fachsimpeln — to talk shop. Duden: to talk at length about purely professional matters. Its example is wir haben die ganze Nacht gefachsimpelt, we talked shop all night.
Mahlzeit! — mealtime! Duden: a greeting at midday, especially between colleagues.
ein sehr sachlicher Mensch — a very matter-of-fact person. Duden’s example of sachlich, determined only by the matter itself, not by feelings or prejudices.
Kollegiale Fallberatung, collegial case consultation, is a method used among German teachers and in teacher training. A colleague brings a difficult situation from his or her working day, and the group works on it in fixed roles and timed phases. A worksheet for teacher training sets the rules for each phase: Keine Fragen!, no questions, Keine Ratschläge, Ideen, Lösungen!, no advice, ideas or solutions, and Der Fallgeber ist still, the one who brought the case is silent. The whole consultation takes about 60 minutes. An information folder of TU Dresden lists Kommunikation auf Augenhöhe, communication at eye level, among the conditions for the method.
The professional code of the Medical Association of Saxony-Anhalt says: Ärzte haben sich untereinander kollegial zu verhalten. Doctors must behave collegially toward one another. The code then says what this excludes. Unsachliche Kritik an der Behandlungsweise oder dem beruflichen Wissen eines Arztes sowie herabsetzende Äußerungen über dessen Person sind berufswidrig. Unfactual criticism of a doctor’s treatment or professional knowledge, and disparaging remarks about the doctor as a person, violate professional rules. The association’s journal added in 2012 that factual criticism of a colleague’s treatment remains allowed.
On 7 November 1917 Max Weber gave his lecture Wissenschaft als Beruf, science as a vocation, to students in a Munich bookshop. In it he said: „Persönlichkeit“ auf wissenschaftlichem Gebiet hat nur der, der rein der Sache dient. In the field of science, only the person who serves the matter purely has personality.
On 1 September 2013 Angela Merkel faced her challenger Peer Steinbrück in the televised debate before the federal election. During the debate she said: Sie kennen mich ja … You know me, after all. A Belgian newspaper reported that she added that Germany had had four good years. In surveys published by Statista, about 81 percent called her competent in 2013. In 2021, after eight more years in office, almost 80 percent still did.
Markus Bühner is a professor of psychological methods and diagnostics at LMU Munich. In a 2015 interview published by the university, he spoke about hiring. Sympathie ist zunächst etwas vermeintlich ganz Wichtiges. At first, liking a person seems very important. But choosing a likeable person who is not suited to the job will sooner or later cause high staff turnover. Liking may decide only between candidates who are all suitable. Ansonsten gilt: Erst kommt die Eignung, dann die Sympathie. Otherwise the rule is: first suitability, then liking.
Section 12 of the Soldiers’ Act begins: Der Zusammenhalt der Bundeswehr beruht wesentlich auf Kameradschaft. The cohesion of the armed forces rests essentially on comradeship. It obliges every soldier to respect the dignity, honor and rights of a comrade and to stand by him in need and danger. In a judgment of January 2025, published in June 2025, the Federal Administrative Court explained that comradeship is nicht nur eine ethische Kategorie, sondern eine im Soldatengesetz vorgeschriebene Rechtspflicht, not only an ethical category but a legal duty under the Soldiers’ Act. The legislature did not want ein ethisches Maximum an Kameradschaft, sondern nur ein rechtliches Minimum, an ethical maximum of comradeship, but only a legal minimum. This minimum means respect for the rights and interests of others.
Friedrich Schiller’s Das Lied von der Glocke (The Song of the Bell, 1799) was a staple of the German Gymnasium until about 1950. It follows the casting of a bell. After the master’s opening call to his journeymen, the first reflection of the poem reads: Zum Werke, das wir ernst bereiten, / Geziemt sich wohl ein ernstes Wort; / Wenn gute Reden sie begleiten, / Dann fließt die Arbeit munter fort. / So laßt uns jetzt mit Fleiß betrachten, / Was durch die schwache Kraft entspringt. (For the work that we prepare in earnest, a serious word is fitting. When good words go with it, the work flows on briskly. So let us now consider with care what comes from our weak strength.)