In fact, it is pretty easy to wind Germans up - just make a joke about us ... we won't laugh but instead irritatedly tell you that things are inaccurate
I'm from the deep deep south (Allgäu), and my father usually says to our lovely visitors from the northern parts of Germany that "it must be a matter of intelligence (for you to not understand me) as I understand you perfectly". Can be applied to most interactions between high-german and dialect speakers...
@@hanszimmer9224 Ich komme aus NRW und unsere Firma hat auch einen Sitz in Stuttgart und Villingen-Schwenningen und viele der Kollegen versuchen sich zwar an Hochdeutsch, aber ich verstehe sie trotzdem nicht. :D Manche schaffen es, aber man hört trotzdem das sie aus BW kommen :D
The "pickle on the christmas tree" is actually really funny, I've heard a lot of americans talk about how germans do that (supposedly), but I've never seen a german do that 😂
Diana42 The Tradition of pickles on a Christmas tree delevoped in the city of Oldenburg, where my father is from. It was a really local hype among youngsters. For a few years now, the retail chain Nanu Nana, (headquarter in Oldenburg) started selling them in all of their shops in Germany, so the pickle thing is now known in many parts of Germany.
@@kerstinola6141 thank you for explaining! I live in south germany, maybe the tradition isn't as big here. But you're right, baubles in the shape of pickles are being sold in every Christmas store :)
As far as I know, the lower and upper terms come from geographical reference points. So either from the general height Level (sea level) or for example from a river, as in Upper Austria and Lower Austria (above and below the river Enns).
Interestingly, what is today "Saxony" wasn't Saxon at all in historic times. The Saxons as a family of Germanic tribes lived in northwestern Germany, i.e. in much of what is actually Lower Saxony today, and in parts of the Netherlands. It was only through late medieval power politics between German kings and other rulers that what would later become the state of Saxony was annexed by the Saxons.
As a rhenish guy I feel highly offended that we are considered as rude... for most germans know that the people in Berlin are the rudest in all of Germany 😉😁
@@jonahhumkamp1032 na ich als "Westdeutsche" ( bin Nordfriesin ) wunderte mich, daß geklagt wird: Mieten, die künstlich niedrig waren, langsam bundesdeutschen Standards entsprechen. Das war in der "BRD" normal. Und dann im Kaufhaus: jehnse ma dahinten . ( als Bedienung)...komisches Volk.
Peter, you´re absolutely right. One day in Cologne and we all know how friendly people can be. One day in Berlin and you breath deeply not to kick somebody in the face.
Hi Nalf, I am a German and I am not offended at all. You show so much empathy for my country that I am grateful. It is good to have you here. Regards from Berlin.
There is a simple explanation to the Bielefeld joke: _They_ want you to believe that it is only a joke that Bielefeld does not exist. So in order to undermine all the valid skepticism about its existence, _they_ are claiming that it is all some sort of meme that goes around. It's quite clever, but you shouldn't fall for that tactic.
Again and again I'm astonished by the fact what our government, school book publishing houses etc etc did to convince us all that "Bielefeld" exists. Not to mention the psychological master minds that could convince @Sampler19 and many more people that they were "born" there... Wow! Wow! Wow!
Niedersachsen is the original Saxony. The Freestate of Sachsen is just called that way because of aristocrat lineage. It was called Mark Meißen before that 😏 Fun fact: Westfalia is the former Western part of the original Saxony. Therefore the name...
@@frankthetank5708 and there are more "saxonies" ... just like the usa have "new" towns named after Amsterdam, York, Orleans, there is an island to the northwest which is the land of the angle-saxons :-)
Good job! This is to answer the question: Bremen - why? After WW II the american troops stayed in the southern area, the north was under british occupation. The american forces needed a harbour to supply their troops, but there is no sea-harbour in the southern region. Then Bremerhaven was chosen to be the "american port" and Hamburg was used by the british. The city of Bremen and Bremerhaven have throughout history been independent from the surrounding parts that now are lower saxonary. Bremen has a very long tradition as beeing an importent part of the Hanseatic League (Hamburg also was, but of less importance). After WW II the victorious powers rebuild Germany, east and west seperated. But for the independent Cities of Bremen and Hamburg, it stayed the way it was. By the way, there is a rivalry between two cities - Hamburg and Bremen! Hamburg still today is very british, some would say nosy (stereotype!) ...
11:40 actually there is 4 Saxonys: Saxony, Lower Saxony, Saxony Anhalt and Anglo Saxony. The latter established the Kingdom of England.. Its not that important tho ;)
But saxony and saxony Anhalt for me are not saxons the just stole the name, for me the are not even Germanic, the are Slavic. There was just one King from the saxons. I came from the mean region of the saxons “Gau Haduloha” and we are proud to be saxons and for our history and culture.
Very nice video - thanks 🙂 Just to help you with the "lower" and "upper" in our geography: This does not refer to southern or northern but to the altitude vs. seas level. What always helps is the direction rivers run. E.g. they run from Oberbayern (upper Bavaria) to Niederbayern (lower Bavaria).
How could a sport be called football when you kick the ball maybe like a dozen times and the rest of the game you do something completely different. In the real football the goal keeper alone kicks the ball more often. I think American Football developed like this: Some people though it would be fun to have a game where you just kick the ball wit the foot. So they asked a guy to make a ball. It didn't work out very well with the shape of the ball and it was really difficult to handle it with the foot. So they decided that you could also carry the ball and run with it, which became the more preferred way of playing. But in the end they forgot to rename the game.
Dude you know more about Germany than me. I was always pretty ashamed of being German because all I hear on the internet was "Nazi with bad English and creepy language haha funny" and I kind of hated it, so when I discovered your channel it was just really refreshing. I love the fact that you and your friends take so much time to explore Germany and even its daily life. It's just great to see people enjoy the little things in countries once foreign to them and the roasting is always a funny moment for me because there's many things that catch me off guard since I didn't know them yet. Your videos helped me become a little more proud to be German, thank you.
Thanks for the upload - had a good laugh. The Bielefeld story is quite easy explained. It started as a joke on a student party and went on at the Usenet. So pretty old already. Guess most ppl do not even know the Usenet anymore. Regarding the different saxons, that's historical wise. A typical approach to explain the difference is with the dialects and the kingdoms they originate from. Considering that germany is build up from many many small counties and kingdoms, we can be proud to have only 16 federal states.
2:35 definitely true. Germany is the Heart of Europe where many cultures come together. That's why Germans number 1 travel destination is Germany itself; even before Spain or Italy (The Newspaper RP wrote that). And that's also the reason why Germans are sick about the American Stereotype that we are all Bavarian 😂
I work in national parks in the US. Germans definitely get out to our national parks more than others, and considering the population the Dutch get around the US also. I'm in New York City now and of course EVERYONE comes here, and everyone lives here already.
Reason is that most americans in Germany were american soldiers that had its "american sector" in Bavaria after WWII. The British soldiers were more in northern germany.
When I lived in Germany, it was divided and I never went to the east side. I spent a lot of time at OP Alpha guarding the border while stationed in Fulda. It was said that Fulda had more churches than Gasthauses. But we went to Frankfurt a lot and Nurenburg. I never made it to Munich. Amsterdam was fun. I was kind of wild back then. Typical GI on weekend pass. You get the picture. I enjoy your videos. Be well.
Well, Lower Saxony is more or less the original Saxony. The other parts got the name later as the rulers of the original spread their power. Fun fact: Germany is still called Saksa in Finland
can confirm. And Saxony-Anhalt is mostly the former duchy of Anhalt with a slice of the former duchy/kingdom of Saxony (borders changed quite a lot over the last say 200 years) Also another fun fact: considering there's a north saxon county of ... well, "North Saxony" (Nordsachsen) and the other three (Ost-/Süd-/Westsachsen / Essex/Wessex/Sussex) are situated in south east England, it's actually the southernmost of the four :D
@@Cowboy-in-a-Pink-Stetson Actually, there's even more. The whole north-eastern part of BW is called Region Heilbronn-Franken for historic reasons and due to the dialects spoken here (a mixture of some Alemannic like Swabian and a good portion of East and South Franconian).
I guess what was missing here: As bavarians always like to point out how wealthy they are and how good there educational system is, many germans think that they're generally arrogant - Not only in terms of football. Of course, when they drunk a lot of beer they're fun to party with. Also I guess the reason why southern germans are often characterized as beeing rural and wealthy is because before all the car companies have settled down with their headquarters over there, they've been mostly known for their agriculture. Industry and engineering was mostly in North Rhine Westphalias Rhein Ruhr Area, which is now the Detroit of germany and therefore called poor (some even think that the air is still dirty, but that's not the case anymore). I find it funny that some people think that people in NRW are more rude than in other german regions. I guess that could maybe be because of the westphalians, they're characterized as beeing reserved (especially if you ask colognians, which are also known for partys because of the carneval).
The only thing that's offending me is that after all this time in Germany you still can't count to three properly :D The rest of the video was hilarious!
You canˋt put bavaria with Baden-Württemberg and Switzerland. Bavaria, Austria and Tirol would be fine. Greetings on our cultural brothers from Bavarian 😂😂👍🍻🥨
Well i am one of the 5 persons who startet the Bielefeld hoax in 1991. It was the World without www. Well in Hamburg there is one of the universitys of the Bundeswehr (armed forces of germany). And in 1991 the bundesautobahn A2 had a hell of a road work for nearly 2 years at Bielefeld. And some of the studends from the southern parts of Germany had to stand hours in the traffic jam at Bielefeld. On their way from home back to the university. Well there was this motorway exit sign where the name Bielefeld was crossed out with red tape. Well you are in the age now so you will imagine what bored young men in a car in a traffic jam with no mobiles will do. We shoot some photos (analog camera). And started to discuss why the name Bielefeld was crossed out with red tape. It also happened that one of us had run a black board at the University. That is something like a web side before the www internet you know. We all had so much fun discussing the differend possibilities why Bielefeld was crossed out, that we digitaised the Foto and put it on our black board. Than we programmed something that today would be a chat. Within less than a week we had a lot of problems, because the server and the telefon connection could not cope with the amount of people who whant to take part in the Bielefeld discussions. I am not sure but i think it was in 1993 or 1994 that the student who cared for the Bielefeld black board left the university and become an navy officer in Kiel. As much as i know he gave the data from the black board to someone who used it to create a http web side that started in 1995 the word wide hoax of Bielefeld. Well it didn't start the ailen landing and the "Die" for all who opposed the hoax, but it really spread the Bielefeld hoax from Germany to the rest of the world. Now it is something like the Bremen underground rail way or the flat earth theory. A really funny joke no one can get out of the web. I apologize for starting this. Today i know a lot of people who come from Bielefeld and some are even born there. But looking back i have to say that i would do it again. It was too much fun not to do it.
Die DB hat oder zumindest einen ähnlichen Hinweis: Auf dem Abfahrtsplan Bochum Hbf waren beim RE nach Minden zwar Gütersloh und Herford erwähnt, nicht aber das dazwischenliegende Bielefeld, obwohl das ja deutlich mehr Einwohner haben soll.
Not offended, buuuut the lower saxony being more north is because of elevation in respect to sea level. A side note on that one: there is a tongue in cheek going round with the districts in Bavaria: why is upper Bavaria (Oberbayern) south of lower Bavaria (Niederbayern), but upper Franconia (Oberfranken) is north of under Franconia (Unterfranken). - because Franconias can read a F*CK*NG compass!
Explanation for the Bielefeld joke: There has been a college party in Kiel in 1993 and one of the guests was from Bielefeld. The others haven't ever been to Bielefeld so one dropped the sentence: " _Bielefeld? Das gibt's doch gar nicht!_ " (Bielefeld doesn't exist). An IT-specialist named Achim Held started to spread this "joke" using the "Usenet" in 1994 treating it more like a conspiracy theory. That's how it all started and spread since then, but the Major of Bielefeld now started a campagne for finally getting rid of that bad joke haha^^
Dont tell everybody in Baden-Württemberg, they have a "swabian accent". 50 km west of you, you would get killed for such a sentence. And even where you live, it is "Hohenlohe-fränkisch", but not swabian...
...haha, right. And here in the deep South we are speaking Alemanic, not Swabian. Sometimes the Swiss people call us (to tease us) "Swabians". - What an insult! We are "Badeners" not Swabians. :-)
In my teens, I spent every year a month with my bavarian penpal, 2 weeks with my family and 2 with her in SMÜ (Schwabmünchen) just south of Augsburg. And I spoke a quiet good german with a weird swabian accent ! It's in the Swabia Distrct of Bavaria :D My host family spoke swabisch and hochdeutsch and my brother, 2 roads away was in a family from München who spoke bayrisch. So we didn't speak german with the same accent, but our 2 family had a strong bayrisch feeling. ( We learned a lot of jokes about people of the nord east Germany ! :D I'm not sure it was jokes in fact ! ).
@@12tanuha21 : Haha - imho you´re right. But Swabians say that they speak a different dialect, which is not related to Alemanic language and they are a different tribe. ....and that they have been first here in Southern Germany, before the Alemanic tribes arrived. Scandal! Which is imho not true. "We" have been here about 100-200 years before! :-) Btw: I like Swabians, I lived in Albstadt Ebingen and Böblingen/Stuttgart for a couple of years. I had a great time there, with great people. ...and I have to admit, after staying there: Now I´m a proud owner of a "Spätzlepresse" (a Swabian pasta press for Spaetzle).
The lower Saxony question took me on a wild ride. I instinctively thought it's because of the lower elevation, but I was mistaken. From what I now learnt: The name comes from the language. In the 12th century a duke of Saxony got "dethroned" and the next duke of Saxony moved from todays lower Saxony to (I believe) todays Saxony and split thens Saxony into two. In approx. the 14th century people wanted to differentiate the two. Because the duke of Saxony wasn't living in todays lower Saxony anymore, it made sense to rename it. Now the people there speak in the accent "Plattdeutsch", also called "Niederdeutsch" = low german. Hence the name lower Saxony originates from the accent 'low german'. If you really read into the topic you see once again the massively complex history of Germany and Europe in general.
There is actually a geographic component about the "low" in "low German", though many forget about it these days! Mostly because we say "Hochdeutsch" - "High German" when we mean "Standard German", many people forgot about the origin of it, I believe. Basically, it's about being close to the "Hoher Rhein" - "High Rhine", in Southern Germany and Switzerland, or to the "Nieder Rhein" - "Lower Rhein", in Northern Germany and the Netherlands, low meaning closer to the ocean. That's where even the name of the Netherlands comes from, literally the "Lowlands", and the Dutch language is very closely related to "Niederdeutsch".
Just to leave this here: apparently a way to help would also be to help in agriculture. Due to thousands of seasonal workers staying at home in their own countries, our german agriculture needs people helping with the harvest and stuff. Also to answer your deal with the three saxonys to the best of my knowledge: As far as I know, Lower Saxony (which is called lower saxony because it is LOWER - not on the map but in relation to sealevel^^) is where the actual saxons lived. You know the saxon people who at some point in time moved to England to mix and become the Anglo-Saxons? They come from that region in the northwest of germany. Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt have the name from the "Electorate" and "Kingdom of Saxony". This is a bit overly complicated to explain all in a short comment, so to keep it as short as possible. At some point in time the Duchy of Saxony grew so much that it took over parts of today's Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. Later on it split into different parts due to complicated succession rules and as the result of a series of events the title of the "Electorate of Saxony" was granted to the eastern part NOT the western part were the actual saxon people traditionally lived. Later on the new Electorate and Kingdom of Saxony had again grown and merged with several other areas among which is today's saxony. And a few years later threw more complicated succession the duchy was again split into two parts essentially Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, of which ultimately only the most eastern part (today's Saxony) was given the honor of the electorate. When Napoleon came and ended the Holy Roman Empire, today's Saxony then became the Kingdom of Saxony. Meanwhile when the prussians took over the region around today's "Saxony-Anhalt" they aptly named the area "Saxony" not really caring for the fact that there was the "Kingdom of Saxony" right next to it. Hope that could help.
I am from the cheerful and talkative area, so no need to feel offended at all. By the way you seem to think that Cologne belongs to Nordrhein Westfalen but it is actually in the heart of what is called the Rheinland and that area is described as having people that are cheerful, outgoing, talkative and very cosy (gemütlich). Cologne fits that description. The city is known for its carnaval just like München is known for the Oktoberfest. The more bleek description of low income people is north of Cologne and fits was is called "das Ruhrgebiet". A very densely populated area with a lot of industry.
There is this beautiful area in southern Brandburg called the Spreewald (Spree River going through a nature protected area where there are not even cars allowed), and they are famous for their pickles... they go by boat through the channels with old barges like in venice, kind of... definitly interesting... "Paddeln im Spreewald" you should check it out :-) de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spreew%C3%A4lder_Gurken
To be quite honest... I'm from NRW and I have to say I'm not even offended by 'rude'. We just have this VERY dry humor and don't beat around the bush that much so we'll give it to you straight. That being said I much prefer people being honest and telling me the truth right away to bitching behind my back. But I grew up around that attitude and got used to it so I do get why people might get offended by the directness.
Pickles on the Christmas tree really surprised me as a supposed German thing. I live in Germany and nobody I know does that, we did it the last two years because we wanted to bring something American into the festivities xD
Greetings from neighboring Aalen! I'm not offended at all: As a Franconian (Franconia is the northern part of bavaria) living in Baden-Württemberg, I can confirm all stereotypes about the Swabians 😂
I think you got that right. As a german i can definitely confirm that we have tons of stereotypes for certain regions within our own country. Are there so many in the US? I know about some for sure, but would you say there are as many?
And no one lives in the actual city, because it is too expensive. People only go there to work and then drive back to their homes in the surrounding towns. ;)
Whenever you have "Upper" or "Lower" in Germany, it's always about elevation. Saxony has mountains, Lower Saxony has mostly plains and the coast. Upper Bavaria has the Alps, Lower Bavaria has the Danube (also some smaller mountains in the Bavarian forest but you get the point).
Brandenburg "irrelevant" . . . Me: *cries in Mecklenburg Western Pomerania" not even mentioned in the video . . . I'm a bit offended by that, I mean we have one of our two coasts :D
Speaking about accents: When I got of the plane in Greenville, SC for the first time in the mid 90's, I thought I took the wrong plane and landed in Siberia......
The thing with the pickles on the christmas tree is that the child who founds the pickle first, is allowed to open up the first present. My family isnt going with this, but I´ve heard that it is a tradition by my friends families. Very weird actually xD
4 года назад+9
I am a German from NRW and was not offended at all. I was amused and entertained. Well done.
Actually this is a compliment since people in Schleswig-Holstein are ranking as No.1 on the happiness index, nearly as happy as the Danes who are the happiest on earth.
Beside the hipster club-mate-drinking vegan Berliner (who was not born here) there is also the native Berliner : a grumpy , meat loving , beer drinking person which likes to remember the good old times when Berlin was not cool, you could drive and park everywhere (for free ) and the the rent was cheap. :)
8:50 it is true. When you take the ICE from Cologne to Berlin the last stop before Berlin is still in Lower-Saxony, either Hannover or Wolfsburg. Behind Wolfsburg the train just pulls through as if there was nothing (Brandenburg) in-between.
The thing is as a “Kölsche jung” (someone from Cologne) I can definitely confirm the stereotypes shown. Yes we are cheerful and we are also rude. But in a way that you always know where you stand with us. When we like you you’ll know it and we can be one of the friendliest people in Germany. But when we don’t like you you’ll also know that and we are not afraid to show that. But to be disliked by us you really have to fuck shit up.
Can confirm. I am a Siegerländer, and we are known to be grumpy mountain dwellers, yet there seems to be a weird attraction about our both sides, the laid back, nice and talkative Kölsche in a rather sunny region and the grumpy, reserved and focused ppl from a rather rainy part of Ger.
Feeling slightly offended, but very much entertained, too. 😄 Happens quite often when Americans talk about Germany. Hope, nobody feels too offended by that statement either. 😄 Nice video!
I visited Berlin and Munich this past Summer. I was amazed at how different the two cities were. Berlin was like anything goes. Munich was beautiful and clean, but the people were pretty uptight when it came to rules that are not that big of a deal to Americans. We were on a train and my daughter was sitting cross-cross-apple-sauce (Indian style) and the train worker told her to put her feet down. Then we were in a restaurant and my daughter had an itch on her ankle. She lifted her foot up and scratched her ankle. A lady next to us got bugged at her. People seemed to be in everyone else’s business. We did love the visit to Munich though. Very clean and beautiful with a rich history. If I had to choose, I would rather live in Munich even if they are a little more rigid then I am used to.
Thueringan is a very old german land that had an important role strengthen early frankish empire. Hesse was part of Thueringan that's why they share same lion symbol born by relation to lions of Lothringen Brabant.
9:40 that confusion exist in Bavaria as well; there are 7 administrative districts in Bavarian, and 2 of them are called “upper Bavaria” and “lower Bavaria”. Upper Bavaria is south, while lower Bavaria is north. Confusing right? But “upper” and lower” doesn’t refer to the geographical place in this case; it’s about the landscape itself being higher. In upper Bavaria you find mountains which is an indicator for landscapes being higher, whereas in lower Bavaria there aren’t mountains and therefore it’s literally lower. And that’s with every “upper” and “lower” names. Just think about the landscape, not the geographic, and then it makes sense. :)
Some history lessons were already done here about Saxony. But If you want to count them like NALF you have to add NOT 1 Anglo-Saxony but 4 of them. Because there are: Wessex, Middlesex, Essex and Sussex which stands for West-, Middle-, East- and South-Saxony. Together with the German ones there are 7 !! areas. OMG - much to much Saxony in the World. 😱
ROFL - This is quite accurate 👍😊 Greetinga from a Düsseldorf born, former exchange student in the U.S., having studied and worked in Cologne, Bonn and Berlin.
Re: Pickles on Christmas trees - yes they do exist - we have them on ours for 5 years. The Tradition of pickles (not actual ones, made of glass or plastic) on a Christmas tree delevoped in the city of Oldenburg, where my father is from. Initially it was a really local hype among youngsters. For a few years now, the retail chain Nanu Nana, (headquarter in Oldenburg) started selling them in all of their shops in Germany, so the pickle thing is now known in many parts of Germany. You are welcome!
Kerstinola Oh my goodness. I heard this was a custom from the US to hide a christmas pickle in the tree. But now you telling me about the headquarters of nanu nana there I totally believe you. Strike!!! Finally got that pickle mystery solved :-D
I'd be super interested to see you discuss a map of the US and learn about the stereotypes that you guys have about the different states. Love your videos by the way :)
Right Hessen still exists .... its important if you live in the south and want to go north (or vise versa) or live west and want to travel east (or vise vers). just dont stop in Hessen not rly anything there i belive :P
@natalie storm ja aber bis auf Frankfurt ist Hessen schon vernachlässigbar. Und da ich auch seit 2Jahren in FfM wohne, muss ich halt auch einfach sagen, es gibt keinen widerlicheren Ort in ganz Europa als diesen Hauptbahnhof
Slightly offended. Don't understand the "hillbilly" part of Bavaria. I have only visited twice but, I would call the majority of people there traditionalists. They take pride in their heritage and old world traditions. I visit during Oktoberfest and love the lederhosen, dirndls and music. Maybe because they hold on to these traditions it makes them "hillbillies". I hope they never give it up! As for pickles on the Christmas tree, I am of Polish and German decent and never heard of this until one year a German friend of mine invited a bunch of people over at Christmas and told us that the first person to find the pickle on the tree got a gift. Don't know if that is a German tradition but it was fun. Thanks for the wonderful videos. I love Germany and if I would have visited many years ago I may be living there.
At a student party in 1993, an acquaintance of the German computer scientist Achim Held, then a computer science student in Kiel, slipped out the sentence "That's not possible" when someone from Bielefeld stood opposite him. The idea of a corresponding conspiracy was further spun in the environment of Held, to whom a reader of esoteric magazines also belonged. The fact that in autumn 1993 the motorway exits to Bielefeld were temporarily closed due to major construction work also played a role in this The first known public mention of the Bielefeld conspiracy came from Held and was published on 16 May 1994 on Usenet in the newsgroup de.talk.bizarre. Held's intention was to ridicule common conspiracy theories. ]The choice of the city was coincidental
The reason why so many people hate the 1. FC Bayern is because they just buy so many good football players from other clubs instead of cultivating their own talent. That's how they gained a reputation for buying the championships instead of winning them fair and square.
I'm not even a football fan but, yes, that's my perception of them. They're like a rich kid buying its way through school and college. It's like buying a catalogue wife instead of make someone love you. But the most annoying thing is when they respond to that antipathy with "you're just jealous". Aaaaah!!!
By „rude“ in NRW they mean people from the Ruhrgebiet or in slang „Pott“ or „Ruhepott“ area. It’s Cities like Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund, Bochum. It used to be mostly coal and steel industry back in the days. Köln and Düsseldorf People behave differently.
Not really Hanoverian dialect. It was only declared the the Hanoverian pronunciation of high german is the most understandable one. The original native dialect was ( like everywhere in north gernany) low german.
Ich schreib es Dir mal auf Deutsch, Du Must jetzt ganz tapfer sein, wir sprechen alle sächsisch. Das was wir heute als Hochdeutsch bezeichnen, und welches am deutlichsten zu sprechen, sich die Hannoveraner rühmen, entstand erst durch die Bibelübersetzung Martin Luthers. Die deutsche Sprache die Luther verwendete, war das, was man als sächsisches Kanzleideutsch bezeichnet, angereichert durch farbenprächtige Sprachbilder, die Luther den „Volk vom Maul“ abschaute. Erst diese Übersetzung stellte die Blaupause für eine einheitliche deutsche Sprache dar, da sie im ganzen deutschen Sprachraum, selbst in den katholischen Gebieten, als Grundlage benutzt wurde, um lesen und schreiben zu lernen. Luthers Bibelübersetzung ist die eigentliche Geburt der deutschen Sprache. Somit babblen wir also heutzutage also alle sächsch.
@@dikon0172 Stimmt, nur die Sachsen haben in der Zwischenzeit verlernt richtig sächsisch zu reden und sind jetzt eher in einer Mischung aus west-polnisch und simplem Grunzen unterwegs, passend für die NSAFD halt.
Soordhin , naja, als Westdeutscher höre ich die aber immer noch lieber,( und verstehe sie auch besser) als jene wilden Bergstämme, welche nördlich der Schweizer Grenze leben. 😂 Was allerdings weniger mit meiner politischen Einstellung zu tun hat😏
As a Hesse, I'm surprised that you didn't mention Hesse properly. Hesse is like a mixture of the southern states (wealthy) and some northern or Eastern culture habits.
Well everyone feels like they should be treated independantly ;). I can tell you this even holds true for smaller states like Saxony-Anhalt. Even here are other parts of the state being stereotyped.
As a German, i have to say this is super funny and it matches most of the stereotypes i have about my country! It is very cool of you to make these kinds of videos and i thoroughly enjoy them! Subscribed!
Like your vids... and agree with the statement, that the best part is the south. But I like the differences, and at the end of the day we are Europeans.
I lived in the Rhine valley between Baden-Baden and Freiburg near a city called Lahr many year ago. In a small village on the narrow plains between the Rhine and the Black Forest. The difference between the people that lived in the plains and the people that lived in the mountains was striking. People in the plains were farmers and were poorer. They tended to be baptist or to be from more conservative groups where in the mountain they were mainly Catholics. I was astonish that a few kilometers made such a difference. Also if you ever go back to the Freiburg area try beer from the Rothaus Brauerei. You don't find it everywhere but it is on of the best beer on tap in Germany.
It is really not a stereotype that people in Hannover are speak the correct German, they just do. They don't have a dialect or to put it differently: their dialect was chosen to be the correct German. Didn't watch the video where they explained why, just accepted it.
In Thueringen we have the famous „Wartburg“, where the monk Martín Luther translated the Bible into German in the 16th century. And you gotta definitely check out the sausages here! Best taste you‘ll get in the eastern part of our state. We call it „Roster“ here (short for Rostbratwurst - grill fried sausage).
Damn. As a Bremer this was rough @NALF. We have our own history and faught for and bought our independence. PS: Bremen used to be one of the richest staates. Even before the German nation came up. As of late, the taxsystem fcked us. (basicly in the 70s taxes were changed. people would pay income taxes where they live instead of where they work (lower saxony), financial taxes would be payed where the bank is from (Frankfurt) and buisness taxes would be payed where the main headquaters are (Biggest employer is Mercedes with its factory in Bremen, so we basicly pay for Baden-Württembergs wealth) Hope that was some helpful inside. Also Bremen is pretty beautiful and has some really nice spots, including europes biggest city park and we have the 3rd biggst german folksfest. If you want to learn more: www.bremen.de/tourismus/stadt-leute/geschichte
I agree with you on the beautiful spots here and there in Bremen, but navigating though the city is just catastrophic. Wolfsburg, Braunschweig and Cologne are not that much better. Berlin is like attempted suicide in that regard. Hanover on the other hand is relatively easy to drive in. Greetings from Hameln (The city with probably the longest process in Germany of trying to build a beltway to lessen the impact of traffic to the city - earliest mentions date back pre WW2!)
@@hieler-de not actualy true. It would be more expensive Overall. There has been a lot of research in that topic. Stil even Cultural this would never happen.
I giggeled all through the video, i liked the Bremen stereotype the most. But i was nearly offended that my state didn't had the stereotype "indiffrent", but then i thought "who cares?".
Brandenburg Concertos by Bach, Check out #2 for the trumpet part. Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Brandenburgers, German special forces in WW II (avoid in dark alleys, or anywhere else)
The moment you called my hometown a "green communist hipster ghetto" ... you hit the nail so perfectly, that i was laughing to tears. Thanks man, you made my day.
It's true: Hanoverians speak accent free german or " Hochdeutsch" - and there is not much else to talk about the city... But nevertheless it's the capital of Lower Saxony which is the most diversified federal state in Germany in terms of landscapes from the coastal regions at the North Sea to the low mountain ranges in the Hartz and the Weser Uplands with its beautiful castles.
The self-attributed accent-freeness of Hanover city is just a legend. Ask them to pronounce the following words: "Elf, Kirsche, Pferd" - I bet my left testicle they will say "Ölf, Kürsche, Fehad".
Pickles: the region is called „Spreewald“ (Spree is a river, Wald is forest). The Spreewald is famous for its pickles. They are made there. Why? I don‘t know. Maybe its a well suited soil in this Brandenburg region.
Could have needed more roommates like that 😀 Basically we still live in tribes, which are also the foundation for several nations that later were put together to create Germany as a Nation. As those tribes had very different living conditions and cultures und political and economical conditions back than, which is why we still have some of those regional traits today. I am a mixture of the wine-drinker with speech impediment (well, basically I am speaking Hochdeutsch with some sparkles of dialects) and the mediterranean. The best reagion is still Baden! The origin was a students party where someone noticed that he doesn't believe that bielefeld exists when he met someone from there, but nobody else in the room ever was in Bielefeld, which somehow bekame a running gag. Unfortunatly the page is german, but consider it as a exercise in german ^^ de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bielefeld-Verschw%C3%B6rung Lower saxony is called lower saxony because it indeed was historically speaking. The modern saxony has nothing to do with the historical saxons of the early medieval times besides the name. Which is if I am not wrong because saxony became itÄ's name because of some marriages between the nobles. But I would have to look that up for the details. I comment better late than never :2
"offend all Germans"? Challenge accepted. If I may speak on behalf of all Germans, it's really hard to offend us - we're our own worst critics.
Könnte nicht mehr zustimmen!
In fact, it is pretty easy to wind Germans up - just make a joke about us ... we won't laugh but instead irritatedly tell you that things are inaccurate
Bavarians will say they are not offended - it’s not Germany.
FranHunne no that‘s wrong.
@@franhunne8929
You are so right.
Quite frankly, I'm offended this wasn't more offensive.
Baden-Württemberg's slogan: "Wir können alles. Außer Hochdeutsch"
"We can do everything. Except speaking standard German"
Well actually we can - we just don't want to
Coco Ïou Harrison 🤣🤣🤣
I'm from the deep deep south (Allgäu), and my father usually says to our lovely visitors from the northern parts of Germany that "it must be a matter of intelligence (for you to not understand me) as I understand you perfectly". Can be applied to most interactions between high-german and dialect speakers...
@@hanszimmer9224 Ich komme aus NRW und unsere Firma hat auch einen Sitz in Stuttgart und Villingen-Schwenningen und viele der Kollegen versuchen sich zwar an Hochdeutsch, aber ich verstehe sie trotzdem nicht. :D Manche schaffen es, aber man hört trotzdem das sie aus BW kommen :D
@@annamo9354 That's what people in Scotland say about other UK people.
The "pickle on the christmas tree" is actually really funny, I've heard a lot of americans talk about how germans do that (supposedly), but I've never seen a german do that 😂
the family of a friend of mine actually does that, but they imported it from the US after they have spent christmas over there one year
my mom started doing it when she heard about that stereotype in GB :D
We do that since basically ever.
Diana42 The Tradition of pickles on a Christmas tree delevoped in the city of Oldenburg, where my father is from. It was a really local hype among youngsters.
For a few years now, the retail chain Nanu Nana, (headquarter in Oldenburg) started selling them in all of their shops in Germany, so the pickle thing is now known in many parts of Germany.
@@kerstinola6141 thank you for explaining! I live in south germany, maybe the tradition isn't as big here. But you're right, baubles in the shape of pickles are being sold in every Christmas store :)
It is called lower saxony because technically it is "lower" (speaking of sea level).
That doesn't explain Niederbayern (Lower Bavaria) where virtually every square acre is above the sea level...
@@InTeCredo But it's lower and flatter than Oberbayern (Upper Bavaria), so... it works
right, lower and higher are not latitude terms, they are altitude terms.
As far as I know, the lower and upper terms come from geographical reference points. So either from the general height Level (sea level) or for example from a river, as in Upper Austria and Lower Austria (above and below the river Enns).
Interestingly, what is today "Saxony" wasn't Saxon at all in historic times. The Saxons as a family of Germanic tribes lived in northwestern Germany, i.e. in much of what is actually Lower Saxony today, and in parts of the Netherlands. It was only through late medieval power politics between German kings and other rulers that what would later become the state of Saxony was annexed by the Saxons.
As a rhenish guy I feel highly offended that we are considered as rude... for most germans know that the people in Berlin are the rudest in all of Germany 😉😁
Living in Berlin for family matters I agree absolutely.
Arrogant, verwöhnt, überkandidelt...oh die Berliner.
@@susannabonke8552 was ist überkandidelt? 😂
@@jonahhumkamp1032 na ich als "Westdeutsche" ( bin Nordfriesin ) wunderte mich, daß geklagt wird: Mieten, die künstlich niedrig waren, langsam bundesdeutschen Standards entsprechen. Das war in der "BRD" normal. Und dann im Kaufhaus: jehnse ma dahinten . ( als Bedienung)...komisches Volk.
Shithole Berlin !! ..
Peter, you´re absolutely right. One day in Cologne and we all know how friendly people can be. One day in Berlin and you breath deeply not to kick somebody in the face.
What are u talkin about? There is no Bielefeld.
Please stop with rumors.
Eddie Bracco 😂
Spot on, sir. There definately is no Bielefeld.
My home town is Münster and I can definitly confirm that Bielefeld doesn't exist 😎
Greetings from Hamm.
@@andrep.3774 I always knew Spiegel was one of *THEM* !!!
Hi Nalf, I am a German and I am not offended at all. You show so much empathy for my country that I am grateful. It is good to have you here. Regards from Berlin.
There is a simple explanation to the Bielefeld joke:
_They_ want you to believe that it is only a joke that Bielefeld does not exist. So in order to undermine all the valid skepticism about its existence, _they_ are claiming that it is all some sort of meme that goes around. It's quite clever, but you shouldn't fall for that tactic.
😂
I was born there. For some mysterious reason I only have fragmentary memories of my time there, though...
Again and again I'm astonished by the fact what our government, school book publishing houses etc etc did to convince us all that "Bielefeld" exists.
Not to mention the psychological master minds that could convince @Sampler19 and many more people that they were "born" there...
Wow! Wow! Wow!
This answer is simply not correct. Bielefeld just doesn't exist!
Am Arsch der Welt in Bielefeld
Sees title:
Dieter hol die Buchse raus, wir gehen Amies jagen.
Hans! GET ZE FLAMMENWERFER!
Ick stelle mir dit jerade im berlinerischen vor und dit macht dat noch viel lustiger.
Sebastian Eiselt that‘s exactly what I wanted to write here 😂
Denk daran um achte zum Abendessen zurück zu sein, Günter. (XD)
He is really tame. Might as well be canadian.
It seems, that NALF also thinks, that Mecklenburg-Vorpommern doesn't exist. 😂
Literally the only thing that "offended" me :D I'm not from there, but studied there, so I was curious and he ignored it COMPLETELY xD
I don't live in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern or haven't even been there - but I really missed it / the landscape and people not being mentioned.
Niedersachsen is the original Saxony.
The Freestate of Sachsen is just called that way because of aristocrat lineage. It was called Mark Meißen before that 😏
Fun fact: Westfalia is the former Western part of the original Saxony.
Therefore the name...
@@frankthetank5708 and there are more "saxonies" ...
just like the usa have "new" towns named after Amsterdam, York, Orleans,
there is an island to the northwest which is the land of the angle-saxons :-)
@@Anson_AKB
Yes, but that are the kingdom and principalities of Wessex, Sussex and Essex.
The old colonies... 😎
Good job! This is to answer the question: Bremen - why? After WW II the american troops stayed in the southern area, the north was under british occupation. The american forces needed a harbour to supply their troops, but there is no sea-harbour in the southern region. Then Bremerhaven was chosen to be the "american port" and Hamburg was used by the british. The city of Bremen and Bremerhaven have throughout history been independent from the surrounding parts that now are lower saxonary. Bremen has a very long tradition as beeing an importent part of the Hanseatic League (Hamburg also was, but of less importance). After WW II the victorious powers rebuild Germany, east and west seperated. But for the independent Cities of Bremen and Hamburg, it stayed the way it was. By the way, there is a rivalry between two cities - Hamburg and Bremen! Hamburg still today is very british, some would say nosy (stereotype!) ...
What is Bielefeld? I live in NRW, but never saw or heard of it... maybe you should do more research bevore uploading...
Roflmao....
Bielefeld is the German Area 51 😂
Just meaning it drowns out in its own mediocrity!
Shout-Out to OWL:
Rest of NRW is not getting tired of it!
@@ruemue4831 Richtig 😂
The uni there looks like an airport. Hmmm... maybe....
Wenn Frankreich nicht wär läg's Saarland am Meer.
Saarland isn't french, France is saarländish.
Dann kam wohl Napoleon nur nicht vom Zigarettenholen zurück :)
Sage ich bestimmt jedem meiner französischen Arbeitskollegen...3 mal wöchentlich :-D
nicht wirklich, da wäre doch noch Lothringen zwischen ;)
Und tät die Pflalz nicht sein läg‘s auch am Rhein.
Jetzt basse mol uff du saarlärner, des geht schon mol garnet sowas zu babble. ☺️😁
11:40 actually there is 4 Saxonys: Saxony, Lower Saxony, Saxony Anhalt and Anglo Saxony. The latter established the Kingdom of England.. Its not that important tho ;)
But saxony and saxony Anhalt for me are not saxons the just stole the name, for me the are not even Germanic, the are Slavic. There was just one King from the saxons. I came from the mean region of the saxons “Gau Haduloha” and we are proud to be saxons and for our history and culture.
@@metaboy7218 i wouldnt say slavic but yeah they stole the name
@@TS29er Well the Electorate Title of Duke of Saxony went to the Royal Ruler of Meissen for some reason ... if you consider that stealing ... ;)
@Sergoroth but only three Saxonies left in Europe.
Made my day!
Very nice video - thanks 🙂 Just to help you with the "lower" and "upper" in our geography: This does not refer to southern or northern but to the altitude vs. seas level. What always helps is the direction rivers run. E.g. they run from Oberbayern (upper Bavaria) to Niederbayern (lower Bavaria).
The only thing offending me was you correcting football into soccer several times :D
How could a sport be called football when you kick the ball maybe like a dozen times and the rest of the game you do something completely different. In the real football the goal keeper alone kicks the ball more often.
I think American Football developed like this:
Some people though it would be fun to have a game where you just kick the ball wit the foot. So they asked a guy to make a ball. It didn't work out very well with the shape of the ball and it was really difficult to handle it with the foot. So they decided that you could also carry the ball and run with it, which became the more preferred way of playing. But in the end they forgot to rename the game.
Yeah, well, NALF did it for American viewers who think their game is "Football" when it should be called "American Rugby"
@@jayeff6712 Egg with hands
Dude you know more about Germany than me. I was always pretty ashamed of being German because all I hear on the internet was "Nazi with bad English and creepy language haha funny" and I kind of hated it, so when I discovered your channel it was just really refreshing.
I love the fact that you and your friends take so much time to explore Germany and even its daily life. It's just great to see people enjoy the little things in countries once foreign to them and the roasting is always a funny moment for me because there's many things that catch me off guard since I didn't know them yet.
Your videos helped me become a little more proud to be German, thank you.
Not offended at all: Everything is accurate
Yupp, our love for accuracy overides being offended.
@@veranicus6696 So simma halt.
❤
he said that hanover is a part of lower saxoni im as offendet as i can be
those pepole are no niedersachsen they speak hochdeutsch we speak platt
ಠ︵ಠ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ
Thanks for the upload - had a good laugh. The Bielefeld story is quite easy explained. It started as a joke on a student party and went on at the Usenet. So pretty old already. Guess most ppl do not even know the Usenet anymore.
Regarding the different saxons, that's historical wise. A typical approach to explain the difference is with the dialects and the kingdoms they originate from. Considering that germany is build up from many many small counties and kingdoms, we can be proud to have only 16 federal states.
2:35 definitely true. Germany is the Heart of Europe where many cultures come together. That's why Germans number 1 travel destination is Germany itself; even before Spain or Italy (The Newspaper RP wrote that). And that's also the reason why Germans are sick about the American Stereotype that we are all Bavarian 😂
Rheinische Pest?
Funny, because most of the German immigrants to the US came from the Pfalz....
"most germans speak english", so Germans travel to Germany on holiday as most Germans speak English? might want to check that logic.
I work in national parks in the US. Germans definitely get out to our national parks more than others, and considering the population the Dutch get around the US also. I'm in New York City now and of course EVERYONE comes here, and everyone lives here already.
Reason is that most americans in Germany were american soldiers that had its "american sector" in Bavaria after WWII. The British soldiers were more in northern germany.
When I lived in Germany, it was divided and I never went to the east side. I spent a lot of time at OP Alpha guarding the border while stationed in Fulda. It was said that Fulda had more churches than Gasthauses. But we went to Frankfurt a lot and Nurenburg. I never made it to Munich. Amsterdam was fun. I was kind of wild back then. Typical GI on weekend pass. You get the picture.
I enjoy your videos. Be well.
Well, Lower Saxony is more or less the original Saxony. The other parts got the name later as the rulers of the original spread their power.
Fun fact: Germany is still called Saksa in Finland
can confirm. And Saxony-Anhalt is mostly the former duchy of Anhalt with a slice of the former duchy/kingdom of Saxony (borders changed quite a lot over the last say 200 years)
Also another fun fact: considering there's a north saxon county of ... well, "North Saxony" (Nordsachsen) and the other three (Ost-/Süd-/Westsachsen / Essex/Wessex/Sussex) are situated in south east England, it's actually the southernmost of the four :D
This is one of the most interesting channels I have ever stumbled upon. It is so interesting to learn about Germany from an outside perspective.
You missed the Most important fact about Bavaria, northern Bavaria isn't Bavaria 😬
An offended franconian.
Even here in S-H we know that.
and there are THREE (3) versions of Franconia!!! WTF (just like Saxony, ha?)😬
@@Cowboy-in-a-Pink-Stetson Actually, there's even more. The whole north-eastern part of BW is called Region Heilbronn-Franken for historic reasons and due to the dialects spoken here (a mixture of some Alemannic like Swabian and a good portion of East and South Franconian).
The comment I was searching for!
Also parts of thuringia are frankish
I guess what was missing here: As bavarians always like to point out how wealthy they are and how good there educational system is, many germans think that they're generally arrogant - Not only in terms of football. Of course, when they drunk a lot of beer they're fun to party with. Also I guess the reason why southern germans are often characterized as beeing rural and wealthy is because before all the car companies have settled down with their headquarters over there, they've been mostly known for their agriculture. Industry and engineering was mostly in North Rhine Westphalias Rhein Ruhr Area, which is now the Detroit of germany and therefore called poor (some even think that the air is still dirty, but that's not the case anymore). I find it funny that some people think that people in NRW are more rude than in other german regions. I guess that could maybe be because of the westphalians, they're characterized as beeing reserved (especially if you ask colognians, which are also known for partys because of the carneval).
The only thing that's offending me is that after all this time in Germany you still can't count to three properly :D The rest of the video was hilarious!
Ja, man müsste ihm eigentlich dafür die Finger brechen! 😈 + 🤤+ 😂
You canˋt put bavaria with Baden-Württemberg and Switzerland. Bavaria, Austria and Tirol would be fine. Greetings on our cultural brothers from Bavarian 😂😂👍🍻🥨
fairerweise muss man sagen, dass NIEMAND auf der Welt und dem umliegenden Universum so zählt wie er heute in diesem Video :-D
@@MickeyKnox True that ;)
Well i am one of the 5 persons who startet the Bielefeld hoax in 1991. It was the World without www. Well in Hamburg there is one of the universitys of the Bundeswehr (armed forces of germany). And in 1991 the bundesautobahn A2 had a hell of a road work for nearly 2 years at Bielefeld. And some of the studends from the southern parts of Germany had to stand hours in the traffic jam at Bielefeld. On their way from home back to the university. Well there was this motorway exit sign where the name Bielefeld was crossed out with red tape. Well you are in the age now so you will imagine what bored young men in a car in a traffic jam with no mobiles will do. We shoot some photos (analog camera). And started to discuss why the name Bielefeld was crossed out with red tape. It also happened that one of us had run a black board at the University. That is something like a web side before the www internet you know. We all had so much fun discussing the differend possibilities why Bielefeld was crossed out, that we digitaised the Foto and put it on our black board. Than we programmed something that today would be a chat.
Within less than a week we had a lot of problems, because the server and the telefon connection could not cope with the amount of people who whant to take part in the Bielefeld discussions.
I am not sure but i think it was in 1993 or 1994 that the student who cared for the Bielefeld black board left the university and become an navy officer in Kiel. As much as i know he gave the data from the black board to someone who used it to create a http web side that started in 1995 the word wide hoax of Bielefeld. Well it didn't start the ailen landing and the "Die" for all who opposed the hoax, but it really spread the Bielefeld hoax from Germany to the rest of the world.
Now it is something like the Bremen underground rail way or the flat earth theory. A really funny joke no one can get out of the web. I apologize for starting this. Today i know a lot of people who come from Bielefeld and some are even born there. But looking back i have to say that i would do it again. It was too much fun not to do it.
Die DB hat oder zumindest einen ähnlichen Hinweis: Auf dem Abfahrtsplan Bochum Hbf waren beim RE nach Minden zwar Gütersloh und Herford erwähnt, nicht aber das dazwischenliegende Bielefeld, obwohl das ja deutlich mehr Einwohner haben soll.
Not offended, buuuut the lower saxony being more north is because of elevation in respect to sea level.
A side note on that one: there is a tongue in cheek going round with the districts in Bavaria: why is upper Bavaria (Oberbayern) south of lower Bavaria (Niederbayern), but upper Franconia (Oberfranken) is north of under Franconia (Unterfranken). - because Franconias can read a F*CK*NG compass!
Ah I love it, - that Franconians again. Bavarians SAY they are better than anyone, Franconians KNOW it. No need to say it all the time.
Naja, vui mehr highlights gibt‘s dann in Franken a nimma
Explanation for the Bielefeld joke:
There has been a college party in Kiel in 1993 and one of the guests was from Bielefeld. The others haven't ever been to Bielefeld so one dropped the sentence: " _Bielefeld? Das gibt's doch gar nicht!_ " (Bielefeld doesn't exist).
An IT-specialist named Achim Held started to spread this "joke" using the "Usenet" in 1994 treating it more like a conspiracy theory. That's how it all started and spread since then, but the Major of Bielefeld now started a campagne for finally getting rid of that bad joke haha^^
> _The Major of Bielefeld started a campaign..._
Rather the mayor, isn't it?
Dont tell everybody in Baden-Württemberg, they have a "swabian accent". 50 km west of you, you would get killed for such a sentence. And even where you live, it is "Hohenlohe-fränkisch", but not swabian...
...haha, right. And here in the deep South we are speaking Alemanic, not Swabian. Sometimes the Swiss people call us (to tease us) "Swabians". - What an insult! We are "Badeners" not Swabians. :-)
Tardis in space But swabian is part of alemanic. It is a sub dialect of the alemanic group dialect.
In my teens, I spent every year a month with my bavarian penpal, 2 weeks with my family and 2 with her in SMÜ (Schwabmünchen) just south of Augsburg. And I spoke a quiet good german with a weird swabian accent ! It's in the Swabia Distrct of Bavaria :D My host family spoke swabisch and hochdeutsch and my brother, 2 roads away was in a family from München who spoke bayrisch. So we didn't speak german with the same accent, but our 2 family had a strong bayrisch feeling. ( We learned a lot of jokes about people of the nord east Germany ! :D I'm not sure it was jokes in fact ! ).
@@12tanuha21 : Haha - imho you´re right. But Swabians say that they speak a different dialect, which is not related to Alemanic language and they are a different tribe. ....and that they have been first here in Southern Germany, before the Alemanic tribes arrived. Scandal! Which is imho not true. "We" have been here about 100-200 years before! :-)
Btw: I like Swabians, I lived in Albstadt Ebingen and Böblingen/Stuttgart for a couple of years. I had a great time there, with great people. ...and I have to admit, after staying there: Now I´m a proud owner of a "Spätzlepresse" (a Swabian pasta press for Spaetzle).
However their doubledutch is called - nobody understands them. No foreigners and no germans.
The lower Saxony question took me on a wild ride. I instinctively thought it's because of the lower elevation, but I was mistaken.
From what I now learnt: The name comes from the language. In the 12th century a duke of Saxony got "dethroned" and the next duke of Saxony moved from todays lower Saxony to (I believe) todays Saxony and split thens Saxony into two.
In approx. the 14th century people wanted to differentiate the two. Because the duke of Saxony wasn't living in todays lower Saxony anymore, it made sense to rename it.
Now the people there speak in the accent "Plattdeutsch", also called "Niederdeutsch" = low german.
Hence the name lower Saxony originates from the accent 'low german'.
If you really read into the topic you see once again the massively complex history of Germany and Europe in general.
There is actually a geographic component about the "low" in "low German", though many forget about it these days! Mostly because we say "Hochdeutsch" - "High German" when we mean "Standard German", many people forgot about the origin of it, I believe. Basically, it's about being close to the "Hoher Rhein" - "High Rhine", in Southern Germany and Switzerland, or to the "Nieder Rhein" - "Lower Rhein", in Northern Germany and the Netherlands, low meaning closer to the ocean. That's where even the name of the Netherlands comes from, literally the "Lowlands", and the Dutch language is very closely related to "Niederdeutsch".
Just to leave this here: apparently a way to help would also be to help in agriculture. Due to thousands of seasonal workers staying at home in their own countries, our german agriculture needs people helping with the harvest and stuff.
Also to answer your deal with the three saxonys to the best of my knowledge:
As far as I know, Lower Saxony (which is called lower saxony because it is LOWER - not on the map but in relation to sealevel^^) is where the actual saxons lived. You know the saxon people who at some point in time moved to England to mix and become the Anglo-Saxons? They come from that region in the northwest of germany. Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt have the name from the "Electorate" and "Kingdom of Saxony". This is a bit overly complicated to explain all in a short comment, so to keep it as short as possible. At some point in time the Duchy of Saxony grew so much that it took over parts of today's Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. Later on it split into different parts due to complicated succession rules and as the result of a series of events the title of the "Electorate of Saxony" was granted to the eastern part NOT the western part were the actual saxon people traditionally lived. Later on the new Electorate and Kingdom of Saxony had again grown and merged with several other areas among which is today's saxony. And a few years later threw more complicated succession the duchy was again split into two parts essentially Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, of which ultimately only the most eastern part (today's Saxony) was given the honor of the electorate. When Napoleon came and ended the Holy Roman Empire, today's Saxony then became the Kingdom of Saxony. Meanwhile when the prussians took over the region around today's "Saxony-Anhalt" they aptly named the area "Saxony" not really caring for the fact that there was the "Kingdom of Saxony" right next to it.
Hope that could help.
I am from the cheerful and talkative area, so no need to feel offended at all. By the way you seem to think that Cologne belongs to Nordrhein Westfalen but it is actually in the heart of what is called the Rheinland and that area is described as having people that are cheerful, outgoing, talkative and very cosy (gemütlich). Cologne fits that description. The city is known for its carnaval just like München is known for the Oktoberfest. The more bleek description of low income people is north of Cologne and fits was is called "das Ruhrgebiet". A very densely populated area with a lot of industry.
There is this beautiful area in southern Brandburg called the Spreewald (Spree River going through a nature protected area where there are not even cars allowed), and they are famous for their pickles... they go by boat through the channels with old barges like in venice, kind of... definitly interesting... "Paddeln im Spreewald" you should check it out :-) de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spreew%C3%A4lder_Gurken
As a Schleswig-Holsteiner I have to say I am a bit offended.
To be quite honest... I'm from NRW and I have to say I'm not even offended by 'rude'.
We just have this VERY dry humor and don't beat around the bush that much so we'll give it to you straight.
That being said I much prefer people being honest and telling me the truth right away to bitching behind my back.
But I grew up around that attitude and got used to it so I do get why people might get offended by the directness.
Pickles on the Christmas tree really surprised me as a supposed German thing. I live in Germany and nobody I know does that, we did it the last two years because we wanted to bring something American into the festivities xD
Greetings from neighboring Aalen! I'm not offended at all: As a Franconian (Franconia is the northern part of bavaria) living in Baden-Württemberg, I can confirm all stereotypes about the Swabians 😂
Beschde Stadt in BaWü #lokalpatriotismus
Ganz Franken … nein. Fun Fact: Schwäbisch Hall liegt auch in Franken.
Franken is ned Bayern. Mit dem gefränkle da oben woll ma fei ned in Verbindung bracht werden
I think you got that right. As a german i can definitely confirm that we have tons of stereotypes for certain regions within our own country. Are there so many in the US? I know about some for sure, but would you say there are as many?
Hessen is empty? Yeah Frankfurt is only the financial capital of Europe
And no one lives in the actual city, because it is too expensive. People only go there to work and then drive back to their homes in the surrounding towns. ;)
it is the *_main_* region :-)
they mean probably the empty space between frankfurt, south hessen and kassel
Close after London maybe.
@natalie storm yeah, darmstadt is such a great city
Whenever you have "Upper" or "Lower" in Germany, it's always about elevation. Saxony has mountains, Lower Saxony has mostly plains and the coast. Upper Bavaria has the Alps, Lower Bavaria has the Danube (also some smaller mountains in the Bavarian forest but you get the point).
The biggest offence: You think Bielefeld is real! Shame on you!
Auch nur einer von DENEN!
Stirbjoern Westerhever weiß auch nicht, aber diese Verschwörungstheoretiker haben ja gerade Hochkonjunktur!
Brandenburg "irrelevant" . . .
Me: *cries in Mecklenburg Western Pomerania" not even mentioned in the video . . . I'm a bit offended by that, I mean we have one of our two coasts :D
I think, we are even more irrelevant than Brandenburg, but sadly is it true i think, except for the Coast.
btw I'm from Westpommerenia.
Ich liebe Mecklenburg-Vorpommern - und auch Brandenburg !! ..
Speaking about accents: When I got of the plane in Greenville, SC for the first time in the mid 90's, I thought I took the wrong plane and landed in Siberia......
The thing with the pickles on the christmas tree is that the child who founds the pickle first, is allowed to open up the first present. My family isnt going with this, but I´ve heard that it is a tradition by my friends families. Very weird actually xD
I am a German from NRW and was not offended at all. I was amused and entertained. Well done.
You're one of the smartest, observant, analytical, attention-to-details, clever, witty, respectful-to-roommate RUclipsrs. 👍
Now that's funny!
What are you on? Have you still got some? and can you pass it around?
Oh - and "Lower Saxony" of course does not refer to the location on the map but on the height above sea level.
I'm slightly offended that we supposedly haven't developed since the 1970s.
Actually this is a compliment since people in Schleswig-Holstein are ranking as No.1 on the happiness index, nearly as happy as the Danes who are the happiest on earth.
Schleswig Holstein, where the "Latzhose" is still a fashion statement
I am proud of it.
@@limes194 all ignorants.
@@limes194 That's denim bib overalls.
Nalf , I can tell from reading the comments. Mission accomplished sir!
I live (and grew up) in Bavaria, so not offended at all :D
I went to uni in Baden-Württemberg and I loved it a lot.
Beside the hipster club-mate-drinking vegan Berliner (who was not born here) there is also the native Berliner : a grumpy , meat loving , beer drinking person which likes to remember the good old times when Berlin was not cool, you could drive and park everywhere (for free ) and the the rent was cheap. :)
8:50 it is true. When you take the ICE from Cologne to Berlin the last stop before Berlin is still in Lower-Saxony, either Hannover or Wolfsburg. Behind Wolfsburg the train just pulls through as if there was nothing (Brandenburg) in-between.
That is true. But between Hannover or Berlin, there is no big City. Well, atleast between the train route Hannover - Berlin.
Sometimes pulls through Wolfsburg, too 😂
As a Lower Saxony guy, hearing that we are the best Saxony made my day. Yes we're not that exciting, but I don't care
The thing is as a “Kölsche jung” (someone from Cologne) I can definitely confirm the stereotypes shown. Yes we are cheerful and we are also rude. But in a way that you always know where you stand with us. When we like you you’ll know it and we can be one of the friendliest people in Germany. But when we don’t like you you’ll also know that and we are not afraid to show that.
But to be disliked by us you really have to fuck shit up.
Can confirm.
I am a Siegerländer, and we are known to be grumpy mountain dwellers, yet there seems to be a weird attraction about our both sides, the laid back, nice and talkative Kölsche in a rather sunny region and the grumpy, reserved and focused ppl from a rather rainy part of Ger.
Feeling slightly offended, but very much entertained, too. 😄 Happens quite often when Americans talk about Germany. Hope, nobody feels too offended by that statement either. 😄
Nice video!
Even germans from other regions dont understand Schwäbisch.... And Bielefeld really doesnt exist....;-).
I visited Berlin and Munich this past Summer. I was amazed at how different the two cities were. Berlin was like anything goes. Munich was beautiful and clean, but the people were pretty uptight when it came to rules that are not that big of a deal to Americans. We were on a train and my daughter was sitting cross-cross-apple-sauce (Indian style) and the train worker told her to put her feet down. Then we were in a restaurant and my daughter had an itch on her ankle. She lifted her foot up and scratched her ankle. A lady next to us got bugged at her. People seemed to be in everyone else’s business. We did love the visit to Munich though. Very clean and beautiful with a rich history. If I had to choose, I would rather live in Munich even if they are a little more rigid then I am used to.
Thueringan is a very old german land that had an important role strengthen early frankish empire. Hesse was part of Thueringan that's why they share same lion symbol born by relation to lions of Lothringen Brabant.
9:40 that confusion exist in Bavaria as well; there are 7 administrative districts in Bavarian, and 2 of them are called “upper Bavaria” and “lower Bavaria”. Upper Bavaria is south, while lower Bavaria is north. Confusing right? But “upper” and lower” doesn’t refer to the geographical place in this case; it’s about the landscape itself being higher.
In upper Bavaria you find mountains which is an indicator for landscapes being higher, whereas in lower Bavaria there aren’t mountains and therefore it’s literally lower.
And that’s with every “upper” and “lower” names. Just think about the landscape, not the geographic, and then it makes sense. :)
Some history lessons were already done here about Saxony. But If you want to count them like NALF you have to add NOT 1 Anglo-Saxony but 4 of them. Because there are: Wessex, Middlesex, Essex and Sussex which stands for West-, Middle-, East- and South-Saxony. Together with the German ones there are 7 !! areas. OMG - much to much Saxony in the World. 😱
Dr Sachse is ehmd ieberall derheeme.
ROFL - This is quite accurate 👍😊 Greetinga from a Düsseldorf born, former exchange student in the U.S., having studied and worked in Cologne, Bonn and Berlin.
The Part about Bavaria and Austria is, that they WERE one Country under the king-and-emporer-monarchy.
Like my home town until 1648, Habsburg possession in Sundgau.
No, they were not.
Wasn't that Austria and Hungary?
@@deemeetree8471 you are absolutely right. but bavaria was a close ally to them
Re: Pickles on Christmas trees - yes they do exist - we have them on ours for 5 years.
The Tradition of pickles (not actual ones, made of glass or plastic) on a Christmas tree delevoped in the city of Oldenburg, where my father is from. Initially it was a really local hype among youngsters.
For a few years now, the retail chain Nanu Nana, (headquarter in Oldenburg) started selling them in all of their shops in Germany, so the pickle thing is now known in many parts of Germany.
You are welcome!
Kerstinola
Oh my goodness. I heard this was a custom from the US to hide a christmas pickle in the tree.
But now you telling me about the headquarters of nanu nana there I totally believe you. Strike!!! Finally got that pickle mystery solved :-D
Honestly, I am much more offended by your finger counting techniques. :P
Same haha
You are from Oregon? The Upper Willamette Valley is around Eugene which is south of the Lower Willamette Valley around Newberg.
I'd be super interested to see you discuss a map of the US and learn about the stereotypes that you guys have about the different states. Love your videos by the way :)
I am offended by the audio quality! lmao! Loved the content.
I'm offended because you almost missed to metion Hesse, so you missed the most important part of germany. Just kidding, great video :)
Right Hessen still exists .... its important if you live in the south and want to go north (or vise versa) or live west and want to travel east (or vise vers). just dont stop in Hessen not rly anything there i belive :P
Sad noises of a Guy who lives in Hessen.
@natalie storm ja aber bis auf Frankfurt ist Hessen schon vernachlässigbar. Und da ich auch seit 2Jahren in FfM wohne, muss ich halt auch einfach sagen, es gibt keinen widerlicheren Ort in ganz Europa als diesen Hauptbahnhof
Slightly offended. Don't understand the "hillbilly" part of Bavaria. I have only visited twice but, I would call the majority of people there traditionalists. They take pride in their heritage and old world traditions. I visit during Oktoberfest and love the lederhosen, dirndls and music. Maybe because they hold on to these traditions it makes them
"hillbillies". I hope they never give it up!
As for pickles on the Christmas tree, I am of Polish and German decent and never heard of this until one year a German friend of mine invited a bunch of people over at Christmas and told us that the first person to find the pickle on the tree got a gift. Don't know if that is a German tradition but it was fun.
Thanks for the wonderful videos. I love Germany and if I would have visited many years ago I may be living there.
Sooo...where was the offensive part of the video?
Now i am a little offended that i wasn't offended. 😠
Gave you a upwards thumbs down for it.😜
At a student party in 1993, an acquaintance of the German computer scientist Achim Held, then a computer science student in Kiel, slipped out the sentence "That's not possible" when someone from Bielefeld stood opposite him. The idea of a corresponding conspiracy was further spun in the environment of Held, to whom a reader of esoteric magazines also belonged. The fact that in autumn 1993 the motorway exits to Bielefeld were temporarily closed due to major construction work also played a role in this The first known public mention of the Bielefeld conspiracy came from Held and was published on 16 May 1994 on Usenet in the newsgroup de.talk.bizarre. Held's intention was to ridicule common conspiracy theories. ]The choice of the city was coincidental
The reason why so many people hate the 1. FC Bayern is because they just buy so many good football players from other clubs instead of cultivating their own talent. That's how they gained a reputation for buying the championships instead of winning them fair and square.
I'm not even a football fan but, yes, that's my perception of them. They're like a rich kid buying its way through school and college. It's like buying a catalogue wife instead of make someone love you. But the most annoying thing is when they respond to that antipathy with "you're just jealous". Aaaaah!!!
By „rude“ in NRW they mean people from the Ruhrgebiet or in slang „Pott“ or „Ruhepott“ area. It’s Cities like Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund, Bochum. It used to be mostly coal and steel industry back in the days.
Köln and Düsseldorf People behave differently.
the dialect "high german" we all speak is the hanoverian dialect so yes they speak it perfectly dialect free as it basicly IS their dialect xD
Not really Hanoverian dialect. It was only declared the the Hanoverian pronunciation of high german is the most understandable one. The original native dialect was ( like everywhere in north gernany) low german.
Yip, I concur. Hochdeutsch is no dialect and certainly no accent. It's basically standard German
Ich schreib es Dir mal auf Deutsch, Du Must jetzt ganz tapfer sein, wir sprechen alle sächsisch.
Das was wir heute als Hochdeutsch bezeichnen, und welches am deutlichsten zu sprechen, sich die Hannoveraner rühmen, entstand erst durch die Bibelübersetzung Martin Luthers.
Die deutsche Sprache die Luther verwendete, war das, was man als sächsisches Kanzleideutsch bezeichnet, angereichert durch farbenprächtige Sprachbilder, die Luther den „Volk vom Maul“ abschaute.
Erst diese Übersetzung stellte die Blaupause für eine einheitliche deutsche Sprache dar, da sie im ganzen deutschen Sprachraum, selbst in den katholischen Gebieten, als Grundlage benutzt wurde, um lesen und schreiben zu lernen. Luthers Bibelübersetzung ist die eigentliche Geburt der deutschen Sprache.
Somit babblen wir also heutzutage also alle sächsch.
@@dikon0172 Stimmt, nur die Sachsen haben in der Zwischenzeit verlernt richtig sächsisch zu reden und sind jetzt eher in einer Mischung aus west-polnisch und simplem Grunzen unterwegs, passend für die NSAFD halt.
Soordhin , naja, als Westdeutscher höre ich die aber immer noch lieber,( und verstehe sie auch besser) als jene wilden Bergstämme, welche nördlich der Schweizer Grenze leben. 😂
Was allerdings weniger mit meiner politischen Einstellung zu tun hat😏
As a Hesse, I'm surprised that you didn't mention Hesse properly. Hesse is like a mixture of the southern states (wealthy) and some northern or Eastern culture habits.
Thw hole South of Germany in one country? Are you insane? I demand independence for Baden now.
Other than that, I agree with all the stereotypes.
Well everyone feels like they should be treated independantly ;). I can tell you this even holds true for smaller states like Saxony-Anhalt. Even here are other parts of the state being stereotyped.
As a German, i have to say this is super funny and it matches most of the stereotypes i have about my country! It is very cool of you to make these kinds of videos and i thoroughly enjoy them! Subscribed!
Like your vids... and agree with the statement, that the best part is the south. But I like the differences, and at the end of the day we are Europeans.
"best part is the south" - crazytalk
I lived in the Rhine valley between Baden-Baden and Freiburg near a city called Lahr many year ago. In a small village on the narrow plains between the Rhine and the Black Forest. The difference between the people that lived in the plains and the people that lived in the mountains was striking. People in the plains were farmers and were poorer. They tended to be baptist or to be from more conservative groups where in the mountain they were mainly Catholics. I was astonish that a few kilometers made such a difference.
Also if you ever go back to the Freiburg area try beer from the Rothaus Brauerei. You don't find it everywhere but it is on of the best beer on tap in Germany.
Looks at Map , i saw the little Bremen, declared with -WHY ? i died :D :D :D :D
It is really not a stereotype that people in Hannover are speak the correct German, they just do. They don't have a dialect or to put it differently: their dialect was chosen to be the correct German. Didn't watch the video where they explained why, just accepted it.
Well, yes you offended me. I'm from Bremen and no our proud Hanseatic city will never be part of the farmers of Lower Saxony.
Haha, yes! I'm from Hamburg and I was offended for you. Bremen and Hamburg have more in common that Berlin and Hamburg.
@@einmanaulfur agree. I am Hamburg expat in Berlin.
Only crazy liberals live in Bremen !! ..
In Thueringen we have the famous „Wartburg“, where the monk Martín Luther translated the Bible into German in the 16th century. And you gotta definitely check out the sausages here! Best taste you‘ll get in the eastern part of our state. We call it „Roster“ here (short for Rostbratwurst - grill fried sausage).
Damn. As a Bremer this was rough @NALF. We have our own history and faught for and bought our independence. PS: Bremen used to be one of the richest staates. Even before the German nation came up. As of late, the taxsystem fcked us. (basicly in the 70s taxes were changed. people would pay income taxes where they live instead of where they work (lower saxony), financial taxes would be payed where the bank is from (Frankfurt) and buisness taxes would be payed where the main headquaters are (Biggest employer is Mercedes with its factory in Bremen, so we basicly pay for Baden-Württembergs wealth)
Hope that was some helpful inside.
Also Bremen is pretty beautiful and has some really nice spots, including europes biggest city park and we have the 3rd biggst german folksfest.
If you want to learn more: www.bremen.de/tourismus/stadt-leute/geschichte
It is mostly because of politics
But they d be better of economically If they were a part of lower Saxony. So he is actually right.
I agree with you on the beautiful spots here and there in Bremen, but navigating though the city is just catastrophic.
Wolfsburg, Braunschweig and Cologne are not that much better. Berlin is like attempted suicide in that regard. Hanover on the other hand is relatively easy to drive in.
Greetings from Hameln
(The city with probably the longest process in Germany of trying to build a beltway to lessen the impact of traffic to the city - earliest mentions date back pre WW2!)
@@hieler-de not actualy true. It would be more expensive Overall. There has been a lot of research in that topic. Stil even Cultural this would never happen.
The school system in Bremen is a desaster : too many liberals , too many stupid students !! .. I would never send my child to a school in Bremen ..
I live in the „empty“ part, and work in the „wealthy“ hillbilly region. Best of two worlds, I guess. Commuting sucks, though.
I giggeled all through the video, i liked the Bremen stereotype the most.
But i was nearly offended that my state didn't had the stereotype "indiffrent", but then i thought "who cares?".
The Hanover dialect is pretty weird, as it’s low German, but the Hanover pronunciation of standard German became the standard pronunciation.
Thüringer Bratwurst are the best! The way you pronounce it....sounds more like an african tribe 😂😂😂😂
Brandenburg Concertos by Bach, Check out #2 for the trumpet part. Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Brandenburgers, German special forces in WW II (avoid in dark alleys, or anywhere else)
9:38 lower Saxony is flatt and near the coast only a few meters above sea level.
9:36 because it's located closer to the sea and so at lower altitude.
Texas is the US Bayern - Texas has a lot of German everything ! The lone star state and Freistaat Bayern ! I’m a German and I live in TX yall 😎
The moment you called my hometown a "green communist hipster ghetto" ... you hit the nail so perfectly, that i was laughing to tears. Thanks man, you made my day.
It's true: Hanoverians speak accent free german or " Hochdeutsch" - and there is not much else to talk about the city... But nevertheless it's the capital of Lower Saxony which is the most diversified federal state in Germany in terms of landscapes from the coastal regions at the North Sea to the low mountain ranges in the Hartz and the Weser Uplands with its beautiful castles.
and they cannot pronounce my name right, so I would not describe it as accent free!
YES, Lower Saxony is not boring. So much landscapes
The self-attributed accent-freeness of Hanover city is just a legend. Ask them to pronounce the following words: "Elf, Kirsche, Pferd" - I bet my left testicle they will say "Ölf, Kürsche, Fehad".
@@Baccatube79 "Ölf, Kürsche, Fehad" sach ik doch ooch, also is det doch janz ohne Dijalechd ...
@@Baccatube79 Before you make fun of other peoples short-comings, it is Hannover with two ns.
I like that the first map said NOT BAVARIA for franconia. 😂
Greetings from Wurzburg.
As A Canadian Out Of All Of Germany I Love Hamburg Hands Down..
@smoosh smoosh But Freiburg is apparently Portland Oregon without as much rain and fog.
Pickles: the region is called „Spreewald“ (Spree is a river, Wald is forest). The Spreewald is famous for its pickles. They are made there. Why? I don‘t know. Maybe its a well suited soil in this Brandenburg region.
Could have needed more roommates like that 😀
Basically we still live in tribes, which are also the foundation for several nations that later were put together to create Germany as a Nation. As those tribes had very different living conditions and cultures und political and economical conditions back than, which is why we still have some of those regional traits today.
I am a mixture of the wine-drinker with speech impediment (well, basically I am speaking Hochdeutsch with some sparkles of dialects) and the mediterranean. The best reagion is still Baden!
The origin was a students party where someone noticed that he doesn't believe that bielefeld exists when he met someone from there, but nobody else in the room ever was in Bielefeld, which somehow bekame a running gag. Unfortunatly the page is german, but consider it as a exercise in german ^^
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bielefeld-Verschw%C3%B6rung
Lower saxony is called lower saxony because it indeed was historically speaking. The modern saxony has nothing to do with the historical saxons of the early medieval times besides the name. Which is if I am not wrong because saxony became itÄ's name because of some marriages between the nobles. But I would have to look that up for the details.
I comment better late than never :2