Streitkultur is the culture of disputing, the way people argue. Duden gives eine gesunde Streitkultur, a healthy culture of dispute, as an example of its use. In October 2019 Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke in Berlin at an event titled “Demokratie unter Druck – für eine neue politische Streitkultur.” It was time, he said, for new round tables in the country, “nicht zur Vermeidung von Streit, sondern zum Gelingen des Streits”, not to avoid dispute but to make dispute succeed. He asked for a way of arguing that lets us “dem Gegenüber auch am Tag nach dem Streit noch aufrecht in die Augen schauen”, still look the other person straight in the eye the day after the dispute.
Words for a Useful Quarrel
sich zusammenraufen — to tussle one’s way together. Duden: to reach an understanding step by step after more or less fierce arguments.
ein reinigendes Gewitter — a cleansing thunderstorm. Duden’s example: der Streit wirkte wie ein reinigendes Gewitter, the quarrel worked like a cleansing thunderstorm.
reinen Tisch machen — to make a clean table, to create clear conditions.
Nichts für ungut! — No offense meant. Duden: it is not meant badly. It is said after a blunt remark, and it does not take the remark back.
The Dance Judge
Joachim Llambi has been a judge on the RTL dance show Let’s Dance since 2006. He also judges professional and amateur dancesport. In 2014 he published a book subtitled Mut zur ehrlichen Kritik, courage for honest criticism. In 2025 he said: “Ich will bei ‹Let’s Dance› stets ein ehrliches, klares Urteil geben.” I always want to give an honest, clear verdict on Let’s Dance. It annoys him, he added, when criticism becomes insulting for no reason. He looks at timing, footwork, body lines and the work with the partner. “Wir bewerten das, was wir sehen”, he said. We judge what we see.
Each Specialist Owns a Field
A patient in a German hospital is owed treatment at the standard of a specialist. The Civil Code requires treatment according to the generally recognized professional standards. In 1993 the Federal Court of Justice ruled on a doctor in training to become an anesthetist. If he does not yet have enough experience of a particular risk, he may not conduct the anesthesia without the direct supervision of a specialist, at least during that phase of the operation. The patient, the court said, has a right to medical care that meets the standard of a specialist.
In 1999 the same court described how the operating doctor and the anesthetist share an operation. Each must deal with the dangers that arise in his own area. Each may trust that the colleague from the other field does his work with due care, and there is no duty to watch each other. This holds only for dangers that belong to one field alone. Where the risk comes from the combination of the two fields, the doctors must coordinate their measures.
The Vaccination Committee Answers a Minister-President
Germany’s Standing Committee on Vaccination, the STIKO, was set up in 1972. It is a volunteer group of experts. In July 2021 Bavaria’s Minister-President Markus Söder pushed for a faster general COVID-19 vaccination recommendation for children from 12. He contrasted the volunteer committee with the “professionals” of the European Medicines Agency. The STIKO answered publicly that the statements of Söder and other politicians were “ungewöhnlich und müssen korrigiert werden”, unusual and in need of correction. It works, it said, independently of the opinions and wishes of politicians and the pharmaceutical industry. On 16 August 2021 the committee recommended vaccination for everyone from 12. It named a careful evaluation of new scientific data as the reason.
Words for Clean Work
gründlich — thorough. The word comes from Grund, the ground. To be gründlich is to go down to the bottom of a thing.
saubere Arbeit — clean work, the common praise for a job done well.
handwerklich sauber — clean in its craft. It is said of a law, an article or a piece of engineering when the work was done properly. A law can be handwerklich sauber and still be politically wrong.
schlampig gearbeitet — sloppily done. The verdict is about the method. It can apply even when the result turned out fine.
Pi mal Daumen — pi times thumb, a rough estimate. The speaker uses it to mark a number that was not properly worked out.
Earning the Right to Edit
On German Wikipedia, changes made by newcomers do not appear to readers at once. An experienced author first checks them and marks the new version as gesichtet, sighted. A user earns the right to have his own edits appear at once after at least 30 days and 150 edits, together with some further conditions. The right to approve the edits of others comes after 60 days and at least 300 edits. Both rights can also be granted on request.
The Substitution Plan
In Lower Saxony, a decree of 20 December 2019 requires every school to develop a Vertretungskonzept, a substitution concept, to avoid lost lessons as far as possible. Lessons that cannot be avoided must not be lost one-sidedly at the expense of particular classes or subjects. A school in Dortmund sets an order for absences of medium length. First comes a teacher of the same subject, then a teacher of the same class, and only then general cover. Its teachers are told to check the Vertretungsplan, the substitution plan, several times a day, for example through push messages from the school’s app.
Leave Cannot Be Recalled
Once an employer in Germany has granted an employee statutory leave, it cannot call the employee back from it. The Federal Labor Court ruled so on 20 June 2000. Even an agreement that allows the employer to recall the employee is void, because it violates the mandatory law on leave.
The Warning Day That Failed
On 10 September 2020, Germany held its first nationwide warning day. The alarm was planned for 11 a.m. The warnings in the apps NINA and KATWARN arrived on phones more than half an hour late. Many connected control centers had triggered warnings on their own, alongside the central one, and the system was overloaded. The agreed concept had provided for activation by the federal government only. Christoph Unger, president of the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance for 16 years, was replaced. The warning day of 2021 was canceled, while the office built a full test environment.