An Iranian in Berlin complains about being told not to ride his bicycle on the sidewalk. “Everbody in Germany is a police.”
YouTube comments:
“‘Are you hobbylos?’ Only Germans say that.” … “Great way to catch a stick in the spokes, Mate.” … “Is he evidently unaware of traffic rules and in dire need of this reprimand?” … “That’s just called pedestrian safety. Stay on the bike lane or the street.”
Citry traffic in Teheran, Iran:
Learn German with our street interviews: In this episode we deal with a common prejudice, namely: Germans are always very direct! We find out for you on the streets of Berlin whether this is actually always true and in which situations in particular.
YouTube comments:
“I’ll never forget when visiting a friend in Germany for the first time: He was with another friend and they saw a mutual acquaintance at a cafe. ‘We know that man, we went to school together.’ ‘Want to go over and say hello?’ ‘No. Later he became stupid, so we don’t talk to him anymore.’ I loved the blunt honesty.”
“I like how a lot of the people who said no said it very directly, and emphatically. Lol, I have German heritage, and it feels right.”
“Honestly, the directness in Germany as a precise way to tell things that need to be fastly adressed, instead of running in circles (or plainly just not speaking) to avoid offending someone like we in other coubtries do, makes my life easier as in my hometown in Latin America, in that way I find social rules way simpler, gets problems solved faster. On the other side, sometimes people (the least of them) confuse directness with plain aggression, there are things that simply are not needed to be told.”
“Barsky discovered that the people who trained him (Russian KGB) did not have an authentic understanding of Americans, and he struggled at first with his assignment. While his instructions were to infiltrate political circles and get close to Brzezinski (National Security Advisor under US President Jimmy Carter), he was not given specific instructions on how he was supposed to accomplish that.
He also learned that while his English was excellent, he was very pushy and argumentative when dealing with people. He was shocked when he was confronted with this fact by a fed-up friend. He realized that he was essentially too East German to fit in.” From Wikipedia
See the CBS 60 Minutes story on Jack Barsky:
Jordan Peterson’s interview with Jack Barsky is extraordinarily fascinating:
A comment on YouTube: “They are obviously Deep in Thought.”
If you’ve done any research into German culture, you’ve likely come across blogs, articles and forum discussions on the subject of German directness. Less politically-correct results may even simply state that Germans are rude.
It’s a topic of discussion as old as time; or, at least, as old as the Internet’s mainstream popularity. There is a lot of material on the subject, and it all basically comes to the same conclusion: Germans aren’t rude; they’re just direct and honest. If you can’t handle it, you need to grow a thicker skin.
One of the many clichés about Germany and the Germans says that they act in a not very friendly or even rude manner towards strangers. You might get that impression when you first come to Germany and try to get to know somebody else on a train, a bar or at work.
Especially as an American, you might be used to getting in contact with strangers really quickly. In Germany, you probably won’t. It is a scientifically proven fact that German people simply don’t chat in public places when they don’t know each other. But what is often interpreted as rude manners, is more like a basic inability of Germans to small talk – they simply are not used to it.
False friends, ridiculous grammar and never-ending nouns. German is by no means an easy language. However, it has its funny side too, as we find out in this week’s episode of Meet the Germans.
YouTube comments:
“I love all the ‘thing’ words we have: Feuerzeug = fire thing (lighter) Fahrzeug = driving thing (vehicle) Spielzeug = play thing (toy) Werkzeug = craft/labour thing (tool) Or some of our animals: Nilpferd = nile horse (hippo) Nashorn = nose horn (rhino) Stachelschwein = spike pig (porcupine) Waschbär = wash bear (raccoon) Faultier = lazy animal (sloth) Schnabeltier = beak animal (platypus)”
“Yeah german gets a lot easier when you understand that most of these long words are just two short words connected.”
“I’m german and i got the impression that mostly negative things about the german language circulate the web, like it sounds rough, unfriendly, is difficult to learn and overly complicated. It’s really nice seeing it in a positive, funny and native way and i hope it helps foreigners to see it in a different light. We are and used to be famous for our writers and poets, so the language has to be fit for that kind of work and those people also benefitted the language in that regard. On the other hand we are famous for our engeneering and our scinetists so another major part of our language is logical, accurate and descriptive. Our language has multiple different layers which are often overlooked, quite understandably to be honest, and I think the german language is beautiful in its own, rough mantled way. :D”
Two of the greatest tennis players of all time. Looking for any advantage, no matter how slight, in order to gain an edge. Andre was a very careful observer.
Spend any time in Germany, and perhaps in other countries, and you will hear directly or indirectly how poorly informed (aka dumb) Americans are.
Keep in mind, however, that Germans consider themselves to be intelligent. And they are. Many of them consider themselves to be more intelligent than Americans. And they are. On average. Perhaps.
New York Times. May 11, 2022. One of America’s greatest stand-up comics. A satirist in the deepest sense. George Carlin. Always critical of his homeland. Its short-comings. Its deceits. For many a true patriotic American.
