Das Bundesurlaubsgesetz. The Federal Leave Act, in force since 1963, sets a statutory minimum of twenty-four working days of annual leave on a six-day week. That is the floor. Most German collective agreements provide substantially more, and the statutory minimum functions as a level nobody works at.
Depth of manufacture
Fertigungstiefe — a German term for how much of a product a firm makes itself, discussed as a strategic property. Control of the process is understood as control of the product.
Named after getting along
The German word for a contract comes from vertragen — to bear, to tolerate, to get along with one another. Sich vertragen is what quarrelling children are told to do. The contract is named after the state of getting along, not after the bargain that produced it.
Thinking with
To think with. Said of a colleague who anticipates what is needed, and said of a product that does the same. Das Gerät denkt mit. The same verb praises a person and a machine, and it is the highest praise either receives.
The fire protection officer
Der Brandschutzbeauftragte. Larger German buildings have a designated fire protection officer. Not a committee, not a shared duty — a named person, trained, with the responsibility written into their role.
There are escape route plans on the walls, fire doors that must not be propped open, and inspections that check they are not.
The German instinct on encountering a risk is to give it an owner.
Federalism by agreement
German federalism requires agreement between the federal government and the states across broad areas of legislation, through a second chamber composed of state governments. The constitution obliges the levels to reach terms. A majority is frequently not enough.
Tolerances
German mechanical drawings specify permitted deviation for every dimension, using standard tolerance classes. Nothing is simply a measurement. Every measurement carries the range within which it remains correct.
Sunday rest
Die Sonn- und Feiertagsruhe. Section 9 of the Working Hours Act prohibits work on Sundays and public holidays as a general rule, with exceptions for healthcare, transport, hospitality, emergency services and media. The protection of Sunday is not a workplace policy. It is a general prohibition with specific carve-outs, and the carve-outs have to be justified.
Traceability
German manufacturing records which batch, which machine, which shift and which operator produced each item, and the requirement is written into food law, pharmaceutical law and automotive standards. The output carries its own process history.
Advantage through technology
Vorsprung durch Technik — advantage through technology — has been in use as a German advertising line since the 1970s and passed into English untranslated. The claim is that the lead comes from the engineering, not from the marketing.