege dann, vielleicht schon. War auch die Hymne der Schweiz, allerdings noch langsamer und glaube da gibt es noch 2 oder 3 Länder die diese Melodie hatten
@@Patrick-on2ty Not for me, I like female scientists, female souffrage, better medicine, less restricting clothing, the affordability of a decent life (not having to work an 18 hour day slaving away in a factory or working as a maid in a household - as there were not many other jobs for women).
They misunderstood german punctuality, it is about peoples expectations not the state of things like public transport. That unfortunately is massively underfunded and all germans are mad about it. The german railway has not enough tracks, too little maintenance and when german railway or politics make efforts to build more tracks you can bet that germans will find all the dumb reasons why it can't be built because nature you know.
the girl that said that germans are very distant: i think it's more people from munich, especially people that grew up around the city. i don't know what it is about munich, but the people that are from there usually stay there to study and work and never move somewhere else for a longer period of time. and these people are still in their friend groups from school. so it's almost impossible to find munich friends. i'm german and i've moved to munich a while back and all of my friends are internationals :)
Your "Peaky Blinders" look works. I agree with the guy who said that you have to infer things in England/the UK whereas here you don't have to. That was my "cultural shock" when I lived in London.
@@yourtruebrit I loved him so much, just for that. Even though I like english as a form of communication between nationalities that could not understand each other otherwise but especially in the last years, english as a language seems very imperialistic to me. I have that feeling more with American english though.
Thank you, I loved the video. I love to be in England or Scotland, because the people are so friendly and have a good humour- much better then in Germany.
I am from the North of Germany and would have a cultural Shock in Bavaria.
Understandable. Its like a different continent down there. For me its up there. But still. Different continent.
Absolutely 😃 I think the north is very similar to the uk or to Netherlands and denmark, while the south is more similar to Austria/Switzerland (I know Austrians probably wouldn’t dare to agree haha but so it is in my opinion)
The Mary and Jesus figures EVERYWHERE! The Grüß Gotts! The dialect! Lol! Yeah, the south is different from the north.
Absolutely same here, even considering the language. I hooked up with someone from Franken a while ago, who would forget to speak Hochdeutsch with me and I simply couldn't understand him!
Ha, true! I once lived in Baden-Württemberg and experienced some culture shocks, too. "Kehrwoche", "Schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue!" and "Fasnet". And I must admit - the people from Bremen are more open and friendly then the people from swabia.
A british guy speaking German with a french guy. You love to see it. We really should value European peace and friendship!!
"German". It is Deutsch like Deutschland
@@jackundmarija20VA4 Thank's for your comment!👍
I couldn't write it better.
Why does englishspeaking people create their own versions of a Name?
München not Munich
Berlin not Börlen
Deutschland not Germany
And so on...
That's a culture shock😂😂😂
@@truckeronprivatetour4730 a lot of Latin influence on the English language..Germany/Germania/Hammonia (Hamburg).
@@truckeronprivatetour4730 actually Deutschland is the made up word as it originally was the "Germanische Reich". Germany is much closer to Germania then Deutschland, don't you think ;)
@@Skyy-ue5ln
No, I don't think so.
Why are you saying England and not Angel-Sachs, or Scotland and not Pictenland?
What about America, instead of Indiansland?
Rhodhesia changed his name into Simbabwe.
And look, the englishspeaking are saying Simbabwe.
The same is with Myanmar.
But NOT for Deutschland?
When you call us Germans, it has always a smell of Nazis, because Hitler, and specially Himmler always argumented with "germanische and arische Rasse".
Maybe, the englishspeaking people think about.
Well, i as a german can say that the trains in germany are delayed if you are on the train station on time but if you are in a hurry and you come to the train station 2 minutes late than you see the train departing right on time.
It's called the DB paradox
😉
@@nilon5327 No lie there!! 😂I can't seem to get it. Now I just arrive 5 minutes early 🙄
Murphys law 😁
The story of my life. :(
Ich habe noch nie einen Franzosen so gut deutsch sprechen hören!
I have never heard a Frenchman speak German so well!
An meiner Schule hatten wir mal einen Lesewettbewerb gehabt, bei dem unsere Schüler französisch gelesen und Schüler von einer französischen Schule Deutsch gelesen haben. Es waren bestimmt drei Leute dabei mit perfekter deutscher Aussprache und das war in der sechsten Klasse! Die Texte waren leider total langweilig und wir wollten irgendwann einfach nur noch nach draußen.
Maybe he was from the Elsass…
@@wolly4u or maybe from Paris
@@thomas.thomas The Elsass was part of Germany up to the end of WW2 and then annexed by the French. Most people there still speak German.
@@wolly4u Thank's for the explanaition but I already knew
The Elsass region often switched nation in history
My joke was relating to the fact that during WW2 Paris belonged to Germany for some time
I can understand a lot of cultureshocks in Germany. But the one thing which I absolutely cannot understand is the point when people complain about almost everything is closed on Sundays. This point is especially annyoing, if it comes from people, which are generally exhausted by the fast, never stopping livestyle of their homecountry. Like the british lady in this video. I know a couple people from England and a lot of them complain about the fact, you dont really have a break from work or a general lack or absolute relax time. There is a reason, why Germans vaule the Sunday (and other holydays) very highly and so far most political attempts to scrap the workfree sundays, have been braodly denied by the public. If you get annoyed by a state-granted, absolute workfree day every week, the problem is seriously on your side and you should see someone to introduce you to actual relaxation...
Yess Thank you!!! If they are annoyed by a cloesed shop on a sunday, they can open a shop and pay extra money to their employes.
I find that funny. I'm from Germany and I've been living in Spain for 5 years. Everything is closed also there on Sundays. Everything is dead there on Sunday. There are hardly any cars on the streets anymore thst day, but nobody complains about that.
For a long time a lot of shops were closed in Australia on a Sunday. I still remember trying to find petrol on a Sunday and having to find the rostered petrol station that was open for a few hours, having to drive a few extra kms on the smell of an oily rag hoping I didn't runout. But even today, most shops close at 6pm, although some supermarkets are open until 9pm and on weekends are closed by 5pm. Very few are 24x7.
@@utha2665 Gas stations are actually open on Sundays in Germany - one of the exceptions. And since almost all of them have small shops attached you can always get some basic food if you forgot to plan ahead. These shops are usually quite expensive though.
Restaurants are also open. Cinemas, theatres, museums, parks, amusement parks...all open.
Chill
I love that the Russian girls appreciate freedom of speech and tolerance. When I see Germans sympathizing with the Russian government I cringe so hard because they have the privilege to live here and don't really understand how lucky they are to live in a country like Germany. Big respect for these girls!
It’s not Germans it’s Russians living in Germany. They should be immediately deported to their ‘motherland’
Well these germans are really lost😀.
Most of them sympathize with the Russian people, not the Russian government! 🙄
Well certain opinions will cost you your job in germany .so maybe you are the hypocrite?
There are literally people everywhere sympathising with current Russian government that’s not just a German phenomenon
6:50 The skill of being a true german is KNOWING that the Deutsche Bahn isn't punctual all the time but still managing it to arrive 5mins early wherever you have an appointment.
In Berlin you always double the estimated time. Even more hardcore German is, if you wait 10 minutes outside in the cold, before you ring the bell right on time.
@@leonawroth2516 this is so right, waiting in the cold 😂. It's me.
Waiting in the cold around the street corner
The skill is guessing which obscure chain of delayed and actually punctual vehicles will take you to your destination the quickest (though it's getting better, the route planers still show tons of routes that regularly miss a connection or are inefficient due to needlessly long transfer times). Some connections are usually on time, others are often delayed (though they often completely flip once you arrive when they usually depart).
One recommendation! It'd be nice if you keep the country name for each person on screen, maybe on the bottom left or something, so you can always see where they coming from when comparing! :) Incredible video!
Yeah I was thinking about designing an animated map. But was overworked :)
@@yourtruebrit While that's nice I think the best middle ground is perhaps just the name of the country and flag! Simple, easy yet effective 😉
Cheers from Uruguay mate! 🇺🇾🧉
yes, that would be nice, really. At the beginning of the film there were some who had specified their whereabouts , but it was very rushed.. Funny is, every person who comes from other parts of the world than the US, mentions he/she is coming from Russia, South Africa, Denmark...etc. People from the US they're different! They assume that everybody on this planet knows where De Moines/Iowa or Gainesville/Florida is, so no need to mention the country. If we "the others" introduced ourselves like this, saying "I'm from Mainz/ Rheinland-Pfalz" or "Vaslui/Romania" I wonder if an US citizen would know to pinpoint it on a map. Just saying 🤓
@@einarthegolden8637 Maybe also add their name that way it's easier to refer to what they said in the comments. Really fun video, you seem like such a sweetheart!! :)
Bro if the French guy wouldn’t have made those little grammatically mistakes I wouldn’t have guessed he’s from France! 😳 His pronounciation is ON POINT 😮 4:45
hahaha I was scrolling through the comments to find someone making a comment about gramatical errors. You gotta love the Germans lool!!
I'm a Brit. When in France a young lady working in a shop helped me by speaking English. She spoke so well that I asked if she'd been to the U.K. Mais non. Incroyable.
As a german, one noticable culture shock even in close europeon countries was how slow compared to german discounters like aldi or lidl the cashiers at the supermarkets are. Here there is an unspoken competition when paying at the checkout between the customer and the cashier, who can move the goods and handle the process faster :D
When I was in Africa I saw the same fast procedure also in their supermarkets (ShopRite and malls). It’s not a German thing.
I always put everything back into the „Einkaufswagerl“ and then i start to get my EC Card to pay. I don’t let myself be rushed. Why should i?
@@wolfgangpreier9160 That’s the only correct way to do it. Coming from a cashier.
@@wolfgangpreier9160how could it be otherwise?
@@honkytonk4465 They could do it as in the US, a nice cashier talks with you a nice baggager bags your groceries into paper bags in the meantime you get the whole life and love story of the cashiers dogs and you tell her about your last one night stand and ...
ok i stop now. 😂😂🤣🤣😂😂🤣🤣
Grew up in Germany, spent 13 yrs in Sweden, outgrew Germany, lived in Ireland, England and Switzerland. Came to the conclusion there are always some ups and some downs to each country. My perfect country would contain British pubs, sarcasm and humour, great people all around. Swiss cleanliness, reliability and public transportation. Swedish nature, the work to live instead of live to work approach, the ocean, great air and sea food. Add Germany’s diversity in opportunity and produce and you’ll have one pretty nice country. Something down the line.
The country you are talking about is Europe 🤷🏻♂️😜
@@moccamixer lol 😂 but you’ll have to travel every time it’s never all in one
😂😂😂
YES I thought this as well 😂🙌🏻
Lol
The way to always be in time is to take the earlier train. If you rely on public transportation to be in time, than you dont understand what "pünktlich" actually means. You are not late because your train had delay, you are late because you decided that you can only be right on time if everything goes according to the plan. But for me as a german, if i have a date at e.g. 8am, i plan to be there at least till 7:30-7:45 if everything goes right, then a lot can go wrong and I will still be "pünktlich" when i have to be there.
Damn right :D
I always wonder why people are complaining about delays in western world. For the rest of the world delays are normal. Spent a long time in different countries in Africa and that’s normal life there. You’re still “punctual” if you come the next day.
That works when you’re in the city. But when further out on the country side missing a train means you’re gonna be an hour late this gets a bit more complicated. You won’t show up 1 hour early for every meeting in case your train has a delay or gets cancelled. Maybe for super important ones … but generally you just live with being late and sadly with the DB that happens too often.
@@Qwertworks That is partially right. Your talking about an hour. This is not the reality. Since the many decades I travel with public transport it rarely happened to be this late. It could happen that some incidents cause a delay but it’s the exception. In cities, during the day, the next transport comes within the next 15 to 20 minutes. On the countryside it could even be much longer but that’s normal. We Germans are very much used to organize our time-schedule very well. Other cultures handle it differently.
Literally the reason why i dont use public transport. I have a car and can get in it and drive off when ever i want. No stupid waiting and no delays
I’m a cashier in Germany. It’s definitely true that we try to shove the items in the customers face. It’s just so much fun. And it’s painful in other countries, no front. 😂
I think you are being nice when you stack the stuff for me to grab them :)
The race for the goods. Spoil the great good experience of funshopping.🤔😉🤭
I go extra slowly in packing my bag. Drives Aldi cashier's varrucht. 🤣🤣
As a german I never saw a problem in that because I really don't care if I am to slow. The cashier is not fast because he wants me to be fast packing. He has to be fast because in case I am fast packing. If I am slow he will wait until I have finished. If he starts to Cash the next guy, I will pack his stuff and leave
After coming to Germany I stopped having cultural shock I suffered my whole life living in the Czech republic. The Germans are genuinely kind, reasonable and no nonsense people.
Bollocks
@@ipodman1910 Nice 2 meet U.
@@ipodman1910 Na, da hat jemand den Kaffee verpasst.
As a Brit in Germany, it was the half hours that caught me out at first.
In the UK it’s half past and in Germany it’s half an hour before.
So.. half 8 in the UK is 08:30 in Germany it’s 7:30
I was an hour late for everything for quite a while
glad to find another brit :D
As a German, I hate that, too. I always repeat when they say "halb acht" .. so sieben Uhr dreißig? I believe it's a southern thing.
@@AndreasDelleske ide schwiiz isches au halbi achti, chan aso guet es südding si
@@bitzelijoschaevci3444 Jo das cha scho si..
Don't ask me, what I (German) experienced in my first year in Oz... Sometimes it was embarrassing, sometimes funny...
I am German and when I was a kid (40 years ago) I had the privillege to live one year in Brazil. I have never known more friendly and happy people in my life! Yes, I also saw the poverty, environmental pollution, crime and so on, but the people in general knew how to smile, be happy and enjoy the simple things in life and life in general. Best time ever!!! After one year we came back to the cold (literally, it was January)... Cold weather, cold, sad people and the fruits and veggies I enjoyed and had for one year fresh from the market tasted like shit* or like a very watered down version. If I had had a choice back then I would have been on the next plane back. And for all people living in a foreign country for an extended period of time: learn the fuc*ing language! After that year I was pretty fluent in Portuguese... Well, speaking, not writing, but I could talk to people and watch TV without any issues. Unfortunately I had nobody to talk to in Portuguese and over the years I forgot pretty much all Portuguese I had learnd.
You look at it one-sidedly, as if the Germans and Germany are inferior in some way and the Germans "need" to look at other cultures with an open mouth and change in accordance with someone else's lifestyle. But in fact, every country and culture has pros and cons. Germany has a misty Harry Potter-esque aesthetic (as does England, oddly enough), it needs to be understood and felt, not compared to southern or tropical cultures. Behind great sociality there are always low material ambitions and conformity when the whole nation is like that, then they are simply doomed to poverty and high criminality
@@sanich0811 i was on board until you brought up culturally motivated poverty XD
@@sanich0811 I love my country as well! And my language😊 I also liked the "Harry Potter-esque" description 🧡
@@sanich0811 I don’t think he meant to say Germany is inferior to Brazil. If you look at the stats, it objectively isn’t. And sure, each country has its own unique way of being and that should be appreciated, I think. And I agree that tropical countries have something different but not more to offer than those in the far north/ south. Thing is some people do prefer the tropical way of being and that’s fine (I’m not one of those btw, I’m just saying it’s ok if somebody doesn’t like living in Germany or in the UK or whatever that much and prefers living in the Caribbean, for instance). The one thing I disagree about is the “friendliness” being equal to a lack of material ambition and dooming people to poverty. Take Australia as an example, a developed tropical country with people that are a lot more “open” than in, say, Sweden. I don’t think this lively way of being correlates to lack of material ambition. I think that it’s something that happens in spite of most Brazilians not having enough money to get all they want/need (that’s not to say they don’t wish to have a good car, tho, saying that is just beyond ridiculous). When it comes to different cultures and lifestyles, everything is very nuanced. And even though there are things like HDI, freedom of speech and tolerance/ discrimination that should be taken in consideration, generally, no culture is better than other (I say generally because cultures where people think it’s ok to openly harass women or give gay people the death penalty do have some obvious issues that need fixing). Anyway, those are my two cents. But basically, maybe the guy likes Brazil better than Germany, so what? If you’re like me and disagrees w him, that’s cool, just don’t live in Brazil if you can help it.
Edit: bad sentence structure
hi, very nice to hear so positive points about brazil and the Brazilians. I got very happy for that. I"m Brazilian. I'm a teacher of Portuguese for foreigners. If you would like, I could help you with the language! Greetings from Brazil Alexandre
Während meines Studiuns hatte ich eine Bekannte aus Frankreich. Ich habe gelernt und, immer wenn wir uns verabredeten handelte ich mit ihr einen Zeitpunkt aus, der 30 Minuten vor dem, den ich im Kopf hatte lag. Sie kam immer zu dem Zeitpunkt, den ich im Kopf hate... 😀
That's the way! My sister is also a notorious latecomer, that's why I implemented this method too haha
Nice idea, I should have implemented it, but I don’t need that anymore because, thanks God, I left France😅😅😅
Pünktlichkeit ist die Kunst, zu wissen, wie viel der andere zu spät kommt.
Das macht meine Schwester und alle die mich gut kennen heute noch so und ich bin geborener Allgäuer.....
In diesem Land hat man es mit etwas/chronischer Unpünktlichkeit wirklich nicht einfach....
So gar beim Zahnarzt haut es mir jedes mal den Vogel raus....
Da bin ich meistens 5 - 10 Min. zu spät (trotz mit vollgas hinfahren....) und jedes mal, wenn ich dann Heim komme, haben die mir schon auf das Band gesprochen, "ob ich noch komme"... Die alten Panikmacher....
Gruß!
@@wahrheitsliebender geht mir als schwabe auch so.....meine freunde rechnen die zeit in olis..ein oli ist eine halbe std.😂😂mit der zeit gewöhnt sich jeder daran -mann muss nur ausdauernd sein.
"You can have an opinion here." That one hit me, dang : (
Well, i haven't been in Russia for a while, but i still have family there. Let's just say, it's not at the point yet where you disappear without a trace because you mention in public that the ruler of the country looks like a dumb cartoon character. But it's getting there. That one phrase contains a lot.
@@olgahein4384 from 1991-1993
First I didn't understand what she ment... But when they said that they are Russians, it dawned on me... So sad!
Yeah and still there are People who complain about not being allowed to have an opinion
@@Angry_Lion You can have one, but only if it matches the dictator's.
Wer beim Kochen nicht improvisieren kann, kann nicht kochen 😉😂
I would say improvising is the true art but a real cook doesn't have to improvise.
@@christopherstein2024 true. In this case it was just about, to improvise if smtg is missing.
But at all, to test and try new things, is what makes it interesting and gives u new impressions
improvisieren is easy... aber wenn ich einen schweinsbraten machen will dann will ich einen schweinsbraten machen. fehlt da knoblauch oder kümmel dann ists halt gebratenes schweinefleisch aber kein schweinsbraten. salz, pfeffer, knoblauch, kümmel...mehr braucht ma ned aber auch ned weniger.
@@devilskitty5032 würde da die Theorie aufstellen, das nicht jede Region für einen Schweinebraten genau diese Komponenten verwendet 😉
Aber ja, manches braucht man sicherlich.
Aber etwas neues zu probieren, soll ja auch den geschmaclichen Horizont erweitern können 😋
Correct, thats what i tell wifey once a week. I can not cook without recipe. She cannot cook WITH recipe.
I'm a german woman and got a kind of culture shock after I stayed in Ireland for a while and then came back to Germany. People in Ireland are so much more friendly and polite, smiling and all, I wanted to turn round and go straight back to Ireland.
Yes, I experienced the same in GB too. Germans are very unfriendly and unpolite.
Bye
Fifty years ago i visited beautyful Scotland, i was 17 and came their with my school english and understood nearly nothing . Nice to hear it again. Greetings from Hamburg
That French guy appears to be very gifted with languages. His German pronunciation was spot on. I do not totally agree with his assessment of the French though. I always experienced the French to be very friendly (except perhaps - quite understandably - for the old folks who still have personal memories from WWII).
I think some French can be slightly arrogant when it comes to their cuisine. They may be right, but it's not a sign of politeness to emphasize this everytime. ;) And many refuse to talk in foreign languages, even when they are abroad, they don't even bother to try. So your own French has to be quite good to have a real nice chat with somebody when you're in France, you won't come too far with English. This does not apply to every French, obviously. And of course they have their own advantages as well. Their films seem to be a lot more artful, many people are dressing more tasteful than Germans do, music in their native language seems to be a lot more distinguished (even if the Brits are the real geniuses here imho) etc.
What you said about the French and languages could also be said about the British... Many of them refuse to talk in a foreign language even when they are abroad, they don't even bother to try. So your own English has to be really good to have a nice chat when you are in Britain
I guess that depends on where you are and where you are from. At the french-german border the french ppl are incredibly arrogant, especially towards germans. Even more so, when they are on the german side of the border. They refuse to talk in german (even though they speak german) or even in english. And if you make clear that you don't speak french they react as if you are eating children and insultin their mothers.
@@olgahein4384 I spent some time in Colmar and Obernai last year and the people there were the most friendly I´ve ever met. They all talked german with me cause my french sucks. They were lovely and friendly and sooo soo helpful!
He means that the French are mean, which is true, like they want to seem polite and gentle but it does not mean anything, instead they hate you inside and don’t want you to be there, because, oh my God, foreigners take their poorly paid jobs that they don’t want to do anyway, and now they got no job at all because there is no more job in France.😅😅😅
I loved watching this, being German myself and have lived in 3 different countries ( USA, Switzerland & South Africa) for 25 years. Moving back to my home country Germany last year was a bit of a shock on how much it had changed, but I love to be back and within my culture.
@BD this part
good we don't want your European ways in the u.s anyways that's why we have problems here with race now because of you go back to your bland ass food
What changes did u see?
I moved to Bucharest, Romania for one year after school. The biggest culture shock I had was that everything (playgrounds, schools, parks,..) is guarded by security. Couldnt get used to that during my time there.
Not that true, mostly they are old people that have nothing else to do. Like 60yrs old bodyguard .
Romania is a very safe country, they are just telling people what to do before entering a building or so😀
They could use that in the USA.
@@jeronim07 Huh, so more like groundskeepers?
I really like your interviews, they are really fun to watch!
Aww thank you have a great day! :)
I'm swedish and I live in Sweden, but I've lived in Munich for many years. I liked it very much in Munich and Bavaria and I had a great time there. However, the culture shocks were : opening hours of shops, often quite rude waiters in restaurants, difficulty to pay with credit cards, bad service in many shops and it wasn't allowed to wash cars on sundays. But apart from that, it wasn't much on the negative side. Most people are friendly and if you speak german it's quite easy to find friends, the city is clean and safe, great beer, terrific food, nice nature withe the alps and "Alpenvorland", great skiing close by, MVV (public transport) works quite well and they have nice beergardens.
Not wash cars on Sundays - that's a misunderstanding. You can't wash cars in the street on any day bc of water contamination. You can wash.your car at a filling station on any day of the week😜 14:18
@@lumina9995 It wasn't possible even at gas stations when I lived in Bavaria and I'm sure that I didn't misunderstood it.For religous reasons they told me.
@@flyfishing_and_hiking Actually, you're right. Car washes can open at 12:00 noon in Bavaria but the municipality has to permit it. So it depends. Wieder was gelernt!😅
Why did the Scottish accent turn me on though 😅 also, French and British person talking to each other in german was priceless
The Scottish guy was so hot 😂
YES! ^^
My culture shock going to the States : From the moment we landed at the airport the expression on my American partner's face changed! He warned me several times to be very careful, not to trust people when they are approaching you, even locking the car doors from inside while driving!
Reminds me of a story: Two guys sitting in the plane to the US (Chicago). One gets more nervous the closer they get. The other asking about that. The frightened one said: "I heard a lot of bad stories about Chicago. So many murders and crime going on there." The second guy answers: "Not to worry. It is not really as bad. I get along fine." First guy: "So what do you do there?" Second: "I am a tail gunner on a pizza delivery truck."
What a load of crap .
Jesus it’s not that bad. Let’s just generalize a country of 330+ million people based on some extreme cases, why not?
@@badhombre4683 Thanks to the US system of transportation, any visitors still have to go through the urban hellscape before getting to the nice parts of the US.
@@badhombre4683 Because even if it's not "that bad", it's still way worse than it needs to be.
I enjoyed the video! Very relaxed interview atmosphere, nice young people and a humorous nice presenter! Overall, the perceptions of the young people were very benevolent and friendly from the point of view of a German! And far fewer clichés than expected! Thank you for sharing!
Much appreciated!
It is notable that there's quite a few differences between regions in Germany, here in Berlin for example shops all close at 10 and or even 12 instead of 7-8 like in Bavaria, and when people go out they definitely go out late and they dance here.
Yes Bayern is special/ different in that regard to the rest of Germany.
Dicker meinst du wir haben keine Clubs hier in München? :)
Techno meinen Latinos nicht, das ist für uns tanzen aber für viele Südländer ehwr seltsam.. also bleiben nur Salsa, Latino, Jugo Clubs ect.. und von denen haben wir auch in München genug. Was sie meint ist einfach ein unterschied des Temperaments. In Lateinamerika müssen die sich nicht erst drei Longdrinks kippen um abzugehen, wie sie sagt da ist alles Musik und Leben 💃
Thank to all the cultures that you like our country so much in such a different aspects ❤
German who moved to Ireland and there were more culture shocks than expected to be honest :D biggest one is probably how relaxed everyone here is when things go wrong and how safety issues are not that much of a concern 😂 Pub culture is a massive thing and I gotta admit I love it! :D Irish are way more open and friendly but also tend to be late and more chaotic, which is something a German really needs a long time to get used to.
In germany a lot of cities are built pretty small. Like houses and even streets can be just big enough to function but nothing more. I never noticed that until I returned from China where everything was ginormous. I really got the impression that germnanay was sort of like fairy-tale-like. Yk like when you go to a small traditional village in the alps, but even bigger cities had like a similar vibe. That feeling quickly disappeared again though after a few weeks back in germany haha
Yeah, it's interesting how quickly you can get used to everything, when you have experienced it as normal before. Whenever i interact with all those students from all over the world at our university in Freiburg they are always in awe about that medieval fairy tale fantasy feeling they have in the city center, the great food, the high quality beverages, the healthy lifestyle, the history that ouzes from every corner of the city (especially americans love that) and so on. And for me, it's just another tuesday.
You should go visit Quedlinburg if you like German fairy-tale cities.
Perhaps all the Hutongs have been raised. But those quarters where just tight and small too.
I like the Bauzaun in the Video. It's very German to have a Bauzaun always somewhere in the Background.
I live on that one street you filmed on, it’s really interesting to see there are so many people from all places in the neighborhood!
Wow, super video. I'm originally from Spain but I live in Austria. Every now and then I travel to Germany for Holidays or to spend a weekend and I have to say that I haven't found yet one "unangenehm e people". They are always nice and helpful. I love Deutschland.
aww thanks ;)
Thank you, and I love Spain too, and Europe!
Keep your humour ! ... it's great to see things from this perspective.
What the one guy in the red Helly Hansen jacket said. Respect for peoples time. Dude is spot on right there.
I am living in Munich since more than 12 years now and there were two points made in the video which I couldn't relate to. First one was someone saying that you have to book weeks in advance to go out. I have never experienced this problem and I am going out with a friend like 3 times a week, mostly on the weekends where restaurants and bars are very crowded. Sure there are some locations which are full during prime time, but Munich has so many good places where you can go, its usually not a problem to find something. The other point was made about having to pay with cash everywhere. Another TH-camr actually put this rumor to the test and asked around how much cash German people carry with them and the large majority has little to no cash and pays everything by card, google pay or whatever you prefer. Its mainly farmers markets, christmas markets and other temporary outdoor shops where you have to pay with cash.
Ich glaube sie meinte aber, dass man sich mit Deutschen Wochen vorher etwas ausmachen muß um mit ihnen fortzugehen...Als Expat hat man ja in Deutschland keinen "Freundeskreis seit der Schulzeit" wo dann jeder für jeden immer Zeit hat/sich spontan die Zeit nimmt.
Du schreibst ja selber du triffst dich regelmäßig 3x die Woche mit einem Freund. Wenn dann dich nun wer anderer fragt auszugehen wirst du es wohl dann auch in die Zukunft planen, weil 3 Tage in der Woche sind ja bereits regelmäßig mit deinem Freund verplant...
Yeah, it is true to some extent that paying with cash is largely unnecessary. But I did notice a lot of stores (more-so even in the Netherlands and Belgium) that only accepted Maestro. I also ran into a number of German bakeries that didn't accept card. Cash is definitely more necessary in Germany than most European countries.
@@teddysmith8725 The reason is that the shops have to pay fees to the credit card companies. The fees for debit card transactions (e. g.maestro) are much cheaper.
@@teddysmith8725 bcause cash is the only lawfull currency backed by law thats why. and why the fuck does your bank and goverment needs to know what you are spending your money on. its mind buggling seeing all those people with their thousends and thousends of creditcards. also it helps to manage your money better...
paying cash is actually a good thing!
Nice to hear so many positive things. Thank you, your channel is an enrichment
5:09 that french guys pronunciation is impeccable.
yeah, in some sentences he sounded 1000% german
My Portuguese American dad, spoke flawless German. My mom taught him well. ♥️
Spent some time in South Korea and was astonished by the highly functioning public transportation network and simple paying System all over the country whereas in Germany every area has its own ticketing system :)
My main culture shocks returning to Germany after living in Denmark were the unreliability of having internet reception and how much Germans like to complain and judge each other.
Das Deutsch von dem Franzosen ist ja wirklich erste Sahne. Gelungene Integration!
I love your interviews. Thank you!! And your style and outfit is very cool! 👍
Thanks so much!
As a German living in Berlin every kind of politeness no matter where is like a culture shock :).
Try New York City. Ya gone feel right at home
Munich is vastly different from the other larger cities in Germany. That said Hamburg, Köln, Düsseldorf and Berlin have social and cultural differences that one only recognizes after spending a longer time in each of the cities.
what they all have in common is way to many muslims in it to be called european cities anymore lmao
@@sirbonobo3907 It’s not the people or their culture but fundamentalist outliers… we live in a world where a multi cultural society is unavoidable, the danger is religious dogma that perverts peoples humanity. Your point about Muslims is what they said about the Jews… the only solution is integration which means adhering to the rules of the society one finds oneself in and no ghettos.
We can’t turn the clocks back which means we have to look for positive solutions.
Was für eine Ehre und wirkliches Privileg die zu sein die Wir sind, danke für diese Videos und danke an alle Ausländer😉 den interviewten die ihre eindrücke hier mit uns teilen. Es ist immer wieder schön zu sehen und zu hören das wir mit unseren eigenarten doch etwas besonderes in der Weltgemeinschaft darstellen und darauf können Wir gut und gerne stolz sein und wenn es ebend solche videos dafür braucht um mal ein bisschen stolz auf seine Nation zu sein dann ist das gut, da aus deutschen Mündern in Nachrichten oder egal welches Medium es anscheinend verpöhnt ist seine Heimat toll zu finden und ja egal wo man auf dieser Welt hinfährt kein Land ist wie Unsere Heimat und das müssen wir uns bewahren für unsere kinder dessen kinder und dessen dessen ihr wisst wad damit gemeint ist. Danke an alle die unseren makken doch was abgewinnen können, we Love and be Germany thanks to all our Guests.❤❤❤
I actually love the general good quality of real estate we have here in Germany. Cheap and good food is also a big plus. What i don’t like so much as an example is the often not very elegant functional wear a lot of us germans love so much. I as a german have to admit that being punctual is actually super important to me, especially professional wise.
One of the things I loved about South Africa was that all the shops were open on Sunday it was so convenient, whereas at the time all the shops in Britain closed on the Sunday it was horrible. Thank you John Major for changing that and giving us Sunday trading!
I'm English, but I left England in 1969 to work and live in Germany as a Gastarbeiter. I stayed for 13 years. My biggest mistake in life was returning to England. I'm now 77, but if I was 30 years younger, I would go back to Germany. I was a computer programmer for some years and programming is something that has to be done right. I always feel, when I visit Germany now, that things are just done right over there, while in England we just muddle through. Look at Britain right now. It's failing in so many ways, thanks to Brexit and Boris.
apart from commenting on one of your interviewers thoughts, i'd rather like to mention your absolute positive attitude. it is you as a person, so enjoyable seeing and watching your videos. good job.
Germans use a lot of idioms, however, if you are new to the language, you don't know them.
Da war er auf dem Holzweg.
I disagree. Yes, germans also use idioms but there are way less german idioms in comparison to English idioms. I am german and therefore a native speaker. Still, I know more English idioms than german idioms.
I agree that native English speakers tend to say things much more indirectly than Germans which can be fun and playful but can also lead to uncertainty and misunderstandings
I haven't noticed them using more idioms though (when I was in America)
In my dialect (Schwäbisch) we have a shitload full of idioms but I rarely use them cause many young people don‘t understand dialect
I (a native German speaker) notice when talking to language learners that I use idioms in almost any conversation and need to step back in order to not confuse them. But most of the German idioms also exist in some form in English. Just not the regional ones I learned from my parents/ grandparents.
Nice Video and Interviews, but I must say i think they only experienced the typical behavior of urban Germans there. In the villages or small towns, people are often more relaxed than in the city, easier to get friendships. The people there are also more practical, for example a good german housewife can actually cook a good meal from anything... even if an ingredient is missing from the recipe. Also, on sundays are some options to buy groceries.. especially in the big cities.
The punctuality is just for the planning of the day, the woman from Colombia said it right, and it also serves as security for planning family life. Also the 'canceling- 5-minutes-before' is something that is against such a security, so don't wonder if people don't like that behavior. If you want to cancel then you should do it as early as possible, so that the other person can reschedule, don't waste other peoples time or let them wait for nothing. It doesn't matter if it's something trivial, but matters much if it's something important.
I'm scottish living in lower saxony and its nice to see another scotsman in the country, even if its on TH-cam 😅
My cousin married a Scottish man, many decades ago. He came over with the British Army and stayed. Most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen for real. (No, I was not trying to flirt with him, never told him! I respect my cousin's marriage!)
@@franhunne8929 ah thats cool! My grandfather was stationed outside frankfurt I'm the 50s in the British army. I think many Scottish men did their national service in Germany then
Strange to hear public transport suffers from so many delays. I lived in different cities in Germany and always could rely on public transport. Yes sometimes there is a delay now and then. But that‘s so rare. Working as a trainer I used to experience that those who came in late were those who came by car. Traffic, parking, …
Its been degrading over the years
In my personal experience, public transport in cities is very reliable. But I currently live on the countrside and trains here are annoying (No S-Bahn btw. only busses). They come hourly at best and delays are anywhere between five and 20 Minutes regularly. If there's some kind of problem on the rail, they have to call in some railworkers which take ages to get there. I remember once being stuck on a 45 minute ride for a bit over 3 hours because of that. And for the buses the infrastructure is not ideal. They are heavily denpendent on the general traffic going well and generally also drive hourly or some times every 30 minutes.
-tldr.: public transport in cities: great - out of cities: meh.
Local trains are OKish. 30% of the ICEs are late..
Oh I thought that in Hamburg and Schleswig Holstein, but now moving to Munich. I don’t feel like it’s that reliable anymore, I have to always plan for delays on the S Bahn if I want to arrive on time, so maybe it’s a regional problem.
@@theflimo Bavaria has bad local transport because it's not wanted by the auto industry
It would have been a good idea to ask people why they live in Germany.
I don't know why but i always read your channel name as "yourtruerabbit" lmao
might be my ears ;)
The idiom fact I found very accurate as well, I have had countless conversations in German and then used idioms as we do in English, and then people just get so lost. I might be South African but will go drink a pint with the Scott any day; finding people with a sense of humor similar to what I would call "English/British humor" is complex in Germany.
I think that‘s always the trickiest part about learning foreign languages or conversing with someone who has a different linguistic/cultural background: idioms can rarely be translated literally, and they are often so deeply rooted in a specific culture, that the meaning isn’t obvious for someone who didn’t grow up or live in that culture for an extended period. We use idioms in Bavaria, whose meaning would be completely lost on a person from Berlin and vice versa - even though they’re all in German.
@@Sturmhut that is so true. Idioms are deeply rooted into a language and culture. I geuss looking back at it, using English Idioms in German seems like a dumb idea. It is interesting though learning a language is quite easy to get to the point where you can have fluent conversations with people but really getting into the smaller cultural elements of a language you need a lot of time, C1 only brings you so far.
Diese Reflektionen sind super unterhaltsam 🙂 Danke sehr.
Funny how Americans will always say they're from "city/state" except from the country. The girl from Chicago does this, and I found Americans always do that lol
well everybody in the western world has heard of the american states and major cities so it makes sense I think
the US is just as large as the EU, and diffrent regions have their own cultural specialties. I think it makes a lot more sense naming the state and not just USA.
@@scribblescrabble3185 how about mentioning both? If someone from the USA met someone from… let’s say North Macedonia, would the person from the USA know where that is without the addition of Europe?
Most Europeans I know would only know the general region where to search for North Macedonia on a map.
@@scribblescrabble3185 the differences in culture between us states are next to nothing compared to that of different nation states it doesnt make sense at all
Dutch guy here; no cultureshocks at all visiting Germany
Same when I (growing up in Northwestern Germany) visit the Netherlands.
Both countries are very similar, I really enjoy your bike friendly streets. You're a couple decades ahead of Germany. Hope we catch up soon!
Well De Nederlands offer fresh vegetables, flowers, canals and what not.
@@leonawroth2516 How is Baden Württemberg similar to the Netherlands?
I work for a German multinational. I had to cancel a meeting 1 hour before it was to start. Was out of my control. I could tell my German colleagues were not happy, but they remained polite.
Its ok if you cancel because something happened. And you inform the people as soon as you know.
But if you cancel some date because you dont feel like it 5 min before.
That’s a no go because germans then mostly cancelled plans with other peoples or whatever, to make your date happen.
The only country I stayed more than a few days and not for holidays is England and in the 2000s.
What surprised me, was how beautiful the countryside and the small towns and villages are. At this time our impression of of England here in Austria was only dirty coal miners and broken down factories ....
What negatively impressed me was if you wanted to eat good it was really expensive, normal priced food was awful.
One reason why Germans are so direct with their language is the fact that it is THE central country of Europe. People from all over have forever been moving through it. I read somewhere that, today, 80% (?) of all European traffic touches Germany at one point, and it has been like that since forever. Major trade routes have existed almost since the stone age. Germany still hosts a lot of major international trade fairs etc. So, in order to communicate with people who are not native speakers, you have to be direct and succinct. You don't want to speak in idioms,. You don't want make allusions, that could get you in trouble. Germany themselves used to speak in dialects that differed so much that people from the north could not understand people from the south f. ex. When we talk among ourselves, we use a slighlty different language, and you really cannot say that we don't have idioms, proverbs and so forth. After all, we are also a country known for literature.
Very interesting explanation of the German 'upfrontness'.
We have relatives in the Netherlands, and any time we go there (by car) we find it much more relaxed driving there. The same is true for Belgium, and the Scandinavian countries. And whenever we come back to germany we outright hate driving here, because many people drive so aggressively and much too fast. I cant say about the other countries around.
It would be dangerous for me to drive in these countries you mentioned because I would fall asleep by driving so slowly^^
@@freidenkerin5198 you'll get used to it but it really is very stressful to drive there imho because many people's attention is elsewhere and you constantly have to watch out for others cutting your way.
I always felt like the best highway experience is the German Autobahn when there's no trucks. You can drive very fast and it is very relaxing because everyone can handle their own speed.
On busy days slow drivers tend to cause traffic jams though because they attempt to overtake trucks improperly and everyone has to slow down which leads to quick congestion on the left lane.
@@Squee7e You understand me😊
As a german, before I studied abroad in sweden, I always thought the so called german directness didn't really exist. But in Sweden the teachers and fellow students got really upset with me after directly telling what I thought and what was in my opinion the truth. 😅
So I learned it the hard way.
German teachers get upset about that too.
Lived in Taiwan for a year - it's been a while back so some of the minor things I've already forgotten. But man. Convenience stores sure are convenient.
Visiting an elderly french couple and their kids late 90´s. Dinnertable was flooded with food and everyone sat 3 hours eating and conversing,and that was an ordinary workday. At my house dinner is over within 20 minutes. I kind of liked it. I wonder if France long sitting dinners are different now after the digital revolution ?
Hi! We often make slow meals on special occasions: family dinners, reunions with friends...etc. But in everyday life, professional imperatives, the cost of fresh products, or simply because we are lazy to invest too much time in cooking, many of us also eat very quickly, without making more effort than that !
@5.45 - Spot on. I've been trying to explain this to my German husband! Perfectly phrased!!
Some people say that there are often long delays in transport.
Some praise the punctuality of the transport.
When I was an expat in the US a couple of years back I really enjoyed being able to shop 24/7. It was awesome to wander around in an almost empty store at midnight although I didn't really need anything...
I can imagine some things i would rather like to do instead of wandering around the streets and grocery shops @ midnight in a US city. Without at least a loaded Kalashnikov to defend myself.
Not sure how true that is anymore. I live in St. Louis, and other than some gas stations and pharmacies nothing is 24 hour anymore. A lot of super markets, and at least one Walmart and Target used to be 24 hour. I miss being able to hit the store on the way home from my evening job.
@@wolfgangpreier9160 Yeah, but in the suburb I live in, crime is low. It was perfectly safe to shop at night, I did it for decades until everything stopped being 24 hour. Now, only a pharmacy(with a small general store) and a few gas stations with limited c stores is all that is open, and that's expensive even assuming they have what you want.
@@drh3b Shop at night? You can not shop at night in Europe. Maybe on the Christkindlmarkt for Glühwein. Or on the beaches in the tourist centers in summer.
The workers want to go home to their loved ones. In my youth they shut down @ 6 in the evening. Now they have t stay until 7. Poor people.
@@wolfgangpreier9160 What's that got to do with what I said? You made a stupid comment about shopping at night in America, and I pointed that out politely. And directly, something a German should appreciate.
0:04 At first, I really heard the Scottish lad saying 'Dortmund', maybe because it's not far from where I live. :D The French guy's German is outstanding, you can even barely hear his accent. That's very unusual for French people talking in foreign languages (no offense).
Places closed on Sunday sounds nice. It was that way in the USA when I was growing up there. Nice! Gives everybody a chance to rest.
Different countries, different customs, when I decide to live and work in another country, I usually find out how things are done there, so I'm not shocked or surprised when certain things are done differently . That's part of life.
But having a cultural shock when moving to another city is part of life too. Personally, I only look for the tips that helps me to not be in trouble with the authorities. When it comes to the rest, I like to have surprises and not be that prepared with learning everything from the internet. I personally think this kind mess the magic of learning others people culture.
I experienced major reverse culture shock when I came back to Germany from my Japan travel. I loved it in Japan, of course everything was new and interesting to me but coming back was so gorrible. It took me a long time to adapt. My first impression arriving back home was that Germans are rude, loud, unfriendly, chaotic, messy, because in Japan everything and everyone was quiet, polite, orderly, friendly, organised, clean... I loved it so much!!!
I had the same experience, but on the other hand, the politeness is Japan is just shallow and you can't truly get to know the Japanese as a foreigner.
My reverse culture shock as a Canadian living in Germany are the friendly waiters and retail workers.
In Franconia, the directness, the closed off personalities, stores closed at 8pm, Sunday everything closed, nice cozy cafe's don't open until 10am...
Reverse culture shocks (Midwest USA), big...everything is big and spacious, the options in the grocery stores, polite language usage, only tasting sugar in things, and the smell of chlorine in tap water, and of course the amount of water in toilets.
The biggest annoyance for me is the store hours. I've been here 5 years and I still can't get used to it. I hate buying food in advance because I'm an intuitive eater. I also am frequently disappointed that the best places to get a coffee don't open till 10am. It makes no sense to me. The coffee at the bakeries are shi*****!!!! I miss my early morning routines working on my laptop in a cozy Cafe at 6:30am....
I never understand why people always say that germans are so direct. The most direct people I've met have always been people from other countries like USA, Italy, Brazil and others. They always tell me how much they hate the german language and the people and so on. If that's not direct, I don't know! I would never do that visiting another country. Same thing with punctuality. In almost every country I visited they wanted people to be punctual - for trips etc. and got really angry sometimes if you weren't super punctual. But I have to say that a lot of germans are rude and aggressive, especially in Berlin. People there are often horrible whereas I find the people in Franconia very nice, open and chatty; in Nuremberg, Wurzburg and Regensburg for example.
... as a German Biochemist -
I was a Post Doc at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
from 1982 -1985
it was a sacred paradise
not 1 Incident to worry about
there are those outworldly sacred places of serenity and peace ...
- the deterioration of American Society
may lead to self extinction
I would not go back to the USA...
we breed the same fate in Europe ...
as a german the biggest culture shock in north america (BC, Canada) was to be asked "hows it going?" by complete strangers. WHY?!
The culture of consumerism. Everyone is trying to please each other verbally in order to achieve benefits in the end.
Why not ? America is way more friendlier man.
@@vivekrbs no its superficial imo :D
Its become a greeting, like 'Hello'. When you're asked 'How's it going?' you simply reply, 'Good, and you?' They'll answer 'Good'...and off you go. It trips folks up who mistake it for an actual inquiry.
specially when you dare to answer, same in Australia
Actually I got some experience with other cultures. It is the most valuable change of my general perception of Germany. Spending many years in Africa I was confronted with a very different and strange culture. Working for an American company here in Germany before, I had my first encounter with a different culture. They are quite different in values and behavior. Also they maintain their way of lifestyle with very few tolerance to the environment and culture they live in.
The next level of experience with a different culture hit me when I went to Africa. It was nearly the opposite of our western culture. More like a time journey some hundred years back in time. It took me a long time to cope with it and it’s still not easy. On the other side I discovered some very important things that we lost in our western culture like family (it’s really different there!) and good traditions.
If I would have the choice, I would prefer to live in Africa instead of living in an insane woke western culture that appeared here in the last decades.
Wait a moment, then you can also enjoy Africa in all its glory in Germany.
@@hansschmidt1880 Everything has advantages and disadvantages. Nothing is perfect. That’s the lesson I learned.
But when I sum it up I definitely enjoy life in Africa much more. I was living in Ghana and Zambia and think about to settle down in Zambia.
I’ve never been that typical “German”. I don’t like football, drinking and watching this stupid comedies on TV. My thinking is not limited by BILD and ARD.😉
Give me one reason to enjoy enjoy Germany in this time of wokeness and intolerance.
@@kbityy This is exactly the response I expected from an ignorant and arrogant German. If they don’t understand they start bullying.
It starts the same way like 1933 …
@@kbityy I’m born in Germany and live here for over 60 years. I went to Africa to help the people over there in orphanages and schools. What is wrong with it? What did you do for the weak and vulnerable?
I came 40 yrs ago from SA and one of the first things I noticed the people don’t like to dance spontaneously. First a drink. The food is incredible. If u make friends then they are most probably for life.
My biggest culture shock I had in 1992 visiting London for the first time: When the doors at Heathrow opened after collecting the baggage and a crowd was waiting for people - this crowd was so diverse! All skin colours, all types of clothing, it was amazing to me because Germany was not like that at all at the time. This has changed now but still London is far more diverse than Berlin or Hamburg or Munich probably will ever be. But this is London. When I lived in Bristol from 2018-19 I joined a theatre club - not one single black or brown face in the club. There was one Latino - and me as a foreigner, as the "odd ones out". Everyone else was white British. Equally in the company I worked with, 150 staff, someone else and me were the two foreigners, everyone else was white British. Rather disappointing, I have to say. I would have expected to see more diversity outside London as well, but apparently that's not the case. That is also some kind of a culture shock to me.
If you don't want to see or be around white people, then why choose to live in a country that is 92% white???
@Tracchofyre pathetic. England is for the English!
@@jackundmarija20VA4 'England is for the English'?What a nationalist crap. I hope that's just cynicism considering Marijá's name. But I decided to accept the choice of the 52% that voted us Europeans out and left after 16 years of making it my home. I've never regretted returning full time to Germany, but I've sorely missed the England that I experienced until then with my pink glasses on.
@Tracchofyre we never stop having cultures. They may just become more subtle. Just consider how long it takes you to simply forget to ask yourself where a former foreigner originated from. It takes many generations. Simply because you (instinctively) see their more or less different culture, not only any different looks.
@@annvoy7698 I am nationalist, England belongs to the English. I have nothing lose seeing as though Prussia no longer exists, so I know the pain. And Marijá is the name of my Slovene fiance, but that's irrelevant to this
I do have to say, THE most beautiful(!) clip I've ever seen about others talking about our country!!! Thank you so much! Though, I have to say, if we're going for metropolitans only, do the exact same clip in Frankfurt, Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg and so on. There is a big difference between the north, south, east and west here. I am sure you will get quite some different answers 😄 (Deutsche Bahn will be equally disastrous, though... 😜😜😜)
To sum it up: all the culture shocks people get,are mostly about Munich/ Bavarian things.Its not really about Germany! Munich is indeed a very special place.
hmm, I live in Munich and for sure cannot agree. Munich is a very international city like other major cities in Germany. More than 40% of the population have their origin in other countries. And Munich is definitely different to rural Bavaria. As Berlin is to Brandenburg.
@@andiheinrich2830Thats because there are almost no Bavarians left in Munich.
Skillful storage of food, in your larder, your fridge and freezer is also a germanic cultural trait. Many people, even those without their own gardens regularly make their own marmelade and pickles.
Not so much of a culture shock, but I went to the USA and their toilet paper is like super super soft. Like, a blessing. We should really have that in Germany aswell.
Omg yes noone ever talks about this its sooooo soft
And then you explore the bidet in different countries :^)
My culture shock was hearing the Anthem of Great Britain "God save the king" and simultanley see pictures of Germany. I'm Austrian, living in Germany since 1960.
Come to Nürnberg… The City is very interesting and just one hour from München , and with a lot of foreigners. Here there’s big companies like: Adidas, Puma, Siemens, Bosch, I’ m from Brazil and i will love to be interwied 😂.
I married a Spaniard, so I am in Spain quite often. One thing that always takes me a while getting used to are the late hours for eating and going out. Also the time you spend eating, it can go on for hours literally. But they value good food much more and appreciate quality ingredients.
hehe , immer wenn du die Hymne langsam spielst, denk ich an den Kaiser 😅
Most British do not realize it was the German anthem, too (until 1918 and always followed by Die Wacht am Rhein) Not saying at all I am wanting these times back, though.
@@bigernie9433 Ach, 1914 ohne die Kriege dann, vielleicht schon.
War auch die Hymne der Schweiz, allerdings noch langsamer und glaube da gibt es noch 2 oder 3 Länder die diese Melodie hatten
@@Patrick-on2ty Not for me, I like female scientists, female souffrage, better medicine, less restricting clothing, the affordability of a decent life (not having to work an 18 hour day slaving away in a factory or working as a maid in a household - as there were not many other jobs for women).
@@franhunne8929 schon mit Gleichberechtigung!!! davon gehe ich da auch aus, wir entwickeln und ja zum Glück weiter. ✌️
They misunderstood german punctuality, it is about peoples expectations not the state of things like public transport. That unfortunately is massively underfunded and all germans are mad about it. The german railway has not enough tracks, too little maintenance and when german railway or politics make efforts to build more tracks you can bet that germans will find all the dumb reasons why it can't be built because nature you know.
atm it is because of the FDP siphoning off a considerable amount of the budget for the streets and new autobahn projects.
Der Franzose spricht sooo gut Deutsch...Chapeau!
Warum auch nicht?
@@VTM_isawesome Möglicherweise weil es nicht gerade die simpelste Sprache ist?
the girl that said that germans are very distant: i think it's more people from munich, especially people that grew up around the city. i don't know what it is about munich, but the people that are from there usually stay there to study and work and never move somewhere else for a longer period of time. and these people are still in their friend groups from school. so it's almost impossible to find munich friends. i'm german and i've moved to munich a while back and all of my friends are internationals :)
Your "Peaky Blinders" look works. I agree with the guy who said that you have to infer things in England/the UK whereas here you don't have to. That was my "cultural shock" when I lived in London.
Yes well when he said infer he meant imply. Infer is inward. Imply outward.
@@jeremyatkinson4976 Inward, outward so what? People still won't cut to the chase is what I was trying to say.
@@bliss448 So learn English
@@jeremyatkinson4976 How about this: EFF YOU!!!!!
Fun fact...the UK anthem "god save the queen" was also used by the Kaiserreich before WW1.
How few people want to speak English in Italy and especially in France!
Great video was fun to watch. Very positive I think.
Haha, when the french guy said he wanted to do it in German my heart was like Oh god! :D
@@yourtruebrit I loved him so much, just for that. Even though I like english as a form of communication between nationalities that could not understand each other otherwise but especially in the last years, english as a language seems very imperialistic to me. I have that feeling more with American english though.
@@yourtruebrit it was fun to watch both of you talking germen, i liked it alot ^-^
Thank you, I loved the video. I love to be in England or Scotland, because the people are so friendly and have a good humour- much better then in Germany.
My dear Mr. singing club, it's going to strike thirteen any moment now. The guy said we don't use idioms. I think my pig's whisteling.
Yes, I was shook up to the (bone) marrow.
Haha the 8 o'clock closed stores is really a bavarian thing :D in other places in Germany they are open a lot longer