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@@bearenkindercool Er will an den Deutschen verdienen. Also, muss er denen irgendwie "entgegenkommen", loben, in den A. kriechen... das ganze programm halt. Hast du schon blinkist premium enjoyt?
@@bearenkindercool Warum sollte er über Stereotype in GB sprechen? Das wäre doch vielleicht eher etwas für den Kanal "Deutscher in GB"? Hier geht es doch um persönliche Erfahrungen und Eindrücke, nicht um eine ausgewogene Berichterstattung. Und klar, jeder hätte gern nur werbefreien Content, aber wenn man die Chance hat, mit seiner Arbeit Geld zu verdienen, finde ich das verständlich und denke, dass es fast jeder so machen würde. Kann natürlich auch sein, dass ich mich da irre. 🤔
@@N_K12695 90% des piblikums solcher kanäle sind nunmal deutschsprecher. Welcher amerikaner oder brite will sich in seiner freizeit in die feinheiten deutschlands vertiefen? Wohingegen die deutschen ganz geil drauf sind, zu erfahren, wie andere sie sehen. Muss man sich nun wegen "Blinkist premiums" zu "25% off" schämen? oder fremdschämste du da? oder für den, der das hämisch wiederholt? Nicht nötig, würde ich sagen. kannste als hobby machen, aber, wesentlich wichtiger wäre, dass du endlich mal ein "Blinkist Premium" kaufst. Immerhin "25% off". Da solltest du nicht länger zögern! Wer weiiß, wie lange so ein supersonderangebot noch gilt! ähm.... wie? Nein... ich weiss auch nicht, was "Blinkist premium" ist. Ich will es ehrlich gesagt gar ncht wissen.
20 or so years ago on a long flight from Singapore to Frankfurt, a very nice gentleman was sitting next to me.We filled the long hours, having a great discussion about both our experiences regard, working or touristic abroad. When we were landing in Frankfurt, he asked me how I would be traveling on to my final destination Düsseldorf. I told him, I would take the train. He then started to explain how nice and smooth the train system in Germany worked. so I informed him, that I am familiar with it, as I am a native German from Düsseldorf He started laughing hard and told me he was a native German to from Mönchengladbach, which is a very short distance from Düsseldorf… So the last half hour we continued in our mothers language and not longer in English, as we head the whole flight…
That's an amazing story!🤣 But it also means your accent can't be strong! I am impressed! Most of the time I can tell from a few sentences that someone is German 😃
…@@AmericasGotGermans maybe we didn’t recognize, because we were both German. But our personal origin became no part of the conversation until the very last moment.
Happens to me all the time. ;-) I work for a company with a very international staff. For two and a half years, we basically had home office, and now we do one day in office per week again. There have been new colleagues in that time, and it happened more than once since we returned to the office that I met someone at the coffee machine and we 've been talking in English for half an hour until somebody realized we were both German. ;-)
Great analysis and i would love to agree to your views esp. Being a citizen myself in Berlin. Yet i think your perspective is also largely based off of being from a white englishmen Background... Being East Asian and not grew up in Germany i cannot say i had the same experience and perspectives as yours.
An English friend (who only speaks English) told me she was lost on a motorway near Paris. She looked for the way to Calais. No Fensch helped her. And who helped her??? A German - speaking English...
the issue stems from many being unhappy with our nation going to such extremes to adopt other cultures, instead of people moving here adapting to it. and a very loud minority voicing their distaste very aggressively Lots of people I talked with fear that the "german" is getting lost, and the identity of what makes us germans blurs together with other cultures. I personally dont see the issue, but know others who do. and many older people are very much against foreign customs like wearing headscarves. My parents for example think that no woman chooses to do so but is forced to. I dont know if that is the case or not, but find it wrong to outright assume so... but y'all know how parents are like, they wont hear it. My favorite part about so many different cultures coming to germany is definitely the cuisine, I can have authentic italian, greek, vietnamese, japanese, african, russian and turkish food in the same week no problem (and many more). My least favorite would be the stigmas, the unnecessary hate from specifically right extreme germans towards others. Most germans *really* dislike openly displayed patriotism, its frowned upon to be proud of your nationality (I can recall a dozen songs with lyrics about this from the top of my head), but this also creates extremes. The ones who are proud often get pushed into radical groups who then escalate. Add the general distrust in the Government (over 50% of germans do not trust the government, and most who trust still dont believe they'll get shit done) and you got what we see in the news, almost-riots, hate against foreigners, etc. Many feel that foreigners get treated better than our own people, schools are underfunded, medical staff does not get paid enough (especially in care), taxes are too high, public transport goes to shit, energy prices are ridiculous, and more. and at the same time we just keep hearing "we gave money to those, we provided these, we helped them" but never do we hear about help for the common german citizen. I dont want to believe it being like that, but it sure as hell looks like it... and the problem is just listing what you hear on the news and how its mostly interpreted makes you sound like a right extremist, I dont want to sound like I support a shit show like the AFD but thats their goal - just like the nazis - they use the common peoples disdain to fuel their propaganda and push their radical goals All of this together and you only see the bad on the outside, you think "damn these germans hate foreigners"
at the same time we need to keep in mind that learning the language takes some time - and we can't expect a new immigrant to have a conversation in fluent German after just a few weeks.
@@tobyk.4911 this doesn‘t, however, apply to tommies who have lived here for 10 years or longer, speaking three words of German, having kids in school and still thinks I got put into a three bed hospital room on a mobile bed because they needed someone to translate for the nightshirt nurses, because the three British soldier‘s wives, who had been stationed in Germany for years, knew little to no German. Medical staff woke me up every 2h, and I even had to talk one down complaining about blood being requested. I mean, where is my translator‘s fee?
I always wanted to meet "the german" everybody's talking about. I've never seen one, seems to be quite shy and elusive. There may be some who are aligned more to "foreign" stereotypes on germans, but I'd be really surprised to see one that checks all the boxes. So, IMO, every sentence starting with "germans are..." is wrong from the start. And that seems to be the same for every stereotype of any nation.
I disagree. Sure it’s always a generalisation and there will always be many exceptions but cultural stereotypes are still well and truly alive and do have some accuracy. That is why we still say things like “that’s very British” or “he seems rather German”
Not to forget, the stereotype itself depends very much on the country you are in. The US stereotypes on Germany are completly different then the British ones. Such jokes like Prince Harry in a Nazi costume is so British, I guess it would not happen in US so easily. You can currently see the comments of British people on the visit of King Charles. ...it goes like "that german bastard" just to quote one.
Everybody who is going to move toGermany should‘ve done a German course at Goethe Institut. i remember that at Hofbräuhaus I‘d to speak English with somebody. We are in Germany where German is the language. If somebody struggles with German ( medical words) or ask me if I could speak English because he is a tourist than I don‘t have a problem speaking English. But I hate the attitude so you must speak English to me.
I do agree in general but Goethe isn't be all and end all. First, it doesn't scale prices in different countries, so, for example, where I live (Central Asia, won't go into more details) a regular group course costs about half of median gross income and goes at a snail's pace (6 months per level). Second, the teachers are still local, so if there are any local German courses available at all, they would be way cheaper for the same quality. Or you can opt for the cheaper side of italki, although it might take a few tries to find a decent teacher.
Für solche Einstellung wird man in der Öffentlichkeit bereits als Nazi gebrandmarkt. Der Hang zum Englischsprechen im eigenen Land ist meiner Meinung nach auch auf das US Reeducation und die jahrelange Indoktrination zurück zu führen: Kein Volk, Keine Nation, Keine Sprache, Keine Kultur. Als Gründungsmythos bezieht sich die Bundesrepublik auf Auschwitz, "Deutschland verrecke" ein Ausspruch der hoch bis zum Bundespräsident salonfähig ist. Die Tatsache daß viele deutsche kein Deutsch sprechen wollen ist nur ein Auswuchs dieser selbstgeißelung. Die grenzenlose Armutsmigration nach Deutschland ebenfalls, um sich von der Schuld des totalen Bösen reinzuwaschen, verfällt ein Großteil unseres Volkes dem totalen Guten unter Aufgabe jeglichen Selbsterhaltungs-, und Selbstbehauptungswillen.
Even as a german moving into a tiny village in another part of germany you can feel unwelcome - so to see the "positive" the fact that you are not german does not factor in in this at all
I am a German Beamter in Duisburg. Most of my clients came from African countries or from Turkey. My spoken English isn't as bad as my written English, but my lack of Turkish and Arabic is a real problem, as most of them don´t speak english at all. But German law gives everyone the right to a publicly paid translator. As a result, nobody was dependent on me and my abilities, but could always have their rights checked neutrally, and I see that as constitutional and important.
Justizsekretärsanwärterin from Düsseldorf here 🥰 Yes, that's what I love so much. Germany is really trying (and successfully so imho) to be fair to everyone and not to discriminate anyone! The law gives people so many rights, it's amazing
@@matchaleche You're also trying as hard as you can to waste as much tax-payer money as possible. The entire world works with remote interpretation, but you fools still pay huge sums of money for each and every interpretation gig including travel. We're suffering from our goddam "Beamtentum" 100 times more than we are from any foreigner coming to our country.
@Hawk Anonymous That problem exists with German kids in Germany, too. I'm often astonished how bad the reading and writing skills of born German kids today are. Reading Theodor Storm's 'Schimmelreiter' or other classics and they have problems to understand the simple words and meanings of the text.
Well, I'd say it really depends on where you look. I know people from very small villages that haven't met a black person until they became 17 or 18 or so. I'm not joking or exaggerating. Such country-sides aren't necessarily poor either -- or uneducated. Typically, they tend to be far above the average in terms of (academic) education and income. There are swathes of land in NRW, which is generally extremely multicultural, where the CDU has generally 80% or better voting results (or used to have until a few years ago, didn't check for a couple of years) and which is the byword for conservatism. In these countrysides, society works a bit differently. You know your neighbours. You expect your neighbours to introduce themselves. You expect them to integrate into the village micro cosmos of society. You expect them to take part in events. To greet everyone (and remember everyone's names). To make sure your property is looking 'respectable'. And yes, even to sweep the sidewalk every Saturday. I'm not joking. And if you don't. They'll tell you to. And if you still won't do it, they'll stop talking to you. And there is a very real chance you'll be ostracised throughout the village within a year of moving there. And they can be brutal in their disapproval, which to them is a result of your (perceived) disrespect or discourtesy towards them. Needless to say, foreigners -- particularly those with bad German skills -- will find ich hard to integrate into these communities if they don't know what they're getting into. It's more of a family-type relation than merely neighbours by city standards. So, yes. I *can* understand why such a stereotype might have come up. Then again, just to be perfectly clear, the bigger cities in Germany are the same metropolitan mix of peoples, cultures, and languages as any major Western metropolis nowadays.
I have lived a few years in Finland (coming from Germany). As you mention correctly, it is a good bit easier to navigate official processes there independently as a foreigner, as most documents and services are available in English and many people dealing with you e.g. at a tax office or a car insurance will speak English, or sometimes even German, fairly well. This does, however, lead to a big amount of foreigners/expats, especially in the metropolitan area around Helsinki, that even after many years of living in the country, barely understand most basic Finnish. Even after many years they're remaining somewhat on the sideline culturally, as language would be key for better cultural integration. Funnily it's in my eyes often the "more exotic foreigners" from Arab or African countries, where English isn't that known, that by learning the language more quickly, dive into the contemporary culture faster... Thank you for your pleasant to watch content! Great audio, rarely heard such good sound in smaller/younger yt-channels. Nice greetings from Offenbach!
genau das ist der grund, warum die meisten behördlichen dinge auf deutsch sein "sollen" - unabhängig davon, dass viele deutsche den beamtenkauderwelsch auch nicht verstehen - der druck, die sprache zu erlernen, soll möglichst hoch sein, damit sich die menschen hier besser einleben können. die tatsache, dass sehr viele menschen recht gut englisch sprechen können, nimmt menschen aus englische-sprechenden ländern diesen druck und lässt sie außen vor. daher auch das relativ geringe interesse, überhaupt eine fremdsprache zu erlernen: "warum, die sprechen doch eh alle englisch?" - eine ähnliche haltung hat man zt auch in frankreich. gibt genügend schöne ziele auf der welt, für die man keine fremdsprache benötigt, warum also sich die mühe machen? wie sehr eine sprache und deren feinheiten den blickwinkel verändern, darüber denken viele nicht nach. danke für den netten gedanken! 🙂
Hi there and thanks for weighing in. I was wondering what integration looked like in places like Finland and you kind of confirmed my suspicions. Regard the sound God bless A.I! Stared using it a few weeks ago and clears the audio right up. makes the quality of the microphone irrelevant😀
From the perspective of a native finn, its definitely true that people get lazy with not learning the language which is really sad. Many service businesses have begun to employ english-only speaking people who do not even try to learn the basics of the language so that they can serve your coffee in the native language, which I think is very disrespectful towards the natives. Except for the Turkish immigrants, who in my experience speak finnish relatively well. As for me, Im learning germany, and hoping to have the chance to move to Deutschland within a year or so!
We Finns will bend over backwards for all foreigners, especially those professionals who come here to work. We feel we are always at a big disadvantage compared to nearly all other countries, so we always try to accommodate and cater to the needs of foreigners. In a sense, we have never had enough cultural pride to emphasize our ways of doing anything; it is always about making sure we adapt to everyone else, whether we are the seller or the buyer, or whether we hold the winning cards or not. This leads to these ridiculous things that are really common: we just don't dare to strongly require people to learn Finnish if they choose not to do it by themselves, even after 10 or 15 years. A lot of Finns live in a mindset that over time, people will just decide on their own to do what us Finns are doing, as it's only logical. This attitude is present in many other things as well - we will not intervene; we just assume that people will do things the right way, and if they don't, the first thing we do is blame it on the circumstances, that we have not created the right circumstances for getting the right result. This is true across everything in Finland, not just in these Finnish vs. immigrant issues. It would be far more straightforward and simpler if we just found our long-lost spine and started to vocalize and demand the things we want to happen (since we do want things to happen a certain way), but instead, we have this highly conflict-avoidant and non-sanctioning self-blame culture, in which nobody is ever satisfied with anything. This, I think, is our biggest cultural weakness - the terminally conflict-avoidant culture, together with the belief that we always have to accommodate others, and that we ourselves should never come first.
And why do I think this language issue is not well managed as it is now? As a Finn, I might be required to know English at my workplace, not because of foreign clients, but because of English-speaking coworkers. So, if that English-speaking coworker is a native English speaker, then he or she has to know only his or her first (and maybe the only) language, English, while I have to use a second language in my own country. Additionally, we Finns also have to learn and know Swedish (unless we are Swedish-speaking Finns), and in many positions, it's required (at least in public jobs). Also, not learning the Finnish language will likely keep a person out of the larger Finnish society basically for good. For example, I am fairly good at English, but does it mean I want to speak it everywhere and all the time? No, it doesn't. So if an immigrant complains that it's so difficult to make Finnish friends, the first thing I'd think to ask is whether the immigrant knows any Finnish (assuming the person has been in Finland for a while). This might create confusion in the immigrant's mind-Finns speak good English, so why would it be important? Well, it is. Speaking a language other than your own is taxing and exhausting after a while. To make it not exhausting and taxing you have to speak it constantly for longer periods, and I think that's a big ask for someone to do in his native country.
I think there is a big difference between experiencing other cultures where those cultures are from, and having to adapt your own culture to them at home. More people will be interested in the first one than the latter, no matter where in the world you look. And i would say it's the same with the germans. As for immigration: people go to /move to germany for several reasons. If nobody integrates and adapts to german (working) culture and behavior (like the recycling, being quiet in public transport ect.) then those reasons why people want to go there/move there dissapear. If i want to be in a different country than my origin, then i need to integrate myself to keep the country the place i wanted. (If i want to paint somehting yellow, but keep dipping the brush into blue i used to paint everything, whatever i paint won't be yellow.) I am not german, the country i live in has (if i remember correct) taken the second most refugees since 2015 in the EU after sweden (per capita) And what we experience since i like to explain that way: a significant number people from very different cultures are here now, and some of them come here and act the same way as the people they claim to have fled from! So they do not understand that bringing that behavior here means they make the place be as bad as where they fled from because they wanted to be in a better place.
Of course it is a two way process. Traditionally it is the immigrant that really has to work very hard and make a huge effort to integrate which I think is kind of logical as they are the one moving to a new place.
As an Australian who has been living in Germany for 12 years now, I really hope they don’t make English a 2nd language. I think it was really important for me to learn my Wifes and Step-Daughters native Language. To really understand German culture and regional history and its many varied dialects and accents, you must learn German. it is incredibly expressive, funny and poetic. Platz Deutsch is also something that is often forgotten when we speak about Germany . Another plus, you make more friends and are able to more involved in your local community.
I think English doesn't have to be an official language, but all government services should be offered in English, too. There is no excuse in this day and age to insist on using German, and I don't get why we are so far behind neighbor countries like Denmark or the Netherlands in this respect.
@@HerbertLandei That Danish and the Dutch are extremly good at english has to do with size. There are way more German native speakers than Danish native speakers, so they are used from an early age to watching Movies in English for example.
@@HerbertLandei It's called FEDERALISM. One problem, 17 opinions, except that all states agree that the Federal government is always wrong. On the rest they disagree.
@@HerbertLandeiI dont think it's a bad thing to strongly encourage everyone to speak German. I'm English and lived in Germany for a while. My German was basic, learnt as a child in Switzerland and then following on in school in England till I was 14, and carried on French till the end of school and a bit in college. I had many hilarious conversations with people in a mixture of German, English and French. The funniest was my neighbour speaking German and a tiny bit of English and French, understanding more than they could speak. A Romanian neighbour who had a little English, no French and good German. Me, school German and French, which is fairly inadequate for grown up conversation and practical mundane things like explaining which part of your washing machine cycle is going wrong over the phone to the repairman, or sorting out your home insurance or if your baby has colic or opening a bank account. We spoke grasping for whichever language we knew the words in. I mangled my grammar horribly. We translated from one language to the other for the other one to understand and used lots of hand language, miming, pointing and even drawing. Hilarious. Quite a few people were patient, kind and helpful and it did help my German improve and it helped me in social situations. I did very much appreciate doctors and nurses speaking to me in English, especially for the childrens healthcare, when they knew I was struggling to understand or explain. All of this support was a privilege, a kindness, and certainly not my right to expect it. I do agree it's really lovely when people help you and we should all help others with language when we can, but I'm not sure it should be a hard requirement such that people dont even have to bother trying to integrate at all. A lot of culture is in the language, not just for function, but subtleties like humour and shared cultural references in literature, or TV, or knowing what's going on in the news. The other issue is where do you stop when it comes to providing services in other languages and the amount of resource that takes in people and costs, whether it's people who you need to be multilingual or materials from leaflets to internet pages across the whole range of things you have to engage with the government on as a resident or citizen. It is a fine line between being helpful in the short term and helpful in the long term for making your life somewhere and integrating.
I think adding English as an official language to Germany is unnessecary, as you don't need it as an official langauge to provide English forms to new arrivals. There are already classes at German universities taught in English, without it being an official language. Making it an official language would simply open a pathway for quite radical people to go nuts. Mostly the kind of people who chant slogans like "Deutschland muss verrecken!".
Germans are not intolerant to other cultures, as long as members of those other cultures don't try to force their German neighbors to accept to live according to it. Germans are generally a very curious species and are eager to learn new things from other cultures. Some they like and even willingly integrate into their daily life, others they don't and they don't like to be confronted by them on a regular basis (for instance slaughtering a goat in the garage, or not respecting the quietness of the so-called "quite hours" or on Sundays).
I was really surprised to hear your topic from this video. I have never heard this about germans and having lived here for nearly forty years, have never experienced it. Like you I couldn't speak german when I came here and I remember people falling over themselves to speak english to me and even when I started speaking german a lot of them still wanted to speak english with me. Just the fact that the huge majority of germans can speak english denies that they are intolerant of other cultures. That's something to charge the english with because they adamantly refuse to learn foreign languages. I don't know ANYONE who lives in England who can speak a foreign language - I guess it's still the ingrained colonial attitude. AND what's more intolerant than Brexit?
It's definitely something I hear often. I think it's a little different for people coming form the Middle East but as I said I have not experience this myself...
Yes try to get through in FR or IT times with German or English, outside the tourist areas, otherwise mostly. Okay, except when Rammstein is in town!!!🤘 But I think it's terrible when German tourists look for German restaurants abroad. Okay for breakfast I understand that. Do we Germans look down on other cultures more? I don't think so anymore. Hope not, ok the US maybe.
Most Europeans have some English because it's pretty much the lingua franca of Europe and the world. What's the use of learning German if I'm never going to live in Germany and don't know any German people who'd be willing to speak German to you?
My experience is that Germans (as myself) are always curies about other cultures. And I experienced often to be more interested in someones culture than this person was in mine. And Germans are folks that like to travel around in this world very much, like to visit museums and test all the different cuisines that are available as soon as they are available. I met people from Iran wich even made jokes about it. They said "When you meet a person you ask about their culture. When an Iranian meets a person he asks how to make money in that country."
I really like your channel. Personally I always wanted to live in the UK permanently as I feel very at home there but the Brexit has made this virtually impossible. German stereotype? Now, I am not sure, if anyone has written this in the comments, but in my view Germans are very welcoming towards foreigners and immigrants, who want to live, work and integrate themselves in this country. If I would move to another country, the integration into my host country would be an absolute priority. This is what many immigrants from Turkey and many other countires did in the past. The reason for the stereotype mentioned here stems from something else. Since 2015 many migrants especially from muslim and north african countries come to Germany to benefit from the german social system and receive support without any obligations to an extent, which enables them a life, they would never have in their countries of origin. And yes, if I was in their situation I would probably do the same. Put your feet up and let the Euros roll into your pocket. Additionally in many cases these migrants have no inclination to integrate into local society and instead demand the local society to integrate themselves into their way of living. This behaviour is seen very critical in large portions of the german citizens although the official government narrative is very different. So to sum it up, anyone coming to Gemany with a reasonable qualification and the intention of integrating into our society and earning a living is very welcome here.
Hehe ... germans and travel. In 2014 I did a roadtrip across Britain and in the very northern edge of Scotland on a very narrow road another german car came the opposite way. We sponteneousely converted the road to right side driving when we both made way accordingly, lowered our windows and had a good laugh about it and a short talk. We weren't holding up anyone, there was noone else there. One of the best moments during that trip... 😅😁
last summer in helsinki, waiting for the metro after a good day at the metal festival, I overheard 3 middleaged women schwäbeln.... I can not. why are we everywhere? why can't we get away from the others?
My experience was on a board walk in the middle of a national park in southern China. We encountered nobody, exept for, obviously, a small group of Germans from Stuttgart.
Most of us are very welcoming, BUT, I feel like our boundaries are being tested over the last decade. Many things have changed and society is kind of divided over this.
I think change is only going to speed up. I think we've lost those really strong convictions and beliefs, people do seem to flip flop back and forth on issues depending on the current cultural climate
Disclaimer, I'm not German I'm Slovene. But on the topic of language, I believe that compromise is best, for initial documentation it could be done in several languages so that the people know for what they're applying and what their rights are. But further on they should have a chance and obligation to learn the official language of their host country if they intend to make it their home and eventually ,maybe, want to apply for citizenship.
This whole stereotype is even just an oximoron initself. Europe in general is a very thick complex of lots and lots of micro regions with their own cultural heritage. This is however especially true for Germany and the smaller countries in its direct proximity, Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands for example. You literally can not drive more than 100km without crossing at least 2 distinct cultural regions in germany. As said, as a whole this is true for most of Europe, but germany as a unified nation came to be only really about 150 years ago. France, England, Italy and Spain have been long established at least as a unified idea and concept and most of the people there ran with it. Today you can still see and feel regional differences in Germany, and a big chunk of these differences is just a hard line. You may ask, what this has to do with the stereotype and how it would function as a counter argument? Well, central and northern Germany is where you can find absolute and true glimpses of a "pure German culture". I put that in quotations, because it really is just about the standard german language which originated here. Northwestern Germany shares a lot of culture with Belgium and the Netherlands. The central west Rhineland shares parts of culture with Belgium and France - where the Saarland really is just an french exclave in Germany. The southwest shares close ties with Switzerland. Bavaria has important relations with Austria (both of them even have been one big Duchy 1500 years ago). And the eastern part of Germany has big chunks of scandinavian cultures along the coast and is otherwhise very much slavic in its cultural habits - the very name Berlin is of slavic origin - and thus shares strong relationships with Poland. If anyone says Germany is intolerant of other cultures, you know you are speaking to a very sad person, which not only skipped history class, but is also not able to invest 5 seconds in google... The other thing is, a big chunk of the older generations in Germany are still kinda xenophobs... the rest of us Germans cannot really do much about that, but trust me, compared to all Germans, that chunk really is a minority - also xenophobia has nothing to do with the stereotype of not tolerating other cultures...
As the country with the second highest immigration in the world and a percentage of foreign born population greater than that of the US or all other big economies, this would be a weird. Especially consider far right populism - while existing in Germany - is not as prevalent as in the US, UK Italy or France. Not to blame these countries. But there is not a lot of reason to believe that Germany is particularly bad. Also Germany has taken in more refugees than anyone else in the past 10 years. At least in the „western world“.
Right...I think this was perhaps one of the reasons why it was seen as anti immigration because the media went a little crazy during this time and stirred things up
@@britingermany you mean 2015? Yes. And my impression is that while the press in and outside Germany went nuts then, now especially the British press is still obsessed with the 2015 refugee „crisis“, while in Germany it is no longer such a big topic - if you are not in the AfD.
@@britingermany Looking at the rise of the AfD it would be wrong to claim that nothing was stirred up in Germany, but at least we don't had "breaking point" posters or a constant news coverage about a supposed rape crisis in Sweden. At least at the end of the day, our folly was just to give a party a voice which has zero power otherwise, while certain other countries destroyed their own f... economy because of xenophobia. And I am not just talking about the supposedly oh so tolerant Brits here, I am also talking about the US. I think it is quite significiant that there are actually advertising in the TV nowadays in oder to convince people that the US is a great place to go to. Why the sudden need to lure Europeans over?
In the last year (2022) Germany received more refugees than in any other year since more than 70 years ago - especially, more than in 2015 or 2016 - and there wasn't that much controversy about it.
Very good analysis. I think it also depends on your mindset. When you are coming to Germany thinking "oh, they are all Nazis, racist, xenophobic etc." you may very well attract people with such attitudes. So try to avoid getting in those negative stereotypes. Of course everybody has a preconceived notion and also different experiences of course. Not saying these things don't exist. But you can avoid this by meeting the right people and of course moving in an area that is most suitable for you.
Also the Germans won’t be welcoming to someone with that attitude. Often times you can tell when someone thinks like that and we of course don’t really like that
Concerning the reception of other languages: in the 18. century it was French that everyone wanted to show to be able to speak. The noble class was even better in French than in German. For instance Friedrich II von Preußen was better in French.
German had his high time in the 19th century and the beginning 20th century until ww1 (and a little bit in the 20s). Especially in science it was a common language.
I believe that when you take away a people's language by making another language the official language, you also take away their ability to express themselves and you take away their soul. We already hear so many misunderstood and misapplied Anglicisms in Germany, which native English speakers rightly make fun of. The technique of banning the language of a people and replacing it with another has often been used to silence peoples, mostly the native populations of conquered countries. Integrating a second language without forcing the people to use it is of coure not bad, but I have the feeling, that over time, if you speak German, you will be considered retarded or stupid. There are already German companies where English has to be smattered, even if all participants of a meeting are German. It would be a shame if the beauty of the German language were lost just because people speak "Denglish" or "Kanack".
Unfortunately, there are people everywhere who don't want to get to know other people and just want to live ignorantly in their own microcosm and still have a ready-made opinion about everything, and then there are also people who like to discover the world and want to use the opportunity to experience and hear other countries, cultures and perspectives. It depends on many different factors. My parents, for example, lived through the entire period of the division of Germany and Berlin in East Berlin and were practically imprisoned and they took advantage of the new opportunities after reunification. I even got my father to go to London, even though he didn't want it at all at first and at the end of the trip he was totally enthusiastic and still raves about it to this day. Sometimes it takes a bit of persuasion and a positive experience to get things going. In the meantime he has been to France, Spain, Belgium, Turkey and many other countries around the world.
@@Mayagick In GDR times there were so-called contract workers who came from the socialist brother countries and worked in state-owned companies, but personal contacts outside of working hours were not desired and were prevented as far as possible by the party and its company managers. The people lived away from society in their own dormitories and were looked after there as far as possible, and unfortunately in the GDR, too, there were major problems with xenophobia, racism and violent attacks on everything that was foreign, especially in the rural regions, something the GDR was only too happy to do kept quiet, but the Stasi still had a lot of records about it, they knew what was happening and still didn't do anything or only too seldom.
@@britingermany My older brother and I worked there together, my mother was much more open to the whole thing than my father, with whom we had work to do. When looking at history, people forget that the people in the former GDR from 1933 to 1989 had to deal with the influences of a dictatorship that shaped people over many generations. Changing such thought patterns simply takes time, it takes time, strength, conviction and patience.
Well, I grew up in the GDR. My mother worked in a textile factory, in which contract workers were common. At the beginning of the 80s they came from Vietnam, in the middle of the 80s they were from Poland. We always had contact with them in private, we were barbecueing, we celebrated birthdays together and so on. The same was experienced by a teacher I once had, but the people she had to do with came from Mozambique. I've been to a holiday-camp whith children from Poland and Czechia. We became penpals and it lasted some years. I have a neighbour who came to Germany in 1987 and stayed. He often tells about the parties he and his German colleagues had, during the time of the GDR.
Very interesting video. After Brexit I find that Germany should be making an effort, perhaps via the Goethe Institut, to re-establish German as the dominant language it once was in the rest of Europe.
Oh no, this won't sit well with most countries we conquered back in WWII. They appreciate us now for not trying to dominate EU too much, even though we economically and politically do dominate it pretty much. We shouldn't try to dominate in every field. Ask Greeks, Polish, French, Italians how they'd feel about it, you won't get many positive answers.
In lots of European countries German is offered as a second or third language in schools (and as a course in universities). Yeah, it doesn't have the most popularity, but still doin' pretty good. It surely is one of the bigger players. Can't complain.
@@helgaioannidis9365 Germany is desperately seeking skilled workers. Being more acquainted with German would be a big help for potential migrants to get a good start here. And honestly, since the 1960's Germany is especially attractive to immigrants from Greece, Poland and Italy; just the countries you mentioned. The world has moved on since WW2.
@@britingermany Because learning and speaking German has a lot of benefits to the mind of the speaker. And as open and curious as I am towards foreign cultures and languages (I learned 5 so far) I love (speaking) my mother tongue (in my fatherland) as much! Period! In fact, I find your question and the way you put it a bit inappropriate. Why continue to speak the language of the very country that is no longer a member of the EU? We are not a colonial state of GB to make that clear here.
Das freut mich zu hören! Du wirst sehen, wir Deutschen sind ein ziemlich nettes Völkchen, behaupte ich einfach mal so. Meine spanische Ehefrau sagt immer, wenn man einmal einen Deutschen zum Freund hat, hat man einen Freund für‘s Leben. Und wir lieeeeben es, wenn sich jemand um unsere Sprache bemüht. Hab viel Spaß und Erfolg I. Deutschland!
I have a couple of theories. Granted, I don't have personal experience living in Germany (yet) and am just extrapolating from my personal experience elsewhere and a few online conversations. First, the situation might be different depending on the culture in question and whether someone lives in a city or in rural area. Generally, rural areas tend to be more conservative and less accepting of anyone who's somehow different. And I would also wager a guess that other Western cultures are more readily accepted for a variety of reasons. I'm really curious what immigrants from most popular non-European countries would say on the matter, because this kind of experience is not something easily visible from the outside. As someone both of a "non-title" ethnicity (ethnically Russian in a Central Asian country) and an LGBTQ+ person, I can make a mile long list of ways I face discrimination on a daily basis, but a cishet "title ethnicity" person would very confidently say that there is no discrimination against people like me because they don't face it personally and aren't trained to see when it happens around them. And from what I've read and heard in my particular Internet bubble, it's pretty common all over the world. As long as someone doesn't have personal experience with discrimination, or at least a loved one who faces it, most people just look right past it. For example, I had a childhood friend with a social background pretty similar to mine, only she's a cishet woman of title ethnicity. She's an intelligent, sweet, thoughtful, empathetic woman, but the few times certain things came up in conversation (like lost job opportunities because of my ethnicity, or why I didn't even bother applying for the same grants for education abroad that she did), she just couldn't compute that something like that was possible and rationalised it away. My second theory is based mostly on people who emigrated and then returned and a few semi-recent spats in YT comments with people who b*tched about the need to learn German to move to Germany. There is a certain subset of, ahem, humans (and I'm using the term loosely) who think that they're the hub of the universe and can just move to any country they choose, and everyone would be happy to have them and would change their entire country just to fit the newcomer. For example, there was a guy who somehow found enough money to move to Germany without higher education or any qualifications, he worked as a taxi driver as far as I know, and a few years later he returned and b*tched how unwelcoming Germany was, how people refused to respect his cultural traditions, and how German women were frigid man-haters because no one wanted to marry him, stay at home as a housewife and have 3-5 children. I'm not saying that everyone who criticises Germany is like that, but these people tend to be pretty loud.
German here. First theory is true to a degree in that rural Germany is very traditional concerning everyday lifestyle in many cases. Then there are some areas in eastern Germany where entire communities even reject Christian values and returned to Paganism of all things. They're also mostly, let's say "far-out right wing" politically speaking. Then again, the Saxon king/tribe was the last one to be converted forcefully to Christianity when Karl the Great had their religious centerpiece (a holy tree, the "Irminsuul") cut down. I'm a bi-man btw and i never faced outright discrimination for my sexuality but you have to cope with a certain sort of "humor" and i realized that i'm sometimes looked at as weak or soft and submissive, which i let pass as long as none tries and acts upon this their presumptions. Many straight men are inherently scared when they realize that they won't be beaten to a bloody pulp but possibly get bend over without consent. Not that i ever did that but the mere notion helps sometimes ;D
I think there should be one language for Business, and that should be English. Having said that, I don’t think the English language should be dominant over all others. As an Englishman, I wouldn’t want to Anglicise the whole world.
In fact there are no calls from the German government to introduce English as a second language. German law expressly provides that the language for administrative processes is German. The idea is to loosen up this provision to allow people to fill in forms in English. But it wouldn't make English a second language. And in the 22nd century AD, we might even manage to introduce an ONLINE form or something like an app (we heard this exists in foreign cultures) so you can do youir paperwork from home! (Not sure, it may take until 2300 AD.) If you are interested in other languages used in official German processes, research the Danish minority, and pay particular attention as to who a member of the Danish minority is and how we check it!
I have to say it irks me a little (as an 'east german' 😉) that so many people think we're especially intolerant. It's more of a city to urban thing I think. The people in citys are mostly more tolerant in the whole of Germany. The problem in the urban areas is more of a too much at once without the necessary infrastructure kind of problem in the east. And percived poverty makes the situation more difficult. Where I live there have always been more tolerant than extreme or intolerat people. Much of the political trend right now is because in comparison many feel forgotten by the politics so they protest in a, don't get me wrong, kind of dumb way. But that says nothing about tolerance. Even though I have to say you'll get 20 to 25 % less wage in the east. So the people get a little easier hurt, when there is a high cost factor involved and because they are used to be treated like some kind of second class citizens, mostly by politics. But you should at least try to visit and make your own experiences. You might get a pleaseant surprise. Best wishes from the east to the west 👋🏻
There is now only one Germany. That's why I no longer find the terms "East Germany and West Germany" appropriate. As a citizen from the eastern federal states, I feel somewhat discriminated against. The reason why people here in the 5 eastern federal states are not quite as open to other cultures should be better communicated. The GDR was isolated for almost 30 years, and that had a big impact on the people. With the fall of the wall, a completely different new system was transferred to the people. They had to adapt and reorient themselves within a very short time. Life's works have also been damaged or destroyed. That's why people are a bit more skeptical about new things. But this skepticism is disappearing. There are also many very cosmopolitan cities here (Leipzig, Dresden, etc.)
I Know that it s Little tricky talking about the rat and west and thanks for clarify your thoughts. I really like Leipzig. It has a huge amount going for it and I think people are referring to it as the new Berlin…not sure if that’s good or not 🤣🤣
My take: Anything surrounding the bureaucracy should be available in English (and even other languages, such as Arabic or Turkish). Forms, websites, personnel. Bureaucracy should be made as easy as possible for people who don't know German. Where I draw the line is everyone else's everyday life. I don't want to incentivise people to live in Germany without learning German at all. Speaking English is a hassle, and most Germans are much more comfortable speaking German than English, and should not, in their home country, be required to get out of their way for people who could've just learned the damn language. But since you don't "just" learn a language, we need to offer more & better (and tax-paid) German language classes and get as many people as possible to take them. And then we also need to help them along the way: be patient with & accepting of people's broken German and their accents. A foreign accent (or having a foreign name) should not negatively impact someone's prospect for finding a job or a flat - but it sadly still does, and that has to change.
LOL - a Brti, who is speaking one of the "world languages", is talking about the hardship to set-up in Germany and to have to do that in German… Want to see a British town hall stuff to give a f*ck on my hardship to get setup and have to do that all in English only. Sorry, that's a no-brainer. I move to another country - so I can't expect to do that in my native language. Well, I can ask for use of a more basic language and some help / support, but I can't expect or even demand it. Not every basic citizen speaks fluent multiple languages - and I noticed the lack of this ability especially from speakers of one of the "world languages" like Brits / US and Frensh… Younger people tend to be more laid back and often can fall-back to english in some form of…
I totally agree that anyone who moves country should do all they can to learn the language and integrate, however I’m not sure that it is a no brainer. Most of the Scandinavian countries have everything available in English when it comes to processing immigrants and if Germany really wants to attract highly skilled workers this is a pain point. If you already speak English you are more likely to choose an English speaking county or one where it is more prevalent just as the Netherlands or Scandinavia.
I never had that problem im Born in germany but with an US-American Father I speak both Languages and lived for 6 Months in th US between 2001 World Trade Center Disaster and then Trying to leave the Country it took a half a year.
The best way I can put it is that Germans are very tolerant of other cultures and immigrants in their country (The rare AFD idiot notwithstanding) but Germany is not as tolerant. And by Germany, I partially mean the government but mostly society as a whole here, and predominantly in the Language department where I think too much is asked of prospective immigrants too soon. Look, I understand that people should learn the language of the country they are going to live in but you cannot expect that to happen overnight or before the immigration occurs. German is not a useful language outside of Europe so this puts immigrants from outside of Europe at a huge disadvantage when the immigration services or information about insurance and bank accounts are not printed in other languages and English speaking staff are not available (Or in reality not willing to provide support in English) I'm from the US, which is a notoriously unwelcoming country for immigrants and the immigration services here provide documentation and support in Spanish. It is very easy to find Spanish speakers when walking into a bank or any government institution, anywhere where there is a significant Spanish speaking diaspora, this includes many licensing examinations such as getting a Driving Licenses. while you might not be as lucky if you speak any other language, Spanish and English covers the vast majority of immigrants into the US, and even then literature and forms are usually available in other less common languages. The US allows you to exist before it expects you to learn English. Germany fails to be so welcoming in the language department despite German not being a language of common use from any of the countries it's immigration services would interact with.
But since this is all in discussion, you must admit they recognized the problem. Germany has no immigration law or office at all. Maybe this is not well known. It's either Asyl on the humantarian level.Refugees. Or it's an employer hiring abroad (not vice versa). There is nothing in-between. You cannot come to Germany and look for a Job. With a tourist Visa you can find an employer to hire you, but that's just a detour.
Germany has to face reality and learning German seems to be a resistant path for many - yes the German's will suffer a dent to their pride but also accept the reality that more of the global population wants to learn & speak English. Germany has no choice but to accept English as their second language. Promotion of your fantastic state pension scheme too will be a very big carrot to attract workers as well as probably thee most sophisticated & progressive culture in Europe, self promotion is the key....as well as accepting thee most popular progressive language on the planet😊
For sure no need to change anything official into english cause this adds costs, complexity and moves the focus away from integration by at least learing german better and faster. We have already enough people here that have a huge amount of german language deficits. Why should the load to have the right skills be moved from the emigrant to the german society and also the responsibility ? And on top: then any emigrant can expect to get along with english first and that is the false signal after so many millions foreigners in this country which is a shame that people can come over to work without a language certificate. Would not happen in the USA and for sure not in POST BREXIT UK which had already started the debate to check the skills of those EU citizens who had arrived before Brexit - till the government lost a lawsuit that this is not in compliance with the EU contract they had negotiated. FINALLY: Are you going to put the pressure from the foreigner to the domestic population and especially employees of the townhall, federal and county government and what not cause they would have then be responsible to listen and read and write in english at a native english speaker ? That will be required if you start such adventure cause then any official administrative employee from all the health insurance, unemployment and pension funds would have to be so fit in english that their english answers are without any flaws compared to their german answer cause otherwise the foreigner could take a lawyer and start a legal battle which could only be opened by the move to english, a complete nonsens to open such a legal flank. How many clerks of the government are able to communicate so safe in english as in german ? less than 0,5% Imagine a clerk of the town hall makes a mistake in the translation which will be later unveiled and end at court (just due to missing native english speaker skills of the administrative english language) then who's liability is that ? The major will be responsible and that is a total stupid nonsense. This is germany, it has a border we protect and inside everyone should be able to speak german or simply leave as a foreigner who is working here. It is the obligation of the foreigner to get along, germany has not to offer any service like english which would establish another culture we do not need nor want. And I do not wanna pay more taxes for that service. The foreigners should learn or find someone who will help them or simply pay them for the help. Then there can not be a legal flank caused by the clerk not having used the right translation. He does his job he does for every german and no extra tour for foreigners. It is the job of the foreigner who immigrates to get along and not our duty and responsibility. That would lower the hurdles far too low. We need professionals capable of speaking german and not afrikaans , asian, russian, korean or what not. We had such a moment in the company in the past when we faced the situation that we were lost in translation and that a decision had to be made if it is a german company or not. The decision was forced by the unions who had asked for more money if the company would continue to move away from german language even inside germany. If another language is used in meetings the company has to make clear that all german participants are capable or to offer a translator. Guess what had happen in this global giant german company ? Suddenly the english language had become a taboe except for those who had a job were english was a requirment in the job description and not a requirement that crept into the company like here in the society. The company has to pay for everything if conferences are held in a foreign language where before german had been used. Took about 5 years to that point and it was a mess. And we do need skilled labor workforce and others that come here for the high wages so they have to qualify not our society. Why hasn't the UK moved from english to polish in all the districts where so many polish had settled before brexit had happened ? Anyway, I bet all the government clerks will also call the union and then move ahead with the court cases that forced our company to step back from the idea to establish english as the language needed cause they simply wanted to reduce efforts on the back of the employees without paying. Also the efficieny and profitibality had stalled back then cause it took far more time to get the job done in a foreign language even for those who had studied. I go crazy if someone is applying for an appartment or a house to rent and is not willing nor capable to speak german or to organize a translator for him. It makes no sense to apply in such a case cause the Hausordnung and contract will be in german and have be obeyed. If someone can not speak german or organize someone to translate and take care then next one please.
Fair enough. I agree that learning the language is very important and should be the first step for any one moving country. I believe that the majority of Genz speak pretty goof English already, it#s more a case of what the people already do who are in the work force and don't speak English yet. I'm sure this idea will not be implemented any time soon but the fact that they are trying to make it easier to get German citizenship suggests that the government is setting it's hopes on immigrants
No doubt about this but Germany would be a better country without the hundreds of thousands of young illiterate young men from violent and archaic societies who enterd my country in the last decade.
"English as a second official language" well there are already a bunch of other official languages in Germany which usually get glossed over even by most Germans. That's why they should get mentioned whenever appropriate.
@@britingermany Yes of course. 🙂 So in no particular order there is Danish, the Frisian languages, Romani, the Sorbian languages and Low Saxon. The area in which those languages are spoken, in so far as they are tied to a particular area, makes up over a third of all of Germany. Most of them are under a lot of pressure of "Germanization" partly by natural development and partly due to deliberate efforts. In recent years a lot of younger people have begun taking an interest in their languages again, often after a gap of at least one or two generations and forms of language activism have sprung up.
@@sarah8383 ok but that seems to be more like regional dialects to me as they are only spoken in certain areas. The way I understood the proposal is that English would be implemented through the whole of germany as a requirement for anyone who deals with immigrants or even customers for that matter
@@britingermany Yes ist a regional thing. But these are proper languages tied to their own cultures and not just dialects. Cultures that have been in the region much longer than german settlers.
here are a few points to explain some of peoples experiences: the nice culturally open germans you meet abroad, are the ones who want to go out and see other cultures, you won't often see the others outside of germany and even the ones that like to travel abroad, will take comfort in the fact that, when they get home, germany is still germany. about east germans being distrusting of foreign cultures: within the life times of any east german alive today, anytime foreign influence has seeped into our country, shit went down hill fast. be it a crazy austrian, the soviet union, west germany, the mass exodus from the middle east or whatever, things changed for the worse. another issue is the english language. prior to us being annexed by west germany, english wasn't a mandatory subject, additionally birth rates plummeted after the initial exitement wore off and people realized that there was no hope for a bright future, to add more to this, when the west arbitrarily decided that all the east german kids must learn english in school now, there weren't many qualified english teachers in east germany, so even a lot of those born post annexation can barely speak english. next issue is that east germans inherently don't trust the government and it's easy to see why. it's been well over thirty years now since the annexation of east germany, yet there is still a wage gap of up to 24% between east and west germany, the government is doing nothing to address this issue and since the east german population is a LOT smaller than the west german population, east germany literally can't vote out the government that has been screwing them over for the past 30+ years. east germans hate the government and what it does, so, since the german government wants immigration (in order to maintain a surplus in work force, because god forbid we reach the point where the companies have to actually worry about employee retention) that's what the east germans hate.
If you emigrate to another country, you are a guest and it befits you to make a reasonable effort to acquire a basic understanding of the country's language, at minimum. IF you run into problems communicating, it is not up to your host country to accommodate you.
I think, as a native English speaker you have it easier than people from other parts of the world. If you are neither fluent in English nor German you will have a hard time in Germany.
@@britingermany As an extra qualification, that is true, but not as a substitude. I would not even say, that it makes Germany less welcoming, but I get how it would feel that way.
@@britingermany Yes and no, the majority of Germans didn't like to learn those languages, cause it is not really an advantage, if you don't work close with those people from the middle east. The Turkish and Arabic community assign jobs among themselves and stick often close togehter, It makes sense, cause they don't need to learn the language and it is not easy to learn Farsi. Romanian is also not very common, the only people from Romania are the Gypsy and Sintis but they are even more close to each other within Germany as the ones from Turkey or the middle east. For the most Germans English is the most important language beside their mother language, some using also French and Espanol, cause those three languages are the only ones you can learn in school, beside of old Greek and Latin.
@@MarkusPape There are a lot of Germans who speaking French, but Polish? I don't see the advantage in learning this language. With French you can move to France, Belgium and Canada and work there if you want, but with Polish? You are very close to Russia and the Ukraine. And the only related language to Polish is Belarussian and Ukrainian. I would not move to Poland.
I grew up in Vienna, my mom coming from France, father austrian. I lived for some years in Italy, Swizerland, Spain and now for over 20 years in Germany. I observed two parameters to be relevant to understand migration: Folks moving from one place to another and doing so on their own tend to assimilate the local culture, to dive in, to learn the language, the try local food and over time become part of the local comunity. Migrating in large groups tends to make it much easier for the individual to stick to the traditions of the last place they lived. I have met ppl in Brazil, who better speak an old german from the 19th century than actual portuguese. We have a similar situation in some parts of NRW, where the comunity of the grandfathers country of origin keeps providing working oportunities, access to an often glorified old tradition, which in some cases does not exist any more in the region they came from. Bumenau´s Oktoberfest in the south of Brazil is really bizar with a mix of Cologne´s Karnevalsmusik, bavarian style Dirndel (created by a clever comerciant from Münster in the late 19th century) and hungarian Strudel. I honestly do not see germans to be less open than ppl living in other countries. What makes another big difference ist the second parameter: Where you come from. I have always been a "luxury stranger" coming from a "rich" country, as Austria seems to be considered as. And I see, that it makes a difference. So, it is hard to migrate, but at least you get a fair chance to see something new, get deeper insights and sometimes understand better your own roots.
I absolutely agree with just about everything which you have stated. Frankfurt was the first city that I moved too in 2001 from the US to take a job offer at a Korean Automotive company(in nearby Escborn..the company has since split and with one part being near the Messe in Frankfurt and the other part now near Russelsheim. As a professional black American in Germany, I absolutely fell in love with Frankfurt. I have only met really nice people overall, as total strangers just approached me and started talking. Many of which are still friends of mine today. I think that if locals see you trying to make a real effort to learn the culture, speak their language, they eventually accept you as true friends. Now, I did change jobs and relocated to Stuttgart for a more well known German automotive company, but still often was in Frankfurt. For some reason, Stuttgart never clicked as much with me (I did get along there, but it was too slow). In the end, I did return back to the US after a about 6 years in Germany. One HUGE regret was that I gave up my residency for all of my tax monies back, thinking that I probably wouldn't return. Yet, here I am in a neighboring country, wishing that I still lived in Frankfurt. Please keep up the excellent videos. Always ways so informative. Cheers!
I think documents should be available in several languages. I'm not sure about making any other language an official language though. We have a hard time keeping dialects alive already.
English already is the most used language in Germany when it comes to technology. I once worked with an international team for a telecommunications company, and of course we spoke English and delivered our reports in English. When people say that German isn't easy to learn, yes, I must partially agree, the grammar has been invented by the devil himself. The English grammar is comparatively easy, but you have to learn every word twice: Once how it's spoken, and once how it's spelt. Introducing English as the second official language in Germany seems a right move at first glance. However, what about simplifying bureaucracy first? There are some forms from authorities I still need help filling in, and as a freelancer, I leave my tax declaration completely to my Steuerberater because I don't understand that lingo and I won't even touch that.
Hello Eisi. Yes I've heard that before that even native German speakers have trouble with the "Amtsprache" it definitely is something that Germany needs to simplify as the language is generally getting less and less formal and I think it will get harder to understand this kind of language not easier
@@britingermany I guess the existence of the „Amtssprache“ is to some extent justified by it being (or at least trying to be) much more precise than the average way of speaking, though of course there‘s a lot of bs words that no one actually knows and are just plain out useless additions. 😂
Jeepers! You claim probably correctly that English is easier as far as the grammar is concerned and yet I don't think there is a country on earth other than the US in which "native" speakers make so many errors. And that is also true of people with college degrees...
I like the english language, I whish i would have learned it better, but I think it is important for people who would like to live in germany to learn german, so they can communicate with everyone fluently and become a part of the society. It would be good to teach a few subjects in english language, so the new generation would learn to speak fluent english, and it would be great if english would become a world language, because would not like to learn mandarin, spanish, or hindi. I don't know if germans are more or less intollerant to other cultures, but I think it is common that different nations have different cultures - and the difference persist through intollence towards that cultural influances. But I think it depends on the stereotypes which exist towards other cultures, so it may not be equal towards every nation. For example I think german culture prioritize individualism and personal autonomy stonger than some arabian cultures do, so some associatet rights are seen as good by germans and may be seen sceptical by some other cultures, this leads to differences. Both cultures may have advantages, so there may be no objective way to say that or that is better. But this differences may lead to intollerences reagarding to changes of the own culture. Due to the world wide cultural exchange cultures may appropinquate or converge more and more, so the national culture diffences will fade away, but I think this will take time.
I agree and can add my own experience. I was born and raised in the former GDR, lived through utter Mangelwirtschaft (dunno the english term). We had to wait for thirteen years to get our car (a Trabbi) and don't ask me how my parents got food on the table each day. Then during my school days alone suddenly there was different money in my pocket (twice), a different political system, elections that actually had an influence on who was the ruling party, we got a telephone for our house (unheard of before), a computer (386 with Windows 3.11, 32MB RAM, imagine that, total luxury back then). Now we all have our own Handys (mobile phones), our own cars etc. Societal norms and technological status quo changing/evolving quicker each passing year. Add to that the influx of people who don't look or talk like they're from around here etc, I can see why this is challenging for some people. And all of this within a single lifespan. Then you got people like my parents who were born shortly after the war, who lived through the entirety of the GDR, fourty years of stagnation and THEN this sudden and rapid acceleration of EVERYTHING, to whom this must have been even worse than for me, but when they were on their golden jubilee to Morocco lately, they made friends with an Indian couple, whom they're still in contact with. Imagine that. It really comes down to each individual, how they react to foreigners. Overgeneralisation isn't good for anything. We are not one people, not one mind - one body. We are 83 million individuals.
Yes an no. I think there is a difference between saying: Not everyone is racist and saying: In this area there will be ten times as many counter protesters on the streets when the far right marches and in this area...there won't. That is the difference between Leibzig, where Legida was eventually thrown out and Dresden and go, where Pegida was free to operate however they wanted.
My parents were also born shortly after the war and they and I grew up in a quite rural area in the northwest. There weren't foreigners in our village before the mid 1990s. My parents got divorced, my mum lived in Hungary for five years and has a lot of friends there and in Austria, my dad was very conservative but went on vacation in Tunesia years ago and he loved it and he and my stepmom went to this hotel four times and they made friends with locals. My father's perspective has also changed a lot. As long as people make an effort to integrate here, have at least a basic knowledge of the language and respect our laws, there is no reason to complain. We are dependent on immigration anyway, if we want to maintain our standard of living to some extent.
Totally unrelated to the point you are making, but I love the german word Handy. Germans always seem to think it's the English word for mobile phone. It isn't. As an adjective it means "useful", and as a noun it can mean...errrrm....h*ndjob. Equally, in English, "Beamer" is not a projector, but a "Beemer" is a BMW. and "Home office" doesn't mean working from home, it's what the UK calls its Innenministerium. It amuses me the way German tends to adopt English words into its lexicon, and then subtly misuse them.
If you can, use the chance to talk to your parents about what living in the GDR really was like. I think you have some misconceptions there. I am somewhat sure that your parents bought food at a store, did not actually wait 13 years to buy a car and indeed were aware of homes with telephones. Regarding "fourty years of stagnation": Wow, you really gobbled up that West German propaganda. I am not defending the GDR political system, but your are just objectively wrong there.
No such thing as german stereotypes , so many different and varied cultures and Germany has only been one nation since 1871-1945 and from 1993 . West Germany is home to many ideas and cultures, but the former DDR is an issue with the rise of AfD , as this former part of Germany only had democracy from 1919-1932 and from the 1990s.
There were times when Germans were regarded as the most curious and cosmopolitan people. I recommend to read Georg Forsters wonderful Diary when he joined his father on the 2nd voyage of James Cook to Polynesia. You will hardly find so much empathy, love, tolerance and insight for other cultures. I enjoy reading this book of a 16/17 year old german boy at least once a year. Georg Forsters book influenced many other people, among them Alexander von Humboldt, whose openmindedness and insights into the situation of indigenious people in colonial South America made him very popular around the whole world. He is still highly respected in South America, and I wish that we Germans would remember him better.
This is a very funny stereotype that East Germany is less friendly to foreigners: I have been in Saxony as a POC foreigner and have the best most friendly experience living there. I have travelled to Heidelberg and got racial slurs hurled at me by someone publicly at a gas station market.
I studied veterinary medicine in Hanover, and went on to do a ‚cumulative doctorate‘ in the Animal Genetics Institute, which means you need to have 2 peer reviewed journals publish your scientific articles before you get your Dr. As our studies are centered on practical abilities and science, English or any other language isn‘t taught at our school, which does nothing but vet med. (TiHo Hannover) So since all the genetic journals such as mammalian genome that had high impact factors are put out by Oxford or Harvard, everything is in English. Scientific articles, discourse, genetics generally are in English. I had spent a High school exchange year in Michigan, but a lot of other people were less fluent and I often found that the nuances of certain ways of phrasing in an article escaped them and so they came to scewed perceptions of what the author was saying. Those were high level educated people, …. with an 8 year school level English…very dependent on how good your teachers were. I think it is fine offering services like immigration documents and such in English, but making English a second language for Germany gives the influence of the Anglosphere too much hold on our dealings. UK brexited themselves from the EU, and the US is steering towards a racialized and gender drama I have no idea how they want to come to terms with. Hollywood is in its deathroes and has had many a harmful influence with the crap they‘ve started to put out the last 10 years. I‘d rather people had the choice to learn other languages as well, like French. We are also taking in a lot of immigrants who have no concept of how to speak German or English…if given the choice, they might opt to learn English, because that might help them in the longterm, while we in Germany are spending the Euros, time and effort into integration, only for them to leave and work elsewhere after they have achieved a job certificate? No, in Germany we speak German….we don‘t want to end up losing our language like the Texas-German speakers, who will die out next generation. You don‘t use a language, or a way to write, you lose it. Just ask American teenagers if they can read cursive writing.
Sorry, it just your experience. That you will meet germans everywhere. The reason you meet germans in southeast asia. It's because it's cheaper and easier to afford. Traveling to southeast asia. You will not meet germans everywhere in america. Maybe just in a few cities along the east coast cities and in few small amounts.
@@britingermany Wow, you met a few in america. I lived my whole in america and the amount of german tourist coming to america is very, very small. Those from countries like england, denmark and Italy. Come in greater numbers then germans. How many years did you live in america?.
I have worked in both countries and can tell you that I'd choose the UK for a "human" approach and Germany for a "mechanical" approach. The UK functions less efficiently, but takes a personal position on how to get things done. In doing so, one can acclimate to the culture quickly in a friendly environment which is every important for a foreigner. Germany functions more efficiently, but on a sterile level, making the foreigner feel isolated and somewhat distant. If you are an introvert, Germany would suit you better; if an extrovert, the UK is more your lane. I will return to the UK upon retirement as I enjoy going to the pub, chatting with the locals and enjoying the human interaction. Retiring in Germany, I would imagine staying at home, having a select group of friends who will only meet on a planned precise schedule and afterwards not interfacing again until a new schedule is proposed - way too formal, cold and unfeeling for me - by hey, each person has to determine their own course....
Thanks for making some space between 'The Nazis' and the people who in majority make today's reality of this central European region. First 'The Nazis' were a fascist Regime in a time period with extremely challenging changes all over Europe or even the world, also in a time of extreme poverty, with the first million victims of this regime being german citizens even before the holocaust took form. Only few survivors, and near no perpetrators, of that period in time still exist. ( If you had become an adult, 21 years of age, in December 1944, a few months before the end of the regime and the war, you'd now be nearly 100 years old). And since the freedom since the end of that period gave way to everything social and democratic, everybody who supported that, could and had turned the Region soon into the multi-diverse Place it is today. Thank you also for your quite funny look into work and social habits through your eyes as someone who did not grow up among this. Interesting you found, what you describe, in Frankfurt. Have you had time out in .. less bureaucratic ( more fun - ) cities, like for example every county north of Frankfurt, like around Cologne, Berlin, Leipzig, and Hamburg?
7:18 “the overarching vision of this project is for peaceful relations between judaism, christianity and islam”..not gonna happen..judaism is supremacist and exclusionary; islam is supremacist and proselytising; christianity is universalist and post-proselytising..”the lion may lie down with the lamb, the lamb isn’t getting much sleep” w allen
Every immigrant must learn the language to a b level or u will never belong to Germany, people don’t want to change to English just for u 8f there is a group of them. If u speak German poorly u will always be seen as a lower class. That’s not the case if u come from a english or Nordic country, because languages r similar and the people r mostly rich.
English as a second official language can only help every global player and nation who wants to attract new highly skilled people. I can speak from experience, the other way around. I am German but moved to live in Cyprus. Greek is likely even harder to learn than German, since knowing English does not help that much. Let alone another alphabet. But since the island has had this strong UK influx in the more recent past, English is the second main language. Everyone speaks it, most people really well, and 90% of the standard administration, online shops, services etc. offer English as well. Which made moving here almost as easy as moving from Hamburg to Munich. Everything is somehow different, but there was not that much friction, and you can figure everything out, without knowing anyone here. That would have been a whole other story if everything was in Greek only. Like it is in Germany with German to most degree. A huge difference. So that would bring significant benefits as a global location and for easy onboarding/attractiveness.
I have received quite a few comments from people from other countries (middle east etc) saying that it’s a very different experience if you look different.
@@britingermany I don't doubt it, and that is a shame. You probably know more about these cases than I do, but in Wurzburg, a small city of around 120,000, where I studied, there have been two attacks, one with a knife near the city center and another on a train at the Hauptbahnhof within the last three years, I think. In the first, two women and a small child were murdered. I'm not sure how many were murdered on the train. There were widespread reports of physical abuse of young women in larger cities. All of these were carried out by young male Afghan or Middle Eastern refugees. The government's response to the abuse of women by roving bands of young men left a lot to be desired. When incidents like this occur, and the government fails to carry out its primary responsibility to guarantee public safety and dispense justice, people will respond as you described. I don't like it, and I have sympathy for foreigners who have the misfortune of experiencing it, but it seems to me Germans are reacting like any European, under those circumstances, would react. You certainly have a better perspective of things there than I do, though. But that's what it looks like from here.
@@britingermany I did, it is called for by Klaus Olbricht and Peter Adrian. How ever both are not Politicians but theyre the President and Vice President of the "Industrie und Handelskammer" meaning the Chamber of Industrie and Trading. As Well as By parts of the FDP (Free Democratic Party Germany) which is strongly losing Popularity and barly gets to 5% of Votes nowadays. So that "movment" can't be called big whatsoever
It's kind of a characteristics of stereotypes, you cannot reproduce where they come from, it's something like manifested gossip. It's also impossible to ever get rid of it. People only forget by not thinking about something OR by death. So if you want to get rid of stereotypes, stop picking them up ....at least if they are close to extinguishment. . if it's overgrown with gras, don't be the sheep eating the gras ;-) ... "Gras über die Sache wachsen lassen" would be the german idiom.
I'd go as far as saying that Germany is among the most tolerant countries on this planet! So much so that many Germans would rather give up their own culture in order to accommodate for foreign cultures, before making a stance for their own way of living. One thing has increasingly become clear: In Germany people feel a great shame for being German. Bi-nationals would almost certainly identify themselves with the non German part, "normal" Germans would rather be something else other than German, because just being German is considered shameful. And that's a big part of our today's problems, even our politicians openly talk about their dislike for Germany, and how they want to basically liquidate the country. Introducing the English language as second official language would only be the first step, but a clear sign to the people, that German culture is no longer wanted in Germany. Especially members of the green party openly discuss their plans to purposefully get foreigners in so the German dominance would be ended. I believe Germany is the only planet where the own people feel ashamed of who they are, and would happily hand the country over to other's, as long as they are non German. Germans are full of national shame!
The tolerance that will be interesting to see is when foreigners like me murder German culture and language. I remember a German exchange student who explained to me, in the most broken English, how he hated hearing foreigners speaking German badly. He seemed to think that we English speakers should be happy with his lack of expertise as if our language wasn't important but German was sacred. I have noticed my cousin's wife complaining that his mistakes pain her. :-). Anyhow, for what its worth I think we all should be trying to rationalise and simplify our languages, including English. One might not want to remove expressive power but I think a lot of what we have is not expressive and is just the junk of time that makes it harder for everyone to be multilingual.
A problem in making English an official language in Germany is presumably that many Germans just don't understand English very well. My parents don't. They did not even have it in school. Thus, many people working currently in official positions might not be able to do what will be expected from them if they are asked to understand documents in which the English language is being used.
I think German society is proud of its cultural heritage and likes to uphold some typically German traditions (e.g. carnival) but at the same time it effortlessly adopts and assimilates other countries' customs, e.g. Valentine's Day, Halloween - both unheard of when I came here. Same with food, e.g. Turkish cuisine, now mainstream. People in Germany love travelling and getting acquainted with different cultures and languages. Generally speaking, people in Germany are welcoming, weltoffen, and open to change 😊.
On one hand, I'm helpful and understanding if a tourist or "new" immigrant does not speak German. On the other hand, if somebody takes advantage of our friendliness and is not willing to learn our language and accept our culture and maintains living in Germany for years I tend to loose my sense of being helpful and understanding towards those people. I am a German living in Germany and I don't want to become a foreigner in my home-country.
Germans should stick to their own beautiful language! anybody who does not want to learn it , should stay where they are. why do they bother to come to Germany?if they do not want to integrate.
There is no ideology to consider about making english a second language. There is simply a cost attached to it and, depending on how far you take it, it is also a problem for administrations to get staff suitable for the challenge. First of all, it is not cheap to set up all official documents, forms etc. in a new language, including all the documentation that comes with it (many forms have How-to brochures explaining how to properly fill them out). Ask the americans why they do not officially change to the metric system if you wonder how expensive this whole thing could get. It would be a permanent thing as well, all new legislation with any impact on beuraucracy has to be documented in two languages. The fact that public clerks and administrators now also have to be fluent in english is also a thing to consider from the employees side. Is it fair to ask a person in public service to be fluent in a foreign language to start or continue their career ? You trade off better starting conditions for immigrants by possibly hampering the career outlooks for locals. We have to remember this is not some tourist level of english, but it borderlines a level of professional english with lots of legal terminology. Some companies send their employees on special courses to train them for this kind of thing. This is not about ideology or a "hit on national identity" it is simply a question of "Is it really worth it ?". The only sensible thing i can imagine to implement is centralized hotlines for engish speakers (even more languages are feasible this way) to call to get assistance with processes. Without any paperwork offered in english, which is probably a huge cost factor, this might be a lean way of adressing it. Still, without paperwork in english, how much good does this even do ? I am convinced the number of english speaking immigrants is simply to low to justify a full scale paralell beuraucracy.
P.S. You are mistaken. In the least it was popular to be critical about the US since 2003 or even since the Patriot Act before that, some might even identify the highly questionable inauguration of George Bush jr as the turning point. In germany we have a long tradition of comedians criticizing the US for 20 years and more.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Yes I agree that a full scale parallel bureaucracy would not be sustainable…I’m guessing the people who proposed this are thinking of the future and anticipating x amount of new non Germany speaking immigrants in the next few years…
Yes external nationalities have been critical of the us for a long time, but it seems that it has become popular for Americans themselves to be critical of their own country, this is fairly new as they used to be extremely self confident and proud of being the worlds police.
Warum soll Englisch zweite Amtssprache werden? Die Briten wollen nicht mehr im EU-Club mitmachen, d.h, es sind nur noch 5,5 Mio. englischsprachige Leute dabei. Die EU muss auf lange Sicht unbedingt stärker zusammenwachsen. Es wäre also sinnvoller, einen größeren Fokus auf Französisch (~78 Mio.), Italienisch (~59 Mio.) oder Spanisch (~47 Mio.) zu legen. Neben Deutsch. Formulare können mittlerweile übrigens prima von Google o.a. Programmen in alle möglichen Sprachen übersetzt werden.
4:30 I think that any country with an official language has no obligation whatsoever to provide official documents in another language. However, it would of course be nice if it did anyway, and nowadays many forms are available in other languages. You may have to ask for them though and not all employees will be able to help you because despite what some may think, not all Germans speak English and not too many are fluent.
Some Germans can be quite provincial if not hostile to different cultures. Because German towns, even small ones, can be perfectly self-sufficient - in education, administration, commerce etc. One could really be born, finish the schooling, get a job and live the rest of the life without leaving one's hometown no problem... and in that case he or she would naturally lack the international awareness. Germans are famous travelers too, but again, if one chooses to just go to one of those infamous German holiday colonies such as in Majorca, one can perfectly stay in a German bubble. The first town I landed in Germany was such a little town in Baden, and I was practically the only non-White. I can tell you I experienced first-hand the famous German stare everywhere I went. Things changed within a short span of time, and it got much more international too, but the mentality of the inhabitants do not change easily. I had then a short friendship with a musician, who came back to the hometown for a short while - he had traveled the world for the nature of his work, and I realised how much more relaxed I could be with him for the simple reason he had the sense that there's a big world out there with different cultures.
I have never heard about an intolerance against other cultures but from some young people inspired by migration friendly political factions. Cultural intolerance would have imposed serious limitations to the worldwide success of German products and foreign investments e.g. in China. In addition most Germans like to travel to foreign countries. In academia the European Erasmus scheme made studying in foreign countries viable for a lot of German students.
Speaking of German stereotypes, I have a question that goes the other way. I would say I'm quiet anglophile and watch a lot of british TV, but something always surprised me: Comedians xan still make a living off of hating Germans. Be it the late Sean Lock or Rob Brydon, making that episode of QI very hard to stomach. I have the feeling that some stereotypes just luve on, because foreign media perpetuates it. For example I wouldn't imagine anyone younger than 60 to put a towel on a deck chair on holiday in the morning. That would be a massive instance for fremdschämen. 😳 Why does the UK need this hate, those fictional rivalries and is unable to move on? Why is it always Nazis and 'because the French hate us'? It always feels like grasping for straws, scraping the bottom of the barrel, but nobody ever comments on it. If any UK residents want to help me understand, or any Frech people want to set the record straight if there really are ressentiments in modern French culture, I would be thankful.
I don’t watch comedians at all so can’t comment on the shows you are referring to. All I can say is that British humour is often very cutting and relies on shock value as in “he didn’t just say that did he?” Usually one group/thing is singled out and ripped to shreds. You need a thick skin because it can seem quite funny until everything is directed at you. Did you see Ricky Gervais hosting the Golden globes I think it was in 2020. He absolutely ripped Hollywood to shreds. It was kind of shocking and I think many of the actors felt extremely uncomfortable with it. Having said that it is very common to insult you’re friends in the U.K. in fact usually you will only openly insult people that you really like….so take it as a compliment? 🤷🏼♂️
So here is my thought on the whole German language topic. I agree we should make buerocracy easier by introducing other languages especially those of the largest immigration populations first (and sorry English immigrants this makes English IMHO an afterthought and not part of the "first wave"). But and this is IMHO about the respect towards cultures. You should learn German anyway, because nothing is more annoying than to go to a random cafe (not talking about an Irish Pub) and hear that they only speak English
Interestingly, you fail to mention the main reason why Germany is unattractive to the highly skilled from India etc., which is, of course, the excessive tax regime and the knowledge that tax revenues will probably be wasted on some ill-conceived regime-change project (2 trillion in Afghanistan alone).
I mean.. I am German with German parents and grandparent and so on and my real first name is "Gysar", which is 100% not a German name, sooooo yeah, we can't be THAT intolerant of other cultures. xD Oh and I am from East-Germany, we aren't all Nazis there, most people are actually rather tolerant, the idiots are a loud minority.
Could you by any chance please speak a littlebit faster in your upcoming videos? But seriously, I used to think my English was not too bad but listening to a native speaker, I quickly reached my limits.
I lived 20 years abroad in Asia and am married to a child of guest workers, who came to Germany in the early 70s from what was then Yugoslavia. With almost everything, we have to find a balance. I think we need to be open to others cultures, but we also need to avoid developments that will result in ghettos and the splitting of our nation along cultural lines. Some Germans seem to have no worries were this can lead. Some people here, are quite surprised if I voice my concerns, because they think a person who lived abroad and traveled a lot should have other opinions. However, if you don't see the pitfalls, I would argue that you haven't traveled enough and firmly closed your eyes to what kind of social problems other nations have. I see the current situation, with open borders, mass immigration, and politicians who close their eyes to the problems, very negatively. We already have ghettos in big cities and people with very different values living right next to each other. My husband was born in Bosnia. I have witnessed the lynch mobs in Indonesia during the Asian financial crisis. I was in Berlin this Sylvester.
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Good morning :) Get 25% off Blinkist premium and enjoy 2 memberships for the price of 1! Start your 7-day free trial by clicking here: blinkist.de/britingermany. Happy Sunday
living in Germany isnt cheap.
@@bearenkindercool Er will an den Deutschen verdienen. Also, muss er denen irgendwie "entgegenkommen", loben, in den A. kriechen... das ganze programm halt.
Hast du schon blinkist premium enjoyt?
@@bearenkindercool Warum sollte er über Stereotype in GB sprechen? Das wäre doch vielleicht eher etwas für den Kanal "Deutscher in GB"? Hier geht es doch um persönliche Erfahrungen und Eindrücke, nicht um eine ausgewogene Berichterstattung. Und klar, jeder hätte gern nur werbefreien Content, aber wenn man die Chance hat, mit seiner Arbeit Geld zu verdienen, finde ich das verständlich und denke, dass es fast jeder so machen würde. Kann natürlich auch sein, dass ich mich da irre. 🤔
@@hansberger4939 Perfekter Kommentar für alle, die ein Beispiel für "Fremdschämen" brauchen...
@@N_K12695 90% des piblikums solcher kanäle sind nunmal deutschsprecher. Welcher amerikaner oder brite will sich in seiner freizeit in die feinheiten deutschlands vertiefen?
Wohingegen die deutschen ganz geil drauf sind, zu erfahren, wie andere sie sehen.
Muss man sich nun wegen "Blinkist premiums" zu "25% off" schämen? oder fremdschämste du da? oder für den, der das hämisch wiederholt?
Nicht nötig, würde ich sagen. kannste als hobby machen, aber, wesentlich wichtiger wäre, dass du endlich mal ein "Blinkist Premium" kaufst. Immerhin "25% off". Da solltest du nicht länger zögern! Wer weiiß, wie lange so ein supersonderangebot noch gilt!
ähm.... wie?
Nein... ich weiss auch nicht, was "Blinkist premium" ist. Ich will es ehrlich gesagt gar ncht wissen.
20 or so years ago on a long flight from Singapore to Frankfurt, a very nice gentleman was sitting next to me.We filled the long hours, having a great discussion about both our experiences regard, working or touristic abroad. When we were landing in Frankfurt, he asked me how I would be traveling on to my final destination Düsseldorf. I told him, I would take the train. He then started to explain how nice and smooth the train system in Germany worked. so I informed him, that I am familiar with it, as I am a native German from Düsseldorf He started laughing hard and told me he was a native German to from Mönchengladbach, which is a very short distance from Düsseldorf… So the last half hour we continued in our mothers language and not longer in English, as we head the whole flight…
That's an amazing story!🤣 But it also means your accent can't be strong! I am impressed! Most of the time I can tell from a few sentences that someone is German 😃
…@@AmericasGotGermans maybe we didn’t recognize, because we were both German. But our personal origin became no part of the conversation until the very last moment.
Amazing 😀
Lovely story
Happens to me all the time. ;-) I work for a company with a very international staff. For two and a half years, we basically had home office, and now we do one day in office per week again. There have been new colleagues in that time, and it happened more than once since we returned to the office that I met someone at the coffee machine and we 've been talking in English for half an hour until somebody realized we were both German. ;-)
Great analysis and i would love to agree to your views esp. Being a citizen myself in Berlin. Yet i think your perspective is also largely based off of being from a white englishmen Background... Being East Asian and not grew up in Germany i cannot say i had the same experience and perspectives as yours.
Everyone will have their own subjective experience...and of course the fact that I can in many cases pass as a German makes a difference
An English friend (who only speaks English) told me she was lost on a motorway near Paris. She looked for the way to Calais. No Fensch helped her. And who helped her??? A German - speaking English...
Haha. Lucky her
the issue stems from many being unhappy with our nation going to such extremes to adopt other cultures, instead of people moving here adapting to it. and a very loud minority voicing their distaste very aggressively
Lots of people I talked with fear that the "german" is getting lost, and the identity of what makes us germans blurs together with other cultures.
I personally dont see the issue, but know others who do. and many older people are very much against foreign customs like wearing headscarves. My parents for example think that no woman chooses to do so but is forced to. I dont know if that is the case or not, but find it wrong to outright assume so... but y'all know how parents are like, they wont hear it.
My favorite part about so many different cultures coming to germany is definitely the cuisine, I can have authentic italian, greek, vietnamese, japanese, african, russian and turkish food in the same week no problem (and many more). My least favorite would be the stigmas, the unnecessary hate from specifically right extreme germans towards others. Most germans *really* dislike openly displayed patriotism, its frowned upon to be proud of your nationality (I can recall a dozen songs with lyrics about this from the top of my head), but this also creates extremes. The ones who are proud often get pushed into radical groups who then escalate.
Add the general distrust in the Government (over 50% of germans do not trust the government, and most who trust still dont believe they'll get shit done) and you got what we see in the news, almost-riots, hate against foreigners, etc.
Many feel that foreigners get treated better than our own people, schools are underfunded, medical staff does not get paid enough (especially in care), taxes are too high, public transport goes to shit, energy prices are ridiculous, and more. and at the same time we just keep hearing "we gave money to those, we provided these, we helped them" but never do we hear about help for the common german citizen.
I dont want to believe it being like that, but it sure as hell looks like it... and the problem is just listing what you hear on the news and how its mostly interpreted makes you sound like a right extremist, I dont want to sound like I support a shit show like the AFD but thats their goal - just like the nazis - they use the common peoples disdain to fuel their propaganda and push their radical goals
All of this together and you only see the bad on the outside, you think "damn these germans hate foreigners"
I try limit my "news" intake...it's just as much about clickbait as RUclips is...if not more...so I know what they they are doing 🤣
I definitely believe if you are moving to Germany or are living in Germany then you should try to learn German
I agree…should really be a no brainer!
at the same time we need to keep in mind that learning the language takes some time - and we can't expect a new immigrant to have a conversation in fluent German after just a few weeks.
Learning the language is not the problem, but if you just moved to a new country, you might need some time and help to settle in.
@@tobyk.4911 this doesn‘t, however, apply to tommies who have lived here for 10 years or longer, speaking three words of German, having kids in school and still thinks
I got put into a three bed hospital room on a mobile bed because they needed someone to translate for the nightshirt nurses, because the three British soldier‘s wives, who had been stationed in Germany for years, knew little to no German.
Medical staff woke me up every 2h, and I even had to talk one down complaining about blood being requested.
I mean, where is my translator‘s fee?
I always wanted to meet "the german" everybody's talking about. I've never seen one, seems to be quite shy and elusive. There may be some who are aligned more to "foreign" stereotypes on germans, but I'd be really surprised to see one that checks all the boxes. So, IMO, every sentence starting with "germans are..." is wrong from the start. And that seems to be the same for every stereotype of any nation.
I disagree. Sure it’s always a generalisation and there will always be many exceptions but cultural stereotypes are still well and truly alive and do have some accuracy. That is why we still say things like “that’s very British” or “he seems rather German”
And that said by a Thomas Müller...😂...!
Not to forget, the stereotype itself depends very much on the country you are in. The US stereotypes on Germany are completly different then the British ones.
Such jokes like Prince Harry in a Nazi costume is so British, I guess it would not happen in US so easily.
You can currently see the comments of British people on the visit of King Charles. ...it goes like "that german bastard" just to quote one.
Some of those stereotypes are around because some germans love to play the stereotype for the pleasure of foreigners. You see some such on YT.
Everybody who is going to move toGermany should‘ve done a German course at Goethe Institut. i remember that at Hofbräuhaus I‘d to speak English with somebody. We are in Germany where German is the language. If somebody struggles with German ( medical words) or ask me if I could speak English because he is a tourist than I don‘t have a problem speaking English. But I hate the attitude so you must speak English to me.
Yes I couldn’t agree more. You just miss out on so much if you don’t speak the local language so it really is not good for both immigrants and locals!
I do agree in general but Goethe isn't be all and end all. First, it doesn't scale prices in different countries, so, for example, where I live (Central Asia, won't go into more details) a regular group course costs about half of median gross income and goes at a snail's pace (6 months per level). Second, the teachers are still local, so if there are any local German courses available at all, they would be way cheaper for the same quality. Or you can opt for the cheaper side of italki, although it might take a few tries to find a decent teacher.
Für solche Einstellung wird man in der Öffentlichkeit bereits als Nazi gebrandmarkt. Der Hang zum Englischsprechen im eigenen Land ist meiner Meinung nach auch auf das US Reeducation und die jahrelange Indoktrination zurück zu führen:
Kein Volk, Keine Nation, Keine Sprache, Keine Kultur. Als Gründungsmythos bezieht sich die Bundesrepublik auf Auschwitz, "Deutschland verrecke" ein Ausspruch der hoch bis zum Bundespräsident salonfähig ist.
Die Tatsache daß viele deutsche kein Deutsch sprechen wollen ist nur ein Auswuchs dieser selbstgeißelung. Die grenzenlose Armutsmigration nach Deutschland ebenfalls, um sich von der Schuld des totalen Bösen reinzuwaschen, verfällt ein Großteil unseres Volkes dem totalen Guten unter Aufgabe jeglichen Selbsterhaltungs-, und Selbstbehauptungswillen.
Even as a german moving into a tiny village in another part of germany you can feel unwelcome - so to see the "positive" the fact that you are not german does not factor in in this at all
I am a German Beamter in Duisburg. Most of my clients came from African countries or from Turkey. My spoken English isn't as bad as my written English, but my lack of Turkish and Arabic is a real problem, as most of them don´t speak english at all. But German law gives everyone the right to a publicly paid translator. As a result, nobody was dependent on me and my abilities, but could always have their rights checked neutrally, and I see that as constitutional and important.
Justizsekretärsanwärterin from Düsseldorf here 🥰
Yes, that's what I love so much. Germany is really trying (and successfully so imho) to be fair to everyone and not to discriminate anyone!
The law gives people so many rights, it's amazing
@@matchaleche You're also trying as hard as you can to waste as much tax-payer money as possible. The entire world works with remote interpretation, but you fools still pay huge sums of money for each and every interpretation gig including travel. We're suffering from our goddam "Beamtentum" 100 times more than we are from any foreigner coming to our country.
@Hawk Anonymous As I wrote, my clients are mainly from African countries or Turkey. They didn't grow up in Germany.
@Hawk Anonymous That problem exists with German kids in Germany, too. I'm often astonished how bad the reading and writing skills of born German kids today are. Reading Theodor Storm's 'Schimmelreiter' or other classics and they have problems to understand the simple words and meanings of the text.
Official language is "deutsch".
Well, I'd say it really depends on where you look.
I know people from very small villages that haven't met a black person until they became 17 or 18 or so. I'm not joking or exaggerating.
Such country-sides aren't necessarily poor either -- or uneducated. Typically, they tend to be far above the average in terms of (academic) education and income. There are swathes of land in NRW, which is generally extremely multicultural, where the CDU has generally 80% or better voting results (or used to have until a few years ago, didn't check for a couple of years) and which is the byword for conservatism.
In these countrysides, society works a bit differently. You know your neighbours. You expect your neighbours to introduce themselves. You expect them to integrate into the village micro cosmos of society. You expect them to take part in events. To greet everyone (and remember everyone's names). To make sure your property is looking 'respectable'. And yes, even to sweep the sidewalk every Saturday.
I'm not joking.
And if you don't. They'll tell you to. And if you still won't do it, they'll stop talking to you. And there is a very real chance you'll be ostracised throughout the village within a year of moving there. And they can be brutal in their disapproval, which to them is a result of your (perceived) disrespect or discourtesy towards them.
Needless to say, foreigners -- particularly those with bad German skills -- will find ich hard to integrate into these communities if they don't know what they're getting into. It's more of a family-type relation than merely neighbours by city standards.
So, yes. I *can* understand why such a stereotype might have come up.
Then again, just to be perfectly clear, the bigger cities in Germany are the same metropolitan mix of peoples, cultures, and languages as any major Western metropolis nowadays.
Of course like any country it depends on various things. But interesting perspective about village life. Thanks for sharing
I have lived a few years in Finland (coming from Germany). As you mention correctly, it is a good bit easier to navigate official processes there independently as a foreigner, as most documents and services are available in English and many people dealing with you e.g. at a tax office or a car insurance will speak English, or sometimes even German, fairly well.
This does, however, lead to a big amount of foreigners/expats, especially in the metropolitan area around Helsinki, that even after many years of living in the country, barely understand most basic Finnish. Even after many years they're remaining somewhat on the sideline culturally, as language would be key for better cultural integration.
Funnily it's in my eyes often the "more exotic foreigners" from Arab or African countries, where English isn't that known, that by learning the language more quickly, dive into the contemporary culture faster...
Thank you for your pleasant to watch content! Great audio, rarely heard such good sound in smaller/younger yt-channels.
Nice greetings from Offenbach!
genau das ist der grund, warum die meisten behördlichen dinge auf deutsch sein "sollen" - unabhängig davon, dass viele deutsche den beamtenkauderwelsch auch nicht verstehen - der druck, die sprache zu erlernen, soll möglichst hoch sein, damit sich die menschen hier besser einleben können. die tatsache, dass sehr viele menschen recht gut englisch sprechen können, nimmt menschen aus englische-sprechenden ländern diesen druck und lässt sie außen vor. daher auch das relativ geringe interesse, überhaupt eine fremdsprache zu erlernen: "warum, die sprechen doch eh alle englisch?" - eine ähnliche haltung hat man zt auch in frankreich. gibt genügend schöne ziele auf der welt, für die man keine fremdsprache benötigt, warum also sich die mühe machen? wie sehr eine sprache und deren feinheiten den blickwinkel verändern, darüber denken viele nicht nach. danke für den netten gedanken! 🙂
Hi there and thanks for weighing in. I was wondering what integration looked like in places like Finland and you kind of confirmed my suspicions. Regard the sound God bless A.I! Stared using it a few weeks ago and clears the audio right up. makes the quality of the microphone irrelevant😀
From the perspective of a native finn, its definitely true that people get lazy with not learning the language which is really sad. Many service businesses have begun to employ english-only speaking people who do not even try to learn the basics of the language so that they can serve your coffee in the native language, which I think is very disrespectful towards the natives. Except for the Turkish immigrants, who in my experience speak finnish relatively well.
As for me, Im learning germany, and hoping to have the chance to move to Deutschland within a year or so!
We Finns will bend over backwards for all foreigners, especially those professionals who come here to work. We feel we are always at a big disadvantage compared to nearly all other countries, so we always try to accommodate and cater to the needs of foreigners. In a sense, we have never had enough cultural pride to emphasize our ways of doing anything; it is always about making sure we adapt to everyone else, whether we are the seller or the buyer, or whether we hold the winning cards or not.
This leads to these ridiculous things that are really common: we just don't dare to strongly require people to learn Finnish if they choose not to do it by themselves, even after 10 or 15 years.
A lot of Finns live in a mindset that over time, people will just decide on their own to do what us Finns are doing, as it's only logical. This attitude is present in many other things as well - we will not intervene; we just assume that people will do things the right way, and if they don't, the first thing we do is blame it on the circumstances, that we have not created the right circumstances for getting the right result. This is true across everything in Finland, not just in these Finnish vs. immigrant issues.
It would be far more straightforward and simpler if we just found our long-lost spine and started to vocalize and demand the things we want to happen (since we do want things to happen a certain way), but instead, we have this highly conflict-avoidant and non-sanctioning self-blame culture, in which nobody is ever satisfied with anything.
This, I think, is our biggest cultural weakness - the terminally conflict-avoidant culture, together with the belief that we always have to accommodate others, and that we ourselves should never come first.
And why do I think this language issue is not well managed as it is now?
As a Finn, I might be required to know English at my workplace, not because of foreign clients, but because of English-speaking coworkers.
So, if that English-speaking coworker is a native English speaker, then he or she has to know only his or her first (and maybe the only) language, English, while I have to use a second language in my own country.
Additionally, we Finns also have to learn and know Swedish (unless we are Swedish-speaking Finns), and in many positions, it's required (at least in public jobs).
Also, not learning the Finnish language will likely keep a person out of the larger Finnish society basically for good. For example, I am fairly good at English, but does it mean I want to speak it everywhere and all the time? No, it doesn't. So if an immigrant complains that it's so difficult to make Finnish friends, the first thing I'd think to ask is whether the immigrant knows any Finnish (assuming the person has been in Finland for a while). This might create confusion in the immigrant's mind-Finns speak good English, so why would it be important?
Well, it is. Speaking a language other than your own is taxing and exhausting after a while. To make it not exhausting and taxing you have to speak it constantly for longer periods, and I think that's a big ask for someone to do in his native country.
I think there is a big difference between experiencing other cultures where those cultures are from, and having to adapt your own culture to them at home. More people will be interested in the first one than the latter, no matter where in the world you look. And i would say it's the same with the germans.
As for immigration: people go to /move to germany for several reasons. If nobody integrates and adapts to german (working) culture and behavior (like the recycling, being quiet in public transport ect.) then those reasons why people want to go there/move there dissapear.
If i want to be in a different country than my origin, then i need to integrate myself to keep the country the place i wanted.
(If i want to paint somehting yellow, but keep dipping the brush into blue i used to paint everything, whatever i paint won't be yellow.)
I am not german, the country i live in has (if i remember correct) taken the second most refugees since 2015 in the EU after sweden (per capita) And what we experience since i like to explain that way: a significant number people from very different cultures are here now, and some of them come here and act the same way as the people they claim to have fled from!
So they do not understand that bringing that behavior here means they make the place be as bad as where they fled from because they wanted to be in a better place.
Of course it is a two way process. Traditionally it is the immigrant that really has to work very hard and make a huge effort to integrate which I think is kind of logical as they are the one moving to a new place.
As an Australian who has been living in Germany for 12 years now, I really hope they don’t make English a 2nd language. I think it was really important for me to learn my Wifes and Step-Daughters native Language. To really understand German culture and regional history and its many varied dialects and accents, you must learn German. it is incredibly expressive, funny and poetic. Platz Deutsch is also something that is often forgotten when we speak about Germany . Another plus, you make more friends and are able to more involved in your local community.
I agree. However I do think it will become increasingly necessary for most jobs. Especially government jobs.
I think English doesn't have to be an official language, but all government services should be offered in English, too. There is no excuse in this day and age to insist on using German, and I don't get why we are so far behind neighbor countries like Denmark or the Netherlands in this respect.
@@HerbertLandei That Danish and the Dutch are extremly good at english has to do with size. There are way more German native speakers than Danish native speakers, so they are used from an early age to watching Movies in English for example.
@@HerbertLandei It's called FEDERALISM. One problem, 17 opinions, except that all states agree that the Federal government is always wrong. On the rest they disagree.
@@HerbertLandeiI dont think it's a bad thing to strongly encourage everyone to speak German. I'm English and lived in Germany for a while. My German was basic, learnt as a child in Switzerland and then following on in school in England till I was 14, and carried on French till the end of school and a bit in college. I had many hilarious conversations with people in a mixture of German, English and French. The funniest was my neighbour speaking German and a tiny bit of English and French, understanding more than they could speak. A Romanian neighbour who had a little English, no French and good German. Me, school German and French, which is fairly inadequate for grown up conversation and practical mundane things like explaining which part of your washing machine cycle is going wrong over the phone to the repairman, or sorting out your home insurance or if your baby has colic or opening a bank account. We spoke grasping for whichever language we knew the words in. I mangled my grammar horribly. We translated from one language to the other for the other one to understand and used lots of hand language, miming, pointing and even drawing. Hilarious. Quite a few people were patient, kind and helpful and it did help my German improve and it helped me in social situations. I did very much appreciate doctors and nurses speaking to me in English, especially for the childrens healthcare, when they knew I was struggling to understand or explain. All of this support was a privilege, a kindness, and certainly not my right to expect it.
I do agree it's really lovely when people help you and we should all help others with language when we can, but I'm not sure it should be a hard requirement such that people dont even have to bother trying to integrate at all. A lot of culture is in the language, not just for function, but subtleties like humour and shared cultural references in literature, or TV, or knowing what's going on in the news.
The other issue is where do you stop when it comes to providing services in other languages and the amount of resource that takes in people and costs, whether it's people who you need to be multilingual or materials from leaflets to internet pages across the whole range of things you have to engage with the government on as a resident or citizen. It is a fine line between being helpful in the short term and helpful in the long term for making your life somewhere and integrating.
I think adding English as an official language to Germany is unnessecary, as you don't need it as an official langauge to provide English forms to new arrivals. There are already classes at German universities taught in English, without it being an official language. Making it an official language would simply open a pathway for quite radical people to go nuts. Mostly the kind of people who chant slogans like "Deutschland muss verrecken!".
Germans are not intolerant to other cultures, as long as members of those other cultures don't try to force their German neighbors to accept to live according to it. Germans are generally a very curious species and are eager to learn new things from other cultures. Some they like and even willingly integrate into their daily life, others they don't and they don't like to be confronted by them on a regular basis (for instance slaughtering a goat in the garage, or not respecting the quietness of the so-called "quite hours" or on Sundays).
Thanks for sharing Robert
Germans are in fact too tolerant and accepting to a degree naivety.
Remember Nietzsche: Tolerance is a proof of distrust in one's own ideals.
I was really surprised to hear your topic from this video. I have never heard this about germans and having lived here for nearly forty years, have never experienced it. Like you I couldn't speak german when I came here and I remember people falling over themselves to speak english to me and even when I started speaking german a lot of them still wanted to speak english with me. Just the fact that the huge majority of germans can speak english denies that they are intolerant of other cultures. That's something to charge the english with because they adamantly refuse to learn foreign languages. I don't know ANYONE who lives in England who can speak a foreign language - I guess it's still the ingrained colonial attitude. AND what's more intolerant than Brexit?
It's definitely something I hear often. I think it's a little different for people coming form the Middle East but as I said I have not experience this myself...
Yes try to get through in FR or IT times with German or English, outside the tourist areas, otherwise mostly. Okay, except when Rammstein is in town!!!🤘
But I think it's terrible when German tourists look for German restaurants abroad. Okay for breakfast I understand that.
Do we Germans look down on other cultures more? I don't think so anymore. Hope not, ok the US maybe.
@@arnodobler1096 Yeah, but everyone looks down on the US, at least sometimes, so we aren't special in that regard. :p
Most Europeans have some English because it's pretty much the lingua franca of Europe and the world. What's the use of learning German if I'm never going to live in Germany and don't know any German people who'd be willing to speak German to you?
My experience is that Germans (as myself) are always curies about other cultures. And I experienced often to be more interested in someones culture than this person was in mine. And Germans are folks that like to travel around in this world very much, like to visit museums and test all the different cuisines that are available as soon as they are available. I met people from Iran wich even made jokes about it. They said "When you meet a person you ask about their culture. When an Iranian meets a person he asks how to make money in that country."
Well I would agree with your first point. Can't say I've heard the Iranian example before.
@@britingermany Because I did not tell you before.
😂😂
@@frankhainke7442 When you know you know. 😉😎
I really like your channel. Personally I always wanted to live in the UK permanently as I feel very at home there but the Brexit has made this virtually impossible.
German stereotype? Now, I am not sure, if anyone has written this in the comments, but in my view Germans are very welcoming towards foreigners and immigrants, who want to live, work and integrate themselves in this country. If I would move to another country, the integration into my host country would be an absolute priority. This is what many immigrants from Turkey and many other countires did in the past.
The reason for the stereotype mentioned here stems from something else. Since 2015 many migrants especially from muslim and north african countries come to Germany to benefit from the german social system and receive support without any obligations to an extent, which enables them a life, they would never have in their countries of origin. And yes, if I was in their situation I would probably do the same. Put your feet up and let the Euros roll into your pocket. Additionally in many cases these migrants have no inclination to integrate into local society and instead demand the local society to integrate themselves into their way of living. This behaviour is seen very critical in large portions of the german citizens although the official government narrative is very different.
So to sum it up, anyone coming to Gemany with a reasonable qualification and the intention of integrating into our society and earning a living is very welcome here.
Hehe ... germans and travel. In 2014 I did a roadtrip across Britain and in the very northern edge of Scotland on a very narrow road another german car came the opposite way. We sponteneousely converted the road to right side driving when we both made way accordingly, lowered our windows and had a good laugh about it and a short talk. We weren't holding up anyone, there was noone else there. One of the best moments during that trip... 😅😁
Haha amazing!
last summer in helsinki, waiting for the metro after a good day at the metal festival, I overheard 3 middleaged women schwäbeln.... I can not. why are we everywhere? why can't we get away from the others?
@@karowolkenschaufler7659 🤣🤣you’re everywhere
My experience was on a board walk in the middle of a national park in southern China. We encountered nobody, exept for, obviously, a small group of Germans from Stuttgart.
@@mikeblatzheim2797 🤣🤣
Most of us are very welcoming, BUT, I feel like our boundaries are being tested over the last decade. Many things have changed and society is kind of divided over this.
I think change is only going to speed up. I think we've lost those really strong convictions and beliefs, people do seem to flip flop back and forth on issues depending on the current cultural climate
@@britingermany I think you have not understood what dvont1383 wanted to say.
Disclaimer, I'm not German I'm Slovene. But on the topic of language, I believe that compromise is best, for initial documentation it could be done in several languages so that the people know for what they're applying and what their rights are. But further on they should have a chance and obligation to learn the official language of their host country if they intend to make it their home and eventually ,maybe, want to apply for citizenship.
This whole stereotype is even just an oximoron initself. Europe in general is a very thick complex of lots and lots of micro regions with their own cultural heritage. This is however especially true for Germany and the smaller countries in its direct proximity, Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands for example. You literally can not drive more than 100km without crossing at least 2 distinct cultural regions in germany. As said, as a whole this is true for most of Europe, but germany as a unified nation came to be only really about 150 years ago. France, England, Italy and Spain have been long established at least as a unified idea and concept and most of the people there ran with it. Today you can still see and feel regional differences in Germany, and a big chunk of these differences is just a hard line. You may ask, what this has to do with the stereotype and how it would function as a counter argument? Well, central and northern Germany is where you can find absolute and true glimpses of a "pure German culture". I put that in quotations, because it really is just about the standard german language which originated here. Northwestern Germany shares a lot of culture with Belgium and the Netherlands. The central west Rhineland shares parts of culture with Belgium and France - where the Saarland really is just an french exclave in Germany. The southwest shares close ties with Switzerland. Bavaria has important relations with Austria (both of them even have been one big Duchy 1500 years ago). And the eastern part of Germany has big chunks of scandinavian cultures along the coast and is otherwhise very much slavic in its cultural habits - the very name Berlin is of slavic origin - and thus shares strong relationships with Poland.
If anyone says Germany is intolerant of other cultures, you know you are speaking to a very sad person, which not only skipped history class, but is also not able to invest 5 seconds in google...
The other thing is, a big chunk of the older generations in Germany are still kinda xenophobs... the rest of us Germans cannot really do much about that, but trust me, compared to all Germans, that chunk really is a minority - also xenophobia has nothing to do with the stereotype of not tolerating other cultures...
I think a lot of it is still left over perceptions of WW2 it may take a complete generation shift for these perceptions to change
As the country with the second highest immigration in the world and a percentage of foreign born population greater than that of the US or all other big economies, this would be a weird. Especially consider far right populism - while existing in Germany - is not as prevalent as in the US, UK Italy or France. Not to blame these countries. But there is not a lot of reason to believe that Germany is particularly bad.
Also Germany has taken in more refugees than anyone else in the past 10 years. At least in the „western world“.
Right...I think this was perhaps one of the reasons why it was seen as anti immigration because the media went a little crazy during this time and stirred things up
@@britingermany you mean 2015? Yes. And my impression is that while the press in and outside Germany went nuts then, now especially the British press is still obsessed with the 2015 refugee „crisis“, while in Germany it is no longer such a big topic - if you are not in the AfD.
@@tobiwan001 well I’ll agree with your second point. All that rhetoric has largely dissipated…even the whole Querdenker stuff has largely disappeared
@@britingermany Looking at the rise of the AfD it would be wrong to claim that nothing was stirred up in Germany, but at least we don't had "breaking point" posters or a constant news coverage about a supposed rape crisis in Sweden. At least at the end of the day, our folly was just to give a party a voice which has zero power otherwise, while certain other countries destroyed their own f... economy because of xenophobia. And I am not just talking about the supposedly oh so tolerant Brits here, I am also talking about the US. I think it is quite significiant that there are actually advertising in the TV nowadays in oder to convince people that the US is a great place to go to. Why the sudden need to lure Europeans over?
In the last year (2022) Germany received more refugees than in any other year since more than 70 years ago - especially, more than in 2015 or 2016 - and there wasn't that much controversy about it.
Very good analysis. I think it also depends on your mindset. When you are coming to Germany thinking "oh, they are all Nazis, racist, xenophobic etc." you may very well attract people with such attitudes. So try to avoid getting in those negative stereotypes. Of course everybody has a preconceived notion and also different experiences of course. Not saying these things don't exist. But you can avoid this by meeting the right people and of course moving in an area that is most suitable for you.
Also the Germans won’t be welcoming to someone with that attitude. Often times you can tell when someone thinks like that and we of course don’t really like that
Yes very good point. Your own attitudesand mindset I think does play a role
Concerning the reception of other languages: in the 18. century it was French that everyone wanted to show to be able to speak. The noble class was even better in French than in German. For instance Friedrich II von Preußen was better in French.
Thank you Frank
That's true. What English is now, was french in the 18th century.
German had his high time in the 19th century and the beginning 20th century until ww1 (and a little bit in the 20s). Especially in science it was a common language.
wait thats a stereotype? havent even heard of that. as a german 0.o
the only culture i'm intolerant to is my own.
I believe that when you take away a people's language by making another language the official language, you also take away their ability to express themselves and you take away their soul. We already hear so many misunderstood and misapplied Anglicisms in Germany, which native English speakers rightly make fun of. The technique of banning the language of a people and replacing it with another has often been used to silence peoples, mostly the native populations of conquered countries.
Integrating a second language without forcing the people to use it is of coure not bad, but I have the feeling, that over time, if you speak German, you will be considered retarded or stupid. There are already German companies where English has to be smattered, even if all participants of a meeting are German. It would be a shame if the beauty of the German language were lost just because people speak "Denglish" or "Kanack".
Yes fair point. I don't see it as that extreme but it's something that should be taken into consideration
Unfortunately, there are people everywhere who don't want to get to know other people and just want to live ignorantly in their own microcosm and still have a ready-made opinion about everything, and then there are also people who like to discover the world and want to use the opportunity to experience and hear other countries, cultures and perspectives. It depends on many different factors. My parents, for example, lived through the entire period of the division of Germany and Berlin in East Berlin and were practically imprisoned and they took advantage of the new opportunities after reunification. I even got my father to go to London, even though he didn't want it at all at first and at the end of the trip he was totally enthusiastic and still raves about it to this day. Sometimes it takes a bit of persuasion and a positive experience to get things going. In the meantime he has been to France, Spain, Belgium, Turkey and many other countries around the world.
I like that, maybe it's because of East Berliners interested in other cultures and during GDR they had contact with cuban or Vietnamese people?
Fantastic! Sounds like you have been a positive influence on them in this respect.
@@Mayagick In GDR times there were so-called contract workers who came from the socialist brother countries and worked in state-owned companies, but personal contacts outside of working hours were not desired and were prevented as far as possible by the party and its company managers. The people lived away from society in their own dormitories and were looked after there as far as possible, and unfortunately in the GDR, too, there were major problems with xenophobia, racism and violent attacks on everything that was foreign, especially in the rural regions, something the GDR was only too happy to do kept quiet, but the Stasi still had a lot of records about it, they knew what was happening and still didn't do anything or only too seldom.
@@britingermany
My older brother and I worked there together, my mother was much more open to the whole thing than my father, with whom we had work to do. When looking at history, people forget that the people in the former GDR from 1933 to 1989 had to deal with the influences of a dictatorship that shaped people over many generations. Changing such thought patterns simply takes time, it takes time, strength, conviction and patience.
Well, I grew up in the GDR. My mother worked in a textile factory, in which contract workers were common. At the beginning of the 80s they came from Vietnam, in the middle of the 80s they were from Poland. We always had contact with them in private, we were barbecueing, we celebrated birthdays together and so on. The same was experienced by a teacher I once had, but the people she had to do with came from Mozambique. I've been to a holiday-camp whith children from Poland and Czechia. We became penpals and it lasted some years. I have a neighbour who came to Germany in 1987 and stayed. He often tells about the parties he and his German colleagues had, during the time of the GDR.
Very interesting video. After Brexit I find that Germany should be making an effort, perhaps via the Goethe Institut, to re-establish German as the dominant language it once was in the rest of Europe.
Really?! Why do you say that?
Oh no, this won't sit well with most countries we conquered back in WWII. They appreciate us now for not trying to dominate EU too much, even though we economically and politically do dominate it pretty much. We shouldn't try to dominate in every field.
Ask Greeks, Polish, French, Italians how they'd feel about it, you won't get many positive answers.
In lots of European countries German is offered as a second or third language in schools (and as a course in universities). Yeah, it doesn't have the most popularity, but still doin' pretty good. It surely is one of the bigger players.
Can't complain.
@@helgaioannidis9365 Germany is desperately seeking skilled workers. Being more acquainted with German would be a big help for potential migrants to get a good start here. And honestly, since the 1960's Germany is especially attractive to immigrants from Greece, Poland and Italy; just the countries you mentioned. The world has moved on since WW2.
@@britingermany Because learning and speaking German has a lot of benefits to the mind of the speaker. And as open and curious as I am towards foreign cultures and languages (I learned 5 so far) I love (speaking) my mother tongue (in my fatherland) as much!
Period!
In fact, I find your question and the way you put it a bit inappropriate. Why continue to speak the language of the very country that is no longer a member of the EU? We are not a colonial state of GB to make that clear here.
Ich lerne gerade Deutsch, weil ich in der Zukunft da leben will
Das freut mich zu hören! Du wirst sehen, wir Deutschen sind ein ziemlich nettes Völkchen, behaupte ich einfach mal so. Meine spanische Ehefrau sagt immer, wenn man einmal einen Deutschen zum Freund hat, hat man einen Freund für‘s Leben. Und wir lieeeeben es, wenn sich jemand um unsere Sprache bemüht. Hab viel Spaß und Erfolg I. Deutschland!
Sehr gut. Viel erfolg👍🏻
I have a couple of theories. Granted, I don't have personal experience living in Germany (yet) and am just extrapolating from my personal experience elsewhere and a few online conversations.
First, the situation might be different depending on the culture in question and whether someone lives in a city or in rural area. Generally, rural areas tend to be more conservative and less accepting of anyone who's somehow different. And I would also wager a guess that other Western cultures are more readily accepted for a variety of reasons. I'm really curious what immigrants from most popular non-European countries would say on the matter, because this kind of experience is not something easily visible from the outside. As someone both of a "non-title" ethnicity (ethnically Russian in a Central Asian country) and an LGBTQ+ person, I can make a mile long list of ways I face discrimination on a daily basis, but a cishet "title ethnicity" person would very confidently say that there is no discrimination against people like me because they don't face it personally and aren't trained to see when it happens around them. And from what I've read and heard in my particular Internet bubble, it's pretty common all over the world. As long as someone doesn't have personal experience with discrimination, or at least a loved one who faces it, most people just look right past it. For example, I had a childhood friend with a social background pretty similar to mine, only she's a cishet woman of title ethnicity. She's an intelligent, sweet, thoughtful, empathetic woman, but the few times certain things came up in conversation (like lost job opportunities because of my ethnicity, or why I didn't even bother applying for the same grants for education abroad that she did), she just couldn't compute that something like that was possible and rationalised it away.
My second theory is based mostly on people who emigrated and then returned and a few semi-recent spats in YT comments with people who b*tched about the need to learn German to move to Germany. There is a certain subset of, ahem, humans (and I'm using the term loosely) who think that they're the hub of the universe and can just move to any country they choose, and everyone would be happy to have them and would change their entire country just to fit the newcomer. For example, there was a guy who somehow found enough money to move to Germany without higher education or any qualifications, he worked as a taxi driver as far as I know, and a few years later he returned and b*tched how unwelcoming Germany was, how people refused to respect his cultural traditions, and how German women were frigid man-haters because no one wanted to marry him, stay at home as a housewife and have 3-5 children. I'm not saying that everyone who criticises Germany is like that, but these people tend to be pretty loud.
German here. First theory is true to a degree in that rural Germany is very traditional concerning everyday lifestyle in many cases.
Then there are some areas in eastern Germany where entire communities even reject Christian values and returned to Paganism of all things. They're also mostly, let's say "far-out right wing" politically speaking. Then again, the Saxon king/tribe was the last one to be converted forcefully to Christianity when Karl the Great had their religious centerpiece (a holy tree, the "Irminsuul") cut down.
I'm a bi-man btw and i never faced outright discrimination for my sexuality but you have to cope with a certain sort of "humor" and i realized that i'm sometimes looked at as weak or soft and submissive, which i let pass as long as none tries and acts upon this their presumptions. Many straight men are inherently scared when they realize that they won't be beaten to a bloody pulp but possibly get bend over without consent. Not that i ever did that but the mere notion helps sometimes ;D
I think there should be one language for Business, and that should be English. Having said that, I don’t think the English language should be dominant over all others. As an Englishman, I wouldn’t want to Anglicise the whole world.
Some sort of standardisation would be good but it shouldn't come at the cost of other languages
@@britingermany Agreed
In fact there are no calls from the German government to introduce English as a second language. German law expressly provides that the language for administrative processes is German. The idea is to loosen up this provision to allow people to fill in forms in English. But it wouldn't make English a second language. And in the 22nd century AD, we might even manage to introduce an ONLINE form or something like an app (we heard this exists in foreign cultures) so you can do youir paperwork from home! (Not sure, it may take until 2300 AD.)
If you are interested in other languages used in official German processes, research the Danish minority, and pay particular attention as to who a member of the Danish minority is and how we check it!
I have to say it irks me a little (as an 'east german' 😉) that so many people think we're especially intolerant. It's more of a city to urban thing I think. The people in citys are mostly more tolerant in the whole of Germany. The problem in the urban areas is more of a too much at once without the necessary infrastructure kind of problem in the east. And percived poverty makes the situation more difficult. Where I live there have always been more tolerant than extreme or intolerat people. Much of the political trend right now is because in comparison many feel forgotten by the politics so they protest in a, don't get me wrong, kind of dumb way. But that says nothing about tolerance. Even though I have to say you'll get 20 to 25 % less wage in the east. So the people get a little easier hurt, when there is a high cost factor involved and because they are used to be treated like some kind of second class citizens, mostly by politics. But you should at least try to visit and make your own experiences. You might get a pleaseant surprise.
Best wishes from the east to the west 👋🏻
There is now only one Germany. That's why I no longer find the terms "East Germany and West Germany" appropriate.
As a citizen from the eastern federal states, I feel somewhat discriminated against.
The reason why people here in the 5 eastern federal states are not quite as open to other cultures should be better communicated.
The GDR was isolated for almost 30 years, and that had a big impact on the people. With the fall of the wall, a completely different new system was transferred to the people. They had to adapt and reorient themselves within a very short time. Life's works have also been damaged or destroyed.
That's why people are a bit more skeptical about new things. But this skepticism is disappearing. There are also many very cosmopolitan cities here (Leipzig, Dresden, etc.)
I Know that it s Little tricky talking about the rat and west and thanks for clarify your thoughts. I really like Leipzig. It has a huge amount going for it and I think people are referring to it as the new Berlin…not sure if that’s good or not 🤣🤣
My take:
Anything surrounding the bureaucracy should be available in English (and even other languages, such as Arabic or Turkish). Forms, websites, personnel. Bureaucracy should be made as easy as possible for people who don't know German.
Where I draw the line is everyone else's everyday life. I don't want to incentivise people to live in Germany without learning German at all. Speaking English is a hassle, and most Germans are much more comfortable speaking German than English, and should not, in their home country, be required to get out of their way for people who could've just learned the damn language.
But since you don't "just" learn a language, we need to offer more & better (and tax-paid) German language classes and get as many people as possible to take them. And then we also need to help them along the way: be patient with & accepting of people's broken German and their accents. A foreign accent (or having a foreign name) should not negatively impact someone's prospect for finding a job or a flat - but it sadly still does, and that has to change.
All valid points. Thanks for sharing
LOL - a Brti, who is speaking one of the "world languages", is talking about the hardship to set-up in Germany and to have to do that in German… Want to see a British town hall stuff to give a f*ck on my hardship to get setup and have to do that all in English only. Sorry, that's a no-brainer. I move to another country - so I can't expect to do that in my native language. Well, I can ask for use of a more basic language and some help / support, but I can't expect or even demand it. Not every basic citizen speaks fluent multiple languages - and I noticed the lack of this ability especially from speakers of one of the "world languages" like Brits / US and Frensh… Younger people tend to be more laid back and often can fall-back to english in some form of…
I totally agree that anyone who moves country should do all they can to learn the language and integrate, however I’m not sure that it is a no brainer. Most of the Scandinavian countries have everything available in English when it comes to processing immigrants and if Germany really wants to attract highly skilled workers this is a pain point. If you already speak English you are more likely to choose an English speaking county or one where it is more prevalent just as the Netherlands or Scandinavia.
I never had that problem im Born in germany but with an US-American Father I speak both Languages and lived for 6 Months in th US between 2001 World Trade Center Disaster and then Trying to leave the Country it took a half a year.
So where are you living now?
The best way I can put it is that Germans are very tolerant of other cultures and immigrants in their country (The rare AFD idiot notwithstanding) but Germany is not as tolerant. And by Germany, I partially mean the government but mostly society as a whole here, and predominantly in the Language department where I think too much is asked of prospective immigrants too soon. Look, I understand that people should learn the language of the country they are going to live in but you cannot expect that to happen overnight or before the immigration occurs. German is not a useful language outside of Europe so this puts immigrants from outside of Europe at a huge disadvantage when the immigration services or information about insurance and bank accounts are not printed in other languages and English speaking staff are not available (Or in reality not willing to provide support in English) I'm from the US, which is a notoriously unwelcoming country for immigrants and the immigration services here provide documentation and support in Spanish. It is very easy to find Spanish speakers when walking into a bank or any government institution, anywhere where there is a significant Spanish speaking diaspora, this includes many licensing examinations such as getting a Driving Licenses. while you might not be as lucky if you speak any other language, Spanish and English covers the vast majority of immigrants into the US, and even then literature and forms are usually available in other less common languages. The US allows you to exist before it expects you to learn English. Germany fails to be so welcoming in the language department despite German not being a language of common use from any of the countries it's immigration services would interact with.
But since this is all in discussion, you must admit they recognized the problem. Germany has no immigration law or office at all. Maybe this is not well known.
It's either Asyl on the humantarian level.Refugees. Or it's an employer hiring abroad (not vice versa). There is nothing in-between. You cannot come to Germany and look for a Job. With a tourist Visa you can find an employer to hire you, but that's just a detour.
Germany has to face reality and learning German seems to be a resistant path for many - yes the German's will suffer a dent to their pride but also accept the reality that more of the global population wants to learn & speak English. Germany has no choice but to accept English as their second language. Promotion of your fantastic state pension scheme too will be a very big carrot to attract workers as well as probably thee most sophisticated & progressive culture in Europe, self promotion is the key....as well as accepting thee most popular progressive language on the planet😊
Thanks for sharing 😀
For sure no need to change anything official into english cause this adds costs, complexity and moves the focus away from integration by at least learing german better and faster. We have already enough people here that have a huge amount of german language deficits.
Why should the load to have the right skills be moved from the emigrant to the german society and also the responsibility ?
And on top: then any emigrant can expect to get along with english first and that is the false signal after so many millions foreigners in this country which is a shame that people can come over to work without a language certificate. Would not happen in the USA and for sure not in POST BREXIT UK which had already started the debate to check the skills of those EU citizens who had arrived before Brexit - till the government lost a lawsuit that this is not in compliance with the EU contract they had negotiated.
FINALLY: Are you going to put the pressure from the foreigner to the domestic population and especially employees of the townhall, federal and county government and what not cause they would have then be responsible to listen and read and write in english at a native english speaker ?
That will be required if you start such adventure cause then any official administrative employee from all the health insurance, unemployment and pension funds would have to be so fit in english that their english answers are without any flaws compared to their german answer cause otherwise the foreigner could take a lawyer and start a legal battle which could only be opened by the move to english, a complete nonsens to open such a legal flank.
How many clerks of the government are able to communicate so safe in english as in german ?
less than 0,5%
Imagine a clerk of the town hall makes a mistake in the translation which will be later unveiled and end at court (just due to missing native english speaker skills of the administrative english language) then who's liability is that ?
The major will be responsible and that is a total stupid nonsense. This is germany, it has a border we protect and inside everyone should be able to speak german or simply leave as a foreigner who is working here.
It is the obligation of the foreigner to get along, germany has not to offer any service like english which would establish another culture we do not need nor want.
And I do not wanna pay more taxes for that service. The foreigners should learn or find someone who will help them or simply pay them for the help.
Then there can not be a legal flank caused by the clerk not having used the right translation. He does his job he does for every german and no extra tour for foreigners. It is the job of the foreigner who immigrates to get along and not our duty and responsibility. That would lower the hurdles far too low. We need professionals capable of speaking german and not afrikaans , asian, russian, korean or what not.
We had such a moment in the company in the past when we faced the situation that we were lost in translation and that a decision had to be made if it is a german company or not. The decision was forced by the unions who had asked for more money if the company would continue to move away from german language even inside germany. If another language is used in meetings the company has to make clear that all german participants are capable or to offer a translator.
Guess what had happen in this global giant german company ?
Suddenly the english language had become a taboe except for those who had a job were english was a requirment in the job description and not a requirement that crept into the company like here in the society. The company has to pay for everything if conferences are held in a foreign language where before german had been used. Took about 5 years to that point and it was a mess.
And we do need skilled labor workforce and others that come here for the high wages so they have to qualify not our society.
Why hasn't the UK moved from english to polish in all the districts where so many polish had settled before brexit had happened ?
Anyway, I bet all the government clerks will also call the union and then move ahead with the court cases that forced our company to step back from the idea to establish english as the language needed cause they simply wanted to reduce efforts on the back of the employees without paying. Also the efficieny and profitibality had stalled back then cause it took far more time to get the job done in a foreign language even for those who had studied.
I go crazy if someone is applying for an appartment or a house to rent and is not willing nor capable to speak german or to organize a translator for him.
It makes no sense to apply in such a case cause the Hausordnung and contract will be in german and have be obeyed. If someone can not speak german or organize someone to translate and take care then next one please.
Fair enough. I agree that learning the language is very important and should be the first step for any one moving country. I believe that the majority of Genz speak pretty goof English already, it#s more a case of what the people already do who are in the work force and don't speak English yet. I'm sure this idea will not be implemented any time soon but the fact that they are trying to make it easier to get German citizenship suggests that the government is setting it's hopes on immigrants
Unser Stadtbezirk hat eine grosse Universität mit vielen ausländischen Studierenden und Dozenten, das ist eine große Bereicherung
No doubt about this but Germany would be a better country without the hundreds of thousands of young illiterate young men from violent and archaic societies who enterd my country in the last decade.
"English as a second official language" well there are already a bunch of other official languages in Germany which usually get glossed over even by most Germans. That's why they should get mentioned whenever appropriate.
Would you care to mention which ones you are talking about?
@@britingermany Yes of course. 🙂 So in no particular order there is Danish, the Frisian languages, Romani, the Sorbian languages and Low Saxon. The area in which those languages are spoken, in so far as they are tied to a particular area, makes up over a third of all of Germany. Most of them are under a lot of pressure of "Germanization" partly by natural development and partly due to deliberate efforts. In recent years a lot of younger people have begun taking an interest in their languages again, often after a gap of at least one or two generations and forms of language activism have sprung up.
Plattdeutsch is one, too. (Low German)
@@sarah8383 ok but that seems to be more like regional dialects to me as they are only spoken in certain areas. The way I understood the proposal is that English would be implemented through the whole of germany as a requirement for anyone who deals with immigrants or even customers for that matter
@@britingermany Yes ist a regional thing. But these are proper languages tied to their own cultures and not just dialects. Cultures that have been in the region much longer than german settlers.
here are a few points to explain some of peoples experiences:
the nice culturally open germans you meet abroad, are the ones who want to go out and see other cultures, you won't often see the others outside of germany and even the ones that like to travel abroad, will take comfort in the fact that, when they get home, germany is still germany.
about east germans being distrusting of foreign cultures:
within the life times of any east german alive today, anytime foreign influence has seeped into our country, shit went down hill fast. be it a crazy austrian, the soviet union, west germany, the mass exodus from the middle east or whatever, things changed for the worse.
another issue is the english language. prior to us being annexed by west germany, english wasn't a mandatory subject, additionally birth rates plummeted after the initial exitement wore off and people realized that there was no hope for a bright future, to add more to this, when the west arbitrarily decided that all the east german kids must learn english in school now, there weren't many qualified english teachers in east germany, so even a lot of those born post annexation can barely speak english.
next issue is that east germans inherently don't trust the government and it's easy to see why.
it's been well over thirty years now since the annexation of east germany, yet there is still a wage gap of up to 24% between east and west germany, the government is doing nothing to address this issue and since the east german population is a LOT smaller than the west german population, east germany literally can't vote out the government that has been screwing them over for the past 30+ years.
east germans hate the government and what it does, so, since the german government wants immigration (in order to maintain a surplus in work force, because god forbid we reach the point where the companies have to actually worry about employee retention) that's what the east germans hate.
Ok thanks for giving this point of view
I think some people might consider the discussion as inappropriate and that always frustrates me.
If you emigrate to another country, you are a guest and it befits you to make a reasonable effort to acquire a basic understanding of the country's language, at minimum. IF you run into problems communicating, it is not up to your host country to accommodate you.
I think, as a native English speaker you have it easier than people from other parts of the world. If you are neither fluent in English nor German you will have a hard time in Germany.
True…although depending on what you do having another language like Arabic, Turkish or Romanian could make you very attractive to certain employers.
@@britingermany
As an extra qualification, that is true, but not as a substitude. I would not even say, that it makes Germany less welcoming, but I get how it would feel that way.
@@britingermany Yes and no, the majority of Germans didn't like to learn those languages, cause it is not really an advantage, if you don't work close with those people from the middle east. The Turkish and Arabic community assign jobs among themselves and stick often close togehter, It makes sense, cause they don't need to learn the language and it is not easy to learn Farsi. Romanian is also not very common, the only people from Romania are the Gypsy and Sintis but they are even more close to each other within Germany as the ones from Turkey or the middle east. For the most Germans English is the most important language beside their mother language, some using also French and Espanol, cause those three languages are the only ones you can learn in school, beside of old Greek and Latin.
@@MarkusPape There are a lot of Germans who speaking French, but Polish? I don't see the advantage in learning this language. With French you can move to France, Belgium and Canada and work there if you want, but with Polish? You are very close to Russia and the Ukraine. And the only related language to Polish is Belarussian and Ukrainian. I would not move to Poland.
@@Afterthefallout55660 French is helpfull when someone tries to get EU level jobs. Polish could be helpfull when close to the Polish border.
English is the modern lingua franca. So it makes sense to establish the english language as Germany's official second language.
😂 One word: no!
I grew up in Vienna, my mom coming from France, father austrian. I lived for some years in Italy, Swizerland, Spain and now for over 20 years in Germany.
I observed two parameters to be relevant to understand migration: Folks moving from one place to another and doing so on their own tend to assimilate the local culture, to dive in, to learn the language, the try local food and over time become part of the local comunity. Migrating in large groups tends to make it much easier for the individual to stick to the traditions of the last place they lived. I have met ppl in Brazil, who better speak an old german from the 19th century than actual portuguese. We have a similar situation in some parts of NRW, where the comunity of the grandfathers country of origin keeps providing working oportunities, access to an often glorified old tradition, which in some cases does not exist any more in the region they came from. Bumenau´s Oktoberfest in the south of Brazil is really bizar with a mix of Cologne´s Karnevalsmusik, bavarian style Dirndel (created by a clever comerciant from Münster in the late 19th century) and hungarian Strudel. I honestly do not see germans to be less open than ppl living in other countries.
What makes another big difference ist the second parameter: Where you come from. I have always been a "luxury stranger" coming from a "rich" country, as Austria seems to be considered as. And I see, that it makes a difference. So, it is hard to migrate, but at least you get a fair chance to see something new, get deeper insights and sometimes understand better your own roots.
Thanks for sharing. I agree with all your points
I absolutely agree with just about everything which you have stated. Frankfurt was the first city that I moved too in 2001 from the US to take a job offer at a Korean Automotive company(in nearby Escborn..the company has since split and with one part being near the Messe in Frankfurt and the other part now near Russelsheim. As a professional black American in Germany, I absolutely fell in love with Frankfurt. I have only met really nice people overall, as total strangers just approached me and started talking. Many of which are still friends of mine today. I think that if locals see you trying to make a real effort to learn the culture, speak their language, they eventually accept you as true friends. Now, I did change jobs and relocated to Stuttgart for a more well known German automotive company, but still often was in Frankfurt. For some reason, Stuttgart never clicked as much with me (I did get along there, but it was too slow). In the end, I did return back to the US after a about 6 years in Germany. One HUGE regret was that I gave up my residency for all of my tax monies back, thinking that I probably wouldn't return. Yet, here I am in a neighboring country, wishing that I still lived in Frankfurt. Please keep up the excellent videos. Always ways so informative. Cheers!
Thanks a lot for sharing and hopefully you can visit again sometime soon.
That's a stereotype I have not heard before.
Really? It's one I hear rather often
I think documents should be available in several languages. I'm not sure about making any other language an official language though. We have a hard time keeping dialects alive already.
I agree
Google Übersetzer.
The house of One is a silly idea. It serves to force various religions into one mold and that's not what diversity is about!
I don’t think that is what it is about at all.
English already is the most used language in Germany when it comes to technology. I once worked with an international team for a telecommunications company, and of course we spoke English and delivered our reports in English.
When people say that German isn't easy to learn, yes, I must partially agree, the grammar has been invented by the devil himself. The English grammar is comparatively easy, but you have to learn every word twice: Once how it's spoken, and once how it's spelt.
Introducing English as the second official language in Germany seems a right move at first glance. However, what about simplifying bureaucracy first? There are some forms from authorities I still need help filling in, and as a freelancer, I leave my tax declaration completely to my Steuerberater because I don't understand that lingo and I won't even touch that.
Hello Eisi. Yes I've heard that before that even native German speakers have trouble with the "Amtsprache" it definitely is something that Germany needs to simplify as the language is generally getting less and less formal and I think it will get harder to understand this kind of language not easier
German grammar invented by the devil himself 😆
@@britingermany
I guess the existence of the „Amtssprache“ is to some extent justified by it being (or at least trying to be) much more precise than the average way of speaking, though of course there‘s a lot of bs words that no one actually knows and are just plain out useless additions. 😂
Jeepers! You claim probably correctly that English is easier as far as the grammar is concerned and yet I don't think there is a country on earth other than the US in which "native" speakers make so many errors. And that is also true of people with college degrees...
@@britingermany
Not without reason we call it "Fachchinesich".
I like the english language, I whish i would have learned it better, but I think it is important for people who would like to live in germany to learn german, so they can communicate with everyone fluently and become a part of the society. It would be good to teach a few subjects in english language, so the new generation would learn to speak fluent english, and it would be great if english would become a world language, because would not like to learn mandarin, spanish, or hindi. I don't know if germans are more or less intollerant to other cultures, but I think it is common that different nations have different cultures - and the difference persist through intollence towards that cultural influances. But I think it depends on the stereotypes which exist towards other cultures, so it may not be equal towards every nation. For example I think german culture prioritize individualism and personal autonomy stonger than some arabian cultures do, so some associatet rights are seen as good by germans and may be seen sceptical by some other cultures, this leads to differences. Both cultures may have advantages, so there may be no objective way to say that or that is better. But this differences may lead to intollerences reagarding to changes of the own culture. Due to the world wide cultural exchange cultures may appropinquate or converge more and more, so the national culture diffences will fade away, but I think this will take time.
Well said. Thanks
I agree and can add my own experience. I was born and raised in the former GDR, lived through utter Mangelwirtschaft (dunno the english term). We had to wait for thirteen years to get our car (a Trabbi) and don't ask me how my parents got food on the table each day. Then during my school days alone suddenly there was different money in my pocket (twice), a different political system, elections that actually had an influence on who was the ruling party, we got a telephone for our house (unheard of before), a computer (386 with Windows 3.11, 32MB RAM, imagine that, total luxury back then). Now we all have our own Handys (mobile phones), our own cars etc. Societal norms and technological status quo changing/evolving quicker each passing year. Add to that the influx of people who don't look or talk like they're from around here etc, I can see why this is challenging for some people.
And all of this within a single lifespan.
Then you got people like my parents who were born shortly after the war, who lived through the entirety of the GDR, fourty years of stagnation and THEN this sudden and rapid acceleration of EVERYTHING, to whom this must have been even worse than for me, but when they were on their golden jubilee to Morocco lately, they made friends with an Indian couple, whom they're still in contact with. Imagine that.
It really comes down to each individual, how they react to foreigners. Overgeneralisation isn't good for anything.
We are not one people, not one mind - one body. We are 83 million individuals.
Yes an no. I think there is a difference between saying: Not everyone is racist and saying: In this area there will be ten times as many counter protesters on the streets when the far right marches and in this area...there won't. That is the difference between Leibzig, where Legida was eventually thrown out and Dresden and go, where Pegida was free to operate however they wanted.
My parents were also born shortly after the war and they and I grew up in a quite rural area in the northwest. There weren't foreigners in our village before the mid 1990s. My parents got divorced, my mum lived in Hungary for five years and has a lot of friends there and in Austria, my dad was very conservative but went on vacation in Tunesia years ago and he loved it and he and my stepmom went to this hotel four times and they made friends with locals. My father's perspective has also changed a lot. As long as people make an effort to integrate here, have at least a basic knowledge of the language and respect our laws, there is no reason to complain. We are dependent on immigration anyway, if we want to maintain our standard of living to some extent.
@@swanpride Leipzig is an lovely little island of cosmopolitan openness
Totally unrelated to the point you are making, but I love the german word Handy. Germans always seem to think it's the English word for mobile phone. It isn't. As an adjective it means "useful", and as a noun it can mean...errrrm....h*ndjob.
Equally, in English, "Beamer" is not a projector, but a "Beemer" is a BMW. and "Home office" doesn't mean working from home, it's what the UK calls its Innenministerium.
It amuses me the way German tends to adopt English words into its lexicon, and then subtly misuse them.
If you can, use the chance to talk to your parents about what living in the GDR really was like. I think you have some misconceptions there. I am somewhat sure that your parents bought food at a store, did not actually wait 13 years to buy a car and indeed were aware of homes with telephones. Regarding "fourty years of stagnation": Wow, you really gobbled up that West German propaganda. I am not defending the GDR political system, but your are just objectively wrong there.
No such thing as german stereotypes , so many different and varied cultures and Germany has only been one nation since 1871-1945 and from 1993 . West Germany is home to many ideas and cultures, but the former DDR is an issue with the rise of AfD , as this former part of Germany only had democracy from 1919-1932 and from the 1990s.
There were times when Germans were regarded as the most curious and cosmopolitan people. I recommend to read Georg Forsters wonderful Diary when he joined his father on the 2nd voyage of James Cook to Polynesia. You will hardly find so much empathy, love, tolerance and insight for other cultures. I enjoy reading this book of a 16/17 year old german boy at least once a year.
Georg Forsters book influenced many other people, among them Alexander von Humboldt, whose openmindedness and insights into the situation of indigenious people in colonial South America made him very popular around the whole world. He is still highly respected in South America, and I wish that we Germans would remember him better.
Danke für den Tip! Das klingt unglaublich interessant!
Thanks for the tip 👍🏻
Imagine to come to the UK or the US and not speaking English
That would be tough
This is a very funny stereotype that East Germany is less friendly to foreigners: I have been in Saxony as a POC foreigner and have the best most friendly experience living there. I have travelled to Heidelberg and got racial slurs hurled at me by someone publicly at a gas station market.
I studied veterinary medicine in Hanover, and went on to do a ‚cumulative doctorate‘ in the Animal Genetics Institute, which means you need to have 2 peer reviewed journals publish your scientific articles before you get your Dr.
As our studies are centered on practical abilities and science, English or any other language isn‘t taught at our school, which does nothing but vet med. (TiHo Hannover)
So since all the genetic journals such as mammalian genome that had high impact factors are put out by Oxford or Harvard, everything is in English.
Scientific articles, discourse, genetics generally are in English.
I had spent a High school exchange year in Michigan, but a lot of other people were less fluent and I often found that the nuances of certain ways of phrasing in an article escaped them and so they came to scewed perceptions of what the author was saying.
Those were high level educated people, …. with an 8 year school level English…very dependent on how good your teachers were.
I think it is fine offering services like immigration documents and such in English, but making English a second language for Germany gives the influence of the Anglosphere too much hold on our dealings.
UK brexited themselves from the EU, and the US is steering towards a racialized and gender drama I have no idea how they want to come to terms with.
Hollywood is in its deathroes and has had many a harmful influence with the crap they‘ve started to put out the last 10 years.
I‘d rather people had the choice to learn other languages as well, like French.
We are also taking in a lot of immigrants who have no concept of how to speak German or English…if given the choice, they might opt to learn English, because that might help them in the longterm, while we in Germany are spending the Euros, time and effort into integration, only for them to leave and work elsewhere after they have achieved a job certificate?
No, in Germany we speak German….we don‘t want to end up losing our language like the Texas-German speakers, who will die out next generation.
You don‘t use a language, or a way to write, you lose it. Just ask American teenagers if they can read cursive writing.
well said. 👍🏻
@@britingermany thank you, I just found your channel and really enjoy your thoughtful content and your beautiful visuals...
@@lynnm6413 thanks a lot. Glad to have you😀
@@britingermany Just you wait, I'll be sure to change your opinion... 😁
Just kidding! 😉
@@lynnm6413 🤣🤣oh no! Now you’ve got me worried
Sorry, it just your experience. That you will meet germans everywhere. The reason you meet germans in southeast asia. It's because it's cheaper and easier to afford. Traveling to southeast asia.
You will not meet germans everywhere in america. Maybe just in a few cities along the east coast cities and in few small amounts.
Yes it’s just my experience. I met some in san fran and Las Vegas 😉🤷🏼♂️
@@britingermany Wow, you met a few in america. I lived my whole in america and the amount of german tourist coming to america is very, very small.
Those from countries like england, denmark and Italy. Come in greater numbers then germans.
How many years did you live in america?.
I have worked in both countries and can tell you that I'd choose the UK for a "human" approach and Germany for a "mechanical" approach.
The UK functions less efficiently, but takes a personal position on how to get things done. In doing so, one can acclimate to the culture quickly in a friendly environment which is every important for a foreigner.
Germany functions more efficiently, but on a sterile level, making the foreigner feel isolated and somewhat distant.
If you are an introvert, Germany would suit you better; if an extrovert, the UK is more your lane.
I will return to the UK upon retirement as I enjoy going to the pub, chatting with the locals and enjoying the human interaction. Retiring in Germany, I would imagine staying at home, having a select group of friends who will only meet on a planned precise schedule and afterwards not interfacing again until a new schedule is proposed - way too formal, cold and unfeeling for me - by hey, each person has to determine their own course....
Thanks for making some space between 'The Nazis' and the people who in majority make today's reality of this central European region. First 'The Nazis' were a fascist Regime in a time period with extremely challenging changes all over Europe or even the world, also in a time of extreme poverty, with the first million victims of this regime being german citizens even before the holocaust took form. Only few survivors, and near no perpetrators, of that period in time still exist. ( If you had become an adult, 21 years of age, in December 1944, a few months before the end of the regime and the war, you'd now be nearly 100 years old). And since the freedom since the end of that period gave way to everything social and democratic, everybody who supported that, could and had turned the Region soon into the multi-diverse Place it is today. Thank you also for your quite funny look into work and social habits through your eyes as someone who did not grow up among this. Interesting you found, what you describe, in Frankfurt. Have you had time out in .. less bureaucratic ( more fun - ) cities, like for example every county north of Frankfurt, like around Cologne, Berlin, Leipzig, and Hamburg?
7:18 “the overarching vision of this project is for peaceful relations between judaism, christianity and islam”..not gonna happen..judaism is supremacist and exclusionary; islam is supremacist and proselytising; christianity is universalist and post-proselytising..”the lion may lie down with the lamb, the lamb isn’t getting much sleep” w allen
Every immigrant must learn the language to a b level or u will never belong to Germany, people don’t want to change to English just for u 8f there is a group of them. If u speak German poorly u will always be seen as a lower class. That’s not the case if u come from a english or Nordic country, because languages r similar and the people r mostly rich.
U.K. not sure about being seen as lower class, it’s just more that you can’t really participate and will get left behind
English as a second official language can only help every global player and nation who wants to attract new highly skilled people. I can speak from experience, the other way around. I am German but moved to live in Cyprus. Greek is likely even harder to learn than German, since knowing English does not help that much. Let alone another alphabet. But since the island has had this strong UK influx in the more recent past, English is the second main language. Everyone speaks it, most people really well, and 90% of the standard administration, online shops, services etc. offer English as well. Which made moving here almost as easy as moving from Hamburg to Munich.
Everything is somehow different, but there was not that much friction, and you can figure everything out, without knowing anyone here. That would have been a whole other story if everything was in Greek only. Like it is in Germany with German to most degree. A huge difference. So that would bring significant benefits as a global location and for easy onboarding/attractiveness.
My experience matches yours. That is a stereotype with zero bases in present-day Germany, and it's been invalid for decades.
I have received quite a few comments from people from other countries (middle east etc) saying that it’s a very different experience if you look different.
@@britingermany I don't doubt it, and that is a shame. You probably know more about these cases than I do, but in Wurzburg, a small city of around 120,000, where I studied, there have been two attacks, one with a knife near the city center and another on a train at the Hauptbahnhof within the last three years, I think. In the first, two women and a small child were murdered. I'm not sure how many were murdered on the train. There were widespread reports of physical abuse of young women in larger cities. All of these were carried out by young male Afghan or Middle Eastern refugees. The government's response to the abuse of women by roving bands of young men left a lot to be desired. When incidents like this occur, and the government fails to carry out its primary responsibility to guarantee public safety and dispense justice, people will respond as you described. I don't like it, and I have sympathy for foreigners who have the misfortune of experiencing it, but it seems to me Germans are reacting like any European, under those circumstances, would
react. You certainly have a better perspective of things there than I do, though. But that's what it looks like from here.
There is no call or Movment to make English our Second official language. Where did you get that nonsense from!?
Just Google it.
@@britingermany I did, it is called for by Klaus Olbricht and Peter Adrian. How ever both are not Politicians but theyre the President and Vice President of the "Industrie und Handelskammer" meaning the Chamber of Industrie and Trading. As Well as By parts of the FDP (Free Democratic Party Germany) which is strongly losing Popularity and barly gets to 5% of Votes nowadays. So that "movment" can't be called big whatsoever
It's kind of a characteristics of stereotypes, you cannot reproduce where they come from, it's something like manifested gossip.
It's also impossible to ever get rid of it. People only forget by not thinking about something OR by death. So if you want to get rid of stereotypes, stop picking them up ....at least if they are close to extinguishment. . if it's overgrown with gras, don't be the sheep eating the gras ;-) ... "Gras über die Sache wachsen lassen" would be the german idiom.
I'd go as far as saying that Germany is among the most tolerant countries on this planet! So much so that many Germans would rather give up their own culture in order to accommodate for foreign cultures, before making a stance for their own way of living. One thing has increasingly become clear: In Germany people feel a great shame for being German. Bi-nationals would almost certainly identify themselves with the non German part, "normal" Germans would rather be something else other than German, because just being German is considered shameful. And that's a big part of our today's problems, even our politicians openly talk about their dislike for Germany, and how they want to basically liquidate the country. Introducing the English language as second official language would only be the first step, but a clear sign to the people, that German culture is no longer wanted in Germany. Especially members of the green party openly discuss their plans to purposefully get foreigners in so the German dominance would be ended.
I believe Germany is the only planet where the own people feel ashamed of who they are, and would happily hand the country over to other's, as long as they are non German.
Germans are full of national shame!
The tolerance that will be interesting to see is when foreigners like me murder German culture and language. I remember a German exchange student who explained to me, in the most broken English, how he hated hearing foreigners speaking German badly. He seemed to think that we English speakers should be happy with his lack of expertise as if our language wasn't important but German was sacred. I have noticed my cousin's wife complaining that his mistakes pain her. :-). Anyhow, for what its worth I think we all should be trying to rationalise and simplify our languages, including English. One might not want to remove expressive power but I think a lot of what we have is not expressive and is just the junk of time that makes it harder for everyone to be multilingual.
Your voice truly is amazing for ASMR. Especially when you slow down towards the end of the sentence.
Well thank you 🙏Glad you think so!
And superb diction as well. I wish I could talk like that, but no matter what language, Danish, German, or English, I always mumble incomprehensibly.
A problem in making English an official language in Germany is presumably that many Germans just don't understand English very well. My parents don't. They did not even have it in school. Thus, many people working currently in official positions might not be able to do what will be expected from them if they are asked to understand documents in which the English language is being used.
I guess it’s more of a long term plan and won’t be implemented any time soon…
I am German. The stereotype was correct when I was a kid in the 60s. Since then, it has improved and has mostly gone tor good.
That certainly has been my experience
You will find a lot of answers regarding stereotypes about "Germans" in the Bletchley Park agenda...
I think German society is proud of its cultural heritage and likes to uphold some typically German traditions (e.g. carnival) but at the same time it effortlessly adopts and assimilates other countries' customs, e.g. Valentine's Day, Halloween - both unheard of when I came here. Same with food, e.g. Turkish cuisine, now mainstream. People in Germany love travelling and getting acquainted with different cultures and languages. Generally speaking, people in Germany are welcoming, weltoffen, and open to change 😊.
I agree with you. I find Germany integrates other cultures well
Then we've had a similar experience 😀
@@britingermany Ja, es sieht so aus 😀
It really is just an old stereotype, I am kind of an anglophile while my wife is a complete francophile…
Yes, but you do hear it a lot...seems to be clinging on for dear life
@@britingermany Klischees sind halt Klischees 🤪 Schönen Sonntag
@@nelsonvh3033 gleichfalls 😀
On one hand, I'm helpful and understanding if a tourist or "new" immigrant does not speak German. On the other hand, if somebody takes advantage of our friendliness and is not willing to learn our language and accept our culture and maintains living in Germany for years I tend to loose my sense of being helpful and understanding towards those people. I am a German living in Germany and I don't want to become a foreigner in my home-country.
That’s fair enough. That’s why I find it critical that these kind of things are discussed a lot before any decisions are made
Germans should stick to their own beautiful language! anybody who does not want to learn it , should stay where they are. why do they bother to come to Germany?if they do not want to integrate.
Bürokratie auf Englisch übersetzen? Wie will man Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetzesentwurf
Übersetzen? ;-)
There is no ideology to consider about making english a second language. There is simply a cost attached to it and, depending on how far you take it, it is also a problem for administrations to get staff suitable for the challenge.
First of all, it is not cheap to set up all official documents, forms etc. in a new language, including all the documentation that comes with it (many forms have How-to brochures explaining how to properly fill them out). Ask the americans why they do not officially change to the metric system if you wonder how expensive this whole thing could get. It would be a permanent thing as well, all new legislation with any impact on beuraucracy has to be documented in two languages.
The fact that public clerks and administrators now also have to be fluent in english is also a thing to consider from the employees side. Is it fair to ask a person in public service to be fluent in a foreign language to start or continue their career ? You trade off better starting conditions for immigrants by possibly hampering the career outlooks for locals. We have to remember this is not some tourist level of english, but it borderlines a level of professional english with lots of legal terminology. Some companies send their employees on special courses to train them for this kind of thing.
This is not about ideology or a "hit on national identity" it is simply a question of "Is it really worth it ?". The only sensible thing i can imagine to implement is centralized hotlines for engish speakers (even more languages are feasible this way) to call to get assistance with processes. Without any paperwork offered in english, which is probably a huge cost factor, this might be a lean way of adressing it. Still, without paperwork in english, how much good does this even do ?
I am convinced the number of english speaking immigrants is simply to low to justify a full scale paralell beuraucracy.
P.S. You are mistaken. In the least it was popular to be critical about the US since 2003 or even since the Patriot Act before that, some might even identify the highly questionable inauguration of George Bush jr as the turning point. In germany we have a long tradition of comedians criticizing the US for 20 years and more.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Yes I agree that a full scale parallel bureaucracy would not be sustainable…I’m guessing the people who proposed this are thinking of the future and anticipating x amount of new non Germany speaking immigrants in the next few years…
Yes external nationalities have been critical of the us for a long time, but it seems that it has become popular for Americans themselves to be critical of their own country, this is fairly new as they used to be extremely self confident and proud of being the worlds police.
If you were an engineer and pilot would germany be a good country to move to
Yes I believe so...germany seems to have a shortage of skilled workers and I think engineers will always do well...I'm not so sure about pilots though
Warum soll Englisch zweite Amtssprache werden? Die Briten wollen nicht mehr im EU-Club mitmachen, d.h, es sind nur noch 5,5 Mio. englischsprachige Leute dabei. Die EU muss auf lange Sicht unbedingt stärker zusammenwachsen. Es wäre also sinnvoller, einen größeren Fokus auf Französisch (~78 Mio.), Italienisch (~59 Mio.) oder Spanisch (~47 Mio.) zu legen. Neben Deutsch. Formulare können mittlerweile übrigens prima von Google o.a. Programmen in alle möglichen Sprachen übersetzt werden.
4:30 I think that any country with an official language has no obligation whatsoever to provide official documents in another language. However, it would of course be nice if it did anyway, and nowadays many forms are available in other languages. You may have to ask for them though and not all employees will be able to help you because despite what some may think, not all Germans speak English and not too many are fluent.
As a southerner I'm am very intolerant about northern potato salad.
"Scandinavia is a few steps ahead than Germany in disrespect." :O
Absolutely not! If you move to Germany, learn German!!
Is that bamboo growing in the park behind you?
It is indeed
@@britingermany The secret tropical side of Frankfurt! 50 sq. Km's - that's a monster city forest. Any urban campers in the Wald?
Some Germans can be quite provincial if not hostile to different cultures. Because German towns, even small ones, can be perfectly self-sufficient - in education, administration, commerce etc. One could really be born, finish the schooling, get a job and live the rest of the life without leaving one's hometown no problem... and in that case he or she would naturally lack the international awareness. Germans are famous travelers too, but again, if one chooses to just go to one of those infamous German holiday colonies such as in Majorca, one can perfectly stay in a German bubble.
The first town I landed in Germany was such a little town in Baden, and I was practically the only non-White. I can tell you I experienced first-hand the famous German stare everywhere I went. Things changed within a short span of time, and it got much more international too, but the mentality of the inhabitants do not change easily. I had then a short friendship with a musician, who came back to the hometown for a short while - he had traveled the world for the nature of his work, and I realised how much more relaxed I could be with him for the simple reason he had the sense that there's a big world out there with different cultures.
Thanks for sharing. The provinces can be very different, and as you say less aware of other ways of living or thinking.
Thank you for clearing this up!
Glad it was helpful!
Very nice video ☺👍
Thank you and Thanks for visiting. I hope you stick around 😉
I have never heard about an intolerance against other cultures but from some young people inspired by migration friendly political factions. Cultural intolerance would have imposed serious limitations to the worldwide success of German products and foreign investments e.g. in China. In addition most Germans like to travel to foreign countries. In academia the European Erasmus scheme made studying in foreign countries viable for a lot of German students.
Thanks for sharing Lars
The Nazis left many scars. That's all.
Speaking of German stereotypes, I have a question that goes the other way.
I would say I'm quiet anglophile and watch a lot of british TV, but something always surprised me: Comedians xan still make a living off of hating Germans. Be it the late Sean Lock or Rob Brydon, making that episode of QI very hard to stomach.
I have the feeling that some stereotypes just luve on, because foreign media perpetuates it. For example I wouldn't imagine anyone younger than 60 to put a towel on a deck chair on holiday in the morning. That would be a massive instance for fremdschämen. 😳
Why does the UK need this hate, those fictional rivalries and is unable to move on? Why is it always Nazis and 'because the French hate us'? It always feels like grasping for straws, scraping the bottom of the barrel, but nobody ever comments on it.
If any UK residents want to help me understand, or any Frech people want to set the record straight if there really are ressentiments in modern French culture, I would be thankful.
I don’t watch comedians at all so can’t comment on the shows you are referring to. All I can say is that British humour is often very cutting and relies on shock value as in “he didn’t just say that did he?” Usually one group/thing is singled out and ripped to shreds. You need a thick skin because it can seem quite funny until everything is directed at you. Did you see Ricky Gervais hosting the Golden globes I think it was in 2020. He absolutely ripped Hollywood to shreds. It was kind of shocking and I think many of the actors felt extremely uncomfortable with it. Having said that it is very common to insult you’re friends in the U.K. in fact usually you will only openly insult people that you really like….so take it as a compliment? 🤷🏼♂️
So here is my thought on the whole German language topic. I agree we should make buerocracy easier by introducing other languages especially those of the largest immigration populations first (and sorry English immigrants this makes English IMHO an afterthought and not part of the "first wave").
But and this is IMHO about the respect towards cultures. You should learn German anyway, because nothing is more annoying than to go to a random cafe (not talking about an Irish Pub) and hear that they only speak English
Thank you for sharing 🙏
Interestingly, you fail to mention the main reason why Germany is unattractive to the highly skilled from India etc., which is, of course, the excessive tax regime and the knowledge that tax revenues will probably be wasted on some ill-conceived regime-change project (2 trillion in Afghanistan alone).
I didn't know that was the main reason...in fact I'm rather sure that it is not🤷♂️
I mean.. I am German with German parents and grandparent and so on and my real first name is "Gysar", which is 100% not a German name, sooooo yeah, we can't be THAT intolerant of other cultures. xD Oh and I am from East-Germany, we aren't all Nazis there, most people are actually rather tolerant, the idiots are a loud minority.
Thanks fro sharing Geyser
Could you by any chance please speak a littlebit faster in your upcoming videos?
But seriously, I used to think my English was not too bad but listening to a native speaker, I quickly reached my limits.
If it’s too slow for you watch it at double or triple speed
I lived 20 years abroad in Asia and am married to a child of guest workers, who came to Germany in the early 70s from what was then Yugoslavia. With almost everything, we have to find a balance. I think we need to be open to others cultures, but we also need to avoid developments that will result in ghettos and the splitting of our nation along cultural lines. Some Germans seem to have no worries were this can lead. Some people here, are quite surprised if I voice my concerns, because they think a person who lived abroad and traveled a lot should have other opinions. However, if you don't see the pitfalls, I would argue that you haven't traveled enough and firmly closed your eyes to what kind of social problems other nations have. I see the current situation, with open borders, mass immigration, and politicians who close their eyes to the problems, very negatively. We already have ghettos in big cities and people with very different values living right next to each other. My husband was born in Bosnia. I have witnessed the lynch mobs in Indonesia during the Asian financial crisis. I was in Berlin this Sylvester.
It is of course a delicate situation and you’re right. Creating ghettos should be avoided at all costs!