The GERMAN STEREOTYPE I've Never Understood
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About me:
I am a Brit who lives in Germany. After completing University in the UK I moved to China where I taught English for two years. I’ve learned a thing or two about cultural integration, language learning and everything else that goes with upping sticks and moving to a foreign country. I make videos about Germany, cultural differences and tend to pose a lot of questions. Join me on my exploration of life abroad.
If you liked this you'll love these:
Why the Germans are so obsessed with English:
• Why GERMANS Are So Obs...
Why the Germans Look so Serious:
• Video
The harsh Truth of Living in Germany:
• The Harsh Truth of Liv...
Sources:
Study on Attitudes of Native Population Towards Immigrants:
www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/e...
Historical Study of Migration to and from Germany:
www.bpb.de/themen/migration-i...
Public Attitudes Towards Refugees in Germany:
odi.org/en/publications/publi...
Refugees in Germany:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1...
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
02:27 - Why this Stereotype is false
06:42 - The House of One
07:35 - Travel
08:50 - Geography
10:43 - Attracting talent
My Gear:
My Camera: FUJIFILM XS10
My Lense: amzn.to/3cY0sP2
My Microphone: amzn.to/3BpMPjR
My other Microphone: amzn.to/3B8qWVJ
My SD Card: amzn.to/3cXXoCx
My Tripod: amzn.to/3xcmJ26
Some of these are affiliate links. By clicking on them I may receive a small commission with no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support :)
My Email: getbackupin1m@gmail.com
#germanculture #stereotypes #britingermany
Good morning :) Get 25% off Blinkist premium and enjoy 2 memberships for the price of 1! Start your 7-day free trial by clicking here: blinkist.de/britingermany. Happy Sunday
living in Germany isnt cheap.
@@bearenkindercool Er will an den Deutschen verdienen. Also, muss er denen irgendwie "entgegenkommen", loben, in den A. kriechen... das ganze programm halt. Hast du schon blinkist premium enjoyt?
@@bearenkindercool Warum sollte er über Stereotype in GB sprechen? Das wäre doch vielleicht eher etwas für den Kanal "Deutscher in GB"? Hier geht es doch um persönliche Erfahrungen und Eindrücke, nicht um eine ausgewogene Berichterstattung. Und klar, jeder hätte gern nur werbefreien Content, aber wenn man die Chance hat, mit seiner Arbeit Geld zu verdienen, finde ich das verständlich und denke, dass es fast jeder so machen würde. Kann natürlich auch sein, dass ich mich da irre. 🤔
@@hansberger4939 Perfekter Kommentar für alle, die ein Beispiel für "Fremdschämen" brauchen...
@@N_K12695 90% des piblikums solcher kanäle sind nunmal deutschsprecher. Welcher amerikaner oder brite will sich in seiner freizeit in die feinheiten deutschlands vertiefen? Wohingegen die deutschen ganz geil drauf sind, zu erfahren, wie andere sie sehen. Muss man sich nun wegen "Blinkist premiums" zu "25% off" schämen? oder fremdschämste du da? oder für den, der das hämisch wiederholt? Nicht nötig, würde ich sagen. kannste als hobby machen, aber, wesentlich wichtiger wäre, dass du endlich mal ein "Blinkist Premium" kaufst. Immerhin "25% off". Da solltest du nicht länger zögern! Wer weiiß, wie lange so ein supersonderangebot noch gilt! ähm.... wie? Nein... ich weiss auch nicht, was "Blinkist premium" ist. Ich will es ehrlich gesagt gar ncht wissen.
20 or so years ago on a long flight from Singapore to Frankfurt, a very nice gentleman was sitting next to me.We filled the long hours, having a great discussion about both our experiences regard, working or touristic abroad. When we were landing in Frankfurt, he asked me how I would be traveling on to my final destination Düsseldorf. I told him, I would take the train. He then started to explain how nice and smooth the train system in Germany worked. so I informed him, that I am familiar with it, as I am a native German from Düsseldorf He started laughing hard and told me he was a native German to from Mönchengladbach, which is a very short distance from Düsseldorf… So the last half hour we continued in our mothers language and not longer in English, as we head the whole flight…
That's an amazing story!🤣 But it also means your accent can't be strong! I am impressed! Most of the time I can tell from a few sentences that someone is German 😃
…@@AmericasGotGermans maybe we didn’t recognize, because we were both German. But our personal origin became no part of the conversation until the very last moment.
Amazing 😀
Lovely story
Happens to me all the time. ;-) I work for a company with a very international staff. For two and a half years, we basically had home office, and now we do one day in office per week again. There have been new colleagues in that time, and it happened more than once since we returned to the office that I met someone at the coffee machine and we 've been talking in English for half an hour until somebody realized we were both German. ;-)
I definitely believe if you are moving to Germany or are living in Germany then you should try to learn German
I agree…should really be a no brainer!
at the same time we need to keep in mind that learning the language takes some time - and we can't expect a new immigrant to have a conversation in fluent German after just a few weeks.
Learning the language is not the problem, but if you just moved to a new country, you might need some time and help to settle in.
@@tobyk.4911 this doesn‘t, however, apply to tommies who have lived here for 10 years or longer, speaking three words of German, having kids in school and still thinks I got put into a three bed hospital room on a mobile bed because they needed someone to translate for the nightshirt nurses, because the three British soldier‘s wives, who had been stationed in Germany for years, knew little to no German. Medical staff woke me up every 2h, and I even had to talk one down complaining about blood being requested. I mean, where is my translator‘s fee?
As an Australian who has been living in Germany for 12 years now, I really hope they don’t make English a 2nd language. I think it was really important for me to learn my Wifes and Step-Daughters native Language. To really understand German culture and regional history and its many varied dialects and accents, you must learn German. it is incredibly expressive, funny and poetic. Platz Deutsch is also something that is often forgotten when we speak about Germany . Another plus, you make more friends and are able to more involved in your local community.
I agree. However I do think it will become increasingly necessary for most jobs. Especially government jobs.
I think English doesn't have to be an official language, but all government services should be offered in English, too. There is no excuse in this day and age to insist on using German, and I don't get why we are so far behind neighbor countries like Denmark or the Netherlands in this respect.
@@HerbertLandei That Danish and the Dutch are extremly good at english has to do with size. There are way more German native speakers than Danish native speakers, so they are used from an early age to watching Movies in English for example.
@@HerbertLandei It's called FEDERALISM. One problem, 17 opinions, except that all states agree that the Federal government is always wrong. On the rest they disagree.
@@HerbertLandeiI dont think it's a bad thing to strongly encourage everyone to speak German. I'm English and lived in Germany for a while. My German was basic, learnt as a child in Switzerland and then following on in school in England till I was 14, and carried on French till the end of school and a bit in college. I had many hilarious conversations with people in a mixture of German, English and French. The funniest was my neighbour speaking German and a tiny bit of English and French, understanding more than they could speak. A Romanian neighbour who had a little English, no French and good German. Me, school German and French, which is fairly inadequate for grown up conversation and practical mundane things like explaining which part of your washing machine cycle is going wrong over the phone to the repairman, or sorting out your home insurance or if your baby has colic or opening a bank account. We spoke grasping for whichever language we knew the words in. I mangled my grammar horribly. We translated from one language to the other for the other one to understand and used lots of hand language, miming, pointing and even drawing. Hilarious. Quite a few people were patient, kind and helpful and it did help my German improve and it helped me in social situations. I did very much appreciate doctors and nurses speaking to me in English, especially for the childrens healthcare, when they knew I was struggling to understand or explain. All of this support was a privilege, a kindness, and certainly not my right to expect it. I do agree it's really lovely when people help you and we should all help others with language when we can, but I'm not sure it should be a hard requirement such that people dont even have to bother trying to integrate at all. A lot of culture is in the language, not just for function, but subtleties like humour and shared cultural references in literature, or TV, or knowing what's going on in the news. The other issue is where do you stop when it comes to providing services in other languages and the amount of resource that takes in people and costs, whether it's people who you need to be multilingual or materials from leaflets to internet pages across the whole range of things you have to engage with the government on as a resident or citizen. It is a fine line between being helpful in the short term and helpful in the long term for making your life somewhere and integrating.
I always wanted to meet "the german" everybody's talking about. I've never seen one, seems to be quite shy and elusive. There may be some who are aligned more to "foreign" stereotypes on germans, but I'd be really surprised to see one that checks all the boxes. So, IMO, every sentence starting with "germans are..." is wrong from the start. And that seems to be the same for every stereotype of any nation.
I disagree. Sure it’s always a generalisation and there will always be many exceptions but cultural stereotypes are still well and truly alive and do have some accuracy. That is why we still say things like “that’s very British” or “he seems rather German”
And that said by a Thomas Müller...😂...!
Not to forget, the stereotype itself depends very much on the country you are in. The US stereotypes on Germany are completly different then the British ones. Such jokes like Prince Harry in a Nazi costume is so British, I guess it would not happen in US so easily. You can currently see the comments of British people on the visit of King Charles. ...it goes like "that german bastard" just to quote one.
Some of those stereotypes are around because some germans love to play the stereotype for the pleasure of foreigners. You see some such on YT.
Everybody who is going to move toGermany should‘ve done a German course at Goethe Institut. i remember that at Hofbräuhaus I‘d to speak English with somebody. We are in Germany where German is the language. If somebody struggles with German ( medical words) or ask me if I could speak English because he is a tourist than I don‘t have a problem speaking English. But I hate the attitude so you must speak English to me.
Yes I couldn’t agree more. You just miss out on so much if you don’t speak the local language so it really is not good for both immigrants and locals!
I do agree in general but Goethe isn't be all and end all. First, it doesn't scale prices in different countries, so, for example, where I live (Central Asia, won't go into more details) a regular group course costs about half of median gross income and goes at a snail's pace (6 months per level). Second, the teachers are still local, so if there are any local German courses available at all, they would be way cheaper for the same quality. Or you can opt for the cheaper side of italki, although it might take a few tries to find a decent teacher.
Für solche Einstellung wird man in der Öffentlichkeit bereits als Nazi gebrandmarkt. Der Hang zum Englischsprechen im eigenen Land ist meiner Meinung nach auch auf das US Reeducation und die jahrelange Indoktrination zurück zu führen: Kein Volk, Keine Nation, Keine Sprache, Keine Kultur. Als Gründungsmythos bezieht sich die Bundesrepublik auf Auschwitz, "Deutschland verrecke" ein Ausspruch der hoch bis zum Bundespräsident salonfähig ist. Die Tatsache daß viele deutsche kein Deutsch sprechen wollen ist nur ein Auswuchs dieser selbstgeißelung. Die grenzenlose Armutsmigration nach Deutschland ebenfalls, um sich von der Schuld des totalen Bösen reinzuwaschen, verfällt ein Großteil unseres Volkes dem totalen Guten unter Aufgabe jeglichen Selbsterhaltungs-, und Selbstbehauptungswillen.
I have lived a few years in Finland (coming from Germany). As you mention correctly, it is a good bit easier to navigate official processes there independently as a foreigner, as most documents and services are available in English and many people dealing with you e.g. at a tax office or a car insurance will speak English, or sometimes even German, fairly well. This does, however, lead to a big amount of foreigners/expats, especially in the metropolitan area around Helsinki, that even after many years of living in the country, barely understand most basic Finnish. Even after many years they're remaining somewhat on the sideline culturally, as language would be key for better cultural integration. Funnily it's in my eyes often the "more exotic foreigners" from Arab or African countries, where English isn't that known, that by learning the language more quickly, dive into the contemporary culture faster... Thank you for your pleasant to watch content! Great audio, rarely heard such good sound in smaller/younger yt-channels. Nice greetings from Offenbach!
genau das ist der grund, warum die meisten behördlichen dinge auf deutsch sein "sollen" - unabhängig davon, dass viele deutsche den beamtenkauderwelsch auch nicht verstehen - der druck, die sprache zu erlernen, soll möglichst hoch sein, damit sich die menschen hier besser einleben können. die tatsache, dass sehr viele menschen recht gut englisch sprechen können, nimmt menschen aus englische-sprechenden ländern diesen druck und lässt sie außen vor. daher auch das relativ geringe interesse, überhaupt eine fremdsprache zu erlernen: "warum, die sprechen doch eh alle englisch?" - eine ähnliche haltung hat man zt auch in frankreich. gibt genügend schöne ziele auf der welt, für die man keine fremdsprache benötigt, warum also sich die mühe machen? wie sehr eine sprache und deren feinheiten den blickwinkel verändern, darüber denken viele nicht nach. danke für den netten gedanken! 🙂
Hi there and thanks for weighing in. I was wondering what integration looked like in places like Finland and you kind of confirmed my suspicions. Regard the sound God bless A.I! Stared using it a few weeks ago and clears the audio right up. makes the quality of the microphone irrelevant😀
From the perspective of a native finn, its definitely true that people get lazy with not learning the language which is really sad. Many service businesses have begun to employ english-only speaking people who do not even try to learn the basics of the language so that they can serve your coffee in the native language, which I think is very disrespectful towards the natives. Except for the Turkish immigrants, who in my experience speak finnish relatively well. As for me, Im learning germany, and hoping to have the chance to move to Deutschland within a year or so!
I am a German Beamter in Duisburg. Most of my clients came from African countries or from Turkey. My spoken English isn't as bad as my written English, but my lack of Turkish and Arabic is a real problem, as most of them don´t speak english at all. But German law gives everyone the right to a publicly paid translator. As a result, nobody was dependent on me and my abilities, but could always have their rights checked neutrally, and I see that as constitutional and important.
Justizsekretärsanwärterin from Düsseldorf here 🥰 Yes, that's what I love so much. Germany is really trying (and successfully so imho) to be fair to everyone and not to discriminate anyone! The law gives people so many rights, it's amazing
I would argue the lack of German on your clients part is the actual problem here and our current policies will only make it worse over time. To this day, it baffles me how my classmates who were born and raised in Germany were unable to speak basic German in kindergarden. That was doing them a huge disservice in my eyes.
@@pixieezakura9421 You're also trying as hard as you can to waste as much tax-payer money as possible. The entire world works with remote interpretation, but you fools still pay huge sums of money for each and every interpretation gig including travel. We're suffering from our goddam "Beamtentum" 100 times more than we are from any foreigner coming to our country.
@@hawkanonymous2610 As I wrote, my clients are mainly from African countries or Turkey. They didn't grow up in Germany.
@@hawkanonymous2610 That problem exists with German kids in Germany, too. I'm often astonished how bad the reading and writing skills of born German kids today are. Reading Theodor Storm's 'Schimmelreiter' or other classics and they have problems to understand the simple words and meanings of the text.
Thank you for clearing this up!
Glad it was helpful!
love watching such videos. gives me a insight of my home country from another perspective and it actually has made my attitude to Germany better
That’s great! Thank you 😀
Hehe ... germans and travel. In 2014 I did a roadtrip across Britain and in the very northern edge of Scotland on a very narrow road another german car came the opposite way. We sponteneousely converted the road to right side driving when we both made way accordingly, lowered our windows and had a good laugh about it and a short talk. We weren't holding up anyone, there was noone else there. One of the best moments during that trip... 😅😁
Haha amazing!
last summer in helsinki, waiting for the metro after a good day at the metal festival, I overheard 3 middleaged women schwäbeln.... I can not. why are we everywhere? why can't we get away from the others?
@@karowolkenschaufler7659 🤣🤣you’re everywhere
My experience was on a board walk in the middle of a national park in southern China. We encountered nobody, exept for, obviously, a small group of Germans from Stuttgart.
@@mikeblatzheim2797 🤣🤣
Another informative and enlightening video. Nice one!
Thank you Colin 🙏
I think some people might consider the discussion as inappropriate and that always frustrates me.
Disclaimer, I'm not German I'm Slovene. But on the topic of language, I believe that compromise is best, for initial documentation it could be done in several languages so that the people know for what they're applying and what their rights are. But further on they should have a chance and obligation to learn the official language of their host country if they intend to make it their home and eventually ,maybe, want to apply for citizenship.
I think there is a big difference between experiencing other cultures where those cultures are from, and having to adapt your own culture to them at home. More people will be interested in the first one than the latter, no matter where in the world you look. And i would say it's the same with the germans. As for immigration: people go to /move to germany for several reasons. If nobody integrates and adapts to german (working) culture and behavior (like the recycling, being quiet in public transport ect.) then those reasons why people want to go there/move there dissapear. If i want to be in a different country than my origin, then i need to integrate myself to keep the country the place i wanted. (If i want to paint somehting yellow, but keep dipping the brush into blue i used to paint everything, whatever i paint won't be yellow.) I am not german, the country i live in has (if i remember correct) taken the second most refugees since 2015 in the EU after sweden (per capita) And what we experience since i like to explain that way: a significant number people from very different cultures are here now, and some of them come here and act the same way as the people they claim to have fled from! So they do not understand that bringing that behavior here means they make the place be as bad as where they fled from because they wanted to be in a better place.
Of course it is a two way process. Traditionally it is the immigrant that really has to work very hard and make a huge effort to integrate which I think is kind of logical as they are the one moving to a new place.
Your voice truly is amazing for ASMR. Especially when you slow down towards the end of the sentence.
Well thank you 🙏Glad you think so!
And superb diction as well. I wish I could talk like that, but no matter what language, Danish, German, or English, I always mumble incomprehensibly.
Unfortunately, there are people everywhere who don't want to get to know other people and just want to live ignorantly in their own microcosm and still have a ready-made opinion about everything, and then there are also people who like to discover the world and want to use the opportunity to experience and hear other countries, cultures and perspectives. It depends on many different factors. My parents, for example, lived through the entire period of the division of Germany and Berlin in East Berlin and were practically imprisoned and they took advantage of the new opportunities after reunification. I even got my father to go to London, even though he didn't want it at all at first and at the end of the trip he was totally enthusiastic and still raves about it to this day. Sometimes it takes a bit of persuasion and a positive experience to get things going. In the meantime he has been to France, Spain, Belgium, Turkey and many other countries around the world.
I like that, maybe it's because of East Berliners interested in other cultures and during GDR they had contact with cuban or Vietnamese people?
Fantastic! Sounds like you have been a positive influence on them in this respect.
@@Mayagick In GDR times there were so-called contract workers who came from the socialist brother countries and worked in state-owned companies, but personal contacts outside of working hours were not desired and were prevented as far as possible by the party and its company managers. The people lived away from society in their own dormitories and were looked after there as far as possible, and unfortunately in the GDR, too, there were major problems with xenophobia, racism and violent attacks on everything that was foreign, especially in the rural regions, something the GDR was only too happy to do kept quiet, but the Stasi still had a lot of records about it, they knew what was happening and still didn't do anything or only too seldom.
@@britingermany My older brother and I worked there together, my mother was much more open to the whole thing than my father, with whom we had work to do. When looking at history, people forget that the people in the former GDR from 1933 to 1989 had to deal with the influences of a dictatorship that shaped people over many generations. Changing such thought patterns simply takes time, it takes time, strength, conviction and patience.
Well, I grew up in the GDR. My mother worked in a textile factory, in which contract workers were common. At the beginning of the 80s they came from Vietnam, in the middle of the 80s they were from Poland. We always had contact with them in private, we were barbecueing, we celebrated birthdays together and so on. The same was experienced by a teacher I once had, but the people she had to do with came from Mozambique. I've been to a holiday-camp whith children from Poland and Czechia. We became penpals and it lasted some years. I have a neighbour who came to Germany in 1987 and stayed. He often tells about the parties he and his German colleagues had, during the time of the GDR.
Man, the quality of your narration is absolutely pristine. Saw your grear in the video description but was wondering how much time you spend editing the audio and what you use. I was listening to the video while working on something and only now and then was having a look and saw that you switched to a completely different scenerie. Almost felt like you were dubbing yourself, no way you could keep exactly the same acoustics in these different environments. So I am really curious how you do it. I already spent a few hundred euros on Microphones but don't see how I could come close to that level.
I’ll give you a tip! The microphone is irrelevant. I’ve been using Adobe artificial intelligence for last few weeks. You just upload the audio file into what is now called Adobe podcast (used to be project shasta I think) it takes about a minute and everything is cleared up. 😀
@@britingermany Hah, alright. Tried it once but didnt work too well. Will give it another try. Thanks a lot! :)
My experience is that Germans (as myself) are always curies about other cultures. And I experienced often to be more interested in someones culture than this person was in mine. And Germans are folks that like to travel around in this world very much, like to visit museums and test all the different cuisines that are available as soon as they are available. I met people from Iran wich even made jokes about it. They said "When you meet a person you ask about their culture. When an Iranian meets a person he asks how to make money in that country."
Well I would agree with your first point. Can't say I've heard the Iranian example before.
@@britingermany Because I did not tell you before.
😂😂
@@frankhainke7442 When you know you know. 😉😎
I studied veterinary medicine in Hanover, and went on to do a ‚cumulative doctorate‘ in the Animal Genetics Institute, which means you need to have 2 peer reviewed journals publish your scientific articles before you get your Dr. As our studies are centered on practical abilities and science, English or any other language isn‘t taught at our school, which does nothing but vet med. (TiHo Hannover) So since all the genetic journals such as mammalian genome that had high impact factors are put out by Oxford or Harvard, everything is in English. Scientific articles, discourse, genetics generally are in English. I had spent a High school exchange year in Michigan, but a lot of other people were less fluent and I often found that the nuances of certain ways of phrasing in an article escaped them and so they came to scewed perceptions of what the author was saying. Those were high level educated people, …. with an 8 year school level English…very dependent on how good your teachers were. I think it is fine offering services like immigration documents and such in English, but making English a second language for Germany gives the influence of the Anglosphere too much hold on our dealings. UK brexited themselves from the EU, and the US is steering towards a racialized and gender drama I have no idea how they want to come to terms with. Hollywood is in its deathroes and has had many a harmful influence with the crap they‘ve started to put out the last 10 years. I‘d rather people had the choice to learn other languages as well, like French. We are also taking in a lot of immigrants who have no concept of how to speak German or English…if given the choice, they might opt to learn English, because that might help them in the longterm, while we in Germany are spending the Euros, time and effort into integration, only for them to leave and work elsewhere after they have achieved a job certificate? No, in Germany we speak German….we don‘t want to end up losing our language like the Texas-German speakers, who will die out next generation. You don‘t use a language, or a way to write, you lose it. Just ask American teenagers if they can read cursive writing.
well said. 👍🏻
@@britingermany thank you, I just found your channel and really enjoy your thoughtful content and your beautiful visuals...
@@lynnm6413 thanks a lot. Glad to have you😀
@@britingermany Just you wait, I'll be sure to change your opinion... 😁 Just kidding! 😉
@@lynnm6413 🤣🤣oh no! Now you’ve got me worried
Your videos have far reaching positive effects worldwide.. And since you are an Englishman i appreciate you explaining for most of us your conclusions about stereotypes from personal experience for the English Speakers
Wow! Thank you for your kind words
Concerning the reception of other languages: in the 18. century it was French that everyone wanted to show to be able to speak. The noble class was even better in French than in German. For instance Friedrich II von Preußen was better in French.
Thank you Frank
That's true. What English is now, was french in the 18th century.
German had his high time in the 19th century and the beginning 20th century until ww1 (and a little bit in the 20s). Especially in science it was a common language.
There were times when Germans were regarded as the most curious and cosmopolitan people. I recommend to read Georg Forsters wonderful Diary when he joined his father on the 2nd voyage of James Cook to Polynesia. You will hardly find so much empathy, love, tolerance and insight for other cultures. I enjoy reading this book of a 16/17 year old german boy at least once a year. Georg Forsters book influenced many other people, among them Alexander von Humboldt, whose openmindedness and insights into the situation of indigenious people in colonial South America made him very popular around the whole world. He is still highly respected in South America, and I wish that we Germans would remember him better.
Danke für den Tip! Das klingt unglaublich interessant!
Thanks for the tip 👍🏻
I was really surprised to hear your topic from this video. I have never heard this about germans and having lived here for nearly forty years, have never experienced it. Like you I couldn't speak german when I came here and I remember people falling over themselves to speak english to me and even when I started speaking german a lot of them still wanted to speak english with me. Just the fact that the huge majority of germans can speak english denies that they are intolerant of other cultures. That's something to charge the english with because they adamantly refuse to learn foreign languages. I don't know ANYONE who lives in England who can speak a foreign language - I guess it's still the ingrained colonial attitude. AND what's more intolerant than Brexit?
It's definitely something I hear often. I think it's a little different for people coming form the Middle East but as I said I have not experience this myself...
Yes try to get through in FR or IT times with German or English, outside the tourist areas, otherwise mostly. Okay, except when Rammstein is in town!!!🤘 But I think it's terrible when German tourists look for German restaurants abroad. Okay for breakfast I understand that. Do we Germans look down on other cultures more? I don't think so anymore. Hope not, ok the US maybe.
@@arnodobler1096 Yeah, but everyone looks down on the US, at least sometimes, so we aren't special in that regard. :p
Most Europeans have some English because it's pretty much the lingua franca of Europe and the world. What's the use of learning German if I'm never going to live in Germany and don't know any German people who'd be willing to speak German to you?
I grew up in Vienna, my mom coming from France, father austrian. I lived for some years in Italy, Swizerland, Spain and now for over 20 years in Germany. I observed two parameters to be relevant to understand migration: Folks moving from one place to another and doing so on their own tend to assimilate the local culture, to dive in, to learn the language, the try local food and over time become part of the local comunity. Migrating in large groups tends to make it much easier for the individual to stick to the traditions of the last place they lived. I have met ppl in Brazil, who better speak an old german from the 19th century than actual portuguese. We have a similar situation in some parts of NRW, where the comunity of the grandfathers country of origin keeps providing working oportunities, access to an often glorified old tradition, which in some cases does not exist any more in the region they came from. Bumenau´s Oktoberfest in the south of Brazil is really bizar with a mix of Cologne´s Karnevalsmusik, bavarian style Dirndel (created by a clever comerciant from Münster in the late 19th century) and hungarian Strudel. I honestly do not see germans to be less open than ppl living in other countries. What makes another big difference ist the second parameter: Where you come from. I have always been a "luxury stranger" coming from a "rich" country, as Austria seems to be considered as. And I see, that it makes a difference. So, it is hard to migrate, but at least you get a fair chance to see something new, get deeper insights and sometimes understand better your own roots.
Thanks for sharing. I agree with all your points
I agree and can add my own experience. I was born and raised in the former GDR, lived through utter Mangelwirtschaft (dunno the english term). We had to wait for thirteen years to get our car (a Trabbi) and don't ask me how my parents got food on the table each day. Then during my school days alone suddenly there was different money in my pocket (twice), a different political system, elections that actually had an influence on who was the ruling party, we got a telephone for our house (unheard of before), a computer (386 with Windows 3.11, 32MB RAM, imagine that, total luxury back then). Now we all have our own Handys (mobile phones), our own cars etc. Societal norms and technological status quo changing/evolving quicker each passing year. Add to that the influx of people who don't look or talk like they're from around here etc, I can see why this is challenging for some people. And all of this within a single lifespan. Then you got people like my parents who were born shortly after the war, who lived through the entirety of the GDR, fourty years of stagnation and THEN this sudden and rapid acceleration of EVERYTHING, to whom this must have been even worse than for me, but when they were on their golden jubilee to Morocco lately, they made friends with an Indian couple, whom they're still in contact with. Imagine that. It really comes down to each individual, how they react to foreigners. Overgeneralisation isn't good for anything. We are not one people, not one mind - one body. We are 83 million individuals.
Yes an no. I think there is a difference between saying: Not everyone is racist and saying: In this area there will be ten times as many counter protesters on the streets when the far right marches and in this area...there won't. That is the difference between Leibzig, where Legida was eventually thrown out and Dresden and go, where Pegida was free to operate however they wanted.
My parents were also born shortly after the war and they and I grew up in a quite rural area in the northwest. There weren't foreigners in our village before the mid 1990s. My parents got divorced, my mum lived in Hungary for five years and has a lot of friends there and in Austria, my dad was very conservative but went on vacation in Tunesia years ago and he loved it and he and my stepmom went to this hotel four times and they made friends with locals. My father's perspective has also changed a lot. As long as people make an effort to integrate here, have at least a basic knowledge of the language and respect our laws, there is no reason to complain. We are dependent on immigration anyway, if we want to maintain our standard of living to some extent.
@@swanpride Leipzig is an lovely little island of cosmopolitan openness
Totally unrelated to the point you are making, but I love the german word Handy. Germans always seem to think it's the English word for mobile phone. It isn't. As an adjective it means "useful", and as a noun it can mean...errrrm....h*ndjob. Equally, in English, "Beamer" is not a projector, but a "Beemer" is a BMW. and "Home office" doesn't mean working from home, it's what the UK calls its Innenministerium. It amuses me the way German tends to adopt English words into its lexicon, and then subtly misuse them.
If you can, use the chance to talk to your parents about what living in the GDR really was like. I think you have some misconceptions there. I am somewhat sure that your parents bought food at a store, did not actually wait 13 years to buy a car and indeed were aware of homes with telephones. Regarding "fourty years of stagnation": Wow, you really gobbled up that West German propaganda. I am not defending the GDR political system, but your are just objectively wrong there.
Well, I'd say it really depends on where you look. I know people from very small villages that haven't met a black person until they became 17 or 18 or so. I'm not joking or exaggerating. Such country-sides aren't necessarily poor either -- or uneducated. Typically, they tend to be far above the average in terms of (academic) education and income. There are swathes of land in NRW, which is generally extremely multicultural, where the CDU has generally 80% or better voting results (or used to have until a few years ago, didn't check for a couple of years) and which is the byword for conservatism. In these countrysides, society works a bit differently. You know your neighbours. You expect your neighbours to introduce themselves. You expect them to integrate into the village micro cosmos of society. You expect them to take part in events. To greet everyone (and remember everyone's names). To make sure your property is looking 'respectable'. And yes, even to sweep the sidewalk every Saturday. I'm not joking. And if you don't. They'll tell you to. And if you still won't do it, they'll stop talking to you. And there is a very real chance you'll be ostracised throughout the village within a year of moving there. And they can be brutal in their disapproval, which to them is a result of your (perceived) disrespect or discourtesy towards them. Needless to say, foreigners -- particularly those with bad German skills -- will find ich hard to integrate into these communities if they don't know what they're getting into. It's more of a family-type relation than merely neighbours by city standards. So, yes. I *can* understand why such a stereotype might have come up. Then again, just to be perfectly clear, the bigger cities in Germany are the same metropolitan mix of peoples, cultures, and languages as any major Western metropolis nowadays.
Of course like any country it depends on various things. But interesting perspective about village life. Thanks for sharing
some off-topic feedback here: your soundmixing in this was LOVELY. Your narration sounded "the same" no matter where you recorded, no differences even between inside and outside! :)
Thanks a lot Annika 😀
@@britingermany you are very welcome! 😊
I absolutely agree with just about everything which you have stated. Frankfurt was the first city that I moved too in 2001 from the US to take a job offer at a Korean Automotive company(in nearby Escborn..the company has since split and with one part being near the Messe in Frankfurt and the other part now near Russelsheim. As a professional black American in Germany, I absolutely fell in love with Frankfurt. I have only met really nice people overall, as total strangers just approached me and started talking. Many of which are still friends of mine today. I think that if locals see you trying to make a real effort to learn the culture, speak their language, they eventually accept you as true friends. Now, I did change jobs and relocated to Stuttgart for a more well known German automotive company, but still often was in Frankfurt. For some reason, Stuttgart never clicked as much with me (I did get along there, but it was too slow). In the end, I did return back to the US after a about 6 years in Germany. One HUGE regret was that I gave up my residency for all of my tax monies back, thinking that I probably wouldn't return. Yet, here I am in a neighboring country, wishing that I still lived in Frankfurt. Please keep up the excellent videos. Always ways so informative. Cheers!
Thanks a lot for sharing and hopefully you can visit again sometime soon.
Thank you, Benjamin for your analytical view. I lived in the UK for 3,5 years and in the US for over a year and find culture shock and reverse cultere shock is very healing and much more open and critical to my own country.
It’s definitely interesting to experience different cultures and different ways of doing things
@@britingermany yes, it opens your view and your home country becomes so small and unimportant. When we had an exchange student over here I could show my culture with pros and cons and this eased him the time being here because he felt understood.
In the early 80s I found myself at Lille station in Northern France at 04.00 am sitting outside on the pavement with an assortment of backpackers chatting as we waited for the train to Calais. Of the 20 or so of us there were Swedes, Danish, German, Norwegians, Dutch, Italian and me, a native of Manchester. The language we all used was, of course, mine. At about 06.00 the station opened and we all got ready to go. “Hey” said a German guy. “You speak really good English”. I thanked him but didn’t let on as to my nationality. I think he thought I was Dutch. It still makes me smile to this day.
I find people don’t seem to have too much exposure to U.K. accents …there is just as much diversity to them as in Germany
I have a couple of theories. Granted, I don't have personal experience living in Germany (yet) and am just extrapolating from my personal experience elsewhere and a few online conversations. First, the situation might be different depending on the culture in question and whether someone lives in a city or in rural area. Generally, rural areas tend to be more conservative and less accepting of anyone who's somehow different. And I would also wager a guess that other Western cultures are more readily accepted for a variety of reasons. I'm really curious what immigrants from most popular non-European countries would say on the matter, because this kind of experience is not something easily visible from the outside. As someone both of a "non-title" ethnicity (ethnically Russian in a Central Asian country) and an LGBTQ+ person, I can make a mile long list of ways I face discrimination on a daily basis, but a cishet "title ethnicity" person would very confidently say that there is no discrimination against people like me because they don't face it personally and aren't trained to see when it happens around them. And from what I've read and heard in my particular Internet bubble, it's pretty common all over the world. As long as someone doesn't have personal experience with discrimination, or at least a loved one who faces it, most people just look right past it. For example, I had a childhood friend with a social background pretty similar to mine, only she's a cishet woman of title ethnicity. She's an intelligent, sweet, thoughtful, empathetic woman, but the few times certain things came up in conversation (like lost job opportunities because of my ethnicity, or why I didn't even bother applying for the same grants for education abroad that she did), she just couldn't compute that something like that was possible and rationalised it away. My second theory is based mostly on people who emigrated and then returned and a few semi-recent spats in YT comments with people who b*tched about the need to learn German to move to Germany. There is a certain subset of, ahem, humans (and I'm using the term loosely) who think that they're the hub of the universe and can just move to any country they choose, and everyone would be happy to have them and would change their entire country just to fit the newcomer. For example, there was a guy who somehow found enough money to move to Germany without higher education or any qualifications, he worked as a taxi driver as far as I know, and a few years later he returned and b*tched how unwelcoming Germany was, how people refused to respect his cultural traditions, and how German women were frigid man-haters because no one wanted to marry him, stay at home as a housewife and have 3-5 children. I'm not saying that everyone who criticises Germany is like that, but these people tend to be pretty loud.
German here. First theory is true to a degree in that rural Germany is very traditional concerning everyday lifestyle in many cases. Then there are some areas in eastern Germany where entire communities even reject Christian values and returned to Paganism of all things. They're also mostly, let's say "far-out right wing" politically speaking. Then again, the Saxon king/tribe was the last one to be converted forcefully to Christianity when Karl the Great had their religious centerpiece (a holy tree, the "Irminsuul") cut down. I'm a bi-man btw and i never faced outright discrimination for my sexuality but you have to cope with a certain sort of "humor" and i realized that i'm sometimes looked at as weak or soft and submissive, which i let pass as long as none tries and acts upon this their presumptions. Many straight men are inherently scared when they realize that they won't be beaten to a bloody pulp but possibly get bend over without consent. Not that i ever did that but the mere notion helps sometimes ;D
Even as a german moving into a tiny village in another part of germany you can feel unwelcome - so to see the "positive" the fact that you are not german does not factor in in this at all
Unser Stadtbezirk hat eine grosse Universität mit vielen ausländischen Studierenden und Dozenten, das ist eine große Bereicherung
Very interesting video. After Brexit I find that Germany should be making an effort, perhaps via the Goethe Institut, to re-establish German as the dominant language it once was in the rest of Europe.
Really?! Why do you say that?
Oh no, this won't sit well with most countries we conquered back in WWII. They appreciate us now for not trying to dominate EU too much, even though we economically and politically do dominate it pretty much. We shouldn't try to dominate in every field. Ask Greeks, Polish, French, Italians how they'd feel about it, you won't get many positive answers.
In lots of European countries German is offered as a second or third language in schools (and as a course in universities). Yeah, it doesn't have the most popularity, but still doin' pretty good. It surely is one of the bigger players. Can't complain.
@@helgaioannidis9365 Germany is desperately seeking skilled workers. Being more acquainted with German would be a big help for potential migrants to get a good start here. And honestly, since the 1960's Germany is especially attractive to immigrants from Greece, Poland and Italy; just the countries you mentioned. The world has moved on since WW2.
@@britingermany Because learning and speaking German has a lot of benefits to the mind of the speaker. And as open and curious as I am towards foreign cultures and languages (I learned 5 so far) I love (speaking) my mother tongue (in my fatherland) as much! Period! In fact, I find your question and the way you put it a bit inappropriate. Why continue to speak the language of the very country that is no longer a member of the EU? We are not a colonial state of GB to make that clear here.
Very nice video ☺👍
Thank you and Thanks for visiting. I hope you stick around 😉
Germans are not intolerant to other cultures, as long as members of those other cultures don't try to force their German neighbors to accept to live according to it. Germans are generally a very curious species and are eager to learn new things from other cultures. Some they like and even willingly integrate into their daily life, others they don't and they don't like to be confronted by them on a regular basis (for instance slaughtering a goat in the garage, or not respecting the quietness of the so-called "quite hours" or on Sundays).
Thanks for sharing Robert
Germans are in fact too tolerant and accepting to a degree naivety. Remember Nietzsche: Tolerance is a proof of distrust in one's own ideals.
Most of us are very welcoming, BUT, I feel like our boundaries are being tested over the last decade. Many things have changed and society is kind of divided over this.
I think change is only going to speed up. I think we've lost those really strong convictions and beliefs, people do seem to flip flop back and forth on issues depending on the current cultural climate
So true, everywhere i traveled i met Germans, from meeting my teachers in Italy to some random couple who emigrated to Costa Rica in the middle of the rain forest.
totally! 😀
I love your channel
Thanks Kyle
Very good analysis. I think it also depends on your mindset. When you are coming to Germany thinking "oh, they are all Nazis, racist, xenophobic etc." you may very well attract people with such attitudes. So try to avoid getting in those negative stereotypes. Of course everybody has a preconceived notion and also different experiences of course. Not saying these things don't exist. But you can avoid this by meeting the right people and of course moving in an area that is most suitable for you.
Also the Germans won’t be welcoming to someone with that attitude. Often times you can tell when someone thinks like that and we of course don’t really like that
Yes very good point. Your own attitudesand mindset I think does play a role
About the "second official language"-topic: On one hand I think it is extremely important to habe english as mandatory part of the curriculum in all levels of education (and actually I think it is already these days) - on the other hand I don't feel it is necessary to have a secon official language in a country which DOES have one common language (contrary to switzerland for example which has three different languages). I think it is sufficent if you can rely on most people speaking english and possibly help you with forms and stuff. Regarding applications I actually had quite a few of them on my table which were english - and it never was a consideration at all. (It was however important that the person was able to either speak german or englisch fluent to integrate with the team).
I do think this has changed even in the last 10 years since I've been here...I think it has now become a topic because Germany is desperate to attract highly skilled workers...I do think there are other things they could do to make things easier in terms of getting qualification recognised but I'm sure things will develop in due course
@@britingermany I mean just official language or legalese, is extremely difficult to understand, no matter what language! Business English is also a different level. I am in favor of forms being available in other languages, but I also see problems with this, linguistically and legally. There are many easier translation options (deepL app) today, but with variations in quality! If the Nazis had won (or in WW1) and the British, French etc. had to accept German as a 2nd official language, how would they have felt? I like globalism, in parts, but I like the cultural differences, even within Germany. If someone knows High German and dialect, he is one step ahead of everyone else!
@@britingermany highly skilled workers - where should they come from? I gather they come from English speaking regions of Pluto or Mars... 🤣 I presume you are a bit romantic when it comes to the term English speaking highly skilled worker... he/she/d still will not fit into a highly specialized work environment of many middle sized companies if the requirements are not fulfilled.
What I loved about Berlin was the fact that you could have a chat on the street whenever you want... now I am living in a medium sized Town in HESSEN... and I often experience that lots of people do not speak German or English.... I find this a bit frustrating...although I consider myself as open minded.... by the way .. I lived in CHINA for one year.... wo zai Bei jing gong zuo le
wow! How funny is that! When did you live in Beijing? I was there in 2009 - beginning of 2011
@@britingermany I was teaching GERMAN at CDC in Beijing in 2003 and 2004.... the SARS year actually
@@habicht6 cool. 太棒了. Sadly I have forgotten so much of my Chinese
Quote: "...lots of people do not speak German or English..." I guess they speak a heavy Hessian dialect, not many can understand. Like: Lollarrerr Rrhabarrbrrbläddrr (Rhabarberblätter aus Lollar)
@@rosshart9514 do not underestimate people from the UNIVERSITÄTSSTADT Marburg.. you rarely hear a dialect here.. Mister Cynical
I think more English in "bureaucracy" would help. If the websites of the authorities were available in English, the information, forms etc., that would help a lot. Not only for those seeking help, but also for the staff there. btw: the cardigan is awesome! (can't help noticing such things, I'm a knitter)
hah thank you...I was hoping not to have to wear it again as it had gotten warmer, but the winter is not over yet.
I think documents should be available in several languages. I'm not sure about making any other language an official language though. We have a hard time keeping dialects alive already.
I agree
Google Übersetzer.
4:30 I think that any country with an official language has no obligation whatsoever to provide official documents in another language. However, it would of course be nice if it did anyway, and nowadays many forms are available in other languages. You may have to ask for them though and not all employees will be able to help you because despite what some may think, not all Germans speak English and not too many are fluent.
In fact there are no calls from the German government to introduce English as a second language. German law expressly provides that the language for administrative processes is German. The idea is to loosen up this provision to allow people to fill in forms in English. But it wouldn't make English a second language. And in the 22nd century AD, we might even manage to introduce an ONLINE form or something like an app (we heard this exists in foreign cultures) so you can do youir paperwork from home! (Not sure, it may take until 2300 AD.) If you are interested in other languages used in official German processes, research the Danish minority, and pay particular attention as to who a member of the Danish minority is and how we check it!
I found your video quite intriguing. I'm a German who has been living in Spain for almost thirty years. I feel integrated in Spanish society. It feels like a second soul even though I do have my proper German roots. I've lived abroad in Scotland for a year. I've been on a great trip through the USA, Canada and a bit of Mexico and have been to places like Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Venezuela once. Nevertheless, I feel deeply European. I speak German, English, French, Valencian/Catalan fluently and some Dutch,too. Speaking to the people in their language always opens more doors. It's as if you don't only see the living room and the toilet. You at least get an impression of large parts of the interior without necessarily feeling what it's like to live in these rooms. "The English room" though, I have to admit, is a place I've never felt comfortable in for some reason, I have to admit. Possibly I have been prejudiced myself or it's just not what I've been searching for. But you are right. Is there "an English or a German room". Both countries are tremendously diverse and it always depends on who you are staying with. I'm from Berlin and the Northern part of Germany and being in Bavaria has always made me feel on the antipodes of my German identity. As a person from abroad it is easier to settle down in these places from this perspective. My own identity has turned more and more European. I'm not that German anymore but I'll never turn into a Spaniard either. I'm comfortable everywhere in between and also beyond tbough I consider Europe somehow my home.
Thanks for sharing and I love your room analogies
I'm German. Out of 15 times, my family and I only spent 1 summer holiday in Germany - and boy, we did regret it. Bad weather, rude people, expensive, not children friendly, lots of traffic, always pay attention to all the rules. Totally different in Greece or Italy: At least from our experience, people are open minded, very welcoming, friendly especially to children, always ready to help in any way, not to mention the weather, the sea, the food...
So never again? 😉
@@britingermany At least not in the next few years. Don't get me wrong, we love visiting major cities in Germany or go for a hike for a couple of days, but no summer holiday for 2-3 weeks. Yes, you might enjoy it, but at least for my family a vacation abroad is far more attractive. People are just more polite. I think a cultural difference is that Germans love to complain (as I do now ;) and are fearful and suspicious towards other people, whereas e.g. Italians are proud of their country and are happy to help, if someone shows interest in their country, so they are more polite and welcoming.
On one hand, I'm helpful and understanding if a tourist or "new" immigrant does not speak German. On the other hand, if somebody takes advantage of our friendliness and is not willing to learn our language and accept our culture and maintains living in Germany for years I tend to loose my sense of being helpful and understanding towards those people. I am a German living in Germany and I don't want to become a foreigner in my home-country.
That’s fair enough. That’s why I find it critical that these kind of things are discussed a lot before any decisions are made
Germans should stick to their own beautiful language! anybody who does not want to learn it , should stay where they are. why do they bother to come to Germany?if they do not want to integrate.
I think, as a native English speaker you have it easier than people from other parts of the world. If you are neither fluent in English nor German you will have a hard time in Germany.
True…although depending on what you do having another language like Arabic, Turkish or Romanian could make you very attractive to certain employers.
@@britingermany As an extra qualification, that is true, but not as a substitude. I would not even say, that it makes Germany less welcoming, but I get how it would feel that way.
@@britingermany Yes and no, the majority of Germans didn't like to learn those languages, cause it is not really an advantage, if you don't work close with those people from the middle east. The Turkish and Arabic community assign jobs among themselves and stick often close togehter, It makes sense, cause they don't need to learn the language and it is not easy to learn Farsi. Romanian is also not very common, the only people from Romania are the Gypsy and Sintis but they are even more close to each other within Germany as the ones from Turkey or the middle east. For the most Germans English is the most important language beside their mother language, some using also French and Espanol, cause those three languages are the only ones you can learn in school, beside of old Greek and Latin.
@@MarkusPape There are a lot of Germans who speaking French, but Polish? I don't see the advantage in learning this language. With French you can move to France, Belgium and Canada and work there if you want, but with Polish? You are very close to Russia and the Ukraine. And the only related language to Polish is Belarussian and Ukrainian. I would not move to Poland.
@@Afterthefallout55660 French is helpfull when someone tries to get EU level jobs. Polish could be helpfull when close to the Polish border.
I would agree that it's easier to set one self up if we had, say, a multilingual bureaucracy/ printouts and stuff. But i would expect any immigrant to learn the language as well. Presumably you don't get printouts in German when immigrating to the US on the other had. Or do you? Also, props for moving to "the heart of Europe". I live just a few kilometres south of Ffm, halfway to Darmstadt. Gude!
Greetings to the inbetween 😉
I am absolutely against English as the 2nd official language in Germany.In the process, too much of the German identity would be lost.It is quite sufficient that English is a must as the first foreign language in German schools.The word Foreign makes it clear that English is not part of the German identity.I think that it would not be good to consider other languages such as French, Spanish, Mandarin, or even German as not the same.That would upgrade nations like England or America and devalue all other countries. I would generally vote against the introduction of a 2nd official language and, if necessary, also take legal action.
Well thanks for sharing, I can see the need for it but also the risks you point out....it will be interesting to see what happens in the coming years
I am inclined to agree with you: for all intents and purposes, English is quite widely spoken so that most practical matters of everyday life can be dealt with. Also, I think that anyone who moves to another country should make an effort to learn that country’s language, it’s really not to much to ask.
I have worked in both countries and can tell you that I'd choose the UK for a "human" approach and Germany for a "mechanical" approach. The UK functions less efficiently, but takes a personal position on how to get things done. In doing so, one can acclimate to the culture quickly in a friendly environment which is every important for a foreigner. Germany functions more efficiently, but on a sterile level, making the foreigner feel isolated and somewhat distant. If you are an introvert, Germany would suit you better; if an extrovert, the UK is more your lane. I will return to the UK upon retirement as I enjoy going to the pub, chatting with the locals and enjoying the human interaction. Retiring in Germany, I would imagine staying at home, having a select group of friends who will only meet on a planned precise schedule and afterwards not interfacing again until a new schedule is proposed - way too formal, cold and unfeeling for me - by hey, each person has to determine their own course....
This whole stereotype is even just an oximoron initself. Europe in general is a very thick complex of lots and lots of micro regions with their own cultural heritage. This is however especially true for Germany and the smaller countries in its direct proximity, Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands for example. You literally can not drive more than 100km without crossing at least 2 distinct cultural regions in germany. As said, as a whole this is true for most of Europe, but germany as a unified nation came to be only really about 150 years ago. France, England, Italy and Spain have been long established at least as a unified idea and concept and most of the people there ran with it. Today you can still see and feel regional differences in Germany, and a big chunk of these differences is just a hard line. You may ask, what this has to do with the stereotype and how it would function as a counter argument? Well, central and northern Germany is where you can find absolute and true glimpses of a "pure German culture". I put that in quotations, because it really is just about the standard german language which originated here. Northwestern Germany shares a lot of culture with Belgium and the Netherlands. The central west Rhineland shares parts of culture with Belgium and France - where the Saarland really is just an french exclave in Germany. The southwest shares close ties with Switzerland. Bavaria has important relations with Austria (both of them even have been one big Duchy 1500 years ago). And the eastern part of Germany has big chunks of scandinavian cultures along the coast and is otherwhise very much slavic in its cultural habits - the very name Berlin is of slavic origin - and thus shares strong relationships with Poland. If anyone says Germany is intolerant of other cultures, you know you are speaking to a very sad person, which not only skipped history class, but is also not able to invest 5 seconds in google... The other thing is, a big chunk of the older generations in Germany are still kinda xenophobs... the rest of us Germans cannot really do much about that, but trust me, compared to all Germans, that chunk really is a minority - also xenophobia has nothing to do with the stereotype of not tolerating other cultures...
I think a lot of it is still left over perceptions of WW2 it may take a complete generation shift for these perceptions to change
"English as a second official language" well there are already a bunch of other official languages in Germany which usually get glossed over even by most Germans. That's why they should get mentioned whenever appropriate.
Would you care to mention which ones you are talking about?
@@britingermany Yes of course. 🙂 So in no particular order there is Danish, the Frisian languages, Romani, the Sorbian languages and Low Saxon. The area in which those languages are spoken, in so far as they are tied to a particular area, makes up over a third of all of Germany. Most of them are under a lot of pressure of "Germanization" partly by natural development and partly due to deliberate efforts. In recent years a lot of younger people have begun taking an interest in their languages again, often after a gap of at least one or two generations and forms of language activism have sprung up.
Plattdeutsch is one, too. (Low German)
@@sarah8383 ok but that seems to be more like regional dialects to me as they are only spoken in certain areas. The way I understood the proposal is that English would be implemented through the whole of germany as a requirement for anyone who deals with immigrants or even customers for that matter
@@britingermany Yes ist a regional thing. But these are proper languages tied to their own cultures and not just dialects. Cultures that have been in the region much longer than german settlers.
I never had that problem im Born in germany but with an US-American Father I speak both Languages and lived for 6 Months in th US between 2001 World Trade Center Disaster and then Trying to leave the Country it took a half a year.
So where are you living now?
A problem in making English an official language in Germany is presumably that many Germans just don't understand English very well. My parents don't. They did not even have it in school. Thus, many people working currently in official positions might not be able to do what will be expected from them if they are asked to understand documents in which the English language is being used.
I guess it’s more of a long term plan and won’t be implemented any time soon…
There are pros and cons. Pros - Attractive and beneficial for international trade, skilled workers, tech investments and digitalisation, tourism, promoting made in Germany and entertainment in general since bridging the language barrier will make the German (brand) more interesting and attractive for non german speakers. For example English subtitles on german tv, internet and alt media will be a good way to promote the german culture and lifestyle beyond the borders by replicating a similar model that worked for the english west, the likes of us, uk etc.. it kinda also makes it feel a little less rigid, non-bureaucratic and makes room for a little flexibility which is a plus. Cons- the true german identity could be lost in translation along the line, immigrants/foreign language speakers will become complacent thus eventually lose interest in learning or speaking the german language and culture. They might also try to impose their own culture within the german culture. The best thing will be to implement this in a manner that will still oblige people to learn the language as a base requirement for certain benefits e.g citizenship, passports, jobs in the government and civil service, politics, military, police service, free education and scholarships etc. A policy like that will still give the German language and identity precedence to any other language when it comes to living the lifestyle and doing stuff that feels like you are living in Germany. My two cents
Yes I’d agree with that.
I am German. The stereotype was correct when I was a kid in the 60s. Since then, it has improved and has mostly gone tor good.
That certainly has been my experience
Welche Kamera und Schnittsystem benutzt du?
Fuji XS 10 und Premier Pro
I think German society is proud of its cultural heritage and likes to uphold some typically German traditions (e.g. carnival) but at the same time it effortlessly adopts and assimilates other countries' customs, e.g. Valentine's Day, Halloween - both unheard of when I came here. Same with food, e.g. Turkish cuisine, now mainstream. People in Germany love travelling and getting acquainted with different cultures and languages. Generally speaking, people in Germany are welcoming, weltoffen, and open to change 😊.
I agree with you. I find Germany integrates other cultures well
Then we've had a similar experience 😀
@@britingermany Ja, es sieht so aus 😀
Great analysis and i would love to agree to your views esp. Being a citizen myself in Berlin. Yet i think your perspective is also largely based off of being from a white englishmen Background... Being East Asian and not grew up in Germany i cannot say i had the same experience and perspectives as yours.
Everyone will have their own subjective experience...and of course the fact that I can in many cases pass as a German makes a difference
My take: Anything surrounding the bureaucracy should be available in English (and even other languages, such as Arabic or Turkish). Forms, websites, personnel. Bureaucracy should be made as easy as possible for people who don't know German. Where I draw the line is everyone else's everyday life. I don't want to incentivise people to live in Germany without learning German at all. Speaking English is a hassle, and most Germans are much more comfortable speaking German than English, and should not, in their home country, be required to get out of their way for people who could've just learned the damn language. But since you don't "just" learn a language, we need to offer more & better (and tax-paid) German language classes and get as many people as possible to take them. And then we also need to help them along the way: be patient with & accepting of people's broken German and their accents. A foreign accent (or having a foreign name) should not negatively impact someone's prospect for finding a job or a flat - but it sadly still does, and that has to change.
All valid points. Thanks for sharing
I have never heard about an intolerance against other cultures but from some young people inspired by migration friendly political factions. Cultural intolerance would have imposed serious limitations to the worldwide success of German products and foreign investments e.g. in China. In addition most Germans like to travel to foreign countries. In academia the European Erasmus scheme made studying in foreign countries viable for a lot of German students.
Thanks for sharing Lars
If you emigrate to another country, you are a guest and it befits you to make a reasonable effort to acquire a basic understanding of the country's language, at minimum. IF you run into problems communicating, it is not up to your host country to accommodate you.
in many ways I feel Germans are more open towards other cultures compared to Denmark. Like the 2 most common street foods Currywurst with French fries (chips) to Döner. Several Italian and French songs became popular throughout the time. In Denmark, if exotic, its a Swedish song that makes the charts. If you look at researches about foreign students making local friends Nordic countries often are found in the top 5 where its the hardest to make local friends. Even though the English fluency level in general is better in the Nordic countries, compared to the level in Germany. So yes speaking a general language helps, but there is more to it
Ich lerne gerade Deutsch, weil ich in der Zukunft da leben will
Das freut mich zu hören! Du wirst sehen, wir Deutschen sind ein ziemlich nettes Völkchen, behaupte ich einfach mal so. Meine spanische Ehefrau sagt immer, wenn man einmal einen Deutschen zum Freund hat, hat man einen Freund für‘s Leben. Und wir lieeeeben es, wenn sich jemand um unsere Sprache bemüht. Hab viel Spaß und Erfolg I. Deutschland!
Sehr gut. Viel erfolg👍🏻
English as a second official language can only help every global player and nation who wants to attract new highly skilled people. I can speak from experience, the other way around. I am German but moved to live in Cyprus. Greek is likely even harder to learn than German, since knowing English does not help that much. Let alone another alphabet. But since the island has had this strong UK influx in the more recent past, English is the second main language. Everyone speaks it, most people really well, and 90% of the standard administration, online shops, services etc. offer English as well. Which made moving here almost as easy as moving from Hamburg to Munich. Everything is somehow different, but there was not that much friction, and you can figure everything out, without knowing anyone here. That would have been a whole other story if everything was in Greek only. Like it is in Germany with German to most degree. A huge difference. So that would bring significant benefits as a global location and for easy onboarding/attractiveness.
There is now only one Germany. That's why I no longer find the terms "East Germany and West Germany" appropriate. As a citizen from the eastern federal states, I feel somewhat discriminated against. The reason why people here in the 5 eastern federal states are not quite as open to other cultures should be better communicated. The GDR was isolated for almost 30 years, and that had a big impact on the people. With the fall of the wall, a completely different new system was transferred to the people. They had to adapt and reorient themselves within a very short time. Life's works have also been damaged or destroyed. That's why people are a bit more skeptical about new things. But this skepticism is disappearing. There are also many very cosmopolitan cities here (Leipzig, Dresden, etc.)
I Know that it s Little tricky talking about the rat and west and thanks for clarify your thoughts. I really like Leipzig. It has a huge amount going for it and I think people are referring to it as the new Berlin…not sure if that’s good or not 🤣🤣
As the country with the second highest immigration in the world and a percentage of foreign born population greater than that of the US or all other big economies, this would be a weird. Especially consider far right populism - while existing in Germany - is not as prevalent as in the US, UK Italy or France. Not to blame these countries. But there is not a lot of reason to believe that Germany is particularly bad. Also Germany has taken in more refugees than anyone else in the past 10 years. At least in the „western world“.
Right...I think this was perhaps one of the reasons why it was seen as anti immigration because the media went a little crazy during this time and stirred things up
@@britingermany you mean 2015? Yes. And my impression is that while the press in and outside Germany went nuts then, now especially the British press is still obsessed with the 2015 refugee „crisis“, while in Germany it is no longer such a big topic - if you are not in the AfD.
@@tobiwan001 well I’ll agree with your second point. All that rhetoric has largely dissipated…even the whole Querdenker stuff has largely disappeared
@@britingermany Looking at the rise of the AfD it would be wrong to claim that nothing was stirred up in Germany, but at least we don't had "breaking point" posters or a constant news coverage about a supposed rape crisis in Sweden. At least at the end of the day, our folly was just to give a party a voice which has zero power otherwise, while certain other countries destroyed their own f... economy because of xenophobia. And I am not just talking about the supposedly oh so tolerant Brits here, I am also talking about the US. I think it is quite significiant that there are actually advertising in the TV nowadays in oder to convince people that the US is a great place to go to. Why the sudden need to lure Europeans over?
In the last year (2022) Germany received more refugees than in any other year since more than 70 years ago - especially, more than in 2015 or 2016 - and there wasn't that much controversy about it.
Hello Ben, what a well balanced view on the German "Welcome culture". Like in every country we have "the good" and the "odds" (just to avoid the term "bad".) On your topic of the implementation of " Englisch" as a second language, i'll reject (refuse, i don't know the right term, sorry). I think doing this, will take away the charm, special flavour, of this country ( Assume Scotland , or Wales without their "special" kind of English ( or their languages). Europe, as a whole, is based on different cultures and languages, and without them it won't be Europe anymore. Love and hugs (cwtsh;i've learned it from Laura). Martin
aww thanks a lot Martin, you are becoming an expert
English already is the most used language in Germany when it comes to technology. I once worked with an international team for a telecommunications company, and of course we spoke English and delivered our reports in English. When people say that German isn't easy to learn, yes, I must partially agree, the grammar has been invented by the devil himself. The English grammar is comparatively easy, but you have to learn every word twice: Once how it's spoken, and once how it's spelt. Introducing English as the second official language in Germany seems a right move at first glance. However, what about simplifying bureaucracy first? There are some forms from authorities I still need help filling in, and as a freelancer, I leave my tax declaration completely to my Steuerberater because I don't understand that lingo and I won't even touch that.
Hello Eisi. Yes I've heard that before that even native German speakers have trouble with the "Amtsprache" it definitely is something that Germany needs to simplify as the language is generally getting less and less formal and I think it will get harder to understand this kind of language not easier
German grammar invented by the devil himself 😆
@@britingermany I guess the existence of the „Amtssprache“ is to some extent justified by it being (or at least trying to be) much more precise than the average way of speaking, though of course there‘s a lot of bs words that no one actually knows and are just plain out useless additions. 😂
Jeepers! You claim probably correctly that English is easier as far as the grammar is concerned and yet I don't think there is a country on earth other than the US in which "native" speakers make so many errors. And that is also true of people with college degrees...
@@britingermany Not without reason we call it "Fachchinesich".
I would have said more or less the same thing forty years ago, just a few years before the Wall came down. I wasn't in a big town, but I found the people very open and welcoming to foreigners of all types. I hear that foreigners may feel less welcome in the former DDR. But this is second-hand information. The last time I was in Germany, you didn't just go to the DDR. However, I did go through it. Germans are great travelers and will often be better informed about the place they visit than the natives.
Hi Peter...I am right in understanding you don't live in germany anymore? Where did you end up?
@@britingermany I ended up and for many years continued to end up back home in Texas.
@@peterplotts1238 ahh ok. Nice 👍🏻
here are a few points to explain some of peoples experiences: the nice culturally open germans you meet abroad, are the ones who want to go out and see other cultures, you won't often see the others outside of germany and even the ones that like to travel abroad, will take comfort in the fact that, when they get home, germany is still germany. about east germans being distrusting of foreign cultures: within the life times of any east german alive today, anytime foreign influence has seeped into our country, shit went down hill fast. be it a crazy austrian, the soviet union, west germany, the mass exodus from the middle east or whatever, things changed for the worse. another issue is the english language. prior to us being annexed by west germany, english wasn't a mandatory subject, additionally birth rates plummeted after the initial exitement wore off and people realized that there was no hope for a bright future, to add more to this, when the west arbitrarily decided that all the east german kids must learn english in school now, there weren't many qualified english teachers in east germany, so even a lot of those born post annexation can barely speak english. next issue is that east germans inherently don't trust the government and it's easy to see why. it's been well over thirty years now since the annexation of east germany, yet there is still a wage gap of up to 24% between east and west germany, the government is doing nothing to address this issue and since the east german population is a LOT smaller than the west german population, east germany literally can't vote out the government that has been screwing them over for the past 30+ years. east germans hate the government and what it does, so, since the german government wants immigration (in order to maintain a surplus in work force, because god forbid we reach the point where the companies have to actually worry about employee retention) that's what the east germans hate.
Ok thanks for giving this point of view
I dont think there is any less reasons i know turkish people all the children translating the documents for their parents .........of couse if u dont have children that go to a german school u have to lern it. But cmjust havibg all importsnt documents and stuff in english does not take the need away to lern german . U know asking in a store for help and stuff u need some german skills might as well lern the whole language. U simply csn not expect the 55 year old person in the grocery store to spesk somehow fluently english My issues is with getting more workers in that we still have many people without work who are already german viticence or hsve a permanent stay . So other than looking in other countrys they hsve to chsnge some work polecies Maybe a 4 day week better pay for people in job training. Lower criteria for certsin fields where it just doesnt make sence thst u need such good grades. Like to get trained at a zoo as an zookeeper u offten need real or gymnasium degree and a 2 in math. But there is the catch.....the most math u doo is weight food ount food weight animals count animals u get the idear elementsry school level of math xD makes no sence right so they need to change something about this and thst one isnt the only case
That's a stereotype I have not heard before.
Really? It's one I hear rather often
I am the opinion that you visit another country you have to get know the people there personally , and then will you understand that many of the country`s stereotypes do not always apply. My husband is Italian and has been living in Germany for thirty-three years and speaks well German. But he approached people right from the start and met friendly people who also helped him a lot. And he has found a good job. You have to be able to approach other people too.🙂💙
Indeed, very true...gotta love the Italians 😀
@@britingermany 🥰👍
I think adding English as an official language to Germany is unnessecary, as you don't need it as an official langauge to provide English forms to new arrivals. There are already classes at German universities taught in English, without it being an official language. Making it an official language would simply open a pathway for quite radical people to go nuts. Mostly the kind of people who chant slogans like "Deutschland muss verrecken!".
I think there should be one language for Business, and that should be English. Having said that, I don’t think the English language should be dominant over all others. As an Englishman, I wouldn’t want to Anglicise the whole world.
Some sort of standardisation would be good but it shouldn't come at the cost of other languages
@@britingermany Agreed
I like the english language, I whish i would have learned it better, but I think it is important for people who would like to live in germany to learn german, so they can communicate with everyone fluently and become a part of the society. It would be good to teach a few subjects in english language, so the new generation would learn to speak fluent english, and it would be great if english would become a world language, because would not like to learn mandarin, spanish, or hindi. I don't know if germans are more or less intollerant to other cultures, but I think it is common that different nations have different cultures - and the difference persist through intollence towards that cultural influances. But I think it depends on the stereotypes which exist towards other cultures, so it may not be equal towards every nation. For example I think german culture prioritize individualism and personal autonomy stonger than some arabian cultures do, so some associatet rights are seen as good by germans and may be seen sceptical by some other cultures, this leads to differences. Both cultures may have advantages, so there may be no objective way to say that or that is better. But this differences may lead to intollerences reagarding to changes of the own culture. Due to the world wide cultural exchange cultures may appropinquate or converge more and more, so the national culture diffences will fade away, but I think this will take time.
Well said. Thanks
I'd go as far as saying that Germany is among the most tolerant countries on this planet! So much so that many Germans would rather give up their own culture in order to accommodate for foreign cultures, before making a stance for their own way of living. One thing has increasingly become clear: In Germany people feel a great shame for being German. Bi-nationals would almost certainly identify themselves with the non German part, "normal" Germans would rather be something else other than German, because just being German is considered shameful. And that's a big part of our today's problems, even our politicians openly talk about their dislike for Germany, and how they want to basically liquidate the country. Introducing the English language as second official language would only be the first step, but a clear sign to the people, that German culture is no longer wanted in Germany. Especially members of the green party openly discuss their plans to purposefully get foreigners in so the German dominance would be ended. I believe Germany is the only planet where the own people feel ashamed of who they are, and would happily hand the country over to other's, as long as they are non German. Germans are full of national shame!
My experience matches yours. That is a stereotype with zero bases in present-day Germany, and it's been invalid for decades.
I have received quite a few comments from people from other countries (middle east etc) saying that it’s a very different experience if you look different.
@@britingermany I don't doubt it, and that is a shame. You probably know more about these cases than I do, but in Wurzburg, a small city of around 120,000, where I studied, there have been two attacks, one with a knife near the city center and another on a train at the Hauptbahnhof within the last three years, I think. In the first, two women and a small child were murdered. I'm not sure how many were murdered on the train. There were widespread reports of physical abuse of young women in larger cities. All of these were carried out by young male Afghan or Middle Eastern refugees. The government's response to the abuse of women by roving bands of young men left a lot to be desired. When incidents like this occur, and the government fails to carry out its primary responsibility to guarantee public safety and dispense justice, people will respond as you described. I don't like it, and I have sympathy for foreigners who have the misfortune of experiencing it, but it seems to me Germans are reacting like any European, under those circumstances, would react. You certainly have a better perspective of things there than I do, though. But that's what it looks like from here.
Some Germans can be quite provincial if not hostile to different cultures. Because German towns, even small ones, can be perfectly self-sufficient - in education, administration, commerce etc. One could really be born, finish the schooling, get a job and live the rest of the life without leaving one's hometown no problem... and in that case he or she would naturally lack the international awareness. Germans are famous travelers too, but again, if one chooses to just go to one of those infamous German holiday colonies such as in Majorca, one can perfectly stay in a German bubble. The first town I landed in Germany was such a little town in Baden, and I was practically the only non-White. I can tell you I experienced first-hand the famous German stare everywhere I went. Things changed within a short span of time, and it got much more international too, but the mentality of the inhabitants do not change easily. I had then a short friendship with a musician, who came back to the hometown for a short while - he had traveled the world for the nature of his work, and I realised how much more relaxed I could be with him for the simple reason he had the sense that there's a big world out there with different cultures.
Thanks for sharing. The provinces can be very different, and as you say less aware of other ways of living or thinking.
It really is just an old stereotype, I am kind of an anglophile while my wife is a complete francophile…
Yes, but you do hear it a lot...seems to be clinging on for dear life
@@britingermany Klischees sind halt Klischees 🤪 Schönen Sonntag
@@nelsonvh3033 gleichfalls 😀
I really like your channel. Personally I always wanted to live in the UK permanently as I feel very at home there but the Brexit has made this virtually impossible. German stereotype? Now, I am not sure, if anyone has written this in the comments, but in my view Germans are very welcoming towards foreigners and immigrants, who want to live, work and integrate themselves in this country. If I would move to another country, the integration into my host country would be an absolute priority. This is what many immigrants from Turkey and many other countires did in the past. The reason for the stereotype mentioned here stems from something else. Since 2015 many migrants especially from muslim and north african countries come to Germany to benefit from the german social system and receive support without any obligations to an extent, which enables them a life, they would never have in their countries of origin. And yes, if I was in their situation I would probably do the same. Put your feet up and let the Euros roll into your pocket. Additionally in many cases these migrants have no inclination to integrate into local society and instead demand the local society to integrate themselves into their way of living. This behaviour is seen very critical in large portions of the german citizens although the official government narrative is very different. So to sum it up, anyone coming to Gemany with a reasonable qualification and the intention of integrating into our society and earning a living is very welcome here.
The tolerance that will be interesting to see is when foreigners like me murder German culture and language. I remember a German exchange student who explained to me, in the most broken English, how he hated hearing foreigners speaking German badly. He seemed to think that we English speakers should be happy with his lack of expertise as if our language wasn't important but German was sacred. I have noticed my cousin's wife complaining that his mistakes pain her. :-). Anyhow, for what its worth I think we all should be trying to rationalise and simplify our languages, including English. One might not want to remove expressive power but I think a lot of what we have is not expressive and is just the junk of time that makes it harder for everyone to be multilingual.
Sometimes I feel that expatriates are more sensitive to the hot spots of their host countries. In my experience there is a huge openness for foreign cultures in Germany on a private level, and I want to make a point for it from my own perspectieve. In my personal development learning English and reading English literature and non fiction has made a real difference to me and in hindsight it was probably one of the best things that happened to me. So I guess that motivates other people, too, on a private level. When it comes to bureaucracy, I guess that there are some real differences between the provincial regions, and those urban regions experiencing an impact of immigrants shaping their daily (work) life. So introducing English as a second "Amtssprache" seems to me a good and smart move. Since Germany has been always been in constant exchange with its neighbors, be it work, marriage, tourism or war, I really wonder if there is a typical "German" DNA :D
There's no typical German dna...it is the least genetically defineable of all European countries according to these ancestry heritage dna services.
i can speak English, because its so easy to learn that Brits only can learn it because its so easy! next year i will learn more French, because i will travel more to France and Switzerland the next few years, this year i go for Ireland!
You might want to work on making your insults a little more clever...especially if you are going to Ireland😉
@@britingermany i just tell them i am not a Brit and wont colonize them back into the empire... so i will be fine!
I think part of what might be perceived as intolerance especially among government processes might also just be more of a general incompetence that leads to low staffing levels, people being overworked, processes still using paper,... and then perceiving any attempts to e.g. add more languages to those processes as just a huge amount of extra work. Especially in places where the staff might still be from a generation who did not learn English in school and so they might even feel threatened by new requirements for their job.
Sure that’s definitely a real reality. If you don’t speak English then you either have to put in a serious amount of effort to learn or you risk severely limiting you employment options in the future
My husband, who regularly helped foreign (non EU) colleagues to get their papers ready, get over and done with law requirements and somesuch, was once told that community staff (at least in that respective town - a small town in NRW) was not allowed to do certain administration processes in English, but had to either rely on an officially credited translator or have the person in question agree to a language-proficient friend, colleague or family member to fill in for one. The reason was not "unwellcomeness" but the fact that certain terms are existing corretly only in German, and the staff were obliged to use these in order to proceed things correctly. (It was not quite that, but similar to that - I, too, now, have the problem of not being able to say it in English... 🤣) If the staff's or the person's English had been too poor, eg, and for that reason, there was miscommunication, the community authorities would have been held responsible. If there is a translator, or the person agreed to someone else translating, the responsibility is off the authorities and lies with the person. Basically. Again, this is not in order to keep people out. But authorities do only guarantee for correct procedures if everything is taking place in German. Given the fact that even Germans very often do not understand "Amtsdeutsch", I kind of find that understandable, even if I think there ought to be better solutions for this dilemma.
With Germany getting more and more "colourful", I am hoping that it will get easier for english speaking people to get around (applying for jobs, forms in english to open a bank account...). I have many friends from all over the world😊and I always love to learn more about different cultures and traditions.
me too 😀
On the other hand, can you open a bank account in German in the US/UK? Or apply for jobs in German? I just think that's a bit of a double standard.
And all the Denglisch...I can't imagine Americans tolerating that being done to their language...but then again many Germans are doormats about their language.
I lived 20 years abroad in Asia and am married to a child of guest workers, who came to Germany in the early 70s from what was then Yugoslavia. With almost everything, we have to find a balance. I think we need to be open to others cultures, but we also need to avoid developments that will result in ghettos and the splitting of our nation along cultural lines. Some Germans seem to have no worries were this can lead. Some people here, are quite surprised if I voice my concerns, because they think a person who lived abroad and traveled a lot should have other opinions. However, if you don't see the pitfalls, I would argue that you haven't traveled enough and firmly closed your eyes to what kind of social problems other nations have. I see the current situation, with open borders, mass immigration, and politicians who close their eyes to the problems, very negatively. We already have ghettos in big cities and people with very different values living right next to each other. My husband was born in Bosnia. I have witnessed the lynch mobs in Indonesia during the Asian financial crisis. I was in Berlin this Sylvester.
It is of course a delicate situation and you’re right. Creating ghettos should be avoided at all costs!
Bürokratie auf Englisch übersetzen? Wie will man Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetzesentwurf Übersetzen? ;-)
Controversial take: Yes a country should always be open to the contemporary lingua franca of its region. In our day and age it's English and other countries like Switzerland or the Netherlands are far more open to conversations, applications and official communications in English, at least in my experience, having lived in all three countries. Germany's issue with a lack of talent immigration is largely self inflicted.
You shouldn't kill your Culture so Immigrants move to your Country.
There is no ideology to consider about making english a second language. There is simply a cost attached to it and, depending on how far you take it, it is also a problem for administrations to get staff suitable for the challenge. First of all, it is not cheap to set up all official documents, forms etc. in a new language, including all the documentation that comes with it (many forms have How-to brochures explaining how to properly fill them out). Ask the americans why they do not officially change to the metric system if you wonder how expensive this whole thing could get. It would be a permanent thing as well, all new legislation with any impact on beuraucracy has to be documented in two languages. The fact that public clerks and administrators now also have to be fluent in english is also a thing to consider from the employees side. Is it fair to ask a person in public service to be fluent in a foreign language to start or continue their career ? You trade off better starting conditions for immigrants by possibly hampering the career outlooks for locals. We have to remember this is not some tourist level of english, but it borderlines a level of professional english with lots of legal terminology. Some companies send their employees on special courses to train them for this kind of thing. This is not about ideology or a "hit on national identity" it is simply a question of "Is it really worth it ?". The only sensible thing i can imagine to implement is centralized hotlines for engish speakers (even more languages are feasible this way) to call to get assistance with processes. Without any paperwork offered in english, which is probably a huge cost factor, this might be a lean way of adressing it. Still, without paperwork in english, how much good does this even do ? I am convinced the number of english speaking immigrants is simply to low to justify a full scale paralell beuraucracy.
P.S. You are mistaken. In the least it was popular to be critical about the US since 2003 or even since the Patriot Act before that, some might even identify the highly questionable inauguration of George Bush jr as the turning point. In germany we have a long tradition of comedians criticizing the US for 20 years and more.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Yes I agree that a full scale parallel bureaucracy would not be sustainable…I’m guessing the people who proposed this are thinking of the future and anticipating x amount of new non Germany speaking immigrants in the next few years…
Yes external nationalities have been critical of the us for a long time, but it seems that it has become popular for Americans themselves to be critical of their own country, this is fairly new as they used to be extremely self confident and proud of being the worlds police.
wait thats a stereotype? havent even heard of that. as a german 0.o the only culture i'm intolerant to is my own.
Learning German at the moment
Great! That's the most important thing for anyone thinking of moving here👍🏻
the issue stems from many being unhappy with our nation going to such extremes to adopt other cultures, instead of people moving here adapting to it. and a very loud minority voicing their distaste very aggressively Lots of people I talked with fear that the "german" is getting lost, and the identity of what makes us germans blurs together with other cultures. I personally dont see the issue, but know others who do. and many older people are very much against foreign customs like wearing headscarves. My parents for example think that no woman chooses to do so but is forced to. I dont know if that is the case or not, but find it wrong to outright assume so... but y'all know how parents are like, they wont hear it. My favorite part about so many different cultures coming to germany is definitely the cuisine, I can have authentic italian, greek, vietnamese, japanese, african, russian and turkish food in the same week no problem (and many more). My least favorite would be the stigmas, the unnecessary hate from specifically right extreme germans towards others. Most germans *really* dislike openly displayed patriotism, its frowned upon to be proud of your nationality (I can recall a dozen songs with lyrics about this from the top of my head), but this also creates extremes. The ones who are proud often get pushed into radical groups who then escalate. Add the general distrust in the Government (over 50% of germans do not trust the government, and most who trust still dont believe they'll get shit done) and you got what we see in the news, almost-riots, hate against foreigners, etc. Many feel that foreigners get treated better than our own people, schools are underfunded, medical staff does not get paid enough (especially in care), taxes are too high, public transport goes to shit, energy prices are ridiculous, and more. and at the same time we just keep hearing "we gave money to those, we provided these, we helped them" but never do we hear about help for the common german citizen. I dont want to believe it being like that, but it sure as hell looks like it... and the problem is just listing what you hear on the news and how its mostly interpreted makes you sound like a right extremist, I dont want to sound like I support a shit show like the AFD but thats their goal - just like the nazis - they use the common peoples disdain to fuel their propaganda and push their radical goals All of this together and you only see the bad on the outside, you think "damn these germans hate foreigners"
I try limit my "news" intake...it's just as much about clickbait as KZhead is...if not more...so I know what they they are doing 🤣
There are companies now, certainly in the IT world, that hire you if you’re fluent in either English or German (or both 😉)
7:59 When I was in,,, I think it was 8th grade? We, as in me and my family, spent our holiday in London. We did all the touristy things you do, visit the London Eye, the Buckingham Palace and so on. What's remarkable about that? Well, when we visited the Tower of London, I randomly met one of my classmates. It wasn't planned, neither of us knew the other would be there, but nevertheless, there we were, 2 Germans, who knew each other, meeting in a different country. xD So yeah, we really are everywhere, you can't escape the Germans. :p
haa there you go. Point proven 😉