Surreptitious: kept secret, especially because it would not be approved of. From Latin surreptitius: secretly and seize.
Sneaky: furtive, sly, reluctant.
Wily: skilled at gaining an advantage, especially deceitfully.
Clever: quick to understand, learn, and devise or apply ideas; intelligence. Derived from Middle English perhaps of Dutch or Low German origin. In the late 16th century, the term came to mean manually skillful. The sense of possessing mental agility dates to the early 1700s.
The dictionary defines streitbar as follows: [constantly] prepared, having the will to, argue, with someone over something, to critically and activelydispute something; to fight for or about something, to take a stand for something or someone, a fighter; [older] prepared for battle; warrior-like, brave.
The adjective streitbar has a very positive connotation in the German language. In recalling famous persons one often reads the sentence Er war streitbar – he was streitbar.
Politicians are ever more frequently characterized as being streitbar. Streitbar does not mean that one seeks out conflicts in a negative sense. Rather, it means to stand up for ones beliefs, and not avoid serious confrontations.
A comment on YouTube: “They are obviously Deep in Thought.”
The Germans have a legal term called Auskunftspflicht. Auskunft means information. Pflicht means obligation. Auskunftspflicht: the obligation to inform. When Germans persuade, convince, present, sell, the consciously Germans present the full picture: what works and what doesn’t work. Anything less is unprofessional, dishonest, and most certainly not persuasive.
Dienst ist Dienst und Schnaps ist Schnaps – literally: Work is work. Schnaps is schnaps (alcoholic beverage) – is a very well-known German figure of speech underlining the strict separation between work and play. A similar figures of speech conveys German thinking: Erst die Arbeit, dann das Vergnügen – first work, then enjoyment.
Germans strive to separate substance from person. They can argue vehemently and still respect each other, even remain close friends. This allows them to pay less attention to the specific context of the interaction.
It is relatively unimportant whether they are communicating with their neighbor in front of their house, an acquaintance in the streetcar, a relative on the phone or a colleague at their workplace. A discussion about a topic of substance has little to do with the person individually.
The ability to separate substance from person is in the German business context among the fundamental abilities expected not only of employees, but especially of those who lead them – management. The self-understanding of the German citizen includes – consciously or unconsciously – the obligation to argue a point, to address a problem, to state an opinion objectively, critically, fairly.
Intuition. Latin intuitio: immediate understanding, recognition, seeing; to understand a situation, problem, dilemma immediately and without discussion or reflection.
“Dein Verlangen nach Intuition blockiert den natürlichen Fluss der Wahrnehmung.” Your desire to be intuitive blocks the natural flow of perception. (Irina Rauthmann, German writer)
“Intuition, sprunghafte Einsicht, deren Schritte nachzuholen sind.” Intuition, sudden and erratic understanding whose steps need to be retaken. (Dr. phil. Manfred Hinrich, German philosopher, professor, journalist, author of childrens books)
“Intuition ist der natürliche Gegenpol zur Konzentration – nutzen sollte man beides, jedes zu seiner Zeit.” Intuition is the natural opposite of concentration. Both should be used, but at the right time. (Rüdiger Keßler, German philosopher)
“Intuition ist Intelligenz mit überhöhter Geschwindigkeit.” Intuition is high speed intelligence. Unknown.
In 2008 leading literary pundit Marcel Reich-Ranicki was supposed to receive the German television award for his life’s work. Reich-Ranicki also came to the awards show and listened to the laudation by Thomas Gottschalk. However, in his thank-you address he had little thanks left for the award that he a just been presented with.
Instead, he explained, that he had already received many important prizes in his life, and that it had never been difficult for him to say thank you. But today, he was “in a very horrible situation“, as he was forced to “somehow react” to the prize which he had received, and was asked to be “not too harsh”.
“I don’t want to offend anyone. No, I don‘t want to do that. But I would just like to come out and say that I will not accept this prize. If the prize had come with money I would have given the money back, but it didn’t come with money. I can only fling this object […] away from me, or throw it at someone’s feet. I cannot accept it! And I also found it terrible to have to suffer this event for five hours.”
Reich-Ranicki’s speech left his audience perplexed. During his speech the cameras continued to capture shocked expressions amongst the members of the audience, here and there and embarrassed grin, a few laughs. Reich-Raniki was bold enough to call the German Television award, which many of the attending actors and producers used to sing their own praises, ‘rubbish’. Freely and without restraint. Controversial. Typical Reich-Ranicki.
Americans and Germans have different definitions of patriotism. Germans are still skeptical and critical about their Germanness. Many refer to themselves more as Europeans than as Germans.
Americans are also critical of their country, of their government, and are quite aware of their problems. But it is one thing when Americans debate among themselves (within the family, so to speak) and quite another thing when an outsider does it. Americans have a personal relationship with their country. Criticism of America is criticism of Americans.
Even though it cannot be said that German people are not proud to be German, overt displays of patriotism are mostly limited to soccer events. In fact, it was until recently that overt displays of national patriotism were still frowned upon in the aftermath of World War II. Bringing a German flag to any rally in Germany is also still equated by many with nationalism.
As the Federal Republic’s third president, Gustav Heinemann so aptly put it in the 1970s: “I do not love any nation. I love my wife.” While American salute their flag at the beginning of every sporting event within the country, Germans do so only to distinguish themselves from opponents of another nationality.
Germans avoid interrupting the flow of a conversation, a speech, or any kind presentation for several reasons. First, out of respect for the presenter and the other listeners. Second, because they assume they will gain clarity by simply continuing to follow the flow. Third, they do not feel comfortable admitting that perhaps their English language skills are not as good as they should be.