I'm wondering what makes people deny their ambigous feelings about their country, particularly their home region. For me such an attitude isn't weakness or dishonesty or betrayal. It's part of taking things as they are not as I wish them to be. I can enjoy the beauty of the country, its towns, its culture, my friendly neighbours, colleages, etc. and at the same time be annoyed by all the nuissances and problems it has to offer. I've been three times in the UK and it was almost 40 years ago. But I'v been following politics, economy and science there as far as it was convenient for me to do. I'm still thinking that it is an amazing country for many reasons and also a very interesting contrast to Germany. Based on my own experiences and feelings about my country (actually countries because I feel a bit attached to Austria too) it's not too difficult for me to understand how you get to your complicated relation with the UK. The pictures in your video show impressively how beautiful the British countryside is. A very well made video.
I totally relate to those feelings. I’m German and spent, arguably, the most formative 18 years of my life in the UK. The deep feelings the landscape evokes are both real and hard to describe. I miss the UK so much and I also miss British people. The reasons I moved back to Germany are still valid. But a part of my soul will always be in the UK. I try to visit at least once a year on holiday.
Thanks for sharing Julia. I do enjoy visiting the place but at the moment that#s enough for me. As long as I am able to visit one a year I feel like I appreciate all the good things to their full extent. I am also not there long enough for the more negative aspects to sink in
Of course, Brits are in the whole wonderful people. Warm, gregarious, funny, eccentric. Germans are quiet, serious and polite, which is all fine, but it’s hard not to miss the quirkiness and sense of humour of the Brits
I grew up in a working class, coalmining town in the UK and I had to get out of that environment as I found it small minded. After 17 years in London though I was glad to get out of a big city , even though as a younger man I enjoyed it and got a lot out of living there. I now appreciate the community spirit that exists in smaller towns and even more so in smaller towns in Germany.
@@britingermany I live in a village in North Yorkshire - cricket club, pubs, excellent village shop, hairdresser (for my wife, I just use clippers!). And all a short car drive to nearby towns and not too far from York. Can't imagine living anywhere else.
I’m a British citizen by choice. I’ve lived i😮LONDON for over 44 years . I love the UK, I dearly love LONDON. BUT I have decided to move out to my country of birth because of financial difficulties. Now the cost of living has gone sky high. I can’t afford the rent, the council tax,the cost of utilities, WIFI , access to fruits and vegetables etc. My pension needs an £4000 a month, for me to just survive. In my own country, I’ll need only about £ 500 a month to lead a modest middle class life Fresh fruit,vegetables,fish and uncontaminated almost every food item. I can lead a life among greenery all around. England is unaffordable now. Over population is destroying the living conditions. Immigration is a burden to Britain 🇬🇧 at present.
Your pension needs an EXTRA £4,000 a month (£48,000 per year) for you "just to survive"? Because that is expressed to be extra money,. obviously you already have some income. You must have very expensive tastes if you need an EXTRA £48K a year.
After living abroad for 8 years and coming back to my home country I figured out, that home is always only a specific point in time connected to certain people. I longed to live in my hometown again, which I can't cause work is somewhere else. But my hometown has changed in the 20 years I'm gone. It changed and is has become foreign to me. But I still got people I'm close to there so they make feel "coming home"every time I visit. Maybe home truly is where the heart is.
You hit the nail on the head with: "home is always only a specific point in time connected to certain people". And it's that place in TIME you long for. I'd argue that your hometown (and the people that never left) hasn't changed so much - it's YOU that has changed. While it's nice to look back, like looking at old photos, you can NEVER go back. That "placetime" (or "spacetime"?) has gone forever. Enjoy your nostalgia, but keep moving forwards, and make home truly is where the heart is.
I feel the same way. I moved to Germany from Taiwan almost 20 years ago, yet I still feel deeply connected to the island where I grew up. I’ve watched Taiwan evolve, develop its democracy, legalize same-sex marriage, and confront threats from China. I will never renounce my Taiwanese citizenship, but if China were to take over Taiwan in the future, they might make that decision for me.
Great video, you really captured that feeling of longing for home. I felt compelled to comment as a Brit who lived in Germany briefly, and decided to move back after a year and a half. I loved my time there, and there were lots of reasons to stay in Germany, but my heart yearned for England again. I still feel really torn about my decision, objectively the UK is a much worse place now by many measures, but there's something intangible about it that drew me back. It feels like exceptionalism to say, but there feels like something truly unique about the UK. We are an island of contradictions and it makes for a rich blend. You touched on some really great points about divides between rural and urban, and the different social classes. I'd love for you to dig deeper into those points in another video, particularly things like "crab in bucket mentality" or wealth inequality.
I agree with you, and what you said in some other videos. I grew up in London but also left for Germany a couple years ago, and honestly, despite economically being much better off here, I want to go back. I visit family and friends in the uk multiple times a year and they're all always complaining about how bad Britain is. I know that the politics are a mess and things have declined, but leaving has taught me how amazing the country is. It's hard to put my finger on it but there's something magical about it - whenever im there I feel happy, and I feel like I belong. I grew up with a single mother on benefits, so my memories of the uk aren't rosy, and I know what its like to live there and barely be scraping by, but it doesn't change how I feel towards the country. My friends in the uk are always shocked when I tell them this, but I think its something you only realise when you leave for long enough for the excitement of being in a new country to fade and the reality to set in. Despite being half German, having no British blood at all, and holding German citizenship, I don't feel at home here whatsoever. It's to the point where I am about to spend the 1.5k to get British citizenship. Britain will forever be my home, it doesn't matter how badly the country is doing on paper. Also, being half Lebanese, I don't look all that European. In the uk it is never an issue. Everything about my behaviour is British, and nobody looks at anything beyond that. In Germany I'm faced with constant racism, even if it is usually sort of masked with a smile and not direct, even though I am literally just as German as I am Lebanese. My skins darker and ive got arabic features, and that's enough to not be accepted regardless of how many times you say servus and mahlzeit.
Very interesting. I have heard this exact same experience from other friends. Parts of the U.K. are more multicultural than Germany although I’m sure many would disagree with that.
It's so interesting to hear you say that. I've held that opinion for a while. Like you, I realise that we've declined in certain areas in recent times. But I'm honestly convinced that the majority of the problems we have now is because as Brits were determined to run ourselves down and the country down. Yes, I do think that getting a grip of our public services will help. But I think the doom and gloom mentality mostly comes from within.
I grew up in an english mining village in the east midlands, in a typical terraced house in a mining housing community, so I'm very much working class, but fortunately my dad was a very hard worker and gave me a good upbringing. I practically jumped at the idea of escaping to the city for a uni edication, and after that for 5 years for work, but I found Birmingham and Coventry to be very lonely and isolating times for me, doing the typical british thing of drinking alot just for fun. I actually just moved to Poland last year and am living in Warsaw, as I fell in love with the culture and the city, and also became fed up with the cost of living crisis and just the kind of culture that was surrounding me. I love it here in Poland and the only thing stopping me from integrating right now is the language, but I am taking lessons and I am learning; it's just a slow process.
Your feelings towards the UK pretty much sums up my relationship with my home state of Idaho in the US: very complicated, with a special place in my heart. It's a love-hate relationship. I made the mistake of moving back six years ago. That only brought to the fore the reasons I left in the first place.
Oh that is interesting. Whenever I get a bout of nostalgia I go back for a visit. I find for about a week I love it and I could see myself living there again. But if I stay longer I’m reminded of why I left.
I subscribed to your channel right now because you articulate everything so well and I'm in a very similar situation like yours, I was born and grew up in Barcelona (Catalonia) but I've lived 12 years in Germany and now I feel I don't belong anywhere, I know what the feeling you describe is (in your case not really feeling to fully come back to the UK) and it helped to get to know your views, specially your acceptance of the situation because feelings are complicated. I feel the same. Moreover I love the piano background music alternating with the images, the production and effort you put in the videos and the fact that you don't just go for the black and white opinions in any debate because in fact reality is very very complicated, it is never black or white. Keep the good work coming.
@@britingermany You're welcome! 👍Übrigens, I live just one hour South from Frankfurt, nice area to live, if you need anything in Karlsruhe just let me know.
As a Brit who has lived in Australia for 30 years, I understand how you feel. Mind you, I have only been back to the UK twice in 30 years but have a home in Germany (German wife).
i share so many of your views and experiences. That's why when i left the UK at 19 for the first time to go Colombia,it changed me. I was met with authenticity, real confidence, and people truly expressing themselves. I fell in love because that's my true essence too, it's just i hadn't experienced it much in the U.K. They say you have to leave your country to truly see it for what it is. i do believe that to be true. Otherwise, we simply normalize it: The drinking, the sarcasm, the inability to say what you really mean. Thanks for making this video. You put into words so many frustrations i have come to realise i have about the UK. Appreciate it. x
I always love your thoughtful, wistful reflections Benjamin. I am a Brit, born and raised in semi-rural Yorkshire before heading off to medical school in London. I lived in London for 8 years and always loved the place. My daughter and son-in-law live in Islington which they absolutely love with its almost village like feel and yet still part of a vibrant city. I still get a buzz from visiting London and on a recent extended visit I was pleased to see the place looking clean and generally spick and span. I take on board the points you make, but I don't think the drinking culture is as excessive as it was and the evidence shows that the younger generation are drinking much less. Also it seems to me that British people have become progressively less reserved and more open during my lifetime. The politics is clearly a mess atm and just thinking about Brexit still makes me feel sick. However, I love the countryside, the green lush landscape, the patchwork quilt of fields, stone walls and hedges and the charm of many lovely towns and cities scattered around the UK. London is still one of the greatest cities on earth imho and I've spent time in a lot of them over the years. London's heady mix of culture, architecture and history is hard to match; the sheer range of theatre, music and other cultural entertainment is arguably unmatched. I love my country for all its quirks and flaws and of one thing I am absolutely certain - I want to die here!
London may be dynamic and exciting but the over-concentration of wealth and power in the south-east corner of the UK has caused massive damage to the Celtic nations and English regions. The UK tolerates regional economic disparities to an extent that would not be considered acceptable in, for example, Germany. In fact, I read somewhere that the economic gap between the north and south of England is greater than that between the eastern and western parts of Germany, which is quite an achievement when you consider that the east was under Soviet communism for 40 years!
@@britingermanyIt's true, there's also the issue of having one city so economically far ahead from its 2nd city. I can't find the study but it showed the gap between most European capital cities and also the US's second cities hovers above and below 5%, but that London is more like 20% better off than its second city. Its been recognised to be a problem, which is why there's been a real conscious effort to reduce this, particularly in Manchester over the last decade. Germany is the outlier and is fairly decentralised compared to it's capital, for reasons I probably don't need to explain to you.
@@pulchralutetiaThis is true, I can very much assure you though after moving from the South East to the South West, it's very much not a North vs South thing but South East only. There are many towns and cities in the North that have had far more investment and attention than my region ! Regarding Celtic regions, Wales yes, Scotland not so much. They take out more on average than the other 3 nations and spend more per GDP than any region.
UK citizen here who has been in Japan since January 1997, is married to a local, has grown up kids, two houses, my own business and will probably die here... And yet, I will never renounce my British passport either.
Some people say the Japanese and the Brits are not so different. I spent some time in Asia as well (China, Malaysia) but I found myself yearning for Europe.
The opposite side of the world in Southern Brasil, where we have the biggest Japanese Community outside Japan as you may know, love the Japanese food here, and visiting the Japanese area of São Paulo (Liberdade)
You nailed pretty much everything I feel on the head. I caved in at the beginning of this year and move back to the UK after 8 years in the Czech Republic, four years in France and two year in Russia. Here I am in... nearly June, still experiencing the reverse culture shock, still feeling like I don't really fit in, and questioning why I came back. I think I've said in your previous videos that I burnt out towards the end of last year - would it have been better to deal with that over there or was it the right decision to come back to the UK? I think that it's very easy idealise the place where you grew up, particularly during the bad times in another country - that whole mentality that the grass is greener elsewhere...etc. As much as there are many things that frustrate me about living in CZ, the good does generally outweigh the bad particularly if you make the effort to learn the language, learn about the culture and subsequently get permanent residence. From day one I told myself that I will never end up living in some kind of weird "expat bubble" with other English speaking foreigners. I am/was an immigrant - it's as simple as that so you do have to work hard to be something more than that awkward foreigner. You have to actively get involved in things in order to meet people and that can be very draining so finding just the right balance is different for everyone, depending on what kind of person you are. If I do return to CZ within a year, I can get citizenship in a couple of years time which I would absolutely love as I would then have an EU passport again but would I, deep down, just be returning because I want a passport not because I have totally fallen in love with the country? That's a complicated question to answer. If they didn't allow dual nationality and it meant renouncing my British citizensip, I would never do this. The idea of no longer being a citizen of the country I was born in would never sit comfortably with me. I've always known that I'd spend a large amount of my life living in different countries but with me it's nice to do that with the feeling that if things ever go wrong I can always return to the UK. I don't know what I'll decide in the end but either way, your videos have been a great help and a reminder that there are a lot of people ina similar situation, with similar thoughts, doubts and success stories. Thanks again for the video!
Thanks for sharing. Real burnout takes a long time to recover from and so you have to give it time (Sometimes it can take a few years - that's just how it is). Having an EU citizenship would be very useful and if you still enjoy a lot of things about the Czech Republic I'd give it another go
@@britingermany Thanks for your reply. I think I will take your advice over the advice from the people whom I've spoken to about this. You are right - it can take a long time to recover before you can even think about what to do next. Czechs are less direct than Germans but a lot of my colleagues were German and I miss that. No bullshit, they will just tell you how it is (good and bad). This seems to have rubbed off on me to an extent where people have told me that I'm quite rude and blunt. Rude, no, drect, yes - it's very strange watching a terribly polite Englishman almost tripping over his tongue to try to say that they're not happy about something in the most inoffensive way possible (hey, I was once that guy too 😆) As for the drinking, I've always said this about binge drinking in the UK whenever asked about it. A lot of people spend Monday to Friday trying not to rock the boat and suppress their feelings that so many people here think the only way to escape is to get obliterated with alcohol. Per capita, Czechs drink more than the Brits but I could count on one hand the number of drunken fights I've seen over there. Very different story here! Thank again! 🙂
@@WaxAddictz I concur. You had a moment of doubt/weakness/life-crisis/??? and retreated to familiarity. But you do not belong back there in Britain, you are a citizen of the world now and you belong "out there". Go for it and have a fab life.
@@HieronymousCheese Hi and thank you, I appreciate your reply. Having been back here for six months now, I know I cannot stay here - I just don't belong here anymore (like a foreigner in my own country). Am working well through various issues and will then put a plan in place. I don't think I will return to CZ but somewhere else very close by :-). Again, thank thank you, I appreciate your words of encouragement.
@@WaxAddictz Yep. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Much of what you wrote could have been my own words, years ago. You are fairly clearly one of us (and there are quite a few of us about) who belong to something more than just a single country. Embrace it. And don't define yourself as British (or anything in particular). Take the good stuff from everywhere, leave the nonsense and stupidity (unless as an amusing story) and forge your own life. xx P.S. I too avoided the expat bubble thing and always mingled with the natives (both similar and very different cultures).
I am a German dreaming of moving to the UK (Scotland specifically). I dream about living in a small, old stone brick cottage up north close to a lake, not too far from the sea, enjoying nature to its fullest. Being a hermit /introvert and only visiting the local tearoom or restaurant or a small club like a book club or painting group or something like that once or twice a week... Having a cat and maybe a pug and a little bit of contact to some ladies and a few other people from the nearby village. That's it. That's my dream life.
"emotionally repressed and socially awkward..." You could also describe Norwegian culture in those terms, and its relationship with alcohol. I too got fed up with the superficial alcohol infused camraderie, and i wonder if i havent been living in the wrong country for half of my life.
I live in Norway, no plans on moving. It was just that one sentance in the video that described many of the inhabitants in my region, so the grass is not greener on the other side
Home is where the heart is. Rural Britain is so beautiful, LDN attractive but after a while one longs for just the things you showed in your beautiful film. Friendly banter is very useful to defuse controversial issues. My compatriots often get snappy/rude. Sie wissen, dass der Umgangston in Deutschland rauer geworden ist. To live in a Europe without borders has its advantages. Sadly Brexit made life in the UK more difficult. Let’s hope that things will get better. The UK was a much valued partner within the EU. All the best.
One reason I visit this channel is that Germans and others too sometimes express this point of view that the British were valued partners in the EU. I'm a Scot and Brexit broke my heart in a way. Many in EU countries are still angry with the Brits because of Brexit and that's understandable.
@@Purple_flower09 I'm English and live in Yorkshire. Brexit broke my heart too - I felt numb with disbelief for 6 months and now feel a deep sadness whenever I think about it. I think a lot of Brits feel the same way, even the people who were conned into voting for it by dishonest, manipulative politicians.
I think you would love the Midwest USA. In Missouri we have huge nature reserves and old German towns across the state. If you like small towns & German history you should look into Hermann, Missouri (aka Deutschheim) where they have made traditional Rhineland-style wine since the mid-1800s.
First of all, I should like to congratulate you on your ever-improving video-editing skills. Your videos have always been very good, but they are clearly getting better and better. They are so professional. Kudos! What you say about not wishing to renounce your British citizenship is very understandable. I’m sure that renouncing one’s nationality of birth is always a very difficult thing to do. Luckily, in your case, you don’t need to. I must say, however, that it appears to me that you view your country of birth - England - through rose-tinted spectacles. This is not unusual. When living away from home, it is almost unusual not to do so. Even though I now live back in my country of birth, I have lived abroad for many years, and I noticed whilst living abroad that one tends to do this. One sees and remembers the sunny uplands of one’s country and tends to forget the darker, shadowy lowlands! 😊 I also noticed in your excellent video that you chose some very beautiful spots in England to show pictures of, accompanied by very beautiful music, too. It is true, there are many beautiful places in England. Alas, there are also many seedy dumps in England too; and not only in England. They exist through the Kingdom. Then there is the atrocious weather! Wherever one is in the UK, one isn’t very far from rain, wind, or even cloudbursts! Politically, especially since Brexit, the scene in the UK is a sh**sh**! Take it from me, Benjamin, you are well out of it! Rejoice! Had the cookie crumbled differently, I’d be out of it, too. Unfortunately, in my case, it didn’t; so, I am stuck here. I was raised to be very proud to be British. And at one time I was. Unfortunately, my pride has worn rather thin. The country has been f****d up! Nothing functions properly in this country anymore: our living standards are in steep decline; our National Health Service, once, perhaps, the envy of the world, is in dire straits; our schools are crumbling; our NHS dental service, in many parts of the UK, is virtually non-existent; the gap between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots, is colossal. Benjamin, were I to be you, I would rejoice. You are in a better-run country. No dry wall will make up for that! 😊
Thanks a lot for your feedback. And yes I agree. One to two weeks is the perfect Length of time for a visit for me. If I stay longer then the rose tint starts to fade.
You know what, I live in Wales, I've been blessed to be born and bred there, my kids find it boring, as I did as a youngster, but I will never got over the beauty of the place, sometimes I swear the greens are l luminous, especially at twilight.
My mum became a british subject at 21, lived in London 7 years and then travelled the world. She had the same sentiments and was quite adamant: "I won't give up my British citizenship" She was always excited when I went to the UK and would tell me all about the "motherland." Re: drinking 'culture' in UK: Our British friends were just in town and were bemoaning that very negative side, esp. as they saw how badly it affects their now 30 yr old son. "He is a good kid" they said, "except when he drinks too much"..."and he's always encouraged to have another round by the others." Has it always been that way in the UK?
@@britingermany the data shows young people in the UK are drinking less than their parents. Compared to the 1990s illegal drug use is less popular as well.
It is getting better. I think you left in the late 2000's? Its changed a lot since then. But I'm around your age and I remember the 'What's the matter with you? Have a drink, go on.' Young people have moved past that.
When you mentioned the inability of the British people of experssing themselves directly I immediately thought of my British husband😅. When I make a toast or a sandwich for myself, sometimes he can say something like "I am left to starve/I guess I don't deserve any food". Now I know that when he says it, he wants me to make an extra one, but I used to ask him "Why don't you just ask me to make an exta toast/tea/sandwich?" and he answered "I don't feel like I could express my thoughts differently". Or instead of saying "I miss you" he says "I'm abandoned". However, my husband still has enough openess and patience to explain the cultural context of the British society. I hope I would learn more to understand the British people in the future without making anyone (including myself) embarassed or misunderstood. I still don't understand the details of the class system and don't know how to socialise with the British people apart from the Church/craft groups, even though I live in a small parish town. I think I like Britain in general, I often have a quiet feeling of adoration every time I walk around the canal and the woods in my area of the West Midlands. I absolutely love British food as I find it nutricious and comforting (despite online stereotypes about the "bland" food in Britain) as well as British shows. Apart from learning the language (including local dialect words and phrases), the best thing that helped me to live overseas is my open minded attitude, realising that my views and my thinking are different from the rest of the world and if there're indivuduals/communities/societies that don't correlate with my expectations, it doesn't mean I should judge them and label them as "bad". I am a bit surprised that there're quite a few Britts like you who moved to Germany, because as I can see from my husbands perspective, he as a British found the German "Ordnung" a bit suffocating when he worked there for 3 years. Of course, there're reasons why living in the UK is getting harder like cost of living, serious shortage of jobs and housing, unclear policies from both parties etc. I find your content very interesting, keep going 👍🇬🇧🇩🇪👍
I grew up in central belt Scotland, the alcohol consumption up there is taken to a whole new level. I met a Spanish girl at university, who has become my wife. I’ve been living here for 12 years and I have never missed the UK. I found it oppressive, bullying and uncaring. Maybe the Scotland/England/UK is nicer in more unspoilt parts. I never liked it and always knew I’d leave. I’m not anti-English btw. My sister is married to an Englishman and my nieces are English, currently living in Harrogate. I just found the UK tedious and there was always a vibe that you had to be busy doing something “productive” (unpleasant). In Spain you have time to think and meditate and basically coast through life. Sounds silly, but it’s actually quite liberating just being allowed to be average.
@1:10 I think you're assuming wrong. It makes total sense, for you. And that's the only thing that counts. I also find it quite funny that you take the saying "the grass is greener on the other side" literally. If it's not intentional, it must be subliminal British humour that's ingrained in you. As a German (not from Berlin) living abroad (not in the UK) I can relate. However, this feeling seems to fade the longer I stay away. I return rather often because I like the way things "just work" and I can't shake the need for things to work wherever I go. Although each time I return for a longer period I also automatically remember why I left. I guess it will continue to be a love/hate relationship with my Heimat and me.
Yes that's a great point regarding returning for a visit. I love a visit of about 5 days to a week. I can enjoy all the positive things that I had forgotten and it's not long enough for the frustrations to kick in
I'm an American who lived in Edinburgh, Scotland from 1971-1972 and have lived in Berlin, Germany from 1972 until the present day. In 1972 Britain was a highly stratified society marked by strong differences in accents, education and income. When a British person spoke you could tell what city - even what part of that city - he came from and lives in and what kind of jobs and income he and his parents had. Already in 1971 housing in London had already become so dear that no middle class Brits could afford their own flat but stayed in one room of a communal flat. The English were very cold. The only friends I had in Edinburgh were an American and a few Scots. The English I saw regularly at the university institute with two exceptions didn't begin to accept me until the end of the year I stayed there. Lower class English society was extremely hostile to gays and the only way for a man to degridate another man is to accuse him of being a cocksucker and a poufter. Germans are superficially friendly but reserved when spoken to by strangers and unlike British people not given to chatting with them. They don't chat on the phone or engage in spontaneous activities and friends I have known for many years - with one exception - never get in touch, invite me over, call me or send me emails. the longer I live here, the fewer friends I have. I find most of the women are easily upset and can get really nasty. But after two operations that forced me as an elderly man to use crutches for several months, I found complete strangers surprisingly eager to help me get around in anyway they could, opening doors, taking my arm to support me, ect.
“Always trying to be funny” Precisely why I abandoned my foray into UK living. The layers of bullshit and defensiveness you need to cut through to get to know someone in the UK is simply impenetrable unless you are attacking someone else together.
Brazilian /Portuguese /UK citizen here, the last 20 years in the South of Brazil, where I have a far better life than I could in the UK, rarely visit the UK, but wouldn't give up the nationality, who knows in this rapidly changing world what the future may hold? If you're my age (60s)could you possibly have imagined in the early 80s that a Romanian or Polish passport would be a far more flexible travel document than a UK passport. Intresting thoughts in the video, Thanks.
Nostalgia to birth land seems universal whatever your life path. I found your channel as after 20years in UK got tired of not being able to express myself and keep thinking, with my Polish blood, I would fit better in German culture of as you described it:' say what you mean, ask what you want' - I shall practice that straight away here: After watching your channel I developed genuine crush on you. Are you single at all? Greetings from Bristol 😊
Hi Brit! Good news for you. The UK is in 2nd Division in alcohol consumption. I asked Bing AI about countries in Europe regarding alcohol consumption per inhabitants. It came back with an answer from OECD: Latvia and Austria have the highest alcohol consumption levels, with over 12 liters per adult. Following closely are the Czech Republic, France, Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Luxembourg, each with over 11 liters per adult. On the other hand, Greece, Sweden, Italy, and Malta have relatively low levels of alcohol consumption, below 8 liters of pure alcohol per adult.
It may have changed now but for me it wasn’t necessarily the amount but the consumption habit. Having one to two beers a day is different to having 10-15 beers on a Saturday night.
@@britingermany Yeah. I was a teenager in the 70s, it was mostly beer, not much booze. Now the young do drink more hard alcohol but, I THINK, they do not drink as often we did.
@@britingermany as a German Backpacker in Sydney I hung out with a lot of Brits and we went out to the bar…I was so shocked about the automatic rounds and unquestioned understanding that everyone was going to have 5-6 drinks and everyone had to cash in the same, regardless of the drink we each chose? I used to go out to Cocktails with my Uni friends, and sometimes one of us would have three, while the others just had one, or another got something to eat… There was never any expectation that we would split the bill three ways…each of us paid for what we had, so everyone was free to chose like they felt on the day. My friends were East German, so they had little money to spend and this round thing would have excluded them from joining a night out.
@@britingermany I live in a compartment complex, surrounded by young people. One left and one right to me, and two above. I guarantee, if it was in my time, there would have been big parties each weekend. These young persons don't go out much, mostly birthdays and stuff for the family. My neighbor to the left (21-year-old male), decided he wants to learn how to paint. He is sitting painting each day after work. To my right, (22 year old female), she is part-time studying and working, always home when not in school or at work. Above me two sisters, also in their twenties, they do have a few parties. Approx 2 or 3 per year. They are nice, they put up a note, saying there will be a party on this date. Not even their parties do noise much. Since I am 63 it is pleasant, with some quiet time. Sometimes I wonder if they do know, that they are young. Though I am glad, they don't behave as we did at the same age. This house would be a Mad-house. Times are changing.
I share your view Benjamin and share contradictory feelings about the UK. I was born and raised here, but by a divorced Italian parent. I have never been able to understand the indirect communication in the UK. I`m glad to stay connected to the country but don`t see myself staying here.
I am still a British Citizen, and a Landed Immigrant in Canada....40 years now. I have no interest in becoming a Canadian citizen, and getting dual citizenship just sounds like you can’t make your mind up. I will never give up by British Citizenship, and it’s not for what Britain has become since I left, or where the rest of the world Is going, its for the History of what made the Britain in the first place.
I love the UK too, especially Yorkshire and I'm not British. My husband is. Brexit has destroyed our dream of living in Britain. We live in Germany, my husband loves his country but he doesn't want to live there anymore. He holds two passports now and therefore the right to vote in the General election in both countries. We still go on holiday in the UK. I always found British people easy to talk too. They might have found me direct, I don't know. I still have many friends in the UK. I love the stone walls in the countryside and the fact you're always close to the seaside. The point about being a social outcast for not drinking applies to Germany too, and we also have an intense drinking culture.
I separate the land and then the people, of the UK, from the miasma of politics of the UK. It's very hard to blot politics out these days but if you back away from the noise, the clamour and the social media and news rubbish being pumped out, and just see the beauty of places, and see it in ordinary people, then I think you see the real country underneath 'the country'. I'm probably biased but I really don't think there's anywhere that stirs the soul like the UK with its varied landscapes, regions and peoples. It's a resounding YES from me, no matter who is 'in charge' of its running.
People are desperate to get to the UK, they cross the English Channel in hardly sea worthy boats to get to the UK. They are in France which is a splendid country but they want to claim asylum in the UK. The majority of them are economic migrants not asylum seekers.
The reason is that Britain has had a stable government for years, as opposed to other countries in the world. We also have a slavish approach to any law we signed up for to the determent of our own interests, unlike the French or other continental governments who only selectively implement the laws and treaties they signed up for if it suited their national interests and ignore the spirit of the law if it does not. Another thing is UK citizens rejected identity cards for its citizens except in the case of a World War, this means that undocumented immigrants can disappear into the country and work in the black economy. In addition the majority of immigrants have some knowledge of English due to the influence of the US in culture and media, with films and music where English is used. In addition the UK Government has a laissez-faire attitude to integration unlike the French who demand the integration of new citizens to the French secular culture.
@@iandurie8580 A lot of the UK online Fascists demand assimilation of protestant religion and flag waving etc... UK churchgoing is 5%... This video is anti--English and sneering...
@@SunofYork As I am a Scot born and bred who still lives in Scotland I did not think this video was xenophobic, the video shows the biases of somebody who has lived abroad for ten years in Germany. An old saying is when two Scots go abroad to live the first thing they do is form a Caledonia Society, it is similar for other expats.
I'm English born & bred who loves Germany! I'm married to a half-German and we've been over for several holidays. I love Berlin! I also think Germany has as many regional eccentricities, food, drink, and old traditions as Britain does. The central-continental climate suits me, and the laid-back Berlin lifestyle. But I guess it's easy to say that, as a tourist!
Hi, greetings from the Netherlands, in my case I cannot disclaim my Argentinian one but I got to move here thanks the Italian citizenship that I claimed through my granfather, as others mentioned this part "emotionally repressed and socially awkward..." could easily described any country in Northern Europe, maybe it lays on the beholder's eyes, doesn't it? I can tell you a lot about the alleged Dutch directness but at the same time could easily pass by a way to be rude, or dish, but of course they don't like when you bark back so to speak. In a way, the month I've spent in London this year helped me a lot to decompress from all the changes I experienced since I left my country of birth almost 2 years ago, which I'm sure you can relate even by being so close. To sum it up, I don't think I would disclaim my nationality of birth even if I could but there are days where I want to as well. I won't deny it, I never felt... part of it, not really but I know it is nonetheless part of who I am.
Heimweh! Homesickness. The price for freedom to uproot yourself. Behind emigration is both push and pull factors, generally, and so also for me. It is an establish psychological law that ambiguity demands a strong psyche to tolerate it without distortion. To just let things be ambivalent, open to many interpretations, undecided, lacking closure. This tends to be most challenging for the second generation, the children of emigrants, born in the parent's new country, having different roots than their parents, but for the children it is not a new country, it is the only familiar country. It is cruel to the children to deny them the love of their native country. It is OK to help them become bilingual, but not to force them to have a divided identity. I've strived to maintain my accent, and I've found a spot to settle in, where there are some lovable features reminding me a little of my native landscapes - like hills and birch-trees and lots of boulders and some glimpses of lakes, which I pretend to be part of the sea, which they might have been ten-thousands of years ago. Thanks to the accent, I fully accept to be asked where I come from. I just tell people: from Finland, and then I'll ask something about them, for example: And you, have you always lived in this village? ... I'll say: Interesting! whatever they'll reply, and soon we have a connection. It really is interesting, and the stuff that great novelists and good poems can convey. "Here and now" wins over the past in importance for all the people around you, for them you are not that interesting as a new-comer with a history, but much more as a person with a full and "living" presence. It is human nature. Homeland and mother-tongue should feel important, but they are only artificially connected to nationality, for who can encompass a whole nation concretely, as we in reality have percieved our roots much more narrowly, if we examine the facts more closely? It is good to know that normally our conceptions will be influenced by ideologies on the surface. We can however make piece with the patchwork that our roots are grown down into. The Finlandia-hymn is part of my nostalgia, but "other lands have skies as wide and blue as mine". When the Stellenbosch University Choir sings of their land I shiver, though I have no other connection than that their feeling is as familiar, as when Only Boys Aloud sing Calon Lân, which Ianguage I don't know, or when Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings: America the Beautiful... though I'm sceptical of some feature of the USA. So our heartstrings are attached in the most abstract while the most concrete ways, and *we* are connected. Remember, Howards End and "Only connect" ?
Do you think so? I would say the Brits binge more. It could be that Germans drink more on average but Brits alcohol consumption goes through the roof at the weekend
@@britingermany That‘s right, got many „Spiegeltrinker“ who are never drunk but need their quantum of alcohol morning, noon and night. Overall, Germany now holds the fifth place global wide of alcohol consumption per capita! 😳Even the Russians drink less than us. Is there an english word for „schöntrinken“? Germans drink their national decline schön. 🙈
@@britingermany That‘s right, Germany got many „Spiegeltrinker“ who are never drunk but need their quantum of alcohol morning, noon and night. Overall, Germany now holds the fifth place global wide of alcohol consumption per capita! Even the Russians drink less than us. Is there an english word for „schöntrinken“? Germans drink their national decline schön. 🙈
@@britingermanyI think you left around the late 2000's ? You'd be surprised, it's changed a lot. You'll find a lot of people in their 20s more likely to be hanging around the gym on a Saturday night.
A Mancunian, the thing I took for granted was the privilege of being able to cross paths with virtually any stranger and strike up a convo as deep or as superficial as we wanted, with a little bit of ribbing/friendly banter chucked in. The Brit attitude was (and I'm afraid it has to be past tense) that it facilitated everyday social interaction but not at the cost of being so totally false like the completly vacuous "Have a nice day" or "You're welcome" auto-responses. In my opinion it differs from a lot of other cultures that are comparatively incredibly brusque, standoffish and even defensive in their social interactions. It used to be said that 'manners cost nothing' but in the last 30 or 40 years it would seem, under the influence of other forces, this has gone out of the window. Being polite or well-mannered is actually now viewed as abnormal or 'ick/mid/cringe/dayroom/cap/npc...'. Now it's all nasty evil glances or stares, the presumption that a stranger is a danger not a fellow human being.
Yes at its best it is as you describe it. A great way to break the ice and engage in small talk. But at it’s worst it’s a Defense mechanism to keep people at arms length without them fully realising it. It’s not easy to find that balance
I miss GB as member of the EU. It's a lovely country. My neighbour is British too. We went through London and she explained a lot. It was a pleisure. I think she missed her homecountry. Thank you for your thoughts. ❤
honestly yeah I was 11 months at too young to vote bremain and I just heartbreakingly just saw my entire future being ripped as a result of brexit miss being a part of the European Union it was a stupid decision I mean you look at the scarcities on the shelves of supermarkets the level of good tradespeople that came from Eastern Europe the has unfortunately taken there good self back home and the state of the British pound such a stupid decision we miss u 2
Thanks for this. As a US gay man the Brit gay culture seemed like our catty queen schtick on steroids. In Germany my partner and I were able to just be ourselves. Sometimes we were popular; sometimes not. It was very liberating.
@@britingermany On what's happening now the politics has created the mess.This mob we have aren't fit to run a whelk stall my local MP who was won recently has already said he's clearing off to an area where he stands a better chance of winning. Its typical of these self serving scoundrels . All lies about representing local people until a better chance of getting in arose
I think if there's nothing else that we've learned from the past decade is that a country is made out of two things people and government and the government rarely represents or serves the people love the people fucking hate the government Absolutely I love this country too it's an awkward one as there is a lot of cons to britain's impact on the world but by the same definition endless praise to the impact that Britain has had on the world but truly I will never stop loving Britain I was born here and I choose her (as mad as it sometimes is)
@@britingermany Ten years ago or so I would've agreed with you, but recent events in many countries where we clearly see the political elites ignoring the people are too coordinated to be mere coincidence. Someone at a supra-national level is giving orders, and national politicians are obeying.
I have a love hate relationship with my country England. Every time i leave i cant help but feel at home when i come back. I am happy when i look out to the rolling hills and i smile but then quite quickly the miserable grey sarcastic mass that is my people once again pulls me back into reality. I dont drink at all and it makes people very uncomfortable around me. English folk are so insecure that they have to have a potential scapegoat to be themselves - alchohol. The thing is I really dont know if the contemporary culture was always so. My nan was much more straight to the point that was for sure and dead against the drink. I struggle to talk to people when all they talk about is drink drink drink.
Yes I can relate to that a lot. I do drink but only on occasion. Sometimes it's easier to just drink something which looks like alcohol to avoid all those boring discussions
Ncely done. I don't see indirect communication as uniquely English. It's the norm in most of the world - high context communication. I agree more about there being an English style though - cynicism + alcohol being part of this.. Cities in the UK have a terrible sense of public poverty (private affluence in suburbs). This is getting worse. Britain needs to be more like its Northern European neighbours, not less. The level of anger that such a statement creates with about 20-30% of the population tells you a lot of what you need to know...
On the communication issue, I think there are two things that tend to get conflated: 1. Being reserved about what we think. I think this is definitely a national trait moreso than some other places, and not just made-up. 2. Translation errors! I think often the second type of thing often gets mistaken for the first by people who do not understand the meanings of things quite well enough (they are fluent enough to think they understand, which in a way is more dangerous for misunderstandings!). As an example, maybe someone thinks they know what the word "maybe" means in English. And they think that it means that there is a reasonable chance that something is true, and a reasonable chance that it is not true. "Do you think it will rain tomorrow?" "Maybe." No problem there. But then they ask their colleague as they are leaving work if they are coming to their house party tonight. "Maybe..." says the colleague, with a hesitant tone and a kind of weirdly apologetic facial expression. "Aha, I know what the word 'maybe' means: perhaps they will come, perhaps they won't" that someone thinks. Well, of course that's not true! They simply weren't familiar enough with the language to understand. In that situation, with that delivery, the word "maybe" doesn't mean "perhaps there's a reasonable chance" it means "Do not expect me at your party." It's not a problem of being reserved and keeping things hidden: the British colleague used all the right cues to communicate "Do not expect me at your party", they weren't hiding anything and they deliberately wanted you to know not to expect them to be there. It's just that the other person wasn't quite fluent enough to understand!
@@zak3744 Yes indirect communication needs 'decoding' by definition, so language fluency is also cultural and contextual fluency. You only learn that by exposure to people. I would still say vast parts of the world have their own versions of 'maybe' to save/give face. As for the reserved part, yes and I see that as quite an English middle class thing and - no matter where you went to school - dissolved by alcohol which is a major issue in the UK - far bigger than many realize.
@@zak3744then why not just say. “I’m not sure” or “I don’t think so” or “No. I will not be attending your party” Anything else seems cowardly to me, whether it’s decoded or not.
@MrCarEditsbhp I do not know anout the UK, but among EU member states there is no double taxatiion due to holding multiple passports. We pay our taxes to the state of residence.
In the Victorian era, the British were massive Germanophiles, but the Germans had somewhat of an antipathy towards the British. In the 20th century, this scenario was reversed. I've got a feeling and a hope that the British and the Germans will finally syncopate their mutually respectful bonds and work together to create a better future for Europe.
Not the Germans,... our crippled Kaiser hated bis Uncle because this guy was always boasting with his ships. He also hated his English mother who treated him like a damaged useless human wreck. No love! The poor guy was forced to sit on a horse and fell down a thousand times. At least they used special trained horses who accepted him.... "riding". He never was able to climb on the back of a horse alone. No wonder that mentally destroyed guy was a easy victim to provoke erratic talking. The German and English people never hated each other. They prefered playing football, ... even 1914.
Not so sure about the sarcasm, I love it and am, on times, very sarcastic, Blackadder for example was very sarcastic and I thought it was great. However, not in close relationships, just casual banter, my daughter picked it up from me but not so much my son. I do agree we don't get straight to the point. Was a bit of shock when I came to Germany first and my German bf used to go crazy I would go around the hills to say something that would take 5 words
🤣🤣yes exactly. The sarcasm and banter is fine now and then. I just find it annoying when it’s constant because you can’t have a proper conversation and it just feels like people are trying to keep you at arms length with humour
@@britingermany Very true, sarcasm can be very witty and fun, but nothing is witty and funny when it is constant. I do think however, many, particularly in the UK are a bit shell shocked after the last few years. In Germany we hug when we greet someone and when we leave. That gives a contact the Brits don't usually get
A very German view of Britain. Inevitably. Good you're not giving up on citizenship though. Citizenship isn't just about a passport - instead it's a voluntary decision (especially in your case) to align with a country's present, past and future & to help shape what is to come: for everyone. Being an expat inevitably means a part of your identity is set in aspic and it's clear this troubles you. That's a shame but that's life! Good luck.
I would say I am conflicted. Most of the “British expats” I know don’t understand this confliction - they are in the camp of “I will never go back” and thank god I got out. I am quite aware that I generally have very positive feelings when I go back as opposed to others who seem to have terrible experiences 🤷🏼♂️
Thankyou very much for your comment. I have noticed that when people make their homes in another part of the world, they often work hard to fit in (especially if they are very strongly expected to) and I feel they convince themselves that the new country is great and the old country is terrible. I also feel that Germans especially love hearing that. It is something that I am sure most humans do and if makes sense. It is good for ones' own mental health to believe that their far reaching choice to do something was by far the best. It applies to other situations as well, and helps a person feel better, with less room for regret. I selected Brit in Germany to listen to this morning, because I had been feeling some really sentimental things about England. I am a New Zealander and I have an enormous love for England for very many reasons. I started watching this here, and was in tune at the beginning. Then my whole mind was flung into a state... thrashed by a truly negative spin on something so beautiful. Multiple descriptions are so horrible...Yet another person who has moved to Germany has taken on a quite disgusting perspective of "others" in their own culture of birth. When hearing about the drinking culture in England I can't help but think about New Zealand..the hundreds of monuments commemorating our huge, huge numbers of men who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. For the freedom of every one of us in NZ, Britain, AND Germany. And at the same time I think about the two generations of our men who were so traumatized they couldn't even speak about the horrors they'd seen. Not for the rest of their lives. These are the men who filled OUR pubs for my whole life, and now it is their sons, grandsons and great grandsons who learned to drink to the same excess. That level of trauma that I have seen so much of on film could only be numbed or by drink of drugs, (or by suicide). And only while the veteran is awake. I was also seriously struck by the description of Brits as socially awkward and insecure. I am so very grateful, fortunate and in humble respect regarding the character of my people. We are mostly a humble, accepting family Down Here. We have a staunch humility and a concept of mana that is directly from the Maori culture including kotahitanga that we embrace. Humility is key. But almost all of us have the self-deprecating ways of the Brits. It is very, very beautiful. I have learned in life that by positioning yourself at the same spot as others, you attract a real connection and the beginnings of a trusting relationship with any other person. (This is not the forte of German people). Kotahitanga is much like that...we are one, the same, no better, not lesser. But instead, others are worthy of our time, connection, friendliness, generosity and assistance if needed. Our heroes are examples of humility... Sir Edmond Hillary Jacinda Ardern, Willy Apiata. There is no place for blow arses here, and I am sure the Brits are the same...like the British King. When people know who they are themselves are, there is no need to skite, dominate, exploit, OR show disregard. I feel that it is more German people who have shown some insecurity. That makes sense to me...because the destruction from 2 world wars and the affiliated epidemic and holocaust are just 4 things in one century to feel rather ashamed about. I hear from travellers that the British are really nice people. I don't know many, but I very much like Brit in Germany...apart from a few of the ideas he has adopted from Germany. It seems to happen to Kiwis that emigrate there too. I realise of course, that Germans are committed to their views too. Sweet as.
I really enjoy your sophisticated videos. I'm about to move to Ireland because of Brexit and the general decline of the UK. Once I've obtained Irish citizenship (in about 5/6 years) I will seriously think about renouncing my UK citizenship. I don't want to be associated with a country that is so anti-European. It is so true that you can 'love and loathe something at the same time'. Do you know Catullus's famous Ode (no. 85) 'Odi et Amo'? It deals with precisely that situation of loving and hating something simultaneously. I love the countryside and history of the UK but I dislike what England has become over the last 15 years, especially since the 2016 referendum. My identity is European and always will be.
Yes I totally get what you mean. But I would think long and hard before you renounce your citizenship. A lot can change in 10-20 years…who knows maybe for the better 😉
The u.k isn't anti European at all but we're very uncomfortable with the E.U project, being in the E.U doesn't make you more European than someone from Switzerland for example a country with 4 official European languages bang in the middle of the continent.
Britain climate is so depressing so people drink to excess to forget about it. In addition a lot of northern people from Britain have some Viking blood in their D.N.A. so drinking is in their culture and desire of sociability.
@@britingermany it's often cold , usually dingy cloudy, and these days the regular rain is often torrential thanks to climate change - in the 70s there was plenty of drizzle yes, but last few years it's often a month worth of rain dropped in one afternoon. Things have changed in lots of ways.
Not eally I mean if you really look at the actual descendants of Vikings the scandinavians the drinking culture is nonexistent there actually frowned upon drinkers in Scandinavia I think that as a Brit I would say that our drinking is more the historical significance of the pub being almost like the community and you just gather together and just conversed and created this society which Britain is made of so there's a great level of pride associated with alcohol I mean honestly I could probably get through 35 centilitres of vodka no issue and I'm talking neat the climate is not depressing I think that a lot of us Brits get very well acquainted with the concept of beautifully bleak there is sometimes where the brain is pounding on the window and you look at the grey sky but the vibrant green grass and you've got a beer in your hand or a cup of tea in your hand and everything seems peaceful
I am deeply connected to the God's Own Land and the green fields, the woodlands that, for many times, gave me emotional support. The drinking culture plays a huge role in embracing people. However, as a non-drinking gay man, I lack that opportunistic connection and that makes me feel a bit disabled. I look for making eye contact filled with ideas and I reject any approach if it is fuelled with alcohol and that choice has its price. I want to feel life, or continue to living to the fullest and drinking takes that freedom away from me. I do take trips to Manchester, Leeds and London for a few days every now and then and this for a bit of culture: theatre and concerts but then after a while my spirit tells me, 'Alright then, I've had enough!'.
I just noticed that the vegan scene is much more advanced in the UK than in Germany (when I was there a couple of weeks ago). It's not really about food anymore it's identity politics and uses a toxic blend of shame and guilt to try and get you to join. I was in Berlin last November
This was well put, the minority causes while often right, have become extremist and ideological at times. One of the worst things is that it's then returned by the 'opposing' side in extreme form, as a reaction. Most need to realise if they weren't so often as lecturous and extreme about their cause and opinion people could much more easily get along.
@@britingermany I asked about Berlin, because Berlin is legitimately way more vegan-friendly than a lot of the UK. To get an idea, you can compare the numbers of vegan-friendly restaurants and businesses in Berlin with other places on Happy Cow. I've been vegan since 2004. It was never about the food, and it was never about joining anything. I didn't know any vegans, so how was I joining anything? It was more about being randomly verbally attacked by strangers. Apparently that's not changed.
@@RosePostedThis well obviously it was an over generalisation on my part. The “activists” don’t always represent the majority. I actually grew up vegetarian because my mother is. Live and let live
I see your point about london being more like new york than other European cities, i think the u.k will always have close ties to fellow anglosphere countries and even after 40 + years of common market/ EU membership it was never going to go away, people do feel an affiliation to the land of there ancestors no matter where in the world they currently reside.
I don't see the UK as becoming more American, that said the common language and social media means that political propaganda aimed at Americans bleeds into the British "discourse" far too easily and some are drawn into it.
Ha, ha the German citizenship is the best lifeinshurance you can have. Watch the so called Auswanderer at TV. Shitting into their nest all the time,... but when they fail in their beloved new country... where everything is better, they return crying and claiming universal social care for what they never paid a red penny. :-)
The past is a foreign country. My England no longer exists. No doubt I could make a go of living over there again, but I just bought a house here in Germany. I would like a German passport, but I don't want German citizenship. Now that I can keep my British passport, I might get a German one one day.
Have seen this coming for decades as well - unfortunately would have much preferred more connection with 'social democratic' europe than more connection with 'selfish pure capitalist' usa. Healthcare as blatent example. On another hand typically speaking, European films have rich storyline nuance and depth, US films have sterotypically who's the winner, who's the loser, and some version of Us versus Them. Even George Orwell noticed this - so not a recent phenomenon Obviously there are exceptions to this but nevertheless European humour understands irony and humillity, US humour thinks it's funny to make the wittiest barbed passive-agression as their high point of humour. rant over.
That reflects the puritanical origins of the first American colonies... who were made up of English protestant zealots, and very much into black/white thinking and crusading for the Lord, etc. So, the things you don't like about the modern USA have their origins in your country!
I grew up in a small, provincial, wholly middle to upper middle class town set in the typical English rural idyll. I was at public school and at an ancient university of world repute. Nowhere in all of that was I able to shake off the utterly alienating and truly widespread (it is not wrong to generalise here) English xenophobia. Well into the highly educated middle class circles I was a member of, I was being told that the UK is "not European", not, as John Donne expresses it, "a part of the Maine". But English culture is solely European, the English Common Law as well defined by John Fortescue in the 15th century is entirely Germano-Romano-Christian. But foreigners (to this day) begin at Calais. I so detest this tiny-mindedness that I had to get out. Yes, the English have a natural kindliness which I miss, but it seems to come at an enormous cost. In Germany (where I have lived happily for 32 years), it's totally ok to be English or French, despite all the history and the real life English football thugs. In England, it's problematic to be German or French, one has to adopt an apologetic stance and hide behind façades. I was shocked and disgusted by the attitude many UK citizens took towards Eastern European farmworkers round the time of Brexit, and I was so glad not to have had to experience this at first hand. The UKIP phenomenon stank. It is a scientific fact that the British have done themselves no favours at all with their King Canute and the Waves Brexit. Yes, the English countryside is magical in a way it is not in Germany - you put it rather well, something like "the greenness is more vibrant", it's true. The happiest linden trees in the world grow in Britain, I have seen it. But all this espouses a strange English possessiveness which I find stifling. Of course there is a German pendant to this blinkeredness, but it was never applied to me, and it seems easy to avoid by reading the right press and mixing in the right circles. And as to the USA, I hold it with whatever wit it was who observed that to be America's enemy is a bad thing, but to be its friend is far worse. No doubt the UK will in due course discover this (as will Germany, and in the same measure).
Thanks for sharing. You have had a very different experience than me. I had a very alternative upbringing and so I cannot equate the English with xenophobia. Maybe that's more of an upper class elitism thing? Maybe I had a tiny glimpse of it when I tried out for the TA at Uni but they didn't accept me...I'm sure it was for the better
Apart from getting a german passport....why would you want to ? I hear that laws are being passed such that dual nationality is nowngonna be allowed meaning no renouncment needed
Great.... we will have 8.000.000.000 (No typo) 😉 Germans soon. Who does not want a German Passport... , Luxemburg, Liechtenstein,.. Vatikan, ... uhm? Lifeinshurance!
Thanks for the thoughtful video. I understand your ongoing affection for the UK (also where I grew up) but I'm a bit more in the post-brexit "thank god I got out" camp. Mainly I think Germany is a better place to raise kids (accepting that I'm privileged to have had the choice)
I haven’t given up ok the U.K. just yet and I think it could look very different in 10 to 15 years…we will see if that’s better or worse than the current situation
@@britingermany Let's hope so. I thought seriously about renouncing UK citizenship in exchange for 🇩🇪 but with the new law in Germany I don't need to 🤞
@@drdan2112 In Germany we commonly talk about how hostile to children we are as a society. This just makes me wonder how bad it must be in the UK for you to say that.
@@ExgrmblI don't think it's the hostility that's the issue. Kids here seem almost on a pedestal. It's more than you have more disposable income than us and probably better schooling.
We know how special it is, but also how fragile it is, how open to dilution/replacement because we are so few. I think we have already lost, the campaign to save it was lost in the 1970's
I suppose it depends what you are talking about...and how old you are. New generations see the world differently and so want to change it to suit their world view. The culture will never be like it was in the 70's 80's and 90's again...
My advice to all those who become ex pats is: enjoy your new, chosen home, chosen for whatever gravely important reasons YOU perceived necessitated this, and spare us your judgements, pronouncements and, MOST OF ALL, what are obviously YOUR lamentations your birth home no longer caters to YOUR PERSONAL VIEWPOINT OF LIFE, THUS CAUSING YOUR STAGGERING, ENDLESS AND OBVIOUS TEDIOUS AND SELF JUSTIFICATIONS. Go eat your sausages or sushi, wherever you prefer to hide in life, make your one regret lamentation and stop pretending your pose of “all knowingness” is anything BUT running for “safe” places that will prove NOT TO BE when whatever you think you ran away from comes knocking on your NEW door.
Ben's videos are quietly controversial and dangerous in a polite and thoughtful way. What?😅 Because they deal in generalisations and individuals prefer to believe the generalisation doesn't refer to them or their people - if it's a negative one. Ben walks a tightrope with lazy tropes and blatant prejudice lying inches away to the sides. Who said the world had gone woke with political correctness? Not on this channel it hasn't! I think it's great! We're all adults and hopefully not too precious to handle it. It's all good light entertainment.
‘If the whole basis of the relationship is sarcastic snipes and jibes and banter, maybe it’s time to question things…’ Yes, I agree. And see the above often, in groups of young men here in the UK. And it bores me silly. As it seems to be about the most shallow, superficial & meaningless way of relating to other people. We certainly seem to be influenced greatly by the US over here, and what often seem to be shallow & superficial cultural imports, but is it actually very much different elsewhere - say in Western Europe? Personally, I value straight talking, and don’t think I cloak my thoughts and feelings in 50 shades of grey, and don’t particularly get the impression that others do either, but I’ve certainly heard foreign people living here in the UK saying things along the lines ‘I’m still trying to work out what you Brits actually mean, when you say…’ so there must be something to it. I live in a little Sussex village and enjoy the greenery and simple vernacular architecture I can find around me. And the people? Well, people are just people. I find it’s rare to meet somebody whose values you admire and actually feel a connection with, and want to spend time getting to know. Thanks for your interesting and involved introspection.
Thanks for commenting. It’s definitely a lot more direct in Germany (which of course has its downsides as well). Obviously a bit of a mix is best but striking that balance is not easy!
At least you're honest about how you feel. I'm English (Not British) and by virtue of England's relationship with the UK a British passport holder. For me I couldn't imagine living anywhere other than England. I have travelled abroad and I love seeing new countries (apart from Scotland and Wales due to anti English sentiment) but I always have this really warm feeling about knowing I'm coming home to England when the holiday or visit is over. I confess to only ever visiting one EU country and that was Portugal and I absolutely enjoyed my holiday there, but I'm very unknowledgeable about Europe. I think Brexit has changed the country in terms of how split it is due to leave or remain and that is sad. I assume in England there is a wide variety of people with different attitudes and approaches to things as anywhere. I know lots of gay people and they are definitely not sarcastic. If you go on the gay scene in big cities like London and Manchester you will find people who are judgemental and sarcastic due to their own insecurities and feelings of being left behind so they want to be noticed. It's not the right approach to behave that way I don't think personally but I think people look for ways to express who they are and unfortunately some think expressions like that are what will get them noticed without realising only in a negative way. England has some amazing countryside and quaint villages, and I love exploring as far as the Isle of wight to the Lake District and Northumberland. I don't cross the border of England into Scotland or Wales but that's a personal choice largely based on the anti English hostile societies in those countries. I've been called a 'Little Englander' on a few occasions 😂 and told by European citizens to 'Stay on my little island' I never argue as I suppose the fact I haven't left England since 2014 and my passport is used more for ID I guess those assumptions have some merit. I don't consider myself European at all and I do only identify as English. I have no issues with people from Europe but find they have the issue with me cause I'm English and there's a massive amount of xenephobia within Europe that I find remainers turn a blind eye to in order to advance their hope of returning or joining the EU. I didn't vote in the Brexit referendum as I wasn't interested then, and am still indifferent now. For me losing free movement isn't an issue, I know I will always live in England and to have 90/180 days in Europe is perfectly fine. I do however know this is not the case for everyone and some people really valued their freedom of movement, and losing that for them is sad. I think I come from a different perspective compared to others that may comment on your video. I wish you well with your life in Germany and with whatever decision you make regarding your British Citizenship.
Thank you for sharing. It’s always good to hear different perspectives, although you should give wales and Scotland another chance they have some of the most stunning landscapes in the U.K.
I'm British (not English). I have always lived in England, but love travelling around the UK. I love every part of the UK. I used to go to North Wales pretty much once or twice a month, because I lived closeish to the border. My Dad is Scottish, so I've spent a lot of time up there. All this is to say: I have rarely experienced 'anti-English sentiment.' I can actually only think of two times where I've been made to feel unwelcome due to being English. Whereas I've been made to feel quite uncomfortable down south on a rare visit, for having a northern accent. So I'm not sure if you have a direct experience of anti-Englishness, or if you're extrapolating. If the latter, I encourage you not to do that. If the former, that's awful but it sounds like you've been unlucky. Either that or you're behaving in an unpleasant way yourself 😅
@@britingermanyYes they do look to have some very nice places, I've been to Scotland once and went to Inverness and actually quite enjoyed the scenery but I haven't been back anywhere else in Scotland, and I went to Betws-Y-Coed in Wales once and also Snowdonia. I've seen other TH-cam videos of different places in each country and they do look to be really nice.
@@monkeymox2544It's been direct. I avoid people as much as possible and try not to engage with them where possible in physical form. I doubt very much that it's the way I behave (Which the suggestion is actually quite patronising and rude) considering I mind my own business. I think that sort of comment is just to maintain the narrative that of course I must be the problem because I'm English. What else could it be 😂🤷🏻. It's ridiculous.
@@hey12542 sorry if it didn't come across in the comment, but that was in fact intended to be a joke. Hence the use of an emoji. I don't actually think it's likley that you're at fault. Again, I'm technically English, although I do prefer to identify as British, so I obviously don't think that there's anything wrong with English people. You've clearly been unlucky, which is unfortunate, because as I say I can only think of two times in my life that I've felt unwelcome just for being English.
That culture of hiding one's personality and using sarcasm and put-downs of others + bullying starts early on in the Brit school system. Most Brits stick with this learned behaviour through much of their adult lives. This negative behaviour masks varying degrees of self loathing. How does a society rooted in this mindset stand a chance?😮
No such thing as renouncing British citizenship in fact, you just let your passport expire, and may apply again in the future, if you were born in the UK, or even an Irish one too if born in Northern Ireland. We do however need help, since the English and Welsh provincials forced us out of the EU 🇪🇺
@@britingermany Since you're blonde brit you'll blend in easily. I'm fair skinned but not blonde I'm Kashmiri since I'm not European they're scared of me I went to Deutschland for study but people act as if I'm colonising their country ,the waitress shout, people who are cycling if they pass through me will shout and sometimes bump into me to punish me for walking on cycling lane, neigbours think that auslander will outnumber them, starring in public for no reason, no friendliness or politeness. I think because of too many immigrants Germans are scared of non European and they're justified. I don't know how germans behave with other European but they do look down french. Now I'm back in my home country living with honour My home country is my home no matter how much flaws it has but the feeling of belongingness I will not find anywhere I live in my country and I share blood, tears and sorrow with my people. My city is beautiful but not industrialised and unemployment is very high and I rather prefer to be poor with honour than to be seen as locust invaders
@@Kattufei135 the channel hasn't covered German racism but I know from research funded by the EU that Germany is more racist than for example the UK. I think you make a very good point about Ben being accepted in Germany because he is white. It's worth saying as well that Ben learned to speak German fluently and worked hard at becoming integrated.
@@Purple_flower09 What German did to me was not racism it's the destiny of intellectually inferior people to be humiliated by superior. The problem was with me that I went to Germany for study I shouldn't have gone but why did I go there because there are no better Universities and my race is incapable of building and creating a highly advanced society. The fault lies in me
I know that a complicated and contradictory take never does well on the Internet but this is how I feel about the U.K. what’s your take?
You do not need to renounce it so what does it matter
People have become apathetic as we are run by the pathetic
I'm wondering what makes people deny their ambigous feelings about their country, particularly their home region. For me such an attitude isn't weakness or dishonesty or betrayal. It's part of taking things as they are not as I wish them to be. I can enjoy the beauty of the country, its towns, its culture, my friendly neighbours, colleages, etc. and at the same time be annoyed by all the nuissances and problems it has to offer.
I've been three times in the UK and it was almost 40 years ago. But I'v been following politics, economy and science there as far as it was convenient for me to do. I'm still thinking that it is an amazing country for many reasons and also a very interesting contrast to Germany.
Based on my own experiences and feelings about my country (actually countries because I feel a bit attached to Austria too) it's not too difficult for me to understand how you get to your complicated relation with the UK.
The pictures in your video show impressively how beautiful the British countryside is. A very well made video.
@@MichaelBurggraf-gm8vl thank you Michael 🙏😀
@@terrym3837 the people are pathetic.
I totally relate to those feelings. I’m German and spent, arguably, the most formative 18 years of my life in the UK.
The deep feelings the landscape evokes are both real and hard to describe.
I miss the UK so much and I also miss British people.
The reasons I moved back to Germany are still valid. But a part of my soul will always be in the UK.
I try to visit at least once a year on holiday.
Thanks for sharing Julia. I do enjoy visiting the place but at the moment that#s enough for me. As long as I am able to visit one a year I feel like I appreciate all the good things to their full extent. I am also not there long enough for the more negative aspects to sink in
I totally understand that. We miss a fair bit about the UK but do not miss some of the things that have happened there over the past few years.
Of course, Brits are in the whole wonderful people. Warm, gregarious, funny, eccentric. Germans are quiet, serious and polite, which is all fine, but it’s hard not to miss the quirkiness and sense of humour of the Brits
I grew up in a working class, coalmining town in the UK and I had to get out of that environment as I found it small minded. After 17 years in London though I was glad to get out of a big city , even though as a younger man I enjoyed it and got a lot out of living there. I now appreciate the community spirit that exists in smaller towns and even more so in smaller towns in Germany.
I don’t think I’m ready for permanent country life just yet but I’m glad I grew up in the countryside
@@britingermany I live in a village in North Yorkshire - cricket club, pubs, excellent village shop, hairdresser (for my wife, I just use clippers!). And all a short car drive to nearby towns and not too far from York. Can't imagine living anywhere else.
I’m a British citizen by choice. I’ve lived i😮LONDON for over 44 years . I love the UK, I dearly love LONDON. BUT I have decided to move out to my country of birth because of financial difficulties. Now the cost of living has gone sky high. I can’t afford the rent, the council tax,the cost of utilities, WIFI , access to fruits and vegetables etc. My pension needs an £4000 a month, for me to just survive. In my own country, I’ll need only about £ 500 a month to lead a modest middle class life Fresh fruit,vegetables,fish and uncontaminated almost every food item. I can lead a life among greenery all around. England is unaffordable now. Over population is destroying the living conditions. Immigration is a burden to Britain 🇬🇧 at present.
Yes that is one of the reasons I would not move back any time soon. I would have to take a 50% cut in my standard of living
Your pension needs an EXTRA £4,000 a month (£48,000 per year) for you "just to survive"? Because that is expressed to be extra money,. obviously you already have some income. You must have very expensive tastes if you need an EXTRA £48K a year.
One can easily take a Brit out of Britain, but it is difficult to take Britain out of a Brit. I think this is true for every islander
Haha that's nicely said
always good to hear your thoughts and impressions on different subjects! thanks and looking forward to more!!
Thank you 🙏
After living abroad for 8 years and coming back to my home country I figured out, that home is always only a specific point in time connected to certain people. I longed to live in my hometown again, which I can't cause work is somewhere else. But my hometown has changed in the 20 years I'm gone. It changed and is has become foreign to me. But I still got people I'm close to there so they make feel "coming home"every time I visit. Maybe home truly is where the heart is.
You hit the nail on the head with: "home is always only a specific point in time connected to certain people". And it's that place in TIME you long for. I'd argue that your hometown (and the people that never left) hasn't changed so much - it's YOU that has changed. While it's nice to look back, like looking at old photos, you can NEVER go back. That "placetime" (or "spacetime"?) has gone forever. Enjoy your nostalgia, but keep moving forwards, and make home truly is where the heart is.
I feel the same way. I moved to Germany from Taiwan almost 20 years ago, yet I still feel deeply connected to the island where I grew up. I’ve watched Taiwan evolve, develop its democracy, legalize same-sex marriage, and confront threats from China. I will never renounce my Taiwanese citizenship, but if China were to take over Taiwan in the future, they might make that decision for me.
Yes Taiwan has seen a lot of changes recently. Fingers crossed things don’t escalate 🤞
Democracy and same sex marriage are not progress.
@@britingermany Oh they are going to escalate alright, if you're in certain business chains in Japan you know, and the preparatory signs are there.
Great video, you really captured that feeling of longing for home.
I felt compelled to comment as a Brit who lived in Germany briefly, and decided to move back after a year and a half. I loved my time there, and there were lots of reasons to stay in Germany, but my heart yearned for England again. I still feel really torn about my decision, objectively the UK is a much worse place now by many measures, but there's something intangible about it that drew me back.
It feels like exceptionalism to say, but there feels like something truly unique about the UK. We are an island of contradictions and it makes for a rich blend.
You touched on some really great points about divides between rural and urban, and the different social classes. I'd love for you to dig deeper into those points in another video, particularly things like "crab in bucket mentality" or wealth inequality.
Hey thanks for you comment. At the end of the day that feeling in “your gut” is really important and shouldn’t be ignored. 😀
I agree with you, and what you said in some other videos. I grew up in London but also left for Germany a couple years ago, and honestly, despite economically being much better off here, I want to go back. I visit family and friends in the uk multiple times a year and they're all always complaining about how bad Britain is. I know that the politics are a mess and things have declined, but leaving has taught me how amazing the country is. It's hard to put my finger on it but there's something magical about it - whenever im there I feel happy, and I feel like I belong. I grew up with a single mother on benefits, so my memories of the uk aren't rosy, and I know what its like to live there and barely be scraping by, but it doesn't change how I feel towards the country. My friends in the uk are always shocked when I tell them this, but I think its something you only realise when you leave for long enough for the excitement of being in a new country to fade and the reality to set in.
Despite being half German, having no British blood at all, and holding German citizenship, I don't feel at home here whatsoever. It's to the point where I am about to spend the 1.5k to get British citizenship. Britain will forever be my home, it doesn't matter how badly the country is doing on paper.
Also, being half Lebanese, I don't look all that European. In the uk it is never an issue. Everything about my behaviour is British, and nobody looks at anything beyond that. In Germany I'm faced with constant racism, even if it is usually sort of masked with a smile and not direct, even though I am literally just as German as I am Lebanese. My skins darker and ive got arabic features, and that's enough to not be accepted regardless of how many times you say servus and mahlzeit.
Very interesting. I have heard this exact same experience from other friends. Parts of the U.K. are more multicultural than Germany although I’m sure many would disagree with that.
It's so interesting to hear you say that. I've held that opinion for a while. Like you, I realise that we've declined in certain areas in recent times. But I'm honestly convinced that the majority of the problems we have now is because as Brits were determined to run ourselves down and the country down. Yes, I do think that getting a grip of our public services will help. But I think the doom and gloom mentality mostly comes from within.
I grew up in an english mining village in the east midlands, in a typical terraced house in a mining housing community, so I'm very much working class, but fortunately my dad was a very hard worker and gave me a good upbringing.
I practically jumped at the idea of escaping to the city for a uni edication, and after that for 5 years for work, but I found Birmingham and Coventry to be very lonely and isolating times for me, doing the typical british thing of drinking alot just for fun.
I actually just moved to Poland last year and am living in Warsaw, as I fell in love with the culture and the city, and also became fed up with the cost of living crisis and just the kind of culture that was surrounding me.
I love it here in Poland and the only thing stopping me from integrating right now is the language, but I am taking lessons and I am learning; it's just a slow process.
Good luck with the move and settling in
Your feelings towards the UK pretty much sums up my relationship with my home state of Idaho in the US: very complicated, with a special place in my heart. It's a love-hate relationship. I made the mistake of moving back six years ago. That only brought to the fore the reasons I left in the first place.
Oh that is interesting. Whenever I get a bout of nostalgia I go back for a visit. I find for about a week I love it and I could see myself living there again. But if I stay longer I’m reminded of why I left.
I subscribed to your channel right now because you articulate everything so well and I'm in a very similar situation like yours, I was born and grew up in Barcelona (Catalonia) but I've lived 12 years in Germany and now I feel I don't belong anywhere, I know what the feeling you describe is (in your case not really feeling to fully come back to the UK) and it helped to get to know your views, specially your acceptance of the situation because feelings are complicated. I feel the same.
Moreover I love the piano background music alternating with the images, the production and effort you put in the videos and the fact that you don't just go for the black and white opinions in any debate because in fact reality is very very complicated, it is never black or white.
Keep the good work coming.
Thanks a lot for the words of encouragement :)
@@britingermany You're welcome! 👍Übrigens, I live just one hour South from Frankfurt, nice area to live, if you need anything in Karlsruhe just let me know.
As a Brit who has lived in Australia for 30 years, I understand how you feel. Mind you, I have only been back to the UK twice in 30 years but have a home in Germany (German wife).
Wow! That’s an extremely long time. I wonder how you would feel going back after such a long time away
i share so many of your views and experiences. That's why when i left the UK at 19 for the first time to go Colombia,it changed me. I was met with authenticity, real confidence, and people truly expressing themselves. I fell in love because that's my true essence too, it's just i hadn't experienced it much in the U.K. They say you have to leave your country to truly see it for what it is. i do believe that to be true. Otherwise, we simply normalize it: The drinking, the sarcasm, the inability to say what you really mean. Thanks for making this video. You put into words so many frustrations i have come to realise i have about the UK. Appreciate it. x
I always love your thoughtful, wistful reflections Benjamin. I am a Brit, born and raised in semi-rural Yorkshire before heading off to medical school in London. I lived in London for 8 years and always loved the place. My daughter and son-in-law live in Islington which they absolutely love with its almost village like feel and yet still part of a vibrant city. I still get a buzz from visiting London and on a recent extended visit I was pleased to see the place looking clean and generally spick and span. I take on board the points you make, but I don't think the drinking culture is as excessive as it was and the evidence shows that the younger generation are drinking much less. Also it seems to me that British people have become progressively less reserved and more open during my lifetime. The politics is clearly a mess atm and just thinking about Brexit still makes me feel sick. However, I love the countryside, the green lush landscape, the patchwork quilt of fields, stone walls and hedges and the charm of many lovely towns and cities scattered around the UK. London is still one of the greatest cities on earth imho and I've spent time in a lot of them over the years. London's heady mix of culture, architecture and history is hard to match; the sheer range of theatre, music and other cultural entertainment is arguably unmatched. I love my country for all its quirks and flaws and of one thing I am absolutely certain - I want to die here!
Thanks for sharing. It sounds like you are in exactly the right place :)
London may be dynamic and exciting but the over-concentration of wealth and power in the south-east corner of the UK has caused massive damage to the Celtic nations and English regions. The UK tolerates regional economic disparities to an extent that would not be considered acceptable in, for example, Germany. In fact, I read somewhere that the economic gap between the north and south of England is greater than that between the eastern and western parts of Germany, which is quite an achievement when you consider that the east was under Soviet communism for 40 years!
@@pulchralutetia oh that is interesting. Do you have the reference where you read that?
@@britingermanyIt's true, there's also the issue of having one city so economically far ahead from its 2nd city. I can't find the study but it showed the gap between most European capital cities and also the US's second cities hovers above and below 5%, but that London is more like 20% better off than its second city. Its been recognised to be a problem, which is why there's been a real conscious effort to reduce this, particularly in Manchester over the last decade. Germany is the outlier and is fairly decentralised compared to it's capital, for reasons I probably don't need to explain to you.
@@pulchralutetiaThis is true, I can very much assure you though after moving from the South East to the South West, it's very much not a North vs South thing but South East only. There are many towns and cities in the North that have had far more investment and attention than my region !
Regarding Celtic regions, Wales yes, Scotland not so much. They take out more on average than the other 3 nations and spend more per GDP than any region.
UK citizen here who has been in Japan since January 1997, is married to a local, has grown up kids, two houses, my own business and will probably die here... And yet, I will never renounce my British passport either.
Some people say the Japanese and the Brits are not so different. I spent some time in Asia as well (China, Malaysia) but I found myself yearning for Europe.
The opposite side of the world in Southern Brasil, where we have the biggest Japanese Community outside Japan as you may know, love the Japanese food here, and visiting the Japanese area of São Paulo (Liberdade)
You nailed pretty much everything I feel on the head. I caved in at the beginning of this year and move back to the UK after 8 years in the Czech Republic, four years in France and two year in Russia. Here I am in... nearly June, still experiencing the reverse culture shock, still feeling like I don't really fit in, and questioning why I came back. I think I've said in your previous videos that I burnt out towards the end of last year - would it have been better to deal with that over there or was it the right decision to come back to the UK?
I think that it's very easy idealise the place where you grew up, particularly during the bad times in another country - that whole mentality that the grass is greener elsewhere...etc. As much as there are many things that frustrate me about living in CZ, the good does generally outweigh the bad particularly if you make the effort to learn the language, learn about the culture and subsequently get permanent residence. From day one I told myself that I will never end up living in some kind of weird "expat bubble" with other English speaking foreigners. I am/was an immigrant - it's as simple as that so you do have to work hard to be something more than that awkward foreigner. You have to actively get involved in things in order to meet people and that can be very draining so finding just the right balance is different for everyone, depending on what kind of person you are.
If I do return to CZ within a year, I can get citizenship in a couple of years time which I would absolutely love as I would then have an EU passport again but would I, deep down, just be returning because I want a passport not because I have totally fallen in love with the country? That's a complicated question to answer. If they didn't allow dual nationality and it meant renouncing my British citizensip, I would never do this. The idea of no longer being a citizen of the country I was born in would never sit comfortably with me. I've always known that I'd spend a large amount of my life living in different countries but with me it's nice to do that with the feeling that if things ever go wrong I can always return to the UK.
I don't know what I'll decide in the end but either way, your videos have been a great help and a reminder that there are a lot of people ina similar situation, with similar thoughts, doubts and success stories. Thanks again for the video!
Thanks for sharing. Real burnout takes a long time to recover from and so you have to give it time (Sometimes it can take a few years - that's just how it is). Having an EU citizenship would be very useful and if you still enjoy a lot of things about the Czech Republic I'd give it another go
@@britingermany Thanks for your reply. I think I will take your advice over the advice from the people whom I've spoken to about this. You are right - it can take a long time to recover before you can even think about what to do next.
Czechs are less direct than Germans but a lot of my colleagues were German and I miss that. No bullshit, they will just tell you how it is (good and bad). This seems to have rubbed off on me to an extent where people have told me that I'm quite rude and blunt. Rude, no, drect, yes - it's very strange watching a terribly polite Englishman almost tripping over his tongue to try to say that they're not happy about something in the most inoffensive way possible (hey, I was once that guy too 😆)
As for the drinking, I've always said this about binge drinking in the UK whenever asked about it. A lot of people spend Monday to Friday trying not to rock the boat and suppress their feelings that so many people here think the only way to escape is to get obliterated with alcohol. Per capita, Czechs drink more than the Brits but I could count on one hand the number of drunken fights I've seen over there. Very different story here!
Thank again! 🙂
@@WaxAddictz I concur. You had a moment of doubt/weakness/life-crisis/??? and retreated to familiarity. But you do not belong back there in Britain, you are a citizen of the world now and you belong "out there". Go for it and have a fab life.
@@HieronymousCheese Hi and thank you, I appreciate your reply. Having been back here for six months now, I know I cannot stay here - I just don't belong here anymore (like a foreigner in my own country). Am working well through various issues and will then put a plan in place. I don't think I will return to CZ but somewhere else very close by :-).
Again, thank thank you, I appreciate your words of encouragement.
@@WaxAddictz Yep. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Much of what you wrote could have been my own words, years ago. You are fairly clearly one of us (and there are quite a few of us about) who belong to something more than just a single country. Embrace it. And don't define yourself as British (or anything in particular). Take the good stuff from everywhere, leave the nonsense and stupidity (unless as an amusing story) and forge your own life. xx
P.S. I too avoided the expat bubble thing and always mingled with the natives (both similar and very different cultures).
I am a German dreaming of moving to the UK (Scotland specifically). I dream about living in a small, old stone brick cottage up north close to a lake, not too far from the sea, enjoying nature to its fullest. Being a hermit /introvert and only visiting the local tearoom or restaurant or a small club like a book club or painting group or something like that once or twice a week... Having a cat and maybe a pug and a little bit of contact to some ladies and a few other people from the nearby village. That's it. That's my dream life.
What a beautiful video. I can sense how you must feel. Heimat just can‘t be replaced.
Thank you 🙏. Yes I had a pretty nostalgic visit to the U.K. a few weeks ago.
"emotionally repressed and socially awkward..." You could also describe Norwegian culture in those terms, and its relationship with alcohol. I too got fed up with the superficial alcohol infused camraderie, and i wonder if i havent been living in the wrong country for half of my life.
Are you still living in Norway now?
I live in Norway, no plans on moving. It was just that one sentance in the video that described many of the inhabitants in my region, so the grass is not greener on the other side
Home is where the heart is. Rural Britain is so beautiful, LDN attractive but after a while one longs for just the things you showed in your beautiful film.
Friendly banter is very useful to defuse controversial issues. My compatriots often get snappy/rude. Sie wissen, dass der Umgangston in Deutschland rauer geworden ist. To live in a Europe without borders has its advantages. Sadly Brexit made life in the UK more difficult. Let’s hope that things will get better. The UK was a much valued partner within the EU. All the best.
One reason I visit this channel is that Germans and others too sometimes express this point of view that the British were valued partners in the EU. I'm a Scot and Brexit broke my heart in a way. Many in EU countries are still angry with the Brits because of Brexit and that's understandable.
Thank you so much for your lovely comment :)
@@Purple_flower09 I'm English and live in Yorkshire. Brexit broke my heart too - I felt numb with disbelief for 6 months and now feel a deep sadness whenever I think about it. I think a lot of Brits feel the same way, even the people who were conned into voting for it by dishonest, manipulative politicians.
I think you would love the Midwest USA. In Missouri we have huge nature reserves and old German towns across the state. If you like small towns & German history you should look into Hermann, Missouri (aka Deutschheim) where they have made traditional Rhineland-style wine since the mid-1800s.
I think I would as well. So far I’ve only been to a couple of cities in the US
First of all, I should like to congratulate you on your ever-improving video-editing skills. Your videos have always been very good, but they are clearly getting better and better. They are so professional. Kudos!
What you say about not wishing to renounce your British citizenship is very understandable. I’m sure that renouncing one’s nationality of birth is always a very difficult thing to do. Luckily, in your case, you don’t need to.
I must say, however, that it appears to me that you view your country of birth - England - through rose-tinted spectacles. This is not unusual. When living away from home, it is almost unusual not to do so. Even though I now live back in my country of birth, I have lived abroad for many years, and I noticed whilst living abroad that one tends to do this. One sees and remembers the sunny uplands of one’s country and tends to forget the darker, shadowy lowlands! 😊
I also noticed in your excellent video that you chose some very beautiful spots in England to show pictures of, accompanied by very beautiful music, too. It is true, there are many beautiful places in England. Alas, there are also many seedy dumps in England too; and not only in England. They exist through the Kingdom.
Then there is the atrocious weather! Wherever one is in the UK, one isn’t very far from rain, wind, or even cloudbursts!
Politically, especially since Brexit, the scene in the UK is a sh**sh**! Take it from me, Benjamin, you are well out of it! Rejoice! Had the cookie crumbled differently, I’d be out of it, too. Unfortunately, in my case, it didn’t; so, I am stuck here.
I was raised to be very proud to be British. And at one time I was. Unfortunately, my pride has worn rather thin. The country has been f****d up! Nothing functions properly in this country anymore: our living standards are in steep decline; our National Health Service, once, perhaps, the envy of the world, is in dire straits; our schools are crumbling; our NHS dental service, in many parts of the UK, is virtually non-existent; the gap between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots, is colossal.
Benjamin, were I to be you, I would rejoice. You are in a better-run country. No dry wall will make up for that! 😊
Thanks a lot for your feedback. And yes I agree. One to two weeks is the perfect Length of time for a visit for me. If I stay longer then the rose tint starts to fade.
@@britingermany 👍
You know what, I live in Wales, I've been blessed to be born and bred there, my kids find it boring, as I did as a youngster, but I will never got over the beauty of the place, sometimes I swear the greens are l luminous, especially at twilight.
Lucky you. Wales does have some breathtaking scenery
You can love and loathe something at the same time...that was deep.
Wow! You made it to the end. Thanks for watching 🙏
My mum became a british subject at 21, lived in London 7 years and then travelled the world.
She had the same sentiments and was quite adamant: "I won't give up my British citizenship"
She was always excited when I went to the UK and would tell me all about the "motherland."
Re: drinking 'culture' in UK: Our British friends were just in town and were bemoaning that very negative side, esp. as they saw how badly it affects their now 30 yr old son. "He is a good kid" they said, "except when he drinks too much"..."and he's always encouraged to have another round by the others." Has it always been that way in the UK?
I think so. People say that it has gotten better and that young people are drinking less these days but I’m not sure how true that is
@@britingermany the data shows young people in the UK are drinking less than their parents. Compared to the 1990s illegal drug use is less popular as well.
It is getting better. I think you left in the late 2000's? Its changed a lot since then. But I'm around your age and I remember the 'What's the matter with you? Have a drink, go on.' Young people have moved past that.
@@Purple_flower09the 90s were the golden years. Less alcohol and a few happy pills for amazing club nights. The cost of living was much cheaper too.
When you mentioned the inability of the British people of experssing themselves directly I immediately thought of my British husband😅. When I make a toast or a sandwich for myself, sometimes he can say something like "I am left to starve/I guess I don't deserve any food". Now I know that when he says it, he wants me to make an extra one, but I used to ask him "Why don't you just ask me to make an exta toast/tea/sandwich?" and he answered "I don't feel like I could express my thoughts differently". Or instead of saying "I miss you" he says "I'm abandoned". However, my husband still has enough openess and patience to explain the cultural context of the British society. I hope I would learn more to understand the British people in the future without making anyone (including myself) embarassed or misunderstood. I still don't understand the details of the class system and don't know how to socialise with the British people apart from the Church/craft groups, even though I live in a small parish town.
I think I like Britain in general, I often have a quiet feeling of adoration every time I walk around the canal and the woods in my area of the West Midlands. I absolutely love British food as I find it nutricious and comforting (despite online stereotypes about the "bland" food in Britain) as well as British shows. Apart from learning the language (including local dialect words and phrases), the best thing that helped me to live overseas is my open minded attitude, realising that my views and my thinking are different from the rest of the world and if there're indivuduals/communities/societies that don't correlate with my expectations, it doesn't mean I should judge them and label them as "bad". I am a bit surprised that there're quite a few Britts like you who moved to Germany, because as I can see from my husbands perspective, he as a British found the German "Ordnung" a bit suffocating when he worked there for 3 years. Of course, there're reasons why living in the UK is getting harder like cost of living, serious shortage of jobs and housing, unclear policies from both parties etc. I find your content very interesting, keep going 👍🇬🇧🇩🇪👍
I grew up in central belt Scotland, the alcohol consumption up there is taken to a whole new level. I met a Spanish girl at university, who has become my wife. I’ve been living here for 12 years and I have never missed the UK. I found it oppressive, bullying and uncaring. Maybe the Scotland/England/UK is nicer in more unspoilt parts. I never liked it and always knew I’d leave. I’m not anti-English btw. My sister is married to an Englishman and my nieces are English, currently living in Harrogate. I just found the UK tedious and there was always a vibe that you had to be busy doing something “productive” (unpleasant). In Spain you have time to think and meditate and basically coast through life. Sounds silly, but it’s actually quite liberating just being allowed to be average.
Sounds like you found your happy place
You have a full right to be happy where you are❤
@1:10 I think you're assuming wrong. It makes total sense, for you. And that's the only thing that counts.
I also find it quite funny that you take the saying "the grass is greener on the other side" literally. If it's not intentional, it must be subliminal British humour that's ingrained in you.
As a German (not from Berlin) living abroad (not in the UK) I can relate. However, this feeling seems to fade the longer I stay away. I return rather often because I like the way things "just work" and I can't shake the need for things to work wherever I go. Although each time I return for a longer period I also automatically remember why I left. I guess it will continue to be a love/hate relationship with my Heimat and me.
Yes that's a great point regarding returning for a visit. I love a visit of about 5 days to a week. I can enjoy all the positive things that I had forgotten and it's not long enough for the frustrations to kick in
I'm an American who lived in Edinburgh, Scotland from 1971-1972 and have lived in Berlin, Germany from 1972 until the present day. In 1972 Britain was a highly stratified society marked by strong differences in accents, education and income. When a British person spoke you could tell what city - even what part of that city - he came from and lives in and what kind of jobs and income he and his parents had. Already in 1971 housing in London had already become so dear that no middle class Brits could afford their own flat but stayed in one room of a communal flat. The English were very cold. The only friends I had in Edinburgh were an American and a few Scots. The English I saw regularly at the university institute with two exceptions didn't begin to accept me until the end of the year I stayed there. Lower class English society was extremely hostile to gays and the only way for a man to degridate another man is to accuse him of being a cocksucker and a poufter. Germans are superficially friendly but reserved when spoken to by strangers and unlike British people not given to chatting with them. They don't chat on the phone or engage in spontaneous activities and friends I have known for many years - with one exception - never get in touch, invite me over, call me or send me emails. the longer I live here, the fewer friends I have. I find most of the women are easily upset and can get really nasty. But after two operations that forced me as an elderly man to use crutches for several months, I found complete strangers surprisingly eager to help me get around in anyway they could, opening doors, taking my arm to support me, ect.
“Always trying to be funny”
Precisely why I abandoned my foray into UK living. The layers of bullshit and defensiveness you need to cut through to get to know someone in the UK is simply impenetrable unless you are attacking someone else together.
Brazilian /Portuguese /UK citizen here, the last 20 years in the South of Brazil, where I have a far better life than I could in the UK, rarely visit the UK, but wouldn't give up the nationality, who knows in this rapidly changing world what the future may hold? If you're my age (60s)could you possibly have imagined in the early 80s that a Romanian or Polish passport would be a far more flexible travel document than a UK passport.
Intresting thoughts in the video, Thanks.
No I don’t think anyone in the 80s could have Imagined that.
Nostalgia to birth land seems universal whatever your life path. I found your channel as after 20years in UK got tired of not being able to express myself and keep thinking, with my Polish blood, I would fit better in German culture of as you described it:' say what you mean, ask what you want' - I shall practice that straight away here: After watching your channel I developed genuine crush on you. Are you single at all? Greetings from Bristol 😊
Hi Brit!
Good news for you. The UK is in 2nd Division in alcohol consumption.
I asked Bing AI about countries in Europe regarding alcohol consumption per inhabitants. It came back with an answer from OECD:
Latvia and Austria have the highest alcohol consumption levels, with over 12 liters per adult.
Following closely are the Czech Republic, France, Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Luxembourg, each with over 11 liters per adult.
On the other hand, Greece, Sweden, Italy, and Malta have relatively low levels of alcohol consumption, below 8 liters of pure alcohol per adult.
It may have changed now but for me it wasn’t necessarily the amount but the consumption habit. Having one to two beers a day is different to having 10-15 beers on a Saturday night.
@@britingermany Yeah. I was a teenager in the 70s, it was mostly beer, not much booze. Now the young do drink more hard alcohol but, I THINK, they do not drink as often we did.
@@Gert-DK yes I think we got the brunt of that. I read that peak alcohol consumption was around 2004
@@britingermany as a German Backpacker in Sydney I hung out with a lot of Brits and we went out to the bar…I was so shocked about the automatic rounds and unquestioned understanding that everyone was going to have 5-6 drinks and everyone had to cash in the same, regardless of the drink we each chose?
I used to go out to Cocktails with my Uni friends, and sometimes one of us would have three, while the others just had one, or another got something to eat…
There was never any expectation that we would split the bill three ways…each of us paid for what we had, so everyone was free to chose like they felt on the day.
My friends were East German, so they had little money to spend and this round thing would have excluded them from joining a night out.
@@britingermany I live in a compartment complex, surrounded by young people. One left and one right to me, and two above.
I guarantee, if it was in my time, there would have been big parties each weekend.
These young persons don't go out much, mostly birthdays and stuff for the family.
My neighbor to the left (21-year-old male), decided he wants to learn how to paint. He is sitting painting each day after work. To my right, (22 year old female), she is part-time studying and working, always home when not in school or at work.
Above me two sisters, also in their twenties, they do have a few parties. Approx 2 or 3 per year. They are nice, they put up a note, saying there will be a party on this date. Not even their parties do noise much. Since I am 63 it is pleasant, with some quiet time.
Sometimes I wonder if they do know, that they are young.
Though I am glad, they don't behave as we did at the same age. This house would be a Mad-house.
Times are changing.
I share your view Benjamin and share contradictory feelings about the UK. I was born and raised here, but by a divorced Italian parent. I have never been able to understand the indirect communication in the UK. I`m glad to stay connected to the country but don`t see myself staying here.
Sounds like we are on the same page
I am still a British Citizen, and a Landed Immigrant in Canada....40 years now. I have no interest in becoming a Canadian citizen, and getting dual citizenship just sounds like you can’t make your mind up. I will never give up by British Citizenship, and it’s not for what Britain has become since I left, or where the rest of the world Is going, its for the History of what made the Britain in the first place.
40 years. I’d say you’re fully settled. And Canada is quite a way away. I wonder if you still go back regularly
I love the UK too, especially Yorkshire and I'm not British. My husband is. Brexit has destroyed our dream of living in Britain. We live in Germany, my husband loves his country but he doesn't want to live there anymore. He holds two passports now and therefore the right to vote in the General election in both countries. We still go on holiday in the UK.
I always found British people easy to talk too. They might have found me direct, I don't know. I still have many friends in the UK. I love the stone walls in the countryside and the fact you're always close to the seaside. The point about being a social outcast for not drinking applies to Germany too, and we also have an intense drinking culture.
Well I hope you still go back to visit because it is still totally worth it🎉
@britingermany We will come to visit. We still got family and friends to see.
I separate the land and then the people, of the UK, from the miasma of politics of the UK. It's very hard to blot politics out these days but if you back away from the noise, the clamour and the social media and news rubbish being pumped out, and just see the beauty of places, and see it in ordinary people, then I think you see the real country underneath 'the country'.
I'm probably biased but I really don't think there's anywhere that stirs the soul like the UK with its varied landscapes, regions and peoples. It's a resounding YES from me, no matter who is 'in charge' of its running.
Well said. And I think it’s easier to blot out the noise when you live in the countryside
People are desperate to get to the UK, they cross the English Channel in hardly sea worthy boats to get to the UK. They are in France which is a splendid country but they want to claim asylum in the UK. The majority of them are economic migrants not asylum seekers.
fair enough…but what’s your point? The U.K. is desirable for migrants?
@@britingermany more like the UK doesn‘t have ID cards, and it is easier to ‚get lost‘ when your ‚asylum‘ claim gets denied.
The reason is that Britain has had a stable government for years, as opposed to other countries in the world. We also have a slavish approach to any law we signed up for to the determent of our own interests, unlike the French or other continental governments who only selectively implement the laws and treaties they signed up for if it suited their national interests and ignore the spirit of the law if it does not. Another thing is UK citizens rejected identity cards for its citizens except in the case of a World War, this means that undocumented immigrants can disappear into the country and work in the black economy. In addition the majority of immigrants have some knowledge of English due to the influence of the US in culture and media, with films and music where English is used. In addition the UK Government has a laissez-faire attitude to integration unlike the French who demand the integration of new citizens to the French secular culture.
@@iandurie8580 A lot of the UK online Fascists demand assimilation of protestant religion and flag waving etc... UK churchgoing is 5%... This video is anti--English and sneering...
@@SunofYork As I am a Scot born and bred who still lives in Scotland I did not think this video was xenophobic, the video shows the biases of somebody who has lived abroad for ten years in Germany. An old saying is when two Scots go abroad to live the first thing they do is form a Caledonia Society, it is similar for other expats.
"If you don't start drinking, I'm gonna leave." George Thorogood and the Destroyers
Very insightful. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this subject! Where are you currently living in Germany?
Thank you. I'm in Frankfurt
I'm English born & bred who loves Germany! I'm married to a half-German and we've been over for several holidays. I love Berlin! I also think Germany has as many regional eccentricities, food, drink, and old traditions as Britain does. The central-continental climate suits me, and the laid-back Berlin lifestyle. But I guess it's easy to say that, as a tourist!
Yes I agree. Things usually seem amazing as a tourist. We are more relaxed and receptive for positive things
Hi, greetings from the Netherlands, in my case I cannot disclaim my Argentinian one but I got to move here thanks the Italian citizenship that I claimed through my granfather, as others mentioned this part "emotionally repressed and socially awkward..." could easily described any country in Northern Europe, maybe it lays on the beholder's eyes, doesn't it? I can tell you a lot about the alleged Dutch directness but at the same time could easily pass by a way to be rude, or dish, but of course they don't like when you bark back so to speak. In a way, the month I've spent in London this year helped me a lot to decompress from all the changes I experienced since I left my country of birth almost 2 years ago, which I'm sure you can relate even by being so close.
To sum it up, I don't think I would disclaim my nationality of birth even if I could but there are days where I want to as well. I won't deny it, I never felt... part of it, not really but I know it is nonetheless part of who I am.
Heimweh! Homesickness. The price for freedom to uproot yourself. Behind emigration is both push and pull factors, generally, and so also for me. It is an establish psychological law that ambiguity demands a strong psyche to tolerate it without distortion. To just let things be ambivalent, open to many interpretations, undecided, lacking closure. This tends to be most challenging for the second generation, the children of emigrants, born in the parent's new country, having different roots than their parents, but for the children it is not a new country, it is the only familiar country. It is cruel to the children to deny them the love of their native country. It is OK to help them become bilingual, but not to force them to have a divided identity.
I've strived to maintain my accent, and I've found a spot to settle in, where there are some lovable features reminding me a little of my native landscapes - like hills and birch-trees and lots of boulders and some glimpses of lakes, which I pretend to be part of the sea, which they might have been ten-thousands of years ago. Thanks to the accent, I fully accept to be asked where I come from. I just tell people: from Finland, and then I'll ask something about them, for example: And you, have you always lived in this village? ... I'll say: Interesting! whatever they'll reply, and soon we have a connection. It really is interesting, and the stuff that great novelists and good poems can convey.
"Here and now" wins over the past in importance for all the people around you, for them you are not that interesting as a new-comer with a history, but much more as a person with a full and "living" presence. It is human nature.
Homeland and mother-tongue should feel important, but they are only artificially connected to nationality, for who can encompass a whole nation concretely, as we in reality have percieved our roots much more narrowly, if we examine the facts more closely? It is good to know that normally our conceptions will be influenced by ideologies on the surface. We can however make piece with the patchwork that our roots are grown down into.
The Finlandia-hymn is part of my nostalgia, but "other lands have skies as wide and blue as mine". When the Stellenbosch University Choir sings of their land I shiver, though I have no other connection than that their feeling is as familiar, as when Only Boys Aloud sing Calon Lân, which Ianguage I don't know, or when Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings: America the Beautiful... though I'm sceptical of some feature of the USA. So our heartstrings are attached in the most abstract while the most concrete ways, and *we* are connected.
Remember, Howards End and "Only connect" ?
Wow! Very well said. I didn't get all the references that you made but I agree that you shouldn't force multiple identities onto children
Brits drink more in public, Germans drink more in private.
Do you think so? I would say the Brits binge more. It could be that Germans drink more on average but Brits alcohol consumption goes through the roof at the weekend
@@britingermany That‘s right, got many „Spiegeltrinker“ who are never drunk but need their quantum of alcohol morning, noon and night.
Overall, Germany now holds the fifth place global wide of alcohol consumption per capita! 😳Even the Russians drink less than us.
Is there an english word for „schöntrinken“? Germans drink their national decline schön. 🙈
@@britingermany That‘s right, Germany got many „Spiegeltrinker“ who are never drunk but need their quantum of alcohol morning, noon and night.
Overall, Germany now holds the fifth place global wide of alcohol consumption per capita! Even the Russians drink less than us.
Is there an english word for „schöntrinken“? Germans drink their national decline schön. 🙈
@@britingermanyI think you left around the late 2000's ? You'd be surprised, it's changed a lot. You'll find a lot of people in their 20s more likely to be hanging around the gym on a Saturday night.
@@britingermany yep, Guinness + red wine ....shoot yourself out of this f....g world
I left the UK aged 19. It's a good place to visit, emphasis on last word.😮
A Mancunian, the thing I took for granted was the privilege of being able to cross paths with virtually any stranger and strike up a convo as deep or as superficial as we wanted, with a little bit of ribbing/friendly banter chucked in. The Brit attitude was (and I'm afraid it has to be past tense) that it facilitated everyday social interaction but not at the cost of being so totally false like the completly vacuous "Have a nice day" or "You're welcome" auto-responses. In my opinion it differs from a lot of other cultures that are comparatively incredibly brusque, standoffish and even defensive in their social interactions. It used to be said that 'manners cost nothing' but in the last 30 or 40 years it would seem, under the influence of other forces, this has gone out of the window. Being polite or well-mannered is actually now viewed as abnormal or 'ick/mid/cringe/dayroom/cap/npc...'. Now it's all nasty evil glances or stares, the presumption that a stranger is a danger not a fellow human being.
Yes at its best it is as you describe it. A great way to break the ice and engage in small talk. But at it’s worst it’s a Defense mechanism to keep people at arms length without them fully realising it. It’s not easy to find that balance
Don't move to London
I am Mancunian as well, but I find that Manchester is not as friendly as it once was.
@@neilfazackerley7758 In my very clumsy way that was partly what I was trying to say.
I miss GB as member of the EU. It's a lovely country. My neighbour is British too. We went through London and she explained a lot. It was a pleisure. I think she missed her homecountry. Thank you for your thoughts. ❤
Thank you for saying that
honestly yeah I was 11 months at too young to vote bremain and I just heartbreakingly just saw my entire future being ripped as a result of brexit miss being a part of the European Union it was a stupid decision I mean you look at the scarcities on the shelves of supermarkets the level of good tradespeople that came from Eastern Europe the has unfortunately taken there good self back home and the state of the British pound such a stupid decision we miss u 2
Thanks for this. As a US gay man the Brit gay culture seemed like our catty queen schtick on steroids. In Germany my partner and I were able to just be ourselves. Sometimes we were popular; sometimes not. It was very liberating.
I thought you were in North Wales at the start, then I saw the Orme and I now I know you were in Conwy and Conwy Castle
Yes indeed. Well spotted
I love my country but hate my government
Does politics make the country or does the country create the politics? It’s a bit of vicious circle
@@britingermany On what's happening now the politics has created the mess.This mob we have aren't fit to run a whelk stall my local MP who was won recently has already said he's clearing off to an area where he stands a better chance of winning.
Its typical of these self serving scoundrels .
All lies about representing local people until a better chance of getting in arose
I think if there's nothing else that we've learned from the past decade is that a country is made out of two things people and government and the government rarely represents or serves the people love the people fucking hate the government Absolutely I love this country too it's an awkward one as there is a lot of cons to britain's impact on the world but by the same definition endless praise to the impact that Britain has had on the world but truly I will never stop loving Britain I was born here and I choose her (as mad as it sometimes is)
@@britingermany Ten years ago or so I would've agreed with you, but recent events in many countries where we clearly see the political elites ignoring the people are too coordinated to be mere coincidence. Someone at a supra-national level is giving orders, and national politicians are obeying.
@@thadtuiol1717the wizard of Oz or the European Council.
I have a love hate relationship with my country England. Every time i leave i cant help but feel at home when i come back. I am happy when i look out to the rolling hills and i smile but then quite quickly the miserable grey sarcastic mass that is my people once again pulls me back into reality. I dont drink at all and it makes people very uncomfortable around me. English folk are so insecure that they have to have a potential scapegoat to be themselves - alchohol. The thing is I really dont know if the contemporary culture was always so. My nan was much more straight to the point that was for sure and dead against the drink. I struggle to talk to people when all they talk about is drink drink drink.
Yes I can relate to that a lot. I do drink but only on occasion. Sometimes it's easier to just drink something which looks like alcohol to avoid all those boring discussions
Ncely done. I don't see indirect communication as uniquely English. It's the norm in most of the world - high context communication. I agree more about there being an English style though - cynicism + alcohol being part of this.. Cities in the UK have a terrible sense of public poverty (private affluence in suburbs). This is getting worse. Britain needs to be more like its Northern European neighbours, not less. The level of anger that such a statement creates with about 20-30% of the population tells you a lot of what you need to know...
Interesting point. I do think that the uk would be better off modelling on Europe than the US (if you have to model on anyone)
On the communication issue, I think there are two things that tend to get conflated:
1. Being reserved about what we think. I think this is definitely a national trait moreso than some other places, and not just made-up.
2. Translation errors!
I think often the second type of thing often gets mistaken for the first by people who do not understand the meanings of things quite well enough (they are fluent enough to think they understand, which in a way is more dangerous for misunderstandings!).
As an example, maybe someone thinks they know what the word "maybe" means in English. And they think that it means that there is a reasonable chance that something is true, and a reasonable chance that it is not true. "Do you think it will rain tomorrow?" "Maybe." No problem there. But then they ask their colleague as they are leaving work if they are coming to their house party tonight. "Maybe..." says the colleague, with a hesitant tone and a kind of weirdly apologetic facial expression.
"Aha, I know what the word 'maybe' means: perhaps they will come, perhaps they won't" that someone thinks. Well, of course that's not true! They simply weren't familiar enough with the language to understand. In that situation, with that delivery, the word "maybe" doesn't mean "perhaps there's a reasonable chance" it means "Do not expect me at your party." It's not a problem of being reserved and keeping things hidden: the British colleague used all the right cues to communicate "Do not expect me at your party", they weren't hiding anything and they deliberately wanted you to know not to expect them to be there. It's just that the other person wasn't quite fluent enough to understand!
@@zak3744 Yes indirect communication needs 'decoding' by definition, so language fluency is also cultural and contextual fluency. You only learn that by exposure to people. I would still say vast parts of the world have their own versions of 'maybe' to save/give face. As for the reserved part, yes and I see that as quite an English middle class thing and - no matter where you went to school - dissolved by alcohol which is a major issue in the UK - far bigger than many realize.
@@zak3744then why not just say. “I’m not sure” or “I don’t think so” or “No. I will not be attending your party”
Anything else seems cowardly to me, whether it’s decoded or not.
You do not need to renounce. You can get the german passport like Farage and still keep the british one.
And then tax man will tax you both ways one from Germany one from uk
@MrCarEditsbhp I do not know anout the UK, but among EU member states there is no double taxatiion due to holding multiple passports. We pay our taxes to the state of residence.
In the Victorian era, the British were massive Germanophiles, but the Germans had somewhat of an antipathy towards the British. In the 20th century, this scenario was reversed. I've got a feeling and a hope that the British and the Germans will finally syncopate their mutually respectful bonds and work together to create a better future for Europe.
Lets hope so
Not the Germans,... our crippled Kaiser hated bis Uncle because this guy was always boasting with his ships. He also hated his English mother who treated him like a damaged useless human wreck. No love! The poor guy was forced to sit on a horse and fell down a thousand times. At least they used special trained horses who accepted him.... "riding". He never was able to climb on the back of a horse alone. No wonder that mentally destroyed guy was a easy victim to provoke erratic talking. The German and English people never hated each other. They prefered playing football, ... even 1914.
Not so sure about the sarcasm, I love it and am, on times, very sarcastic, Blackadder for example was very sarcastic and I thought it was great. However, not in close relationships, just casual banter, my daughter picked it up from me but not so much my son. I do agree we don't get straight to the point. Was a bit of shock when I came to Germany first and my German bf used to go crazy I would go around the hills to say something that would take 5 words
🤣🤣yes exactly. The sarcasm and banter is fine now and then. I just find it annoying when it’s constant because you can’t have a proper conversation and it just feels like people are trying to keep you at arms length with humour
@@britingermany Very true, sarcasm can be very witty and fun, but nothing is witty and funny when it is constant. I do think however, many, particularly in the UK are a bit shell shocked after the last few years. In Germany we hug when we greet someone and when we leave. That gives a contact the Brits don't usually get
A very German view of Britain. Inevitably. Good you're not giving up on citizenship though. Citizenship isn't just about a passport - instead it's a voluntary decision (especially in your case) to align with a country's present, past and future & to help shape what is to come: for everyone. Being an expat inevitably means a part of your identity is set in aspic and it's clear this troubles you. That's a shame but that's life! Good luck.
I would say I am conflicted. Most of the “British expats” I know don’t understand this confliction - they are in the camp of “I will never go back” and thank god I got out. I am quite aware that I generally have very positive feelings when I go back as opposed to others who seem to have terrible experiences 🤷🏼♂️
Thankyou very much for your comment.
I have noticed that when people make their homes in another part of the world, they often work hard to fit in (especially if they are very strongly expected to) and I feel they convince themselves that the new country is great and the old country is terrible. I also feel that Germans especially love hearing that.
It is something that I am sure most humans do and if makes sense. It is good for ones' own mental health to believe that their far reaching choice to do something was by far the best.
It applies to other situations as well, and helps a person feel better, with less room for regret.
I selected Brit in Germany to listen to this morning, because I had been feeling some really sentimental things about England. I am a New Zealander and I have an enormous love for England for very many reasons.
I started watching this here, and was in tune at the beginning. Then my whole mind was flung into a state... thrashed by a truly negative spin on something so beautiful.
Multiple descriptions are so horrible...Yet another person who has moved to Germany has taken on a quite disgusting perspective of "others" in their own culture of birth.
When hearing about the drinking culture in England I can't help but think about New Zealand..the hundreds of monuments commemorating our huge, huge numbers of men who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. For the freedom of every one of us in NZ, Britain, AND Germany. And at the same time I think about the two generations of our men who were so traumatized they couldn't even speak about the horrors they'd seen. Not for the rest of their lives. These are the men who filled OUR pubs for my whole life, and now it is their sons, grandsons and great grandsons who learned to drink to the same excess.
That level of trauma that I have seen so much of on film could only be numbed or by drink of drugs, (or by suicide). And only while the veteran is awake.
I was also seriously struck by the description of Brits as socially awkward and insecure. I am so very grateful, fortunate and in humble respect regarding the character of my people. We are mostly a humble, accepting family Down Here. We have a staunch humility and a concept of mana that is directly from the Maori culture including kotahitanga that we embrace. Humility is key.
But almost all of us have the self-deprecating ways of the Brits. It is very, very beautiful. I have learned in life that by positioning yourself at the same spot as others, you attract a real connection and the beginnings of a trusting relationship with any other person.
(This is not the forte of German people).
Kotahitanga is much like that...we are one, the same, no better, not lesser. But instead, others are worthy of our time, connection, friendliness, generosity and assistance if needed.
Our heroes are examples of humility... Sir Edmond Hillary Jacinda Ardern, Willy Apiata.
There is no place for blow arses here, and I am sure the Brits are the same...like the British King. When people know who they are themselves are, there is no need to skite, dominate, exploit, OR show disregard.
I feel that it is more German people who have shown some insecurity.
That makes sense to me...because the destruction from 2 world wars and the affiliated epidemic and holocaust are just 4 things in one century to feel rather ashamed about.
I hear from travellers that the British are really nice people. I don't know many, but I very much like Brit in Germany...apart from a few of the ideas he has adopted from Germany. It seems to happen to Kiwis that emigrate there too.
I realise of course, that Germans are committed to their views too.
Sweet as.
I really enjoy your sophisticated videos. I'm about to move to Ireland because of Brexit and the general decline of the UK. Once I've obtained Irish citizenship (in about 5/6 years) I will seriously think about renouncing my UK citizenship. I don't want to be associated with a country that is so anti-European. It is so true that you can 'love and loathe something at the same time'. Do you know Catullus's famous Ode (no. 85) 'Odi et Amo'? It deals with precisely that situation of loving and hating something simultaneously. I love the countryside and history of the UK but I dislike what England has become over the last 15 years, especially since the 2016 referendum. My identity is European and always will be.
Yes I totally get what you mean. But I would think long and hard before you renounce your citizenship. A lot can change in 10-20 years…who knows maybe for the better 😉
The u.k isn't anti European at all but we're very uncomfortable with the E.U project, being in the E.U doesn't make you more European than someone from Switzerland for example a country with 4 official European languages bang in the middle of the continent.
Britain climate is so depressing so people drink to excess to forget about it. In addition a lot of northern people from Britain have some Viking blood in their D.N.A. so drinking is in their culture and desire of sociability.
Yes the weather might have something to do with it, but I think it's more the culture.
@@britingermany it's often cold , usually dingy cloudy, and these days the regular rain is often torrential thanks to climate change - in the 70s there was plenty of drizzle yes, but last few years it's often a month worth of rain dropped in one afternoon. Things have changed in lots of ways.
Not eally I mean if you really look at the actual descendants of Vikings the scandinavians the drinking culture is nonexistent there actually frowned upon drinkers in Scandinavia I think that as a Brit I would say that our drinking is more the historical significance of the pub being almost like the community and you just gather together and just conversed and created this society which Britain is made of so there's a great level of pride associated with alcohol I mean honestly I could probably get through 35 centilitres of vodka no issue and I'm talking neat the climate is not depressing I think that a lot of us Brits get very well acquainted with the concept of beautifully bleak there is sometimes where the brain is pounding on the window and you look at the grey sky but the vibrant green grass and you've got a beer in your hand or a cup of tea in your hand and everything seems peaceful
I am deeply connected to the God's Own Land and the green fields, the woodlands that, for many times, gave me emotional support. The drinking culture plays a huge role in embracing people. However, as a non-drinking gay man, I lack that opportunistic connection and that makes me feel a bit disabled. I look for making eye contact filled with ideas and I reject any approach if it is fuelled with alcohol and that choice has its price. I want to feel life, or continue to living to the fullest and drinking takes that freedom away from me. I do take trips to Manchester, Leeds and London for a few days every now and then and this for a bit of culture: theatre and concerts but then after a while my spirit tells me, 'Alright then, I've had enough!'.
yeah i pretty much agree with everything you say....
Thanks for being here glen
I totally agreed with so much of the video, but what was with the random swipe at vegans?! As a side note, have you been to Berlin recently?
I just noticed that the vegan scene is much more advanced in the UK than in Germany (when I was there a couple of weeks ago). It's not really about food anymore it's identity politics and uses a toxic blend of shame and guilt to try and get you to join. I was in Berlin last November
This was well put, the minority causes while often right, have become extremist and ideological at times. One of the worst things is that it's then returned by the 'opposing' side in extreme form, as a reaction. Most need to realise if they weren't so often as lecturous and extreme about their cause and opinion people could much more easily get along.
@@britingermany I asked about Berlin, because Berlin is legitimately way more vegan-friendly than a lot of the UK. To get an idea, you can compare the numbers of vegan-friendly restaurants and businesses in Berlin with other places on Happy Cow.
I've been vegan since 2004. It was never about the food, and it was never about joining anything. I didn't know any vegans, so how was I joining anything?
It was more about being randomly verbally attacked by strangers. Apparently that's not changed.
@@RosePostedThis well obviously it was an over generalisation on my part. The “activists” don’t always represent the majority. I actually grew up vegetarian because my mother is. Live and let live
@@britingermany As a vegan, that's exactly what I'm doing.
I have duel nationality (English & German) as Brexit was introduced.
I see your point about london being more like new york than other European cities, i think the u.k will always have close ties to fellow anglosphere countries and even after 40 + years of common market/ EU membership it was never going to go away, people do feel an affiliation to the land of there ancestors no matter where in the world they currently reside.
That’s good to hear because I haven’t actually heard anyone else talking about a connection to the land. Usually it’s about the people or the culture
I don't see the UK as becoming more American, that said the common language and social media means that political propaganda aimed at Americans bleeds into the British "discourse" far too easily and some are drawn into it.
I feel the same way. I would never give up being German, especially since I live in England.
Nice to hear from "the other way around"
Ha, ha the German citizenship is the best lifeinshurance you can have. Watch the so called Auswanderer at TV. Shitting into their nest all the time,... but when they fail in their beloved new country... where everything is better, they return crying and claiming universal social care for what they never paid a red penny. :-)
The past is a foreign country. My England no longer exists. No doubt I could make a go of living over there again, but I just bought a house here in Germany. I would like a German passport, but I don't want German citizenship. Now that I can keep my British passport, I might get a German one one day.
Have seen this coming for decades as well - unfortunately would have much preferred more connection with 'social democratic' europe than more connection with 'selfish pure capitalist' usa. Healthcare as blatent example. On another hand typically speaking, European films have rich storyline nuance and depth, US films have sterotypically who's the winner, who's the loser, and some version of Us versus Them. Even George Orwell noticed this - so not a recent phenomenon Obviously there are exceptions to this but nevertheless European humour understands irony and humillity, US humour thinks it's funny to make the wittiest barbed passive-agression as their high point of humour. rant over.
That reflects the puritanical origins of the first American colonies... who were made up of English protestant zealots, and very much into black/white thinking and crusading for the Lord, etc. So, the things you don't like about the modern USA have their origins in your country!
I grew up in a small, provincial, wholly middle to upper middle class town set in the typical English rural idyll. I was at public school and at an ancient university of world repute. Nowhere in all of that was I able to shake off the utterly alienating and truly widespread (it is not wrong to generalise here) English xenophobia. Well into the highly educated middle class circles I was a member of, I was being told that the UK is "not European", not, as John Donne expresses it, "a part of the Maine". But English culture is solely European, the English Common Law as well defined by John Fortescue in the 15th century is entirely Germano-Romano-Christian. But foreigners (to this day) begin at Calais. I so detest this tiny-mindedness that I had to get out. Yes, the English have a natural kindliness which I miss, but it seems to come at an enormous cost. In Germany (where I have lived happily for 32 years), it's totally ok to be English or French, despite all the history and the real life English football thugs. In England, it's problematic to be German or French, one has to adopt an apologetic stance and hide behind façades. I was shocked and disgusted by the attitude many UK citizens took towards Eastern European farmworkers round the time of Brexit, and I was so glad not to have had to experience this at first hand. The UKIP phenomenon stank. It is a scientific fact that the British have done themselves no favours at all with their King Canute and the Waves Brexit. Yes, the English countryside is magical in a way it is not in Germany - you put it rather well, something like "the greenness is more vibrant", it's true. The happiest linden trees in the world grow in Britain, I have seen it. But all this espouses a strange English possessiveness which I find stifling. Of course there is a German pendant to this blinkeredness, but it was never applied to me, and it seems easy to avoid by reading the right press and mixing in the right circles. And as to the USA, I hold it with whatever wit it was who observed that to be America's enemy is a bad thing, but to be its friend is far worse. No doubt the UK will in due course discover this (as will Germany, and in the same measure).
Thanks for sharing. You have had a very different experience than me. I had a very alternative upbringing and so I cannot equate the English with xenophobia. Maybe that's more of an upper class elitism thing? Maybe I had a tiny glimpse of it when I tried out for the TA at Uni but they didn't accept me...I'm sure it was for the better
You are merely exposing your own prejudices , well done .
Your video reminds me of longstanding US citizens in Europe. In many ways.
Apart from getting a german passport....why would you want to ?
I hear that laws are being passed such that dual nationality is nowngonna be allowed meaning no renouncment needed
I already have two so if I wanted to get a German one I#d have to give up one of the others
@@britingermany pretty sure that multiple (not just dual) citizenship is allowed from next month 👍
Great.... we will have 8.000.000.000 (No typo) 😉 Germans soon. Who does not want a German Passport... , Luxemburg, Liechtenstein,.. Vatikan, ... uhm? Lifeinshurance!
👍♥️🇩🇪🇬🇧
😀🙏
Thanks for the thoughtful video. I understand your ongoing affection for the UK (also where I grew up) but I'm a bit more in the post-brexit "thank god I got out" camp. Mainly I think Germany is a better place to raise kids (accepting that I'm privileged to have had the choice)
I haven’t given up ok the U.K. just yet and I think it could look very different in 10 to 15 years…we will see if that’s better or worse than the current situation
@@britingermany Let's hope so. I thought seriously about renouncing UK citizenship in exchange for 🇩🇪 but with the new law in Germany I don't need to 🤞
@@drdan2112
In Germany we commonly talk about how hostile to children we are as a society. This just makes me wonder how bad it must be in the UK for you to say that.
@@ExgrmblI don't think it's the hostility that's the issue. Kids here seem almost on a pedestal. It's more than you have more disposable income than us and probably better schooling.
We know how special it is, but also how fragile it is, how open to dilution/replacement because we are so few. I think we have already lost, the campaign to save it was lost in the 1970's
I suppose it depends what you are talking about...and how old you are. New generations see the world differently and so want to change it to suit their world view. The culture will never be like it was in the 70's 80's and 90's again...
@@britingermany Because of people like you^^
@@Mark_Bickerton haha I don’t know about that!
My advice to all those who become ex pats is: enjoy your new, chosen home, chosen for whatever gravely important reasons YOU perceived necessitated this, and spare us your judgements, pronouncements and, MOST OF ALL, what are obviously YOUR lamentations your birth home no longer caters to YOUR PERSONAL VIEWPOINT OF LIFE, THUS CAUSING YOUR STAGGERING, ENDLESS AND OBVIOUS TEDIOUS AND SELF JUSTIFICATIONS. Go eat your sausages or sushi, wherever you prefer to hide in life, make your one regret lamentation and stop pretending your pose of “all knowingness” is anything BUT running for “safe” places that will prove NOT TO BE when whatever you think you ran away from comes knocking on your NEW door.
This sounds more like bitter resentment than advice. I wonder what happened to you to elicit this reaction?!
@@britingermany nope it’s a predictable pattern. It’s subtle insecurity working. Enjoy your strudel and stop lecturing others.
if its countryside or history britain is the place
I tend to agree
Ben's videos are quietly controversial and dangerous in a polite and thoughtful way. What?😅 Because they deal in generalisations and individuals prefer to believe the generalisation doesn't refer to them or their people - if it's a negative one.
Ben walks a tightrope with lazy tropes and blatant prejudice lying inches away to the sides.
Who said the world had gone woke with political correctness? Not on this channel it hasn't!
I think it's great! We're all adults and hopefully not too precious to handle it. It's all good light entertainment.
Haha I’ve never it them described on that way before 🤣
you said in other videos that the weather is shit , as it rains a lot ... that's why it is very green ? Better in Germany
A very negative view of a country you clearly love and miss.
Yes I miss it. But when I go back for too long I realise why I left 🤣
‘If the whole basis of the relationship is sarcastic snipes and jibes and banter, maybe it’s time to question things…’
Yes, I agree. And see the above often, in groups of young men here in the UK. And it bores me silly. As it seems to be about the most shallow, superficial & meaningless way of relating to other people.
We certainly seem to be influenced greatly by the US over here, and what often seem to be shallow & superficial cultural imports, but is it actually very much different elsewhere - say in Western Europe?
Personally, I value straight talking, and don’t think I cloak my thoughts and feelings in 50 shades of grey, and don’t particularly get the impression that others do either, but I’ve certainly heard foreign people living here in the UK saying things along the lines ‘I’m still trying to work out what you Brits actually mean, when you say…’ so there must be something to it.
I live in a little Sussex village and enjoy the greenery and simple vernacular architecture I can find around me. And the people? Well, people are just people. I find it’s rare to meet somebody whose values you admire and actually feel a connection with, and want to spend time getting to know.
Thanks for your interesting and involved introspection.
Thanks for commenting. It’s definitely a lot more direct in Germany (which of course has its downsides as well). Obviously a bit of a mix is best but striking that balance is not easy!
At least you're honest about how you feel. I'm English (Not British) and by virtue of England's relationship with the UK a British passport holder. For me I couldn't imagine living anywhere other than England. I have travelled abroad and I love seeing new countries (apart from Scotland and Wales due to anti English sentiment) but I always have this really warm feeling about knowing I'm coming home to England when the holiday or visit is over. I confess to only ever visiting one EU country and that was Portugal and I absolutely enjoyed my holiday there, but I'm very unknowledgeable about Europe. I think Brexit has changed the country in terms of how split it is due to leave or remain and that is sad. I assume in England there is a wide variety of people with different attitudes and approaches to things as anywhere. I know lots of gay people and they are definitely not sarcastic. If you go on the gay scene in big cities like London and Manchester you will find people who are judgemental and sarcastic due to their own insecurities and feelings of being left behind so they want to be noticed. It's not the right approach to behave that way I don't think personally but I think people look for ways to express who they are and unfortunately some think expressions like that are what will get them noticed without realising only in a negative way. England has some amazing countryside and quaint villages, and I love exploring as far as the Isle of wight to the Lake District and Northumberland. I don't cross the border of England into Scotland or Wales but that's a personal choice largely based on the anti English hostile societies in those countries. I've been called a 'Little Englander' on a few occasions 😂 and told by European citizens to 'Stay on my little island' I never argue as I suppose the fact I haven't left England since 2014 and my passport is used more for ID I guess those assumptions have some merit. I don't consider myself European at all and I do only identify as English. I have no issues with people from Europe but find they have the issue with me cause I'm English and there's a massive amount of xenephobia within Europe that I find remainers turn a blind eye to in order to advance their hope of returning or joining the EU. I didn't vote in the Brexit referendum as I wasn't interested then, and am still indifferent now. For me losing free movement isn't an issue, I know I will always live in England and to have 90/180 days in Europe is perfectly fine. I do however know this is not the case for everyone and some people really valued their freedom of movement, and losing that for them is sad.
I think I come from a different perspective compared to others that may comment on your video. I wish you well with your life in Germany and with whatever decision you make regarding your British Citizenship.
Thank you for sharing. It’s always good to hear different perspectives, although you should give wales and Scotland another chance they have some of the most stunning landscapes in the U.K.
I'm British (not English). I have always lived in England, but love travelling around the UK. I love every part of the UK. I used to go to North Wales pretty much once or twice a month, because I lived closeish to the border. My Dad is Scottish, so I've spent a lot of time up there.
All this is to say: I have rarely experienced 'anti-English sentiment.' I can actually only think of two times where I've been made to feel unwelcome due to being English. Whereas I've been made to feel quite uncomfortable down south on a rare visit, for having a northern accent.
So I'm not sure if you have a direct experience of anti-Englishness, or if you're extrapolating. If the latter, I encourage you not to do that. If the former, that's awful but it sounds like you've been unlucky. Either that or you're behaving in an unpleasant way yourself 😅
@@britingermanyYes they do look to have some very nice places, I've been to Scotland once and went to Inverness and actually quite enjoyed the scenery but I haven't been back anywhere else in Scotland, and I went to Betws-Y-Coed in Wales once and also Snowdonia. I've seen other TH-cam videos of different places in each country and they do look to be really nice.
@@monkeymox2544It's been direct. I avoid people as much as possible and try not to engage with them where possible in physical form. I doubt very much that it's the way I behave (Which the suggestion is actually quite patronising and rude) considering I mind my own business. I think that sort of comment is just to maintain the narrative that of course I must be the problem because I'm English. What else could it be 😂🤷🏻. It's ridiculous.
@@hey12542 sorry if it didn't come across in the comment, but that was in fact intended to be a joke. Hence the use of an emoji. I don't actually think it's likley that you're at fault.
Again, I'm technically English, although I do prefer to identify as British, so I obviously don't think that there's anything wrong with English people. You've clearly been unlucky, which is unfortunate, because as I say I can only think of two times in my life that I've felt unwelcome just for being English.
A crumbly old church is nice to look at but it's not so nice for childcare. London is dissapointed.
London is disappointed at what? The rest of the country?
@@britingermany Forgive me: I think Davey means disappointing.
That culture of hiding one's personality and using sarcasm and put-downs of others + bullying starts early on in the Brit school system. Most Brits stick with this learned behaviour through much of their adult lives. This negative behaviour masks varying degrees of self loathing. How does a society rooted in this mindset stand a chance?😮
Yes it’s something which needs to change
Built on fiat credit and empty promises! You sound like a Bitcoiner! All roads lead to Bitcoin and everyone should learn why!
I might have one or two lying around 😉
No such thing as renouncing British citizenship in fact, you just let your passport expire, and may apply again in the future, if you were born in the UK, or even an Irish one too if born in Northern Ireland. We do however need help, since the English and Welsh provincials forced us out of the EU 🇪🇺
Eye Candy:
Deutschland or Great Britain?
you mean landscapes and towns? Both have a lot of eye candy in that regard. I would say the british countryside and Germany historic towns
@@britingermany I meant the human Eye Candy..
Do the frauleins Trump the maidens ?
@@britingermany Both but Bayern is in a different league.
When you are 70 and need hospital care will you be back for free NHS care?
No. Although I hope in 30+ years medicine will have improved beyond recognition
Germany is a good but very rude unfriendly country. But everyone is entitled to like their own country
Haha. I see where you’re coming from. Yea it does seem like that at times but if you only experience it once in a while it’s fine
@@britingermany
Since you're blonde brit you'll blend in easily. I'm fair skinned but not blonde I'm Kashmiri since I'm not European they're scared of me I went to Deutschland for study but people act as if I'm colonising their country ,the waitress shout, people who are cycling if they pass through me will shout and sometimes bump into me to punish me for walking on cycling lane, neigbours think that auslander will outnumber them, starring in public for no reason, no friendliness or politeness. I think because of too many immigrants Germans are scared of non European and they're justified. I don't know how germans behave with other European but they do look down french. Now I'm back in my home country living with honour My home country is my home no matter how much flaws it has but the feeling of belongingness I will not find anywhere I live in my country and I share blood, tears and sorrow with my people. My city is beautiful but not industrialised and unemployment is very high and I rather prefer to be poor with honour than to be seen as locust invaders
unfriendly brits are just better at lying
@@Kattufei135 the channel hasn't covered German racism but I know from research funded by the EU that Germany is more racist than for example the UK. I think you make a very good point about Ben being accepted in Germany because he is white. It's worth saying as well that Ben learned to speak German fluently and worked hard at becoming integrated.
@@Purple_flower09
What German did to me was not racism it's the destiny of intellectually inferior people to be humiliated by superior. The problem was with me that I went to Germany for study I shouldn't have gone but why did I go there because there are no better Universities and my race is incapable of building and creating a highly advanced society. The fault lies in me
Can you please just all Go in your Homelands?