2:45 "i have never seen any nationality that is complaining as much as the German" Well, as a French, i feel offended ... We DESERVE our reputation as the most complaining people ...
I think the thing with nudity is in Germany the body isn't inherently associated with sexuality as it is in most cultures. So being nude in a sauna or while tanning is just more logical.
Part of that is because FKK places get really riled and angry if you try to make it sexual. Try being a little pervert at the Schwabenquelle and see how long it takes to get kicked out.
I very much agree. although I am not German but am northen scandivaian and grew up with saunas and nudity being just there. Not that we run around naked but like So for me that is very much true and nudity and sex are not connected. Tbh for me I still sometimes struggle with wrapping my head around that fact that people think just a naked body is sexual in itself. Not meaning that you wouldn’t be able to tell if something went over and line even as a kid. To me it be even more clear as for me something like being nude wasn’t sexual and It is more clear to me when something has a more sexual intent.
100% True. Nudity is not automatically something sexual - only context makes it that. I think the thing that helped me most with body positivity was to be nude around other nude people. I grew up swimming in lakes, rivers and the sea naked and it was never something sexual - just normal. At ~12 I became more self-conscious about my body but luckily we went to Japan again that year and I was "forced" to touch the edges of my comfort zone until my comfort zone widened. When I went to Japan again in following years I spent up to 4 hours at public baths. I also went swimming again naked in Germany. I re-learned that my body is nothing shameful that needs to be hidden and I've never had issues in Germany. Everyone just minded their own business. I think it really can help kids to be nude and be around naked people so that they learn people come in all shapes and sizes. It's normal to have flabby skin, bones sticking out a bit, fat, moles, warts, body parts of different and uneven sizes. When kids grow up like that they won't get distracted by a little shoulder showing. They'll know movies and porn show selected models that are not like most people. Even bikini's can cover a lot/ mask how uneven boobs are...
My ex is half-German and he is a baker and I'm more of a dessert baker than he is. He is the one I usually go to when I need some baking tips. I almost married him. We never did small talk either. He's a sweetie though. We did the dorkiest things together. Can't get any more German than that
Kraut: that stereotype doesn't come from the Americans. It comes from the British! In the age of sail, to avoid the sailors get scurvy, they had to digest vitamin C. The British, having already colonies and established foreign trade routes, used limes. The German sailor had kraut, which is also a great source of vitamin C. So, "Kraut" got stuck with the Germans, and the not so well known "Limey" with the British 😀
That is not the entire truth. James Cook used Sauerkraut on his long expeditions, but he bought it in jars from the supermarket instead of using homemade German Sauerkraut. Storebought Sauerkraut of course always is disgusting, and the British, knowing that their own food is not very popular in the rest of the world then used this fact to make Germany look bad.
I think that it's also a kind of nickname in France: "les Choucroute" meaning the Germans. Maybe the Alsacians too. Writing a comment on a British website I wanted to use the word Krauts to poke a bit fun at myself. My comment got rejected due to use of insulting and discriminating language. Which somehow I felt even more insulting because I actually like to eat Sauerkraut (if it's prepared well).
In my experience, Germans basically pretend you don’t exist until you introduce yourself. They will bump into you and say nothing. After introduction, though, they are super friendly.
I think that is an extension of personal privacy that allows for all that nudity, and so long as you are not doing something strange you are just part of the scenery. Get weird and they get nosey.
@@Ribberflavenous Agreed. Looking at the population density in some German areas, it's the only way to give each other some room, even if it's only in a social sense. That being said: throughout Germany there are *vast* differences in how open/approachable people are. In my experience, people from Baden tend to be super outgoing and easy to get to know. Hamburg is the polar opposite. Karlsruhe is Germany on noob level. People tend to be really easygoing, willing to engage with strangers. It's also a beautiful and interesting city. Well worth a visit IMO and I don't know why it's not getting more love from tourists?
About speaking English: There is a difference between the generations (my grandmother never learned English, but younger people all do) and even between western and eastern Germany. Living in Brandenburg I sometimes helped people from Syria who had to go to the local registration office. The lady there could have managed Russian, but not English - as recently as 2016. Yes, GDR still has its influences.
Makes sense if you think about it. Even though the GDR seems/feels long ago, it's been just 35 years. Since the vast majority of the people in Germany are 35yo or older, you notice a difference. The systems and the people (f.ex. teachers) didn't switch the second after the wall fell. That needs time. All those Russian teachers, who went to uni for Russian language, couldn't just switch to English. So you had the same teachers, in the same schools, up until the 2000s in some areas, teaching the same subjects for which they got their teaching license.
Yes, we visited many years ago and in the former east Germany we didn't think people spoke that much English - not even the young people. I'm sure that has changed now, though as that was the late 90's, early 2000's.
Ja i just said something to this effect. I’ve lived in Brandenburg for 3 years and I’ve met probably 4 people that can speak a bit of English. My partners family can’t communicate at all to me in English
I am really glad you said that our humor is just different. I think many people miss that part. One bit is obviously as you said that we have a pretty dry humor and the other part I'd say is that we love puns but if you don't understand the language very well yet they don't make sense as most you can't translate to English. Another bit that also ties sometimes a bit into the complaint category is a lot of humor based on culture, politics and generally very country specific stuff. If you aren't informed on those things it naturally doesn't hit.
I find that you can tease out the humor out of a German person if you're genuine and open to them coming to terms with the joking on their own terms which doesn't really take much. I find they care about upholding rules and norms as to not inconvenience others and in fear of letting too much dilly dallying and slack in character change their attitude from appropriate to inappropriate, very similar to how attentive they are at red lights and how people might percieve you etc. Germans are great fun though, they're some of the most genuine laughers and clever joksters you can find once they're comfortable with you.
"... if you don't understand the language very well yet they don't make sense as most you can't translate to English...." Absolutely agreed! And apart from the language barrier, there's the cultural aspect. How do you explain to a non-German why "Der Schuh des Manitu" is funny? You'd have to start with the original books by Karl May, the controversy around this author, the movies with Pierre Brice and Lex Barker, and finally explain Bavarian humor. I tried to give my American husband a TL;DR ... his eyes glazed over and I don't think we'll ever watch the movie. Pretty much everything German that has me in stitches (Kaeptn Blaubaer, Das kleine Arschloch, Loriot) is so deeply rooted in our culture that it's inaccessible for someone who isn't German/Austrian/Swiss. (That being said, some American humor completely misses the mark with me.)
Sauerkraut (and potatoes) used to be what got most farmers and poorer families through the winters up until about 100-150 years ago. It was the best and sometimes only way to get your vitamins in winter and many people ate it daily. I think thats where the stereotype stems from.
Kraut etc. is very dependent on the region. Sauerkraut, Rote Beete, Blaukraut, is mostly a Franken, Baiern kind of thing. Schwaben sind eine Verschwörung der Schweizer Freimaurer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The technique that I know is, cabbage is sliced up mixed with a lot of salt and packed into air-tight jars, with even more salt, if necessary! The salt draws out the water from the cabbage cells which then, in turn, ferments the cabbage. Thus, sauerkraut is a fermented food. Here, in England, we tend to have pickled cabbage which is, cabbage cut-up the same way, put in jars and covered with vinegar (no salt). I believe the Sauerkraut method produces a much more healthier food. Und, es ist sehr toll mit Wurst und Kartoffeln!
That explains why many American Germans eat it. Because some areas were settled by German Farmers who came to America over 100 years ago looking for a better life.
I am dating a german and I love your videos because its so true. For a lot of my jokes he just sends frowny emojis when we chat but he is super sarcastic. Your channel has been amazing, thank you for all the laughs and for showing the cultural differences in a light respectful way
As someone from the UK I always ask "how are you doing?" and when coming to Germany most my friends out there were blown by how much I cared. I do care alot but it's a thing we just ask here.
I’ve heard that for the 19th century German immigrants to America found, sauerkraut was one of the specifically German dishes they could most easily recreate with ingredients available to them in the US. So sauerkraut became the most distinctively “German” food in American communities. And as a reminder of home, it probably became more important within those German-American communities.
I once complained to my grandma that I find it annoying when old people are always looking out of their windows and watching everyone else - to me that's also typically German in a certain way. She explained to me that she used to do that all the time too. After the war, there was nothing to do apart from work and reconstruction - you had nothing. So we looked out of the window and watched what the rest of the world was doing. Since this conversation bewtween my grandma and me, I see the world with different eyes and it no longer bothers me when older people "stare" out of the window. You always have to know the background to understand a situation and/or the people behind it. Thank you Grandma
My mom's American but of German descent. Her family motto handed down to us was "Strangers should be a little strange" i.e., keep away from strangers and don't feel pressured to be friendly/interact just because someone you don't know behaves that way toward you.
I'm finnish and us finnish people are claimed to be the most socially reserved people in Europe. We don't do small talk. Then how do we communicate with strangers? I'll give you an example which comes to my mind particularly. A couple of years ago at spring I went for a walk in this beautiful old farming area which is preserved for the sake of agricultural heritage in this city. Hackberry trees were blooming and I stepped aside just to watch and smell the beautiful flowers close. An old woman approached me asking me " aren't they lovely?" And we started chatting. She told me these flowers were her husbands favorite. She asked me if I would like to hear a song. Then she sang me a song with the most beautiful voice and I was like "whoah". She told me her husband wrote this song for her and for hackberry flowers. We both went off and told eachothers with happy smiles on our faces "have a lovely spring". You don't need to talk much. You just have to tell the essential.
Deep South southern here: we don't do anything without first the small talk, where we grew up, our parents, where they came from, where everyone in the family was born and why....Lots of pointed questions that seems rude and quit disrespectful of boundaries if not from here. Might even have a few more meetings of small talk before getting down to business. Anyone who doesn't want to engage in this way is viewed as rude and disrespectful.
@rickwarren I’m originally from California and when I moved to Atlanta for a while many years ago I was so blown away how everyone just talks to each other on the subway like they know each other. When I’d meet people they’d ask me about my parents, where I was born, where I was educated (everyone was confident I was foreign for some reason - I think because the city was less diverse than it is now ), etc. it was nice and endearing for a while…but then when you want your quiet time it can be really grating and obnoxious. Sometimes people would start talking to you when you’re right in the middle of a book.
You should try making your own Saurkraut, it's amazing and much better than what you can buy in the store. And you can adjust the level of sourness to your liking. It can taste similar to a refreshing coleslaw (Krautsalat). I was born in Germany but my parents come from Eastern Europe and I also found that eastern Europeans eat/make more Saurkraut than Germans. At least my Grandma made her own which I loved and during Covid I tried to do it myself and it was not the difficult. The slavic way is to just ferment it slightly and keep it crunchy, and then eat is as a salad. The German heavily fermented super sour Kraut is only edible cooked (e.g. with Schupfnudeln). Historically I think it was more common before we got refrigeration everywhere, people needed some vitamins in winter. Now that you can buy strawberries in the deepest winter it's not needed for survival anymore, which is why you don't see it much in Germany these days. But it's a loss in my opinion, because done well it can taste good and is good for the gut microbiome.
Spot on! Fermented foods are just so amazing for humans, we more or less evolved to eat them. I have respect for my russian/slavic ancestors now for preserving the traditions more than in many other places
or when you like pickeld food and their is aturkish supermarket in your area try "karisk tursu" it is usually pickled vegetables which my family really likes
@@nonamepainterOh cool, I didn't know, that Uyen also makes Kimchi. My girfriend is Korean so during Covid I also made Kimchi for us and it was only afterwards that I tried Saurkraut, when I found that compared to Kimchi it's even simpler. But I admit Kimchi has the more complex flavor. Love both.
I've been considering doing that (again). But I don't have a basement anymore, nor any place I can store it at low-ish temperatures. Do you have experience making and storing it without a basement?
Let's face it, we're all just one big group of Germanic people with more or less similar languages and habits. I met a Norwegian guy and expected he would be very different from me but we just spent the whole evening realising all the similarities, even in the language, it was almost scary.
Maybe complaining simply is the German version of small talk? 😉 I'm German, and I haven't reflected on this before. But I guess complaining together with my German friends makes me feel connected to them...
It is our version of smalltalk. And sometimes you complain to just the right person and get/make something better and find new things to complain about!
I'm American and 100% consider light complaining as small talk. I don't mean heavy topics like complaining about politics or something. But complaining about the weather, or maybe high prices of things, that's absolutely small talk to me.
@@cloudsn Complaining about politics IS the normal complaining here tho😅 i do agree that germans complain as small talk. Still, we dont do any kind of small talk as much as, say, americans
When is complaining complaining and when is it not? When I was abroad, I was always accused of always having to complain. But most of the time it wasn't complaining at all - I was commenting on what I was seeing/experiencing. "Oh, it's full here" - not a complaint . "The prices are high" - also not a complaint and so on
I have to confess - whenever I had a hard day at work of feeling low, I pull up a clip from you and start instantly smiling. You have such a wonderful humor and a fine style of presenting you beautiful clips. Thank you. Greetings from Berlin
Around 60% of the "German" stereotypes are actually more common European things, which is why you always see Dutch/Danish/French people (and a bunch of other Europeans) commenting "we do they same thing!"
Regarding the "socks with sandals" thing, when sandals became trendy and widely used, then many people used socks when wearing their sandals. It was practical, you wouldn't feel bugs crawling on your skin if you walked through taller grass in the park, dust wouldn't accumulate between your sweaty toes and you wouldn't be cold even if the wind blew a bit more. But then after some time someone claimed that the more fancy countries like France or Italy thought that it looked uncool, so people in central Europe (I'm uncluding Czechs and Slovaks here) started avoiding wearing this combo and started being ashamed of it. That is why people now are offended if you tell them that the stereotype for their people is "wearing white socks with sandals", because it has a derogatory meaning in our culture now.
I put socks under sandals and don't give a damn if anybody thinks anything. It's more comfortable. I have bad arthritis in both feet. The socks are cute and fluffy and I really wish somebody would try to say something....
I went out with a hiking group to the beach. This woman who was dressed like a literal clown, did not shut up about my socks and sandals. It's hot, it's gritty. I do not have other shoes. Im wearing the socks if you like it or not.
I wear sandals only with socks. Crocs and flip-flops - also usually with socks (unless I am going swimming). Everywhere, including home (the purpose of socks is to absorb sweat, they are much easier to wash than slippers or shoes of any kind).
I think the sausage stereotype is based on a translation error. Germans love sliced cold meat and bread. It's a religion and the main dish here. You can eat Wurstbrot for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But in German the sausages and sliced cold meat are both called Wurst. People think that Germans love only sausages, but we love all kinds of meat you can combine with a bread. We even have a sliced cold meat salad ;) (Wurstsalat)
But we also have a insanely huge variety of sausages (Bratwurst, Weißwurst, Wiener, Nürnberger, Thüringer, Lyoner, Blutwurst, Bockwurst, Gelbwurst, Landjäger, Pfefferbeißer, Pinkel, Bregenwurst, Teewurst, Leberwurst, Mettwurst, Bierwurst, ...). Just to name a few of them. Allegedly there are more than 1,500 types of sausages in Germany. 😂 And we are very fond of our local butchers who - of course - make the best bratwurst one has ever eaten 😋
When you say 'sausage' are you referring to 'aufschnitt' ? I'm bilingual, but this went right over my head? ---- Wurst ist wurst, aber schinken ist schinken. Von speck, all den vielen streichpasteten und terrinen sprechen wir dann ein andermal!
Complaining, or as we here in Austria call it 'sudern', is our kind of small talk. If I wait at a bus stop and start small talk with a stranger they will either think I'm crazy or that i want money and ignore me. But if we start complaining about public transport, postal service, ridiculous politics or any other thing.... there a common ground 😄
There is a channel here on youtube, The Honest Guy, who said in one of his videos that during Covid travel restrictions czechia lost first place actually.... That means mostly tourists get drunk over there :D
The level of English fluency in Germany has increased a lot in the past 20-ish years. Back then there were a lot of young people whose English was very very basic. As a Dutchy I regularly worked with Germans, and me being able to speak German came in useful quite often. Even German university students were pretty happy when the English of their international course was translated for them, because they just didn't understand the instructions the first time round. And those weren't even from the whole generation in the Eastern part of the country that got Russian at school instead of English.
It is ultimately a question of whether you keep using it after school. My father kept the language in his brain by reading english novels and later by speaking a lot of english in hi job. Me? I grew up with the internet. not speaking English was not an option....
How to get to know someone in germany: 1. Go to a place often and at the same time. Start noticing people. Great them. 2. After a few days to weeks when they start to give you a nod or greet you first you can add a small sentence about the location, the weather, etc. and have the posibility to chat. Keep it short and polite. 3. After more weeks one of you might share a very specific and much too personal Story. Or you get a monologe about a random topic. They trust you now. 4. After 2 or 3 too personal chats you can ask if they want to meet somewhere else and if they want to exchange numbers. If they agree and actually showed up you might have a new friend. All it takes is a funny social dance that lasts 6 month to a year.
OMG, the socks with sandals!! My dad was German and he passed away 10 years ago. So many things you said reminded me of him, especially that one! Thank you for the lovely vid, they always tug at the heartstrings. (Also a few I identified with, I think my German side is coming out)
The only useful smalltalk with Germanic people is talking about the square footage of apartments, the prices of groceries, or how on vacation the bread wasn't good.
Language is for communicating information, not for expelling hot air. So yes, wen Germans talk, we intend to do the former. Not saying that all of it will be useful information. There are plenty old people in germany who will trap you in a conversation about cats taking a dump in their garden, which then leads over to pictures their kids send them, which will lead to talking about their grandkids and suddenly an hour has gone by and you are about desperate to kill yourself.,
This was extra interesting. Really enjoy your videos. I totally get why kids would watch you. You are completely genuine. You are at ease in front of a camera, which puts watchers at ease. I have never heard you say anything a kid shouldn't hear. You're getting better and better. 👍😉
This was a GREAT video and I hope you do more like this. Can you discuss accents? In the US, we've heard a stronger accent on tv shows and movies. I love how softly German Boyfriend speaks with you!
Thats actually a stereotype that makes me go mad. People thinking that the German language is aggressive when really most Germans in international media talk with a WW2 accent. While there are many many different dialects in the German language, none of them sound like the yelly-harsh language that people always think German is.
@@quasnof They at least apologize for it. Every time I caught a train and it was more than 60 seconds late, the conductor apologized at every stop over the intercom, haha.
ADHD friendly?! No! THAT ONE TIME you need these 5 slack minutes because you spent 5 minutes just standing around in the kitchen, IT IS ON TIME!!!! 😮 Okay, I guess I also like to complain :D - Complaining about DB really is a unifying force in Germany.
@@m0llux My one serious gripe was with their IC night train, Austrian rail has malfunctioning engine, I guess, so I got stuck with waiting for the next (ICE) train 3 hours later. Ever spent 3 hours in downtown Hamburg at 3 a.m.? It's awfully boring when everything is closed!
in my case Potatoes are not seen so much in my pantry, because they dont keep so well in the flat, you have to consume them in like 1 -2 weeks and sometime you just don't want to bother with peeling them. so i have more noodels and rice ready to be eaten :P my mum by the way has always potatoes at hand but she hates to heat them up as leftovers once they have been cooked.
Hey , I just want to say that I agree with most of your opinions, the only 2 I don’t agree with is smalltalk ( because I do it all the time with stranger at all ages ) and the sausage one ( because I’m vegan and I know many people who are eating vegetarian/vegan and I think it’s more and more every day . At the time where I ate meat fish etc. I didn’t liked sausage either) . Thank you for making this video and i hope a part 2 is coming soon ! ❤❤❤
LOL. As someone who doesn't tend to like small talk but lives in the US where random people will talk to you all the time, here's some potential tips: 1) In terms of your neighborhood or places you frequent and see the same people all the time, like if you get on the bus or the train with the same group of commuters all the time, Begin a practice of catching the eye of people you see all the time, smiling (doesn't have to be a big smile, just a little smile) and then nodding. They should, eventually, start nodding back to you unless they are truly grumpy and don't like people. If you do this over the process of months, you can eventually stand with them on the train platform or next to their yard and say "hello" and you might get a more positive response because you've built up a relationship as a "nodding acquaintance." This also gives you time to evaluate people who really don't want to get to know you and who deliberately turn away rather than nodding to you. These people don't want contact at all. 2) The weather. This is a small talk topic, but it also has some utility. This makes it less tedious for people who don't like small talk. Knowing that a blizzard or a heatwave is coming, and then talking about preparations or concerns or conflicting news reports provides some basis for conversation. Usually the weather is a topic of mildl interest for everyone from the mother of nine to the curmudgeonly old bachelor. Rich or poor, religious or atheist, it is really hard to get off on the wrong foot with the weather. 3) Once you have developed a relationship of talking with a person, you can then move to deeper topics, or perhaps they will move you to deeper topics.
The main stereotype for me was hardworking and strict with details. We had a german supplier. The products are really great but it was so hard to get any additional information. You need more for the customs and german colleagues are not answering the emails for days. It was a matter of seconds for their engineer but still no rapid response. i like germans as a nation but working with them a little bit treaky.
Most industries lack qualified workers. So we tend to prioritise fulfilling the main work over conversation, as conversation can get in the way of just getting stuff done and that delays everything else.
Our office workers are just lazy. Our HR department is especially infamous for not answering the phone. The maintenance planners are a full-blown catastrophe. And some of our engineers seem to think that we electricians and mechanics are their personal servants for everything. One of them literally wanted us to bring him a crate of drinks in summer.
As someone from rural Ohio….the small talk thing would probably made me the most hated foreigner in Germany 😂 I live in a community where you can be seen as RUDE if you DON’T engage in small talk. Even on the street, it’s not like a busy city, so if you walk past someone and don’t make eye contact or acknowledge their presence….you’re gonna look like a jerk. 😂 It’s just normal for us to wave hello or smile at each other. I’ve become conditioned into it, so I feel like a rude, mean person if I don’t acknowledge every human in my vicinity. 😮💨 I’ll admit…it can be tiring when you’re not in a good mood. However, I’ve had some really bad days of depression, but then a random stranger smiled at me or just said “hi!” and it truly made my day. It’s amazing how a simple greeting can really brighten someone’s day, so I think this is something that will never leave me. 😂 I’m gonna be that person who’s always starting small talk and annoying all the Germans. 🤦♀️😮💨🤣🤣
I am English and live in Germany. German boyfriend reminds me a lot of the reason I originally came to Germany. Meanwhile I have been here over 30 years. The staring prejudice is a strange one. Germans, if they do it, do not know that they are doing it. Every time a new intern joins our team from England they mention it but I personally do not notice it. I actually think it has been propagated by the internet.
I'm American-born of German immigrants so I was raised with German values and culture while living as an American. I have found your presentations helpful in understanding my own quirks that differ from typical American characteristics, like seriousness vs sense of humor which has made for laughs at work with colleagues (it's too easy to play jokes on me). Oh, and I wear Japanese socks with my thong sandals when the weather is a bit chilly here in Florida.
Yes. Our German ancestors who came to the U.S. in the 1800s often depended on sauerkraut as a way to preserve vegetables through the winter. So sauerkraut is part of our German heritage. We think all Germans still eat it! Yes, the festivals that serve brats often have sauerkraut as an option.
Uyen, I totally agree with: Sausages, there are so many varieties of German sausages and they are all so freaking amazing. It is true that German food is a bit on the salty side, hehehe. Beer: Again, German beer is ridiculously high in quality and taste and variety. One time in Bavaria, we drank a beer that tasted like a banana smoothie. Rules: Yes, I crossed a small side street against the light and I was honked at a lot. LOL. Staring: Yes! Elderly people in the smaller towns stare a lot! Complaining: I don't think this is just German thing. I noticed the French and Italians are expert complainers as well. Nudity: Absolutely. I had a good friend growing up and she is German. She is very comfortable exposing her body. I'm Asian, so I found this rather shocking. Also having travelled quite a bit in Germany, there is a lot of partial nudity in the parks. Being an Asian, this of course would make me kinda uncomfy. lol. There is always a nugget of truth in stereotypes.
Sauerkraut WAS a very important food before fresh fruits in winter were more available. A great source for vitamin C and goes well with potatoes. But culture change and now it isn't as popular anymore. People think Kraut stinks when cooked Fermented vegetables are getting fashionable again in cooking let's see what the future holds.
What a great topic! I am German and smiled a lot while watching. To me it seems for you two, as a couple, it was interesting too to talk about this stereotypes. 😘
I grew up more American than my brother. I went to American military schools in Hanau. My brother went to German schools in Germany. His sense of humor is different. More dry than mine and he takes things so litterly.
I had a wonderful German exchange student still in touch 20 years later. I was warned about making rules especially about public nudity. He wanted to know why (like a two year old, he asked why a lot and followed my answer with "we don't do that in Germany" about many things). When we went to the beach he asked if all the little houses were toilets and could not understand why we needed little changing rooms! He said it only takes a second to switch from pants to a bathing suit, so who cares if I flash a bit, it's not a problem in Germany. I love your views on Germany because I see my German boy in almost every situation you've mentioned. 😅♥
As always I enjoy your video immensely. You two are so funny and heartwarming together. As for many stereotypes attributed to Germans, they are true for many European cultures. Like the French are Champions in complaining ( I have lived there several years.). Sauerkraut is a dish found in many European countries. The beer culture is very strong and the Germans are proud of their beer. But beer is also amazing in Belgium and living in Quebec, I can say that their artisan microbreweries are legendary too with even more variety than in Germany. Germans love football because it is the sport that it most talked about in the media and among people. When I grew up I didn't know about sports like rck climbing, surfing and such because it was just not a thing. Here in Canada its the same with Hockey but it doesn't mean everybody loves it. The nakedness is also common in Skandinavia (in Sweden they even have business meetings in the sauna). As a German not living in Germany anymore I find that many of these stereotypes apply a lot to the older Generation and can be explained by their upbringing and their childhood in difficult circumstances. Germans have a great sense of humor but as in every culture it is hard to understand because humor is one of the most culture-related things. I loved in 4 different countries and speak the languages fluently and yet, I always had trouble with their sense of humor. I think what makes people laugh is what they can relate to and when you share time with people who grew up in the same context, the same things will make you laugh. Smalltalk is not everybody's cup of tea, not only in Germany. I think a lot of people just don't want to spend their time talking about nothing. But being nice, greeting people is always welcome even if you may not get an immediate response.
Great comment. Humour is absolutely one of the most difficult things to understand in a foreign country. The kind of humour in general, the tone, but also specific references. While that also is fluently changing across generations, but not abruptly I guess.
In regards to Germans speaking English, I used to work at a museum when I was a kid. One of the things I would do would be to give out maps, and of course we had maps in many languages. Anyway, if tourists understood English, we would offer a map in English and then ask if they would like another map in their native language. I can still remember one German-speaking lady who was so offended that I offered. Her English was excellent. She just had a trace of an accent. But if you know about languages, you know that even if you're good at another language, it can be tiring just to read and understand things in that language. It was a courtesy to offer it to her to make her trip easier and less taxing.
I wouldn't be offended when offered of course, but I would probably also decline. It's a bit less tiring for me to read in German but English uses fewer letters, shorter sentences and a less complicated sentence structure, which definitely makes up for it. In fact, when I watch foreign movies I always choose English subtitles instead of German ones, because I don't have to read as much text 😅
I am not German nor Vietnamese and i dont have a boyfriend but girl this was HILARIOUS 🤣🤣 German fiancee is so against some of these and the way he reacts is so funny. The way your react is hilarious as well, especially in this part 14:22 when you said "Sorry" i found it hilarious for some reason 😆 🤣
Every single country in the world would have had lots of fermented foods in the past. We moved away from that and into eating ultra processed foods developed by corporations. There are so many different types of fermented foods, including sauerkraut (which can be super awesome). It is also amazing for your gut microbiome
Hearing GBF describing it made me think of pickled onions. Someone French once got obsessed with how many pickled onions I, as a Brit, ate every week and was gutted to know I'd never had one.
I’m completely German on my father’s side, 5th generation, but I’ve only spent one day in Germany, so it’s very interesting to see how my family exhibits so many German characteristics. Beer, stoicism, being rule followers. I see these things n my family. Stoicism, as In being very even tempered. Also, my family seems to be very hospitable, musical, and my grandma was a great baker of sweets. There was always an ice cream pail of fancy cookies in the freezer to be brought out in case company dropped by! Fun people, but also sensible and logical. My Grampa played the drums and harmonica, and I have my father’s 8 key harmonica.
Love your videos, found this one very interesting!:) I live in the US and my daughters high school hosts German students each year. She said all the girls think the German boys are really good looking! 😉
The thing about rules in Germany is that a lot of the time we have to pay a fine if we don’t follow them… pepole also get mad if somebody doesn’t follow the rules because we ALL have to follow them and they feel it’s unfair to let someone get away with not doing it, so it’s not uncommon to rat them out („who does he think he is driving over a red light/ parking in a space that is forbidden to park in/…“) But for the red lights we sometimes even have cameras installed that take your picture if you don’t stop..for street rules it’s always a safety thing to avoid accidents (which works pretty well)
Fear is a very effective way to control. In Singapore, tourists always fine the whole place is very clean, people are very polite. But after knowing local people and visiting it more often, you learn that there is steep fine or punishment if anyone dares to throw trash or chewed bubble gum, or breaks rules. Consequences prevent unwanted behavior. I feel we need a lot more of this in US as here it is everything goes !
You have no idea what you are talking about genuinely. If any study proved what you are saying the death penalty would reduce crime and would be common across the world. Fear of consequences doesn't overrule human irrationality or their would be no crime. Japan doesnt have those consequences and is very clean, china does have consequences and is very dirty outside of specific cities. A Cohesive and commmunal society is what allows for these places to be clean.@@littlelady7843
@@littlelady7843the problem with the 'merican is that when the government trying to pass a law/rule, they all complaining that the gonernment has become comunist/socialist/dictatorship 🤷🏿♂️
I can imagine that the Techno thing comes from the Love Parade since it was a pretty well known thing with people coming from all over the world and that was basically a Techno Parade/Festival. I think it's either Techno or Rammstein if you ask anyone about german music 😅
German boyfriend: Germans stare A LOT. All the time. And Uyen is right, they have no problem with it. I always started small talk with Germans and once I started they never had a problem continuing the conversation. I remember being at Aldi and talking to the cashier and my German ex-husband was like "don't hold her up, she is working" and I said "but she needs to have a little joy in her job, too!" I'm American. We talk to anyone and everyone, whether you want us to or not. :D
I also wear socks and sandals. It just makes sense because the socks prevent points of friction and hence water blisters. I don't care whether or not other people like it to see. If they don't like it they should simply look in another direction 😜
I am so impressed with your English. My mother was German. She lived in Stuttgart last. Stuttgart is so different than Hanau. Hessen was so much friendlier.
Lol, I freaking love sauerkraut. Weirdly enough, the only way I can eat cabbage is if it's been fermented. So I'm also a huge kimchi fan. Very different, but they're both forms of fermented cabbage!
I live in the USA. Growing up my best friend’s mother is German & she made HUGE things of sauerkraut & their entire basement would smell so bad but now I love it! My husband & I eat it a lot & you can get it in a sandwich just about anywhere. Maybe it’s just a coincidence that her mom loves sauerkraut? Who knows.
Wow!! This is very interesting to learn so many German stereotypes match up with my behavior! I am German-American, 2nd 3rd generation, and now I feel so good with all that German behavior still flowing in my veins!😉😆
you both are so funny and Thank you for sharing your lives and ..cough antidotes of life. :D you both have come a long way and are talented . Have a blessed day
In Ukraine we often eat Sauerkraut during the winter time as it is part of traditional dishes. Every year my parents prepare it for winter. Tehn after fermentation, we can boil it, drink broth and eat cabbadge with noddlees, fill dumplings with it, etc. As for me, I like it only when it is not too sour.
An interesting sock thing, Americans mostly wear white socks with tennis shoes, Germans rarely wear white socks, and even with sport shoes will wear dark colored socks. My husband always thinks my daughter and I are fighting when we speak German together, even if we are just chatting. I think a true stereotype about Germans is that they are very direct and can be critical. My German friends will say critical things about me directly to me in a way that I find shocking. That was the hardest thing I had to adjust to when I was an exchange student.
I can relate alot as a Swede who lived together with a chinese lady for 8 years as I think germans vs vietnamese have similar contrast. Thannks for sharing both of you.
I see so many similarities between the German boyfriend and myself. I don't like Techno music, football, cars and potatoes. Like him I'm influenced by South East Asia (in my case the Philippines due to a Filipina GF) and I eat a lot of rice and pasta. I also rarely eat Sauerkraut. Like him, I also never wear socks with sandals.
My own opinions as a German: 1) Complaints & Small Talk: You want to talk to a stranger? Complain that the Deutsche Bahn is always late, that the government workers are lazy and slow or that the young generations just doesn't know how to behave in public anymore. If you meet that person regularly on the train and do that - instant commute friendships, I guarantee! 2) Staring: In Germany, eye contact is not considered rude. It is a gesture of interest. If somebody looks at you, they want to know more about you - whether that is judgmental or just pure curiosity, you can not know. Our "staring in the public transport" is really just boredom and looking looking at people because there is nothing else to look at. 3) English: Younger than 40: not necessarily good in English, but comfortable responding in English to almost 90%. 40-60 year olds have a 50% chance of them being comfortable with English. Older than 60: they don't like it, but they understand you and will respond in some half English gibberish. Older than 75: almost certainly no English skills at all. 4) Football: Most Germans I know are only interested in Eurocup or world championships. I personally hate football completely. There certainly is a generation difference again. Men above 30 or 40 are very likely to have a favorite local team. 5) Beer: We don't drink it every day, anymore, but we are proud that it is one of the few things where the food industry is simply forbidden to put anything other than the most basic ingredients into it. That makes most of them taste very similar, but it is the 'pure' experience. I usually drink beer every month or so, but would never open one just by myself. 6) Opening beer with anything is a party trick and we jokingly make fun of people who cannot do it. People who are not at parties very often can't open their beers with anything but a regular opener. 7) Humor: in some regions, laughing at your own jokes too much is often considered childish or even narcissistic. So when we tell jokes, we try not to make it too obvious that we are joking. A little smirk is all you are allowed to make. We also rarely add "just kidding" after a joke (only if we insult others jokingly). Also, our humor is often very black. 8) Rules: We like rules because they give us stability and security. When I worked in the UK, I pointed out that it made no sense that traffic is left-handed, but there are no clear rules about which side to walk on in the tube - or at least few people seemed to care. But all UK friends just responded "as if Germans were any better" but I can tell you for a fact: everyone walks and stands on the right side and overtakes on the left side and in every scenario.
When I was there in Germany, in the army, I'd go out to restaurants or other places and hope to fit in and speak German, (although I was probably worse than a toddler in German vocabulary knowledge) and then the person spoke English to me, and most Germans I met were using college level spoken English. They said that they learn English in school. Except for the time I took the wrong bus and asked where I was. Nobody spoke English at that bus stop!
Nowadays almost every child starts learning English as their first foreign language at least (!) at the age of around ten in the "weiterführende Schule". Also we consume a lot of English-spoken media. For a lot of younger people it has become like second nature. In my generation (born 80s) some people aren't fluent in English, because the latter point wasn't that prominent, I think. (TV and stuff was exclusively native language, almost no English movie (everything dubbed), Internet not really existent yet, only source would be a lot of international music and of course books/newspapers but you already have to be advanced level for that.) Many forget their (sometimes only basic knowledge) for lack of pratice - if you worked as a local construction worker for example you wouldn't train speaking English. So it oftentimes basically come down to your line of work. In my parents' generation (born 50s) not every child even learned a foreign language at school. It depended on your level of education, while it was even more common to stay in "Hauptschule" where you wouldn't have English lessons back then. Also that was different for the part of eastern Germany that belonged to the DDR/GDR before there was the German reunification. Russian was a prominent foreign language in these parts of Germany.
My German husband is a very chatty person and starts up conversations with EVERYBODY. I also have never had issues with small talk with my German colleagues in the Kaffeepause or chatting people in shops or otherwise. Quite a different experience to yours! Perhaps it has to do with your level of proficiency in the language? (It‘s also my second language….)
I'm not sure which language Yuen needs to be more proficient in, from your viewpoint of the non-chattiness she experiences, but I think her English is quite easily understood and most German speak English, so I don't really think they can use that as an excuse for non-chattiness. I think she is right, small talk is generally not a thing, especially with strangers.
@@amyschmidt1113 I was referring to her German. I have lived and worked in Germany for decades, lived in 3 different German states, worked for two German companies and had two German husbands (I was widowed, then remarried) and have not felt that Germans are resistant to small talk. Also, I can tell you that while most Germans speak some English, and many, especially those who have gone to Gymnasium (university preparatory high school) and university speak it quite well, many are not really up to the level of small talk. I worked at one of the largest German corporations in Berlin, and even many of the engineers there had a certain level of competence in their English for their subject area (“Fachgebiet”), general chitchat was strenuous to difficult. Again, only wanted to mention that my experience over decades has been different. (English is my mother tongue. I was 18 years old when I started learning German. Just to be clear.)
Many foreigners have made the same comments as Uyen, though. I’ve seen other Americans and Westerners make the same comments (non-Westerners is a given). So that sounds more like the norm than the exception.
Complaining is the German smalltalk. You get a good fix on their views and build comradery over shared complaints.
Same in Poland 😅
true
You beat me to it.
Sounds about white.
"I can't complain"/"Ich kann mich nicht beschweren" is one of the best compliments a German can give
Small talk is pointless.
Complaining is better. You get to the heart of the person 😂
😂
i dont think this was a joke.@@karinlynne1064
It’s the same tho,complaining is a subset of smalltalk
As a Polish girl I approve
Oh so make friends with Germans just start complaining abt something
2:45 "i have never seen any nationality that is complaining as much as the German" Well, as a French, i feel offended ... We DESERVE our reputation as the most complaining people ...
Get back in line, cousin :-* .
LOL the French take it to another level by complaining AT their subject with disdain.
But the french also hate speaking english, so most people don't know, that they are complaining. ┐(´ー｀)┌
😂
@@quasnof Excellent point!
I think the thing with nudity is in Germany the body isn't inherently associated with sexuality as it is in most cultures. So being nude in a sauna or while tanning is just more logical.
Part of that is because FKK places get really riled and angry if you try to make it sexual. Try being a little pervert at the Schwabenquelle and see how long it takes to get kicked out.
I very much agree. although I am not German but am northen scandivaian and grew up with saunas and nudity being just there. Not that we run around naked but like So for me that is very much true and nudity and sex are not connected.
Tbh for me I still sometimes struggle with wrapping my head around that fact that people think just a naked body is sexual in itself.
Not meaning that you wouldn’t be able to tell if something went over and line even as a kid. To me it be even more clear as for me something like being nude wasn’t sexual and It is more clear to me when something has a more sexual intent.
the fact that you need those, normally covered, bits for sex is also logical
@@whattheflyingfuck... yes, of course. Bodies are only there for that, nothing else. those of children especially 🤦♀️
100% True. Nudity is not automatically something sexual - only context makes it that. I think the thing that helped me most with body positivity was to be nude around other nude people. I grew up swimming in lakes, rivers and the sea naked and it was never something sexual - just normal. At ~12 I became more self-conscious about my body but luckily we went to Japan again that year and I was "forced" to touch the edges of my comfort zone until my comfort zone widened. When I went to Japan again in following years I spent up to 4 hours at public baths. I also went swimming again naked in Germany. I re-learned that my body is nothing shameful that needs to be hidden and I've never had issues in Germany. Everyone just minded their own business.
I think it really can help kids to be nude and be around naked people so that they learn people come in all shapes and sizes. It's normal to have flabby skin, bones sticking out a bit, fat, moles, warts, body parts of different and uneven sizes. When kids grow up like that they won't get distracted by a little shoulder showing. They'll know movies and porn show selected models that are not like most people. Even bikini's can cover a lot/ mask how uneven boobs are...
I just baked some bread and said "The Germans would be proud of me." They make the best bread IMO. Love your channel.
As a German who bakes his own bread as well:
I'm proud of you 😄
Come to Norway and try our bread 😊
Our German exchange intern arrived two weeks ago and is already homesick, he misses the bread.
My ex is half-German and he is a baker and I'm more of a dessert baker than he is. He is the one I usually go to when I need some baking tips. I almost married him. We never did small talk either. He's a sweetie though. We did the dorkiest things together. Can't get any more German than that
Try Central Asian bread sometime - especially Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan :D
Kraut: that stereotype doesn't come from the Americans. It comes from the British!
In the age of sail, to avoid the sailors get scurvy, they had to digest vitamin C. The British, having already colonies and established foreign trade routes, used limes. The German sailor had kraut, which is also a great source of vitamin C.
So, "Kraut" got stuck with the Germans, and the not so well known "Limey" with the British 😀
That is not the entire truth. James Cook used Sauerkraut on his long expeditions, but he bought it in jars from the supermarket instead of using homemade German Sauerkraut.
Storebought Sauerkraut of course always is disgusting, and the British, knowing that their own food is not very popular in the rest of the world then used this fact to make Germany look bad.
I think that it's also a kind of nickname in France: "les Choucroute" meaning the Germans. Maybe the Alsacians too.
Writing a comment on a British website I wanted to use the word Krauts to poke a bit fun at myself. My comment got rejected due to use of insulting and discriminating language. Which somehow I felt even more insulting because I actually like to eat Sauerkraut (if it's prepared well).
I ❤❤❤ sauerkraut! When made well, it is transcontinental 😊
Thanks. I love learning about each other.
i have my own theory for that,they are just jellous kraut needs a summer to grow
"Schling Schlong" killed me 🤣
That is German for "dillhonker"
@googiegress7459 I believe "schlong" is english and not german. Never heard it here.
@@quarksandaces2398 (it was a joke)
So funny!!
@@googiegress I thought the word was Yiddish.
A little off topic, but Uyen you're so sweet. And your cardigans are so pretty. I love the warm energy you guys radiate.
I love her cardigans! I've tried to find similar online but no luck.
In my experience, Germans basically pretend you don’t exist until you introduce yourself. They will bump into you and say nothing. After introduction, though, they are super friendly.
I think that is an extension of personal privacy that allows for all that nudity, and so long as you are not doing something strange you are just part of the scenery. Get weird and they get nosey.
Same in Poland 😊
In Germany, if you are a stranger people don't interact with you and barely perceive you.
@@Ribberflavenous Agreed. Looking at the population density in some German areas, it's the only way to give each other some room, even if it's only in a social sense.
That being said: throughout Germany there are *vast* differences in how open/approachable people are. In my experience, people from Baden tend to be super outgoing and easy to get to know. Hamburg is the polar opposite.
Karlsruhe is Germany on noob level. People tend to be really easygoing, willing to engage with strangers. It's also a beautiful and interesting city. Well worth a visit IMO and I don't know why it's not getting more love from tourists?
Well, that can hardly explain the culture shock here. Have you ever been to Ho Chi Minh City? @@p.s.shnabel3409
About speaking English: There is a difference between the generations (my grandmother never learned English, but younger people all do) and even between western and eastern Germany. Living in Brandenburg I sometimes helped people from Syria who had to go to the local registration office. The lady there could have managed Russian, but not English - as recently as 2016. Yes, GDR still has its influences.
Makes sense if you think about it. Even though the GDR seems/feels long ago, it's been just 35 years.
Since the vast majority of the people in Germany are 35yo or older, you notice a difference. The systems and the people (f.ex. teachers) didn't switch the second after the wall fell. That needs time. All those Russian teachers, who went to uni for Russian language, couldn't just switch to English. So you had the same teachers, in the same schools, up until the 2000s in some areas, teaching the same subjects for which they got their teaching license.
Yes, we visited many years ago and in the former east Germany we didn't think people spoke that much English - not even the young people. I'm sure that has changed now, though as that was the late 90's, early 2000's.
GDR? 🤔😃
Ja i just said something to this effect. I’ve lived in Brandenburg for 3 years and I’ve met probably 4 people that can speak a bit of English. My partners family can’t communicate at all to me in English
@@Lalolale GDR (German Democratic Republic) = DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik)
I am really glad you said that our humor is just different. I think many people miss that part. One bit is obviously as you said that we have a pretty dry humor and the other part I'd say is that we love puns but if you don't understand the language very well yet they don't make sense as most you can't translate to English. Another bit that also ties sometimes a bit into the complaint category is a lot of humor based on culture, politics and generally very country specific stuff. If you aren't informed on those things it naturally doesn't hit.
I find that you can tease out the humor out of a German person if you're genuine and open to them coming to terms with the joking on their own terms which doesn't really take much. I find they care about upholding rules and norms as to not inconvenience others and in fear of letting too much dilly dallying and slack in character change their attitude from appropriate to inappropriate, very similar to how attentive they are at red lights and how people might percieve you etc. Germans are great fun though, they're some of the most genuine laughers and clever joksters you can find once they're comfortable with you.
@@Yous0147 Thank you, that's a very sweet view on us. I love interacting with all sorts of people and joking around. I just gotta get comfy first ^^
Y’all like fart jokes 😂
"... if you don't understand the language very well yet they don't make sense as most you can't translate to English...."
Absolutely agreed! And apart from the language barrier, there's the cultural aspect.
How do you explain to a non-German why "Der Schuh des Manitu" is funny? You'd have to start with the original books by Karl May, the controversy around this author, the movies with Pierre Brice and Lex Barker, and finally explain Bavarian humor.
I tried to give my American husband a TL;DR ... his eyes glazed over and I don't think we'll ever watch the movie.
Pretty much everything German that has me in stitches (Kaeptn Blaubaer, Das kleine Arschloch, Loriot) is so deeply rooted in our culture that it's inaccessible for someone who isn't German/Austrian/Swiss.
(That being said, some American humor completely misses the mark with me.)
@@sharonmontano4924 I do if they are well placed XD
Sauerkraut (and potatoes) used to be what got most farmers and poorer families through the winters up until about 100-150 years ago. It was the best and sometimes only way to get your vitamins in winter and many people ate it daily. I think thats where the stereotype stems from.
Kraut etc. is very dependent on the region. Sauerkraut, Rote Beete, Blaukraut, is mostly a Franken, Baiern kind of thing.
Schwaben sind eine Verschwörung der Schweizer Freimaurer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Adding on to correct something Boyfriend said...saurkraut isn't fermented cabbage, it is pickled cabbage.
No its fermented
The technique that I know is, cabbage is sliced up mixed with a lot of salt and packed into air-tight jars, with even more salt, if necessary! The salt draws out the water from the cabbage cells which then, in turn, ferments the cabbage. Thus, sauerkraut is a fermented food.
Here, in England, we tend to have pickled cabbage which is, cabbage cut-up the same way, put in jars and covered with vinegar (no salt). I believe the Sauerkraut method produces a much more healthier food. Und, es ist sehr toll mit Wurst und Kartoffeln!
That explains why many American Germans eat it. Because some areas were settled by German Farmers who came to America over 100 years ago looking for a better life.
I am dating a german and I love your videos because its so true. For a lot of my jokes he just sends frowny emojis when we chat but he is super sarcastic. Your channel has been amazing, thank you for all the laughs and for showing the cultural differences in a light respectful way
As someone from the UK I always ask "how are you doing?" and when coming to Germany most my friends out there were blown by how much I cared. I do care alot but it's a thing we just ask here.
Be carefull, if you ask the wrong german, he will take 8 hours of your life by actualy telling you how he feels in detail.
@@quasnof, that's true. 😂 Never ask if you don't like to know or if you can't stand bad news. Better stay with "nice to see you."
@@quasnof That was me in Britain🥲 people had to tell me to stop😂
Careful, they might hold a monologue about their recent knee operation or something like that :D
Being nice costs nothing...
I’ve heard that for the 19th century German immigrants to America found, sauerkraut was one of the specifically German dishes they could most easily recreate with ingredients available to them in the US. So sauerkraut became the most distinctively “German” food in American communities. And as a reminder of home, it probably became more important within those German-American communities.
I love how it circled back to "yeah, people will just stare and complain" 🤣
I once complained to my grandma that I find it annoying when old people are always looking out of their windows and watching everyone else - to me that's also typically German in a certain way. She explained to me that she used to do that all the time too. After the war, there was nothing to do apart from work and reconstruction - you had nothing. So we looked out of the window and watched what the rest of the world was doing. Since this conversation bewtween my grandma and me, I see the world with different eyes and it no longer bothers me when older people "stare" out of the window. You always have to know the background to understand a situation and/or the people behind it.
Thank you Grandma
yes, staring and nosy. It was in the video
My mom's American but of German descent. Her family motto handed down to us was "Strangers should be a little strange" i.e., keep away from strangers and don't feel pressured to be friendly/interact just because someone you don't know behaves that way toward you.
That is not why we don't talk to strangers. If anything, the whole concept of "stranger danger" is very weird to most of us.
I'm finnish and us finnish people are claimed to be the most socially reserved people in Europe. We don't do small talk. Then how do we communicate with strangers?
I'll give you an example which comes to my mind particularly. A couple of years ago at spring I went for a walk in this beautiful old farming area which is preserved for the sake of agricultural heritage in this city. Hackberry trees were blooming and I stepped aside just to watch and smell the beautiful flowers close. An old woman approached me asking me " aren't they lovely?" And we started chatting. She told me these flowers were her husbands favorite. She asked me if I would like to hear a song. Then she sang me a song with the most beautiful voice and I was like "whoah". She told me her husband wrote this song for her and for hackberry flowers. We both went off and told eachothers with happy smiles on our faces "have a lovely spring".
You don't need to talk much. You just have to tell the essential.
Deep South southern here: we don't do anything without first the small talk, where we grew up, our parents, where they came from, where everyone in the family was born and why....Lots of pointed questions that seems rude and quit disrespectful of boundaries if not from here. Might even have a few more meetings of small talk before getting down to business. Anyone who doesn't want to engage in this way is viewed as rude and disrespectful.
The essential: vesihiisi sihisi hississä.
@rickwarren I’m originally from California and when I moved to Atlanta for a while many years ago I was so blown away how everyone just talks to each other on the subway like they know each other. When I’d meet people they’d ask me about my parents, where I was born, where I was educated (everyone was confident I was foreign for some reason - I think because the city was less diverse than it is now ), etc. it was nice and endearing for a while…but then when you want your quiet time it can be really grating and obnoxious. Sometimes people would start talking to you when you’re right in the middle of a book.
You should try making your own Saurkraut, it's amazing and much better than what you can buy in the store. And you can adjust the level of sourness to your liking. It can taste similar to a refreshing coleslaw (Krautsalat). I was born in Germany but my parents come from Eastern Europe and I also found that eastern Europeans eat/make more Saurkraut than Germans. At least my Grandma made her own which I loved and during Covid I tried to do it myself and it was not the difficult. The slavic way is to just ferment it slightly and keep it crunchy, and then eat is as a salad. The German heavily fermented super sour Kraut is only edible cooked (e.g. with Schupfnudeln).
Historically I think it was more common before we got refrigeration everywhere, people needed some vitamins in winter. Now that you can buy strawberries in the deepest winter it's not needed for survival anymore, which is why you don't see it much in Germany these days. But it's a loss in my opinion, because done well it can taste good and is good for the gut microbiome.
Spot on! Fermented foods are just so amazing for humans, we more or less evolved to eat them. I have respect for my russian/slavic ancestors now for preserving the traditions more than in many other places
or when you like pickeld food and their is aturkish supermarket in your area try "karisk tursu" it is usually pickled vegetables which my family really likes
@@nonamepainterOh cool, I didn't know, that Uyen also makes Kimchi. My girfriend is Korean so during Covid I also made Kimchi for us and it was only afterwards that I tried Saurkraut, when I found that compared to Kimchi it's even simpler. But I admit Kimchi has the more complex flavor. Love both.
I've been considering doing that (again). But I don't have a basement anymore, nor any place I can store it at low-ish temperatures.
Do you have experience making and storing it without a basement?
@@p.s.shnabel3409
Yes, my mom doesn't do it in the bassement either. Just in a big jar in her flat.
Uyen: Germans complain the most
Dutch: Hold my bitterballen THIS IS MY THING
Same for being frugal, I was like "hey that's our stereotype!"
Let's face it, we're all just one big group of Germanic people with more or less similar languages and habits. I met a Norwegian guy and expected he would be very different from me but we just spent the whole evening realising all the similarities, even in the language, it was almost scary.
Danes: Hold my Tuborg, I got a rant for you about the busses being late and the rising prices on groceries.
Polish people - it is our national sport 😅
@@KirstenRosin It's our daily conversation with our morning coffee at work 😂
Maybe complaining simply is the German version of small talk? 😉
I'm German, and I haven't reflected on this before. But I guess complaining together with my German friends makes me feel connected to them...
It is our version of smalltalk. And sometimes you complain to just the right person and get/make something better and find new things to complain about!
I'm American and 100% consider light complaining as small talk. I don't mean heavy topics like complaining about politics or something. But complaining about the weather, or maybe high prices of things, that's absolutely small talk to me.
@@cloudsn Complaining about politics IS the normal complaining here tho😅 i do agree that germans complain as small talk. Still, we dont do any kind of small talk as much as, say, americans
Yes in France it's the same complaining is our small talk
When is complaining complaining and when is it not?
When I was abroad, I was always accused of always having to complain.
But most of the time it wasn't complaining at all - I was commenting on what I was seeing/experiencing.
"Oh, it's full here" - not a complaint .
"The prices are high" - also not a complaint
and so on
I have to confess - whenever I had a hard day at work of feeling low, I pull up a clip from you and start instantly smiling.
You have such a wonderful humor and a fine style of presenting you beautiful clips.
Thank you.
Greetings from Berlin
Around 60% of the "German" stereotypes are actually more common European things, which is why you always see Dutch/Danish/French people (and a bunch of other Europeans) commenting "we do they same thing!"
Not the stereotypes, as such. It's usually just the normal, unremarkable things that people do, that are common for a lot of countries.
Agreed. The whole potatoes, saurkraut, and sausages thing applies to all of central and eastern Europe, not just Germany.
True
You find all those stereotypes worldwide. The complaining attitude is an international thing.
Regarding the "socks with sandals" thing, when sandals became trendy and widely used, then many people used socks when wearing their sandals. It was practical, you wouldn't feel bugs crawling on your skin if you walked through taller grass in the park, dust wouldn't accumulate between your sweaty toes and you wouldn't be cold even if the wind blew a bit more. But then after some time someone claimed that the more fancy countries like France or Italy thought that it looked uncool, so people in central Europe (I'm uncluding Czechs and Slovaks here) started avoiding wearing this combo and started being ashamed of it. That is why people now are offended if you tell them that the stereotype for their people is "wearing white socks with sandals", because it has a derogatory meaning in our culture now.
and it's stupid. it's just clothes
I put socks under sandals and don't give a damn if anybody thinks anything. It's more comfortable. I have bad arthritis in both feet. The socks are cute and fluffy and I really wish somebody would try to say something....
I went out with a hiking group to the beach.
This woman who was dressed like a literal clown, did not shut up about my socks and sandals.
It's hot, it's gritty. I do not have other shoes. Im wearing the socks if you like it or not.
In the States stereotype is that those that wear socks with sandals are liberals.
I wear sandals only with socks. Crocs and flip-flops - also usually with socks (unless I am going swimming). Everywhere, including home (the purpose of socks is to absorb sweat, they are much easier to wash than slippers or shoes of any kind).
I think the sausage stereotype is based on a translation error. Germans love sliced cold meat and bread. It's a religion and the main dish here. You can eat Wurstbrot for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But in German the sausages and sliced cold meat are both called Wurst. People think that Germans love only sausages, but we love all kinds of meat you can combine with a bread. We even have a sliced cold meat salad ;) (Wurstsalat)
But we also have a insanely huge variety of sausages (Bratwurst, Weißwurst, Wiener, Nürnberger, Thüringer, Lyoner, Blutwurst, Bockwurst, Gelbwurst, Landjäger, Pfefferbeißer, Pinkel, Bregenwurst, Teewurst, Leberwurst, Mettwurst, Bierwurst, ...). Just to name a few of them. Allegedly there are more than 1,500 types of sausages in Germany. 😂 And we are very fond of our local butchers who - of course - make the best bratwurst one has ever eaten 😋
Yes, we are Indeed 😂
When you say 'sausage' are you referring to 'aufschnitt' ? I'm bilingual, but this went right over my head?
----
Wurst ist wurst, aber schinken ist schinken. Von speck, all den vielen streichpasteten und terrinen sprechen wir dann ein andermal!
thats only because the "wurstscheibe" or similar things like cooked ham are "cold cuts" in English @@rainbowlable
Wurstsalat sounds like worst salad. 😅
Complaining, or as we here in Austria call it 'sudern', is our kind of small talk. If I wait at a bus stop and start small talk with a stranger they will either think I'm crazy or that i want money and ignore me. But if we start complaining about public transport, postal service, ridiculous politics or any other thing.... there a common ground 😄
Lol I don't want my morning starting with complaining though.
So true! I started doing that at some point during my stay abroad in america and think it annoyed everyone 😅 i missed complaining so much
Na hallo, hallo, zerst aussteign lossn D'leut, du Rauschkind du schwindligs.
@@chaoskind9012 That's hilarious.
Love your GBF! Love his honesty and view on life!
You two are lovely 😊
For me, the most notable thing about this whole video is that Czechs drink TWICE as much beer as the next country on the list 😮
There is a channel here on youtube, The Honest Guy, who said in one of his videos that during Covid travel restrictions czechia lost first place actually....
That means mostly tourists get drunk over there :D
Half of it is tourism. If you just count natives, Czechs and Austrians would have a brutal showdown for 1st place.
The level of English fluency in Germany has increased a lot in the past 20-ish years. Back then there were a lot of young people whose English was very very basic. As a Dutchy I regularly worked with Germans, and me being able to speak German came in useful quite often. Even German university students were pretty happy when the English of their international course was translated for them, because they just didn't understand the instructions the first time round.
And those weren't even from the whole generation in the Eastern part of the country that got Russian at school instead of English.
It is ultimately a question of whether you keep using it after school. My father kept the language in his brain by reading english novels and later by speaking a lot of english in hi job. Me? I grew up with the internet. not speaking English was not an option....
How to get to know someone in germany: 1. Go to a place often and at the same time. Start noticing people. Great them. 2. After a few days to weeks when they start to give you a nod or greet you first you can add a small sentence about the location, the weather, etc. and have the posibility to chat. Keep it short and polite. 3. After more weeks one of you might share a very specific and much too personal Story. Or you get a monologe about a random topic. They trust you now. 4. After 2 or 3 too personal chats you can ask if they want to meet somewhere else and if they want to exchange numbers. If they agree and actually showed up you might have a new friend. All it takes is a funny social dance that lasts 6 month to a year.
i think complaining about late train, bad weather, bad government and so on is our way of smalltalk if nothing special is going on.
OMG, the socks with sandals!! My dad was German and he passed away 10 years ago. So many things you said reminded me of him, especially that one! Thank you for the lovely vid, they always tug at the heartstrings. (Also a few I identified with, I think my German side is coming out)
The only useful smalltalk with Germanic people is talking about the square footage of apartments, the prices of groceries, or how on vacation the bread wasn't good.
also if you think Germans complain you need to come to Vienna.
Language is for communicating information, not for expelling hot air. So yes, wen Germans talk, we intend to do the former.
Not saying that all of it will be useful information. There are plenty old people in germany who will trap you in a conversation about cats taking a dump in their garden, which then leads over to pictures their kids send them, which will lead to talking about their grandkids and suddenly an hour has gone by and you are about desperate to kill yourself.,
@@napoleonsdauphinfr, vienna is next level when it comes to complaining
Actual LOL. Well done. (Square meters though, now that I think about it.)
Complaining is small talk, it’s how Germans connect ❤😂
Exactly! So true! 😂
I'm German and moved to Scotland in 2016, I love that small talk is sooooooo normal and common here and I love it ♥
Yes, but how long did it take you to understand a single word anyone was saying?
This was extra interesting. Really enjoy your videos. I totally get why kids would watch you. You are completely genuine. You are at ease in front of a camera, which puts watchers at ease. I have never heard you say anything a kid shouldn't hear. You're getting better and better. 👍😉
Yes!! This. 😊
I was thinking, she may not target kids/have a kids channel, but it's 💯 absolutely child appropriate! ❤
Wim Wenders once said that Germans invented sense of humour. And then forgot all about it.
This was a GREAT video and I hope you do more like this. Can you discuss accents? In the US, we've heard a stronger accent on tv shows and movies. I love how softly German Boyfriend speaks with you!
Thats actually a stereotype that makes me go mad. People thinking that the German language is aggressive when really most Germans in international media talk with a WW2 accent.
While there are many many different dialects in the German language, none of them sound like the yelly-harsh language that people always think German is.
The German spoken in American movies is usually borderline incomprehensible to me, a German
No small talk, the trains run on ADHD-Friendly time (5m late), and delicious food is cheap.
Germany is nailing it in my eyes!
DB is a bit late with fashion trends, they still think its fationable to be late.
@@quasnof They at least apologize for it. Every time I caught a train and it was more than 60 seconds late, the conductor apologized at every stop over the intercom, haha.
ADHD friendly?! No! THAT ONE TIME you need these 5 slack minutes because you spent 5 minutes just standing around in the kitchen, IT IS ON TIME!!!!
😮
Okay, I guess I also like to complain :D - Complaining about DB really is a unifying force in Germany.
@@m0llux My one serious gripe was with their IC night train, Austrian rail has malfunctioning engine, I guess, so I got stuck with waiting for the next (ICE) train 3 hours later. Ever spent 3 hours in downtown Hamburg at 3 a.m.? It's awfully boring when everything is closed!
@@ulogy, Mainz is worse...😅
7:32 Whoah, a German that doesn’t like potatoes just came out of the closet. Is that even legal?
tbh potatoes are mid (am germ)
There are a lot of germans who don't like potatoes. Its not unusual.
@@Trashloot im gonna feel special and you won’t stop me
in my case Potatoes are not seen so much in my pantry, because they dont keep so well in the flat, you have to consume them in like 1 -2 weeks and sometime you just don't want to bother with peeling them. so i have more noodels and rice ready to be eaten :P
my mum by the way has always potatoes at hand but she hates to heat them up as leftovers once they have been cooked.
Love the serious answers from Germans here too. 🇩🇪🇦🇹😀
Hey , I just want to say that I agree with most of your opinions, the only 2 I don’t agree with is smalltalk ( because I do it all the time with stranger at all ages ) and the sausage one ( because I’m vegan and I know many people who are eating vegetarian/vegan and I think it’s more and more every day . At the time where I ate meat fish etc. I didn’t liked sausage either) .
Thank you for making this video and i hope a part 2 is coming soon ! ❤❤❤
LOL.
As someone who doesn't tend to like small talk but lives in the US where random people will talk to you all the time, here's some potential tips:
1) In terms of your neighborhood or places you frequent and see the same people all the time, like if you get on the bus or the train with the same group of commuters all the time, Begin a practice of catching the eye of people you see all the time, smiling (doesn't have to be a big smile, just a little smile) and then nodding. They should, eventually, start nodding back to you unless they are truly grumpy and don't like people. If you do this over the process of months, you can eventually stand with them on the train platform or next to their yard and say "hello" and you might get a more positive response because you've built up a relationship as a "nodding acquaintance." This also gives you time to evaluate people who really don't want to get to know you and who deliberately turn away rather than nodding to you. These people don't want contact at all.
2) The weather. This is a small talk topic, but it also has some utility. This makes it less tedious for people who don't like small talk. Knowing that a blizzard or a heatwave is coming, and then talking about preparations or concerns or conflicting news reports provides some basis for conversation. Usually the weather is a topic of mildl interest for everyone from the mother of nine to the curmudgeonly old bachelor. Rich or poor, religious or atheist, it is really hard to get off on the wrong foot with the weather.
3) Once you have developed a relationship of talking with a person, you can then move to deeper topics, or perhaps they will move you to deeper topics.
"i have never seen any nationality that complains as much as the germans" giiiiiiirl the french we beat germans anytime at complaining
From my experience in Europe the ranking looks something like this:
- France
- UK
- Germany & Austria
Poms.
The main stereotype for me was hardworking and strict with details. We had a german supplier. The products are really great but it was so hard to get any additional information. You need more for the customs and german colleagues are not answering the emails for days. It was a matter of seconds for their engineer but still no rapid response. i like germans as a nation but working with them a little bit treaky.
Most industries lack qualified workers. So we tend to prioritise fulfilling the main work over conversation, as conversation can get in the way of just getting stuff done and that delays everything else.
Our office workers are just lazy. Our HR department is especially infamous for not answering the phone. The maintenance planners are a full-blown catastrophe. And some of our engineers seem to think that we electricians and mechanics are their personal servants for everything. One of them literally wanted us to bring him a crate of drinks in summer.
As someone from rural Ohio….the small talk thing would probably made me the most hated foreigner in Germany 😂 I live in a community where you can be seen as RUDE if you DON’T engage in small talk. Even on the street, it’s not like a busy city, so if you walk past someone and don’t make eye contact or acknowledge their presence….you’re gonna look like a jerk. 😂 It’s just normal for us to wave hello or smile at each other. I’ve become conditioned into it, so I feel like a rude, mean person if I don’t acknowledge every human in my vicinity. 😮💨 I’ll admit…it can be tiring when you’re not in a good mood. However, I’ve had some really bad days of depression, but then a random stranger smiled at me or just said “hi!” and it truly made my day. It’s amazing how a simple greeting can really brighten someone’s day, so I think this is something that will never leave me. 😂 I’m gonna be that person who’s always starting small talk and annoying all the Germans. 🤦♀️😮💨🤣🤣
And a local German is going to be the rudest person in your community🤣🤣🤣🤣
I am English and live in Germany. German boyfriend reminds me a lot of the reason I originally came to Germany. Meanwhile I have been here over 30 years. The staring prejudice is a strange one. Germans, if they do it, do not know that they are doing it. Every time a new intern joins our team from England they mention it but I personally do not notice it. I actually think it has been propagated by the internet.
I'm American-born of German immigrants so I was raised with German values and culture while living as an American.
I have found your presentations helpful in understanding my own quirks that differ from typical American characteristics, like seriousness vs sense of humor which has made for laughs at work with colleagues (it's too easy to play jokes on me).
Oh, and I wear Japanese socks with my thong sandals when the weather is a bit chilly here in Florida.
German boyfriend: Liking Techno is a stereotype?
Also GB: Of course there are Techno festivals. 😎⚡️
“I hate watching Football, I don’t give a sh*t about cars, and I don’t like potatoes “ was the most shocking part.
Sounds like me, just that potatoes are tolerable, not "not liked" definitely lowest tho
For me Football/soccer-- ehhh, cars--🤮, potatoes ❤❤❤
Sauerkraut was brought to the US by German immigrants and is still popular in areas with strong German heritage.
love it....❤❤
Yes. Our German ancestors who came to the U.S. in the 1800s often depended on sauerkraut as a way to preserve vegetables through the winter. So sauerkraut is part of our German heritage. We think all Germans still eat it! Yes, the festivals that serve brats often have sauerkraut as an option.
Got a Haribo commercial before this video haha
Fitting!
Uyen, I totally agree with: Sausages, there are so many varieties of German sausages and they are all so freaking amazing. It is true that German food is a bit on the salty side, hehehe. Beer: Again, German beer is ridiculously high in quality and taste and variety. One time in Bavaria, we drank a beer that tasted like a banana smoothie. Rules: Yes, I crossed a small side street against the light and I was honked at a lot. LOL. Staring: Yes! Elderly people in the smaller towns stare a lot! Complaining: I don't think this is just German thing. I noticed the French and Italians are expert complainers as well. Nudity: Absolutely. I had a good friend growing up and she is German. She is very comfortable exposing her body. I'm Asian, so I found this rather shocking. Also having travelled quite a bit in Germany, there is a lot of partial nudity in the parks. Being an Asian, this of course would make me kinda uncomfy. lol. There is always a nugget of truth in stereotypes.
Sauerkraut WAS a very important food before fresh fruits in winter were more available. A great source for vitamin C and goes well with potatoes. But culture change and now it isn't as popular anymore. People think Kraut stinks when cooked Fermented vegetables are getting fashionable again in cooking let's see what the future holds.
I eat it most days and I'm 🇯🇲🇬🇧. Health thing.
What a great topic! I am German and smiled a lot while watching. To me it seems for you two, as a couple, it was interesting too to talk about this stereotypes. 😘
i love the cloud sweater you are wearing, its so cute
I grew up more American than my brother. I went to American military schools in Hanau. My brother went to German schools in Germany. His sense of humor is different. More dry than mine and he takes things so litterly.
in Germany “trekking”is called “wandern”.
I had a wonderful German exchange student still in touch 20 years later. I was warned about making rules especially about public nudity. He wanted to know why (like a two year old, he asked why a lot and followed my answer with "we don't do that in Germany" about many things). When we went to the beach he asked if all the little houses were toilets and could not understand why we needed little changing rooms! He said it only takes a second to switch from pants to a bathing suit, so who cares if I flash a bit, it's not a problem in Germany. I love your views on Germany because I see my German boy in almost every situation you've mentioned. 😅♥
As always I enjoy your video immensely. You two are so funny and heartwarming together.
As for many stereotypes attributed to Germans, they are true for many European cultures. Like the French are Champions in complaining ( I have lived there several years.). Sauerkraut is a dish found in many European countries. The beer culture is very strong and the Germans are proud of their beer. But beer is also amazing in Belgium and living in Quebec, I can say that their artisan microbreweries are legendary too with even more variety than in Germany. Germans love football because it is the sport that it most talked about in the media and among people. When I grew up I didn't know about sports like rck climbing, surfing and such because it was just not a thing. Here in Canada its the same with Hockey but it doesn't mean everybody loves it. The nakedness is also common in Skandinavia (in Sweden they even have business meetings in the sauna). As a German not living in Germany anymore I find that many of these stereotypes apply a lot to the older Generation and can be explained by their upbringing and their childhood in difficult circumstances. Germans have a great sense of humor but as in every culture it is hard to understand because humor is one of the most culture-related things. I loved in 4 different countries and speak the languages fluently and yet, I always had trouble with their sense of humor. I think what makes people laugh is what they can relate to and when you share time with people who grew up in the same context, the same things will make you laugh. Smalltalk is not everybody's cup of tea, not only in Germany. I think a lot of people just don't want to spend their time talking about nothing. But being nice, greeting people is always welcome even if you may not get an immediate response.
Great comment. Humour is absolutely one of the most difficult things to understand in a foreign country. The kind of humour in general, the tone, but also specific references. While that also is fluently changing across generations, but not abruptly I guess.
In regards to Germans speaking English, I used to work at a museum when I was a kid. One of the things I would do would be to give out maps, and of course we had maps in many languages. Anyway, if tourists understood English, we would offer a map in English and then ask if they would like another map in their native language. I can still remember one German-speaking lady who was so offended that I offered. Her English was excellent. She just had a trace of an accent. But if you know about languages, you know that even if you're good at another language, it can be tiring just to read and understand things in that language. It was a courtesy to offer it to her to make her trip easier and less taxing.
I wouldn't be offended when offered of course, but I would probably also decline. It's a bit less tiring for me to read in German but English uses fewer letters, shorter sentences and a less complicated sentence structure, which definitely makes up for it. In fact, when I watch foreign movies I always choose English subtitles instead of German ones, because I don't have to read as much text 😅
“can you open a beer with your eye socket honey?” 💀
😂
I am not German nor Vietnamese and i dont have a boyfriend but girl this was HILARIOUS 🤣🤣 German fiancee is so against some of these and the way he reacts is so funny. The way your react is hilarious as well, especially in this part 14:22 when you said "Sorry" i found it hilarious for some reason 😆 🤣
Every single country in the world would have had lots of fermented foods in the past. We moved away from that and into eating ultra processed foods developed by corporations. There are so many different types of fermented foods, including sauerkraut (which can be super awesome). It is also amazing for your gut microbiome
Hearing GBF describing it made me think of pickled onions. Someone French once got obsessed with how many pickled onions I, as a Brit, ate every week and was gutted to know I'd never had one.
@@stalfithrildi5366 funny, I know quite a few Brits that like pickled onions
Very cute and informative- love hearing the two of you talk together ❤
Sauerkraut + mashed potatoes are dope
I’m completely German on my father’s side, 5th generation, but I’ve only spent one day in Germany, so it’s very interesting to see how my family exhibits so many German characteristics. Beer, stoicism, being rule followers. I see these things n my family. Stoicism, as In being very even tempered. Also, my family seems to be very hospitable, musical, and my grandma was a great baker of sweets. There was always an ice cream pail of fancy cookies in the freezer to be brought out in case company dropped by! Fun people, but also sensible and logical. My Grampa played the drums and harmonica, and I have my father’s 8 key harmonica.
Germany (and Belgium) are known for their techno scene. Techno clubs and parties are super fun and the people are usually super nice and chill.
Love your videos, found this one very interesting!:) I live in the US and my daughters high school hosts German students each year. She said all the girls think the German boys are really good looking! 😉
It’s the healthcare
hi uyen!! i love your content so much!! all of it is so interesting and i learn a lot about germany and vietnam! ❤️❤️
The thing about rules in Germany is that a lot of the time we have to pay a fine if we don’t follow them… pepole also get mad if somebody doesn’t follow the rules because we ALL have to follow them and they feel it’s unfair to let someone get away with not doing it, so it’s not uncommon to rat them out („who does he think he is driving over a red light/ parking in a space that is forbidden to park in/…“)
But for the red lights we sometimes even have cameras installed that take your picture if you don’t stop..for street rules it’s always a safety thing to avoid accidents (which works pretty well)
Fear is a very effective way to control. In Singapore, tourists always fine the whole place is very clean, people are very polite. But after knowing local people and visiting it more often, you learn that there is steep fine or punishment if anyone dares to throw trash or chewed bubble gum, or breaks rules. Consequences prevent unwanted behavior. I feel we need a lot more of this in US as here it is everything goes !
You have no idea what you are talking about genuinely. If any study proved what you are saying the death penalty would reduce crime and would be common across the world. Fear of consequences doesn't overrule human irrationality or their would be no crime. Japan doesnt have those consequences and is very clean, china does have consequences and is very dirty outside of specific cities. A Cohesive and commmunal society is what allows for these places to be clean.@@littlelady7843
@@littlelady7843the problem with the 'merican is that when the government trying to pass a law/rule, they all complaining that the gonernment has become comunist/socialist/dictatorship 🤷🏿♂️
Dutch like to complain a lot too! I am half Dutch, half German, born and raised Dutch tho. I have a hard time deciding who complain the most 😅
You have a very nice way of getting the flow going. Your videos are good. Thanks
Uyen the GOAT lol
I can imagine that the Techno thing comes from the Love Parade since it was a pretty well known thing with people coming from all over the world and that was basically a Techno Parade/Festival. I think it's either Techno or Rammstein if you ask anyone about german music 😅
...shlingshlongs....yep, that's the word I'm using from now on!!😆
Note to self: when next I meet German bf, DO NOT TALK ABOUT POTATOES!
German boyfriend: Germans stare A LOT. All the time. And Uyen is right, they have no problem with it.
I always started small talk with Germans and once I started they never had a problem continuing the conversation. I remember being at Aldi and talking to the cashier and my German ex-husband was like "don't hold her up, she is working" and I said "but she needs to have a little joy in her job, too!" I'm American. We talk to anyone and everyone, whether you want us to or not. :D
I also wear socks and sandals. It just makes sense because the socks prevent points of friction and hence water blisters. I don't care whether or not other people like it to see. If they don't like it they should simply look in another direction 😜
My feet get sweaty and socks wick moisturize away. And I do bow to fashion by wearing socks in a coordinating color ❤
Lol We do. 😆
I am so impressed with your English. My mother was German. She lived in Stuttgart last. Stuttgart is so different than Hanau. Hessen was so much friendlier.
Lol, I freaking love sauerkraut. Weirdly enough, the only way I can eat cabbage is if it's been fermented. So I'm also a huge kimchi fan. Very different, but they're both forms of fermented cabbage!
I live in the USA. Growing up my best friend’s mother is German & she made HUGE things of sauerkraut & their entire basement would smell so bad but now I love it! My husband & I eat it a lot & you can get it in a sandwich just about anywhere. Maybe it’s just a coincidence that her mom loves sauerkraut? Who knows.
Wow!! This is very interesting to learn so many German stereotypes match up with my behavior! I am German-American, 2nd 3rd generation, and now I feel so good with all that German behavior still flowing in my veins!😉😆
@8:00 "you meet people doing naked yoga": is that the voice of experience I hear? 😀
you both are so funny and Thank you for sharing your lives and ..cough antidotes of life. :D you both have come a long way and are talented . Have a blessed day
In Ukraine we often eat Sauerkraut during the winter time as it is part of traditional dishes. Every year my parents prepare it for winter. Tehn after fermentation, we can boil it, drink broth and eat cabbadge with noddlees, fill dumplings with it, etc. As for me, I like it only when it is not too sour.
I just realised that I was about to write a comment about how I hate it when other germans complain so much, but that also is complaining!
i love her sweater its so cute!!
An interesting sock thing, Americans mostly wear white socks with tennis shoes, Germans rarely wear white socks, and even with sport shoes will wear dark colored socks. My husband always thinks my daughter and I are fighting when we speak German together, even if we are just chatting. I think a true stereotype about Germans is that they are very direct and can be critical. My German friends will say critical things about me directly to me in a way that I find shocking. That was the hardest thing I had to adjust to when I was an exchange student.
So true about many Germans’ telling you they can speak ‘a little’ English, but then talk with you pretty much fluently.
I can relate alot as a Swede who lived together with a chinese lady for 8 years as I think germans vs vietnamese have similar contrast. Thannks for sharing both of you.
Sauerkraut is so healthy for you being fermented.
I see so many similarities between the German boyfriend and myself. I don't like Techno music, football, cars and potatoes. Like him I'm influenced by South East Asia (in my case the Philippines due to a Filipina GF) and I eat a lot of rice and pasta. I also rarely eat Sauerkraut. Like him, I also never wear socks with sandals.
The moustache on your Snorlax is a nice touch! xD
Complaining is German "Kulturgut"
My own opinions as a German: 1) Complaints & Small Talk: You want to talk to a stranger? Complain that the Deutsche Bahn is always late, that the government workers are lazy and slow or that the young generations just doesn't know how to behave in public anymore. If you meet that person regularly on the train and do that - instant commute friendships, I guarantee! 2) Staring: In Germany, eye contact is not considered rude. It is a gesture of interest. If somebody looks at you, they want to know more about you - whether that is judgmental or just pure curiosity, you can not know. Our "staring in the public transport" is really just boredom and looking looking at people because there is nothing else to look at. 3) English: Younger than 40: not necessarily good in English, but comfortable responding in English to almost 90%. 40-60 year olds have a 50% chance of them being comfortable with English. Older than 60: they don't like it, but they understand you and will respond in some half English gibberish. Older than 75: almost certainly no English skills at all. 4) Football: Most Germans I know are only interested in Eurocup or world championships. I personally hate football completely. There certainly is a generation difference again. Men above 30 or 40 are very likely to have a favorite local team. 5) Beer: We don't drink it every day, anymore, but we are proud that it is one of the few things where the food industry is simply forbidden to put anything other than the most basic ingredients into it. That makes most of them taste very similar, but it is the 'pure' experience. I usually drink beer every month or so, but would never open one just by myself. 6) Opening beer with anything is a party trick and we jokingly make fun of people who cannot do it. People who are not at parties very often can't open their beers with anything but a regular opener. 7) Humor: in some regions, laughing at your own jokes too much is often considered childish or even narcissistic. So when we tell jokes, we try not to make it too obvious that we are joking. A little smirk is all you are allowed to make. We also rarely add "just kidding" after a joke (only if we insult others jokingly). Also, our humor is often very black. 8) Rules: We like rules because they give us stability and security. When I worked in the UK, I pointed out that it made no sense that traffic is left-handed, but there are no clear rules about which side to walk on in the tube - or at least few people seemed to care. But all UK friends just responded "as if Germans were any better" but I can tell you for a fact: everyone walks and stands on the right side and overtakes on the left side and in every scenario.
This was so informative and fun to watch ^^
When I was there in Germany, in the army, I'd go out to restaurants or other places and hope to fit in and speak German, (although I was probably worse than a toddler in German vocabulary knowledge) and then the person spoke English to me, and most Germans I met were using college level spoken English. They said that they learn English in school.
Except for the time I took the wrong bus and asked where I was. Nobody spoke English at that bus stop!
Nowadays almost every child starts learning English as their first foreign language at least (!) at the age of around ten in the "weiterführende Schule". Also we consume a lot of English-spoken media. For a lot of younger people it has become like second nature.
In my generation (born 80s) some people aren't fluent in English, because the latter point wasn't that prominent, I think. (TV and stuff was exclusively native language, almost no English movie (everything dubbed), Internet not really existent yet, only source would be a lot of international music and of course books/newspapers but you already have to be advanced level for that.) Many forget their (sometimes only basic knowledge) for lack of pratice - if you worked as a local construction worker for example you wouldn't train speaking English. So it oftentimes basically come down to your line of work.
In my parents' generation (born 50s) not every child even learned a foreign language at school. It depended on your level of education, while it was even more common to stay in "Hauptschule" where you wouldn't have English lessons back then.
Also that was different for the part of eastern Germany that belonged to the DDR/GDR before there was the German reunification. Russian was a prominent foreign language in these parts of Germany.
So enjoy you both your videos
My German husband is a very chatty person and starts up conversations with EVERYBODY. I also have never had issues with small talk with my German colleagues in the Kaffeepause or chatting people in shops or otherwise. Quite a different experience to yours! Perhaps it has to do with your level of proficiency in the language? (It‘s also my second language….)
I'm not sure which language Yuen needs to be more proficient in, from your viewpoint of the non-chattiness she experiences, but I think her English is quite easily understood and most German speak English, so I don't really think they can use that as an excuse for non-chattiness. I think she is right, small talk is generally not a thing, especially with strangers.
@@amyschmidt1113 I was referring to her German. I have lived and worked in Germany for decades, lived in 3 different German states, worked for two German companies and had two German husbands (I was widowed, then remarried) and have not felt that Germans are resistant to small talk. Also, I can tell you that while most Germans speak some English, and many, especially those who have gone to Gymnasium (university preparatory high school) and university speak it quite well, many are not really up to the level of small talk. I worked at one of the largest German corporations in Berlin, and even many of the engineers there had a certain level of competence in their English for their subject area (“Fachgebiet”), general chitchat was strenuous to difficult.
Again, only wanted to mention that my experience over decades has been different.
(English is my mother tongue. I was 18 years old when I started learning German. Just to be clear.)
Many foreigners have made the same comments as Uyen, though. I’ve seen other Americans and Westerners make the same comments (non-Westerners is a given). So that sounds more like the norm than the exception.
"Yeah trekking is nice - it's for free" is such a German thing to say 😂