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Culture Shocks from living in Germany?
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- Published on Jan 10, 2023 veröffentlicht
- We decided to ask as many people from all over the world living in Germany in Munich. What culture shocks they have got since moving to Germany. What about reverse culture shocks when visiting where they originally come from. Many wonderful people in this video we spoke too.
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I am from the North of Germany and would have a cultural Shock in Bavaria.
😅
I am from the north of germany and I live in bavaria since 2015. You guys are exegerating
hahahaha geht mir als süddeutscher in norddeutschland nicht anders:)
@Lumina999 i didn't specify that, the freistaat is just very different. 😉
A british guy speaking German with a french guy. You love to see it. We really should value European peace and friendship!!
Bayern (Bavaria) is not really a part of Germany, actually. These two countries are separated by a border, called the "Weißwurstäquator".
Sure....
@Skyy.5380 as much as i know the word Deutschland comes from the old German word Teude or Deute or somting like that (too lazy to google it 😀) what means as much as: "send by the people" or "the people" leads to Deutschland means Land of the People, what actually makes totally sence.
Well, i as a german can say that the trains in germany are delayed if you are on the train station on time but if you are in a hurry and you come to the train station 2 minutes late than you see the train departing right on time.
😅🎉 bloody Murphy!
Ich glaube, ich bin schon gedeutcheriert.
Wahrheit.
👍👍👍Yes
Haha😆😆
Ich habe noch nie einen Franzosen so gut deutsch sprechen hören!
I have never heard a Frenchman speak German so well!
Yeah his pronunciation is so eerily good! Some words are perfect like a native speaker with some minor accent ones in-between!
@Gordon Beck look into your own heart.
@Gordon Beck Why should a look like want it? Are you that absolut measurement? That's how I would define arrogance and self-centered.
🤔
@Wolfgang Tolle not gonna lie you come off as pretty arrogant and judgmental, not a good look for a missionary
@Anik M we call french people "Franzosen" and the language french "französisch"
As a german, one noticable culture shock even in close europeon countries was how slow compared to german discounters like aldi or lidl the cashiers at the supermarkets are. Here there is an unspoken competition when paying at the checkout between the customer and the cashier, who can move the goods and handle the process faster :D
jaaaaa dit stimmt. is wirklich so! 😅
@loisen fair point but in the grand scheme of things I’m pretty sure supermarket companies can afford more staff. They just choose more profits over better service.
@Puss in BOOT People in Germany earn more more money than in other countries where it doesn’t cost anything to have more cashiers waiting for the customers.
wow so true. I am german and my boyfriend is from ireland. when we go shopping together i get stressed because his packing skills are not efficient and fast xD
@appy Tight yea that sums it up pretty well. i was living in bournemouth for half a year and my god do i miss the self checkout. some supermarkets in bigger cities of germany already got it, but its taking so long to implement it everywhere
I love that the Russian girls appreciate freedom of speech and tolerance. When I see Germans sympathizing with the Russian government I cringe so hard because they have the privilege to live here and don't really understand how lucky they are to live in a country like Germany. Big respect for these girls!
@Yana I which ways`
@strange144 that's the Same thing. Its not illegal under the law to criticize Putin in Russia as well. And you want to tell me the west is free?
I can understand a lot of cultureshocks in Germany. But the one thing which I absolutely cannot understand is the point when people complain about almost everything is closed on Sundays. This point is especially annyoing, if it comes from people, which are generally exhausted by the fast, never stopping livestyle of their homecountry. Like the british lady in this video. I know a couple people from England and a lot of them complain about the fact, you dont really have a break from work or a general lack or absolute relax time. There is a reason, why Germans vaule the Sunday (and other holydays) very highly and so far most political attempts to scrap the workfree sundays, have been braodly denied by the public. If you get annoyed by a state-granted, absolute workfree day every week, the problem is seriously on your side and you should see someone to introduce you to actual relaxation...
Guess that’s at least one reason why Germany is going towards a medical crisis. Working on weekends for a few euros an hour? HELL NO
Dankeschön.
Grew up in Germany, spent 13 yrs in Sweden, outgrew Germany, lived in Ireland, England and Switzerland. Came to the conclusion there are always some ups and some downs to each country. My perfect country would contain British pubs, sarcasm and humour, great people all around. Swiss cleanliness, reliability and public transportation. Swedish nature, the work to live instead of live to work approach, the ocean, great air and sea food. Add Germany’s diversity in opportunity and produce and you’ll have one pretty nice country. Something down the line.
It’s just a question of money.With ample funds one can live well anywhere.
@Peter Balssuweit No, New Zealand sadly adopted American city design, infrastructure, and (lack of) public transportation. The landscape is incredibly beautiful, but the cities are outright unlivable. It's a shame.
@C U Next Tuesday i just expressed it in that way to put an emphasize on unity
@moccamixer Ah yes, Europe was never a continent. I learned something new today.
One recommendation! It'd be nice if you keep the country name for each person on screen, maybe on the bottom left or something, so you can always see where they coming from when comparing! :) Incredible video!
From a german perspective it is interesting how different germany is. The word "clean" is the last word i would think of a german S or U Bahn Train(station) in berlin. Bavaria is different...
@Palatinatjunky the thing is, the US is fucking big and a lot of same names of city’s within the states. Also cause it was build up from mostly European countries like Germany, Ireland, Netherlands etc. there are a lot of city’s with European names like there’s a Hamburg, a new Bremen and even a Berlin in the US. So makes sense for them to mention it 👍🏼 but I totally get your point tho 👍🏼
@EinarTheGolden Maybe also add their name that way it's easier to refer to what they said in the comments. Really fun video, you seem like such a sweetheart!! :)
yes, that would be nice, really. At the beginning of the film there were some who had specified their whereabouts , but it was very rushed.. Funny is, every person who comes from other parts of the world than the US, mentions he/she is coming from Russia, South Africa, Denmark...etc. People from the US they're different! They assume that everybody on this planet knows where De Moines/Iowa or Gainesville/Florida is, so no need to mention the country. If we "the others" introduced ourselves like this, saying "I'm from Mainz/ Rheinland-Pfalz" or "Vaslui/Romania" I wonder if an US citizen would know to pinpoint it on a map. Just saying 🤓
Cheers from Uruguay mate! 🇺🇾🧉
6:50 The skill of being a true german is KNOWING that the Deutsche Bahn isn't punctual all the time but still managing it to arrive 5mins early wherever you have an appointment.
Waiting in the cold around the street corner
@Leo Nawroth this is so right, waiting in the cold 😂. It's me.
In Berlin you always double the estimated time. Even more hardcore German is, if you wait 10 minutes outside in the cold, before you ring the bell right on time.
Bro if the French guy wouldn’t have made those little grammatically mistakes I wouldn’t have guessed he’s from France! 😳 His pronounciation is ON POINT 😮 4:45
I'm a Brit. When in France a young lady working in a shop helped me by speaking English. She spoke so well that I asked if she'd been to the U.K. Mais non. Incroyable.
hahaha I was scrolling through the comments to find someone making a comment about gramatical errors. You gotta love the Germans lool!!
I’m a cashier in Germany. It’s definitely true that we try to shove the items in the customers face. It’s just so much fun. And it’s painful in other countries, no front. 😂
I go extra slowly in packing my bag. Drives Aldi cashier's varrucht. 🤣🤣
not to mention that you will seriously get in trouble if by the end of your shift you do not give at least seven elderly people a heart attack by slamming the Warentrenner to the start of your register with the force of a thousand suns
The race for the goods. Spoil the great good experience of funshopping.🤔😉🤭
I think you are being nice when you stack the stuff for me to grab them :)
I am German and when I was a kid (40 years ago) I had the privillege to live one year in Brazil. I have never known more friendly and happy people in my life! Yes, I also saw the poverty, environmental pollution, crime and so on, but the people in general knew how to smile, be happy and enjoy the simple things in life and life in general. Best time ever!!! After one year we came back to the cold (literally, it was January)... Cold weather, cold, sad people and the fruits and veggies I enjoyed and had for one year fresh from the market tasted like shit* or like a very watered down version. If I had had a choice back then I would have been on the next plane back. And for all people living in a foreign country for an extended period of time: learn the fuc*ing language! After that year I was pretty fluent in Portuguese... Well, speaking, not writing, but I could talk to people and watch TV without any issues. Unfortunately I had nobody to talk to in Portuguese and over the years I forgot pretty much all Portuguese I had learnd.
hi, very nice to hear so positive points about brazil and the Brazilians. I got very happy for that. I"m Brazilian. I'm a teacher of Portuguese for foreigners. If you would like, I could help you with the language! Greetings from Brazil Alexandre
@Alfred Wulf I don’t think he meant to say Germany is inferior to Brazil. If you look at the stats, it objectively isn’t. And sure, each country has its own unique way of being and that should be appreciated, I think. And I agree that tropical countries have something different but not more to offer than those in the far north/ south. Thing is some people do prefer the tropical way of being and that’s fine (I’m not one of those btw, I’m just saying it’s ok if somebody doesn’t like living in Germany or in the UK or whatever that much and prefers living in the Caribbean, for instance). The one thing I disagree about is the “friendliness” being equal to a lack of material ambition and dooming people to poverty. Take Australia as an example, a developed tropical country with people that are a lot more “open” than in, say, Sweden. I don’t think this lively way of being correlates to lack of material ambition. I think that it’s something that happens in spite of most Brazilians not having enough money to get all they want/need (that’s not to say they don’t wish to have a good car, tho, saying that is just beyond ridiculous). When it comes to different cultures and lifestyles, everything is very nuanced. And even though there are things like HDI, freedom of speech and tolerance/ discrimination that should be taken in consideration, generally, no culture is better than other (I say generally because cultures where people think it’s ok to openly harass women or give gay people the death penalty do have some obvious issues that need fixing). Anyway, those are my two cents. But basically, maybe the guy likes Brazil better than Germany, so what? If you’re like me and disagrees w him, that’s cool, just don’t live in Brazil if you can help it.
Edit: bad sentence structure
@Alfred Wulf I love my country as well! And my language😊 I also liked the "Harry Potter-esque" description 🧡
@Alfred Wulf i was on board until you brought up culturally motivated poverty XD
You look at it one-sidedly, as if the Germans and Germany are inferior in some way and the Germans "need" to look at other cultures with an open mouth and change in accordance with someone else's lifestyle. But in fact, every country and culture has pros and cons. Germany has a misty Harry Potter-esque aesthetic (as does England, oddly enough), it needs to be understood and felt, not compared to southern or tropical cultures. Behind great sociality there are always low material ambitions and conformity when the whole nation is like that, then they are simply doomed to poverty and high criminality
After coming to Germany I stopped having cultural shock I suffered my whole life living in the Czech republic. The Germans are genuinely kind, reasonable and no nonsense people.
@IpodMan Na, da hat jemand den Kaffee verpasst.
@IpodMan Nice 2 meet U.
Bollocks
As a Brit in Germany, it was the half hours that caught me out at first.
In the UK it’s half past and in Germany it’s half an hour before.
So.. half 8 in the UK is 08:30 in Germany it’s 7:30
I was an hour late for everything for quite a while
@Andreas Delleske it is used a lot in Northern Germany too
@Hm Vollbanane Exactly
The weird thing is that this isn't universal in Germany, so some regions say half 6 and mean 17:30 while others mean 18:30, also applies to the quarter hours, in my region we say quarter past and quarter to, while other regions say three quarters x
So funny! I was an hour early when I lived in Britain. Thought I got the location wrong or didn't catch the time correctly when no one was at the meeting point. I don't think the nice lady who was supposed to show us around the Uni actually believed me when I explained later to her that "half one" is 12:30 in Germany...🥴
We Germans even have those time confusens between dialects! There's for example "driviertel" and "viertel vor" or "viertel drei" (half past 3) and "viertel nach drei". An example of misscommunication (in this case between Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg)
Wer beim Kochen nicht improvisieren kann, kann nicht kochen 😉😂
@Devils Kitty that's the Bavarian variation of Schweinebraten.
I always cook what is there, not what is not and I am very much German.
Ganz genau!
@Andreas M. I had the luck that my parents left me when i was 20. And it was one hour away! Perfect!
@Wolfgang Preier agreed. 😂
The way to always be in time is to take the earlier train. If you rely on public transportation to be in time, than you dont understand what "pünktlich" actually means. You are not late because your train had delay, you are late because you decided that you can only be right on time if everything goes according to the plan. But for me as a german, if i have a date at e.g. 8am, i plan to be there at least till 7:30-7:45 if everything goes right, then a lot can go wrong and I will still be "pünktlich" when i have to be there.
That's the way 💪
Correct! ;) You took away my words...:)
@Glueckspilzz Ich weiß, das ist die typisch deutsche Ignoranz. Die Grenze des Horizontes endet beim Ballermann…
So that's where I get it from! I'm relentlessly early. My mom is from Berchtesgaden and according to 23&me, I'm 92% Bavarian lol.
@Wolfgang Tolle ich unterscheide nicht nach westlich oder östlich, den aus Japans Sicht, liegen wir in welche Richtung? In Europa werden die Weltkarten immer aus Europas Sicht gezeigt, wenn man aber Asien in die Mitte rückt, liegt dann Amerika im Osten?
Während meines Studiuns hatte ich eine Bekannte aus Frankreich. Ich habe gelernt und, immer wenn wir uns verabredeten handelte ich mit ihr einen Zeitpunkt aus, der 30 Minuten vor dem, den ich im Kopf hatte lag. Sie kam immer zu dem Zeitpunkt, den ich im Kopf hate... 😀
@Oliver Hessenreither 😂😂😂
@wahrheitsliebender 1 geht mir als schwabe auch so.....meine freunde rechnen die zeit in olis..ein oli ist eine halbe std.😂😂mit der zeit gewöhnt sich jeder daran -mann muss nur ausdauernd sein.
Das macht meine Schwester und alle die mich gut kennen heute noch so und ich bin geborener Allgäuer.....
In diesem Land hat man es mit etwas/chronischer Unpünktlichkeit wirklich nicht einfach....
So gar beim Zahnarzt haut es mir jedes mal den Vogel raus....
Da bin ich meistens 5 - 10 Min. zu spät (trotz mit vollgas hinfahren....) und jedes mal, wenn ich dann Heim komme, haben die mir schon auf das Band gesprochen, "ob ich noch komme"... Die alten Panikmacher....
Gruß!
Pünktlichkeit ist die Kunst, zu wissen, wie viel der andere zu spät kommt.
Nice idea, I should have implemented it, but I don’t need that anymore because, thanks God, I left France😅😅😅
💛 Loved this. I experienced cultureshock in Japan when I realized it is not common to look directly in each other's eyes while talking or stare at each other. Back in Germany I had reverse culture shock because I felt like everyone is staring at me. So I have to admit the German stare is real.
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I still don't know, what it means. Where am I supposed to put my eyes on? On boring grounds?
To be fair, the Japanese society also have a lot of complexes. It is by far not as modern as their tech!
I'm swedish and I live in Sweden, but I've lived in Munich for many years. I liked it very much in Munich and Bavaria and I had a great time there. However, the culture shocks were : opening hours of shops, often quite rude waiters in restaurants, difficulty to pay with credit cards, bad service in many shops and it wasn't allowed to wash cars on sundays. But apart from that, it wasn't much on the negative side. Most people are friendly and if you speak german it's quite easy to find friends, the city is clean and safe, great beer, terrific food, nice nature withe the alps and "Alpenvorland", great skiing close by, MVV (public transport) works quite well and they have nice beergardens.
I moved to Bucharest, Romania for one year after school. The biggest culture shock I had was that everything (playgrounds, schools, parks,..) is guarded by security. Couldnt get used to that during my time there.
@jeronim07 Huh, so more like groundskeepers?
They could use that in the USA.
Not that true, mostly they are old people that have nothing else to do. Like 60yrs old bodyguard .
Romania is a very safe country, they are just telling people what to do before entering a building or so😀
I loved watching this, being German myself and have lived in 3 different countries ( USA, Switzerland & South Africa) for 25 years. Moving back to my home country Germany last year was a bit of a shock on how much it had changed, but I love to be back and within my culture.
@BD this part
Nobody cares
In germany a lot of cities are built pretty small. Like houses and even streets can be just big enough to function but nothing more. I never noticed that until I returned from China where everything was ginormous. I really got the impression that germnanay was sort of like fairy-tale-like. Yk like when you go to a small traditional village in the alps, but even bigger cities had like a similar vibe. That feeling quickly disappeared again though after a few weeks back in germany haha
Perhaps all the Hutongs have been raised. But those quarters where just tight and small too.
You should go visit Quedlinburg if you like German fairy-tale cities.
Yeah, it's interesting how quickly you can get used to everything, when you have experienced it as normal before. Whenever i interact with all those students from all over the world at our university in Freiburg they are always in awe about that medieval fairy tale fantasy feeling they have in the city center, the great food, the high quality beverages, the healthy lifestyle, the history that ouzes from every corner of the city (especially americans love that) and so on. And for me, it's just another tuesday.
That French guy appears to be very gifted with languages. His German pronunciation was spot on. I do not totally agree with his assessment of the French though. I always experienced the French to be very friendly (except perhaps - quite understandably - for the old folks who still have personal memories from WWII).
@Koala I'm living quite close to the French border. When I get over to, say Colmar, I always ask "parlez vous Allemand ou Alsacian..:" Some do, others don't. Years ago, when asking for a location there, an elderly lady in Colmar answerd in Alsacian "Isch schpesch besser deitsch wie wie fronzäsisch...!". And in Strasbourg I met a friendly old lady (French, Alsacienne) in a tram, and she said she always watches German television, for her French was not that good. But alas, I think she is one of the last of her kind...
@Christopher Stein the english of people????
@thomasquest23 11:24
His pronunciation was spot on? I guess we heard two different people.
i doubt he is gifted, i bet he worked hard at it
It is notable that there's quite a few differences between regions in Germany, here in Berlin for example shops all close at 10 and or even 12 instead of 7-8 like in Bavaria, and when people go out they definitely go out late and they dance here.
Dicker meinst du wir haben keine Clubs hier in München? :)
Techno meinen Latinos nicht, das ist für uns tanzen aber für viele Südländer ehwr seltsam.. also bleiben nur Salsa, Latino, Jugo Clubs ect.. und von denen haben wir auch in München genug. Was sie meint ist einfach ein unterschied des Temperaments. In Lateinamerika müssen die sich nicht erst drei Longdrinks kippen um abzugehen, wie sie sagt da ist alles Musik und Leben 💃
Yes Bayern is special/ different in that regard to the rest of Germany.
German who moved to Ireland and there were more culture shocks than expected to be honest :D biggest one is probably how relaxed everyone here is when things go wrong and how safety issues are not that much of a concern 😂 Pub culture is a massive thing and I gotta admit I love it! :D Irish are way more open and friendly but also tend to be late and more chaotic, which is something a German really needs a long time to get used to.
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My culture shock going to the States : From the moment we landed at the airport the expression on my American partner's face changed! He warned me several times to be very careful, not to trust people when they are approaching you, even locking the car doors from inside while driving!
@Lone Starr I agree that the US could and should be alot safer than it is. However, it’s far from an environment where one should “be very careful, avoid people when they are approaching you, or lock your doors even while driving.” Despite what many believe, in no small part due to media sensationalism, the US is relatively safe. Much more needs to be done to address this issue but let’s not paint an apocalyptic picture to score some quick likes.
@Bad Hombre Because even if it's not "that bad", it's still way worse than it needs to be.
@Bad Hombre Thanks to the US system of transportation, any visitors still have to go through the urban hellscape before getting to the nice parts of the US.
Jesus it’s not that bad. Let’s just generalize a country of 330+ million people based on some extreme cases, why not?
I enjoyed the video! Very relaxed interview atmosphere, nice young people and a humorous nice presenter! Overall, the perceptions of the young people were very benevolent and friendly from the point of view of a German! And far fewer clichés than expected! Thank you for sharing!
Much appreciated!
I experienced major reverse culture shock when I came back to Germany from my Japan travel. I loved it in Japan, of course everything was new and interesting to me but coming back was so gorrible. It took me a long time to adapt. My first impression arriving back home was that Germans are rude, loud, unfriendly, chaotic, messy, because in Japan everything and everyone was quiet, polite, orderly, friendly, organised, clean... I loved it so much!!!
I had the same experience, but on the other hand, the politeness is Japan is just shallow and you can't truly get to know the Japanese as a foreigner.
I'm a german woman and got a kind of culture shock after I stayed in Ireland for a while and then came back to Germany. People in Ireland are so much more friendly and polite, smiling and all, I wanted to turn round and go straight back to Ireland.
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I am living in Munich since more than 12 years now and there were two points made in the video which I couldn't relate to. First one was someone saying that you have to book weeks in advance to go out. I have never experienced this problem and I am going out with a friend like 3 times a week, mostly on the weekends where restaurants and bars are very crowded. Sure there are some locations which are full during prime time, but Munich has so many good places where you can go, its usually not a problem to find something. The other point was made about having to pay with cash everywhere. Another Clip-Sharer actually put this rumor to the test and asked around how much cash German people carry with them and the large majority has little to no cash and pays everything by card, google pay or whatever you prefer. Its mainly farmers markets, christmas markets and other temporary outdoor shops where you have to pay with cash.
@Teddy Smith actually covid was the door opener for the ec-card. can't remember any bakery here accepting cards before. also most smaller to midsize groceries had 5 euro minimum purchase then.
ich weiß was du meinst. aber die lage im video scheint etwas anders meine ich.
als ich jünger war, war es bei mir mit den verabredungen wie bei dir auch. man macht was kurzfristiges aus, jeder hat lust und fast alle kommen.
mittlerweile haben viele bereits eigene familie, bzw. wohnen nicht mehr in unmittelbarer nähe oder haben wegen beruf enge zeitfenster. da musste die ganzen treffen mit der alten truppe bereits wochen (teilweise monate) im voraus planen damit am ende überhaupt die hälfte kommt.
wenn ich von arbeitskollegen irgenwo eingeladen werde, passiert dies meist min. eine woche vorm stichtag. nur die, mit denen man im engeren verhältnis steht versuchen hin und wieder auch spontan was auf die beine zu stellen.
Cash is more common, but we still used card most everywhere in Bavaria.
@julia R What I said wasn't intended to be a criticism. I used to run a small business and I'm well familiar with credit fee structures. I was just pointing out that there's truth to the idea that Germany isn't as card friendly as most other first world countries. I just find it weird that everyone's so defensive about it.
As a German it is always interesting to me to hear how people from other countries see Germany.
If possible I go to the UK for holiday every year and I always get a culture shock when I come home. It starts on the Autobahn, where everyone is speeding and drives too close to my car. Everyone is in a hurry, even at the supermarkets. I do enjoy grocery shopping in the UK, because I don't feel chased and can take the time I need without getting angry looks from other customers.
Every time when I come home I need a week or two to get used to our German madness again.
I actually love the general good quality of real estate we have here in Germany. Cheap and good food is also a big plus. What i don’t like so much as an example is the often not very elegant functional wear a lot of us germans love so much. I as a german have to admit that being punctual is actually super important to me, especially professional wise.
ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ғᴀɴ,❤️ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ sʜᴏʀᴛʟɪsᴛᴇᴅ ᴡɪɴɴᴇʀsᴜsᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ᴛᴇʟᴇɢʀᴀᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴄᴋɴᴏᴡʟᴇᴅɢᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘʀɪᴢᴇ..🎁
I really like your interviews, they are really fun to watch!
Aww thank you have a great day! :)
Wow, super video. I'm originally from Spain but I live in Austria. Every now and then I travel to Germany for Holidays or to spend a weekend and I have to say that I haven't found yet one "unangenehm e people". They are always nice and helpful. I love Deutschland.
Thank you, and I love Spain too, and Europe!
aww thanks ;)
"You can have an opinion here." That one hit me, dang : (
@Eva well here are no such thing. iam talking about germany
@This Guy You can have one, but only if it matches the dictator's.
Yeah and still there are People who complain about not being allowed to have an opinion
First I didn't understand what she ment... But when they said that they are Russians, it dawned on me... So sad!
@Olga Hein from 1991-1993
Fifty years ago i visited beautyful Scotland, i was 17 and came their with my school english and understood nearly nothing . Nice to hear it again. Greetings from Hamburg
Hamburg!!!🎉
As a german, before I studied abroad in sweden, I always thought the so called german directness didn't really exist. But in Sweden the teachers and fellow students got really upset with me after directly telling what I thought and what was in my opinion the truth. 😅
So I learned it the hard way.
German teachers get upset about that too.
I married a Spaniard, so I am in Spain quite often. One thing that always takes me a while getting used to are the late hours for eating and going out. Also the time you spend eating, it can go on for hours literally. But they value good food much more and appreciate quality ingredients.
I experienced the same thing when I visited to Turkey. The transition was difficult and overwhelming. Living in my own country feels so messy and unpredictable.
Ich habe dasselbe erlebt, als ich nach Türkei besucht habe. Der Übergang war schwierig und überwältigend. In meinem eigenen Land zu leben fühlt sich so chaotisch und unvorhersehbar an.
Being a german guy from Northrhine-Westphalia, I've been off to a vacation in Egypt, and I was SHOCKED how littered the sides of the roads there are. Looks like people just throw their trash out of the window while driving around, and there is no public waste management at all, and nobody seems to care. - Scuba diving in the Red Sea was fantastic, and I stayed in a beautiful Hotel complex by the seaside, but as soon as you leave the Hotel there you're confronted with poverty and trash everywhere. Also, getting used to Police running around with openly carrying automatic weapons was impossible for me - I felt VERY uneasy outside of my Hotel. - This was the biggest culture shock I did experience, ever. - I won't visit Egypt for vacation again.
@magmalin Neukölln is more of an islamist state tbh...
@René Patrique Maybe you didn’t understand what I was talking about.
@Wolfgang Tolle How do you know I did not live outside the country where I do live now? - You don't. - Your assumptions do bore me, mate. Have your opinion but don't push it.
@René Patrique Making Holidays in different countries and living in hotels doesn’t give you any insight in the culture. I’m in Africa since 20 years so I know what I was talking about.
BTW, everyone inside the bubble cannot realize that they’re in a bubble. They live in the reality of the bubble that is kept alive by media and government.
They just so libertarian
Spent some time in South Korea and was astonished by the highly functioning public transportation network and simple paying System all over the country whereas in Germany every area has its own ticketing system :)
Different countries, different customs, when I decide to live and work in another country, I usually find out how things are done there, so I'm not shocked or surprised when certain things are done differently . That's part of life.
But having a cultural shock when moving to another city is part of life too. Personally, I only look for the tips that helps me to not be in trouble with the authorities. When it comes to the rest, I like to have surprises and not be that prepared with learning everything from the internet. I personally think this kind mess the magic of learning others people culture.
In Franconia, the directness, the closed off personalities, stores closed at 8pm, Sunday everything closed, nice cozy cafe's don't open until 10am...
Reverse culture shocks (Midwest USA), big...everything is big and spacious, the options in the grocery stores, polite language usage, only tasting sugar in things, and the smell of chlorine in tap water, and of course the amount of water in toilets.
The biggest annoyance for me is the store hours. I've been here 5 years and I still can't get used to it. I hate buying food in advance because I'm an intuitive eater. I also am frequently disappointed that the best places to get a coffee don't open till 10am. It makes no sense to me. The coffee at the bakeries are shi*****!!!! I miss my early morning routines working on my laptop in a cozy Cafe at 6:30am....
I never understand why people always say that germans are so direct. The most direct people I've met have always been people from other countries like USA, Italy, Brazil and others. They always tell me how much they hate the german language and the people and so on. If that's not direct, I don't know! I would never do that visiting another country. Same thing with punctuality. In almost every country I visited they wanted people to be punctual - for trips etc. and got really angry sometimes if you weren't super punctual. But I have to say that a lot of germans are rude and aggressive, especially in Berlin. People there are often horrible whereas I find the people in Franconia very nice, open and chatty; in Nuremberg, Wurzburg and Regensburg for example.
as a german the biggest culture shock in north america (BC, Canada) was to be asked "hows it going?" by complete strangers. WHY?!
I’m from Vancouver. Asking how’s it going is just a polite greeting. It would be considered very weird to just stare at the cashier or strangers for example and not interact at all. Honestly I think if you were to not answer greetings like how’s it going or how are you the majority of people who consider that to be incredibly rude.
@Hanny Dart that‘s the German approach. Let’s just accept that there are two different ways to acknowledge a customer. I prefer the North American way to the German way of trying to get you out of the supermarket as fast as possible as soon as you show the first indication you want to pay.
@Andreas M. the fact that whoever asks IS NOT interested in an honest answer feels more rude than polite to me.
@Hanny Dart why not? What’s the problem? 😊 It’s just a way of being polite. It doesn’t mean she wants to hear the story of your life. It’s a way of acknowledging you as a customer. The intentions are good, you just don’t like the question. 😌
The idiom fact I found very accurate as well, I have had countless conversations in German and then used idioms as we do in English, and then people just get so lost. I might be South African but will go drink a pint with the Scott any day; finding people with a sense of humor similar to what I would call "English/British humor" is complex in Germany.
@Stadtrandmeer that is so true. Idioms are deeply rooted into a language and culture. I geuss looking back at it, using English Idioms in German seems like a dumb idea. It is interesting though learning a language is quite easy to get to the point where you can have fluent conversations with people but really getting into the smaller cultural elements of a language you need a lot of time, C1 only brings you so far.
I think that‘s always the trickiest part about learning foreign languages or conversing with someone who has a different linguistic/cultural background: idioms can rarely be translated literally, and they are often so deeply rooted in a specific culture, that the meaning isn’t obvious for someone who didn’t grow up or live in that culture for an extended period. We use idioms in Bavaria, whose meaning would be completely lost on a person from Berlin and vice versa - even though they’re all in German.
I'm English, but I left England in 1969 to work and live in Germany as a Gastarbeiter. I stayed for 13 years. My biggest mistake in life was returning to England. I'm now 77, but if I was 30 years younger, I would go back to Germany. I was a computer programmer for some years and programming is something that has to be done right. I always feel, when I visit Germany now, that things are just done right over there, while in England we just muddle through. Look at Britain right now. It's failing in so many ways, thanks to Brexit and Boris.
ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ғᴀɴ,❤️ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ sʜᴏʀᴛʟɪsᴛᴇᴅ ᴡɪɴɴᴇʀsᴜsᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ᴛᴇʟᴇɢʀᴀᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴄᴋɴᴏᴡʟᴇᴅɢᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘʀɪᴢᴇ..🎁
I honestly cannot go back home anymore, living in Berlin I am so used to the freedom, the amazing public transport ( even if not the cleanest but hey it's always there ! ) and yes .. the freedom ... the amazing amazing freedom
@Mirtzee To make it clear am originally from egypt .. hence the "extra appreciation" for freedom😁
In the specific context of Berlin & freedom though I meant that you can be whatever the f* you want, be it dressing weird ( really weird ), taking drugs, lgbtq+ etc .. , this is mostly accepted throughout germany, but I have lived in a couple big ( and couple small ) cities and nothing comes close to Berlin in how everyone is just accepted for who they are.
But this pov is definitely my personal pov, and I doubt people born and raised in Germany/Europe would have this strong opinion .. but having lived in a 3rd world country and seen the other side .. damn it feels good to be a berliner.
It’s interesting to hear people mention freedom? What does this mean to people in Germany? As an American we take freedom for granted…was shocking to hear people mention the freedom.
@Sherif Ehab get to the point! Which is your “homeland” ?
@Andreas Delleske Enough to say I have never felt like home as I did in Berlin .. even now as am visiting my homeland I can't wait to go back to my "real home" :)
Munich is vastly different from the other larger cities in Germany. That said Hamburg, Köln, Düsseldorf and Berlin have social and cultural differences that one only recognizes after spending a longer time in each of the cities.
@Sir Bonobo It’s not the people or their culture but fundamentalist outliers… we live in a world where a multi cultural society is unavoidable, the danger is religious dogma that perverts peoples humanity. Your point about Muslims is what they said about the Jews… the only solution is integration which means adhering to the rules of the society one finds oneself in and no ghettos.
We can’t turn the clocks back which means we have to look for positive solutions.
what they all have in common is way to many muslims in it to be called european cities anymore lmao
When I was an expat in the US a couple of years back I really enjoyed being able to shop 24/7. It was awesome to wander around in an almost empty store at midnight although I didn't really need anything...
I can imagine some things i would rather like to do instead of wandering around the streets and grocery shops @ midnight in a US city. Without at least a loaded Kalashnikov to defend myself.
Visiting an elderly french couple and their kids late 90´s. Dinnertable was flooded with food and everyone sat 3 hours eating and conversing,and that was an ordinary workday. At my house dinner is over within 20 minutes. I kind of liked it. I wonder if France long sitting dinners are different now after the digital revolution ?
Hi! We often make slow meals on special occasions: family dinners, reunions with friends...etc. But in everyday life, professional imperatives, the cost of fresh products, or simply because we are lazy to invest too much time in cooking, many of us also eat very quickly, without making more effort than that !
ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ғᴀɴ,❤️ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ sʜᴏʀᴛʟɪsᴛᴇᴅ ᴡɪɴɴᴇʀsᴜsᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ᴛᴇʟᴇɢʀᴀᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴄᴋɴᴏᴡʟᴇᴅɢᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘʀɪᴢᴇ..🎁
I am Canadian of Italian parents living in Germany for 12 years. Germans are quite cold and hard to get tp know. My favorite thing is that I get compliments on my German. After 12 years people are surprised that I am actually an Ausländer !
Thank to all the cultures that you like our country so much in such a different aspects ❤
As a German living in Berlin every kind of politeness no matter where is like a culture shock :).
ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ғᴀɴ, ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ sʜᴏʀᴛʟɪsᴛᴇᴅ ᴡɪɴɴᴇʀs❤️ᴜsᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ᴛᴇʟᴇɢʀᴀᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴄᴋɴᴏᴡʟᴇᴅɢᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘʀɪᴢᴇ..🎁
I moved to Germany from Canada and nothing was really a culture shock. I was pleasantly surprised by the train/transport system although it’s not perfect and there are often delays. Germany has it all whether it be skiing/snowboarding in the winter, a summer wellness resort at the beach in the north or hiking year round pretty well anywhere in the country. Not to mention the many cycling paths and that most drivers watch out for cyclists here. The quality of the food is better IMO and there are many small family run bakeries, butcher shops, health food stores and cafes. Another big positive for me are the pedestrian zones (Fußgängerzonen) in the cities. Not having the noise and pollution from cars going by while you’re sitting outside at a restaurant or café is pleasing. On the other side I find many Germans in the north verklemmt, not very friendly or open in comparison to Canadians. Just some of my views.
ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ғᴀɴ, ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ sʜᴏʀᴛʟɪsᴛᴇᴅ ᴡɪɴɴᴇʀs❤️ᴜsᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ᴛᴇʟᴇɢʀᴀᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴄᴋɴᴏᴡʟᴇᴅɢᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘʀɪᴢᴇ..🎁
I felt the women telling how when she went back home everything was a mess. I felt the same D: I rly like how everything is in order in germany. Back home we have this "well do it later, we can do it for cheeper, just let it go, if it works it works" mentality and in germany its more like "if u gonna do it, do it right and ur gonna do it cause its the right thing to do."
Strange to hear public transport suffers from so many delays. I lived in different cities in Germany and always could rely on public transport. Yes sometimes there is a delay now and then. But that‘s so rare. Working as a trainer I used to experience that those who came in late were those who came by car. Traffic, parking, …
@Flimo Bavaria has bad local transport because it's not wanted by the auto industry
Oh I thought that in Hamburg and Schleswig Holstein, but now moving to Munich. I don’t feel like it’s that reliable anymore, I have to always plan for delays on the S Bahn if I want to arrive on time, so maybe it’s a regional problem.
Local trains are OKish. 30% of the ICEs are late..
In my personal experience, public transport in cities is very reliable. But I currently live on the countrside and trains here are annoying (No S-Bahn btw. only busses). They come hourly at best and delays are anywhere between five and 20 Minutes regularly. If there's some kind of problem on the rail, they have to call in some railworkers which take ages to get there. I remember once being stuck on a 45 minute ride for a bit over 3 hours because of that. And for the buses the infrastructure is not ideal. They are heavily denpendent on the general traffic going well and generally also drive hourly or some times every 30 minutes.
-tldr.: public transport in cities: great - out of cities: meh.
Its been degrading over the years
We have relatives in the Netherlands, and any time we go there (by car) we find it much more relaxed driving there. The same is true for Belgium, and the Scandinavian countries. And whenever we come back to germany we outright hate driving here, because many people drive so aggressively and much too fast. I cant say about the other countries around.
@Max Mustermann You understand me😊
@Freidenkerin you'll get used to it but it really is very stressful to drive there imho because many people's attention is elsewhere and you constantly have to watch out for others cutting your way.
I always felt like the best highway experience is the German Autobahn when there's no trucks. You can drive very fast and it is very relaxing because everyone can handle their own speed.
On busy days slow drivers tend to cause traffic jams though because they attempt to overtake trucks improperly and everyone has to slow down which leads to quick congestion on the left lane.
It would be dangerous for me to drive in these countries you mentioned because I would fall asleep by driving so slowly^^
I came 40 yrs ago from SA and one of the first things I noticed the people don’t like to dance spontaneously. First a drink. The food is incredible. If u make friends then they are most probably for life.
Lived in Taiwan for a year - it's been a while back so some of the minor things I've already forgotten. But man. Convenience stores sure are convenient.
My culture shock in Britain was the food, maybe it was related to the cooking skills of the Mom from our exchange students but it was really horribly
the girl that said that germans are very distant: i think it's more people from munich, especially people that grew up around the city. i don't know what it is about munich, but the people that are from there usually stay there to study and work and never move somewhere else for a longer period of time. and these people are still in their friend groups from school. so it's almost impossible to find munich friends. i'm german and i've moved to munich a while back and all of my friends are internationals :)
I did this twice, and felt really bad about it, each time. In Germany when we tip, we tell the server how much we want to give them - in the US you tell them how much you want *back*. So maybe my bill is 25 and being German I would say "30 please" ... I really just wanted to give you a $5 tip. I'm so sorry. :(
I was really surprised that the french guy said that the french people weren't nice and that the germans were so nice. I was like "Whaat?!" I love the french people; they are so nice, loving and welcoming and really funny!
Bavarians have completely different habits than people from Hamburg and even Munich is diffrent from Franken f.e. Therefor I think it's hard to compare.
In my case I was born and raised in Heidelberg but moved to northern Germany and had a culture shock on my own. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I work for a German multinational. I had to cancel a meeting 1 hour before it was to start. Was out of my control. I could tell my German colleagues were not happy, but they remained polite.
Its ok if you cancel because something happened. And you inform the people as soon as you know.
But if you cancel some date because you dont feel like it 5 min before.
That’s a no go because germans then mostly cancelled plans with other peoples or whatever, to make your date happen.
It very much depends on which direction you are travelling with the Deutsche Bahn. me personally, I had about 3 to 4 problems in 5 years travelling through Saxonia, Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxonia Anhalt, so most of the time it was punctual and reliable.
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6 years livin' in Bavaria now. Originally from Lower Saxony.
The language barrier was huge, needed about 3 months to understand lower bavarian dialect.
And rumors are true: Bavarian beer is the best in Germany so far.
Had been 10 days in Egypt. And wow, so many guys throwing kisses at me and guys holding hands, like wtf.
Nice Video and Interviews, but I must say i think they only experienced the typical behavior of urban Germans there. In the villages or small towns, people are often more relaxed than in the city, easier to get friendships. The people there are also more practical, for example a good german housewife can actually cook a good meal from anything... even if an ingredient is missing from the recipe. Also, on sundays are some options to buy groceries.. especially in the big cities.
The punctuality is just for the planning of the day, the woman from Colombia said it right, and it also serves as security for planning family life. Also the 'canceling- 5-minutes-before' is something that is against such a security, so don't wonder if people don't like that behavior. If you want to cancel then you should do it as early as possible, so that the other person can reschedule, don't waste other peoples time or let them wait for nothing. It doesn't matter if it's something trivial, but matters much if it's something important.
ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ғᴀɴ,❤️ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ sʜᴏʀᴛʟɪsᴛᴇᴅ ᴡɪɴɴᴇʀsᴜsᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ᴛᴇʟᴇɢʀᴀᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴄᴋɴᴏᴡʟᴇᴅɢᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘʀɪᴢᴇ..🎁
What the one guy in the red Helly Hansen jacket said. Respect for peoples time. Dude is spot on right there.
My reverse culture shock as a Canadian living in Germany are the friendly waiters and retail workers.
My biggest culture shock I had in 1992 visiting London for the first time: When the doors at Heathrow opened after collecting the baggage and a crowd was waiting for people - this crowd was so diverse! All skin colours, all types of clothing, it was amazing to me because Germany was not like that at all at the time. This has changed now but still London is far more diverse than Berlin or Hamburg or Munich probably will ever be. But this is London. When I lived in Bristol from 2018-19 I joined a theatre club - not one single black or brown face in the club. There was one Latino - and me as a foreigner, as the "odd ones out". Everyone else was white British. Equally in the company I worked with, 150 staff, someone else and me were the two foreigners, everyone else was white British. Rather disappointing, I have to say. I would have expected to see more diversity outside London as well, but apparently that's not the case. That is also some kind of a culture shock to me.
@Ann Voy what is wrong with keeping England English and not have our way of life wrecked by globalism.
@Ann Voy I am nationalist, England belongs to the English. I have nothing lose seeing as though Prussia no longer exists, so I know the pain. And Marijá is the name of my Slovene fiance, but that's irrelevant to this
@Tracchofyre we never stop having cultures. They may just become more subtle. Just consider how long it takes you to simply forget to ask yourself where a former foreigner originated from. It takes many generations. Simply because you (instinctively) see their more or less different culture, not only any different looks.
@Jack und Marijá 'England is for the English'?What a nationalist crap. I hope that's just cynicism considering Marijá's name. But I decided to accept the choice of the 52% that voted us Europeans out and left after 16 years of making it my home. I've never regretted returning full time to Germany, but I've sorely missed the England that I experienced until then with my pink glasses on.
Shopping after 8 pm (and some other things) is a local problem in the more konservative south of germany. I live in Hamburg and Rewe closes at 10 and some other shops are openend 24/7 etc. So maybe do a video like that in Hamburg. Could be pretty different and fun 😊
SUCH A GREAT AND FUN CONTENT (even though you're a Brit 😇🥰😂)!!!!! YT's led me here, and I instantly smashed both the subscribe and like button. I'm an EU citizen of German descent btw.... You've hit a niche, gimme more of these international, multicultural vibes this country has to offer!!!! 😍🥰
I went to Ireland 20 years ago, for work. There were many differences, but I wouldn’t call that culture chocks, depends what you are expecting by visiting other countries…😊
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Actually I got some experience with other cultures. It is the most valuable change of my general perception of Germany. Spending many years in Africa I was confronted with a very different and strange culture. Working for an American company here in Germany before, I had my first encounter with a different culture. They are quite different in values and behavior. Also they maintain their way of lifestyle with very few tolerance to the environment and culture they live in.
The next level of experience with a different culture hit me when I went to Africa. It was nearly the opposite of our western culture. More like a time journey some hundred years back in time. It took me a long time to cope with it and it’s still not easy. On the other side I discovered some very important things that we lost in our western culture like family (it’s really different there!) and good traditions.
If I would have the choice, I would prefer to live in Africa instead of living in an insane woke western culture that appeared here in the last decades.
@maxie I’m born in Germany and live here for over 60 years. I went to Africa to help the people over there in orphanages and schools. What is wrong with it? What did you do for the weak and vulnerable?
@maxie This is exactly the response I expected from an ignorant and arrogant German. If they don’t understand they start bullying.
It starts the same way like 1933 …
@Hans Schmidt Everything has advantages and disadvantages. Nothing is perfect. That’s the lesson I learned.
But when I sum it up I definitely enjoy life in Africa much more. I was living in Ghana and Zambia and think about to settle down in Zambia.
I’ve never been that typical “German”. I don’t like football, drinking and watching this stupid comedies on TV. My thinking is not limited by BILD and ARD.😉
Give me one reason to enjoy enjoy Germany in this time of wokeness and intolerance.
Wait a moment, then you can also enjoy Africa in all its glory in Germany.
I'm half Brit, half German and I love meeting other Brits here in Germany. I always ask them what they miss most and what they like best about living here.
ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ғᴀɴ, ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ sʜᴏʀᴛʟɪsᴛᴇᴅ ᴡɪɴɴᴇʀs❤️ᴜsᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ᴛᴇʟᴇɢʀᴀᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴄᴋɴᴏᴡʟᴇᴅɢᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘʀɪᴢᴇ..🎁
First of all, thank you for this video. This, and also the one from last week, were a pleasure to watch and gave me a lot food for thought.
As for culture shocks: German that never lived abroad for a longer time... ;)
I experienced one even moving within Germany, does that count? 🤣
Explanation: I spent most of my life in Northern Germany. THe most southern town I lived was Hannover (which kind of suited me very well). Moving to the Rhine-Ruhr-area as well a spending some time in Heidelberg (which is pretty south at least for me) gave me several culture shocks.
The most prominent was when I move to where I live now, close to Düsseldorf, and that was - indiret communication. Northern Germans are apparently more direct than all the other Germans. They are supposed to be less talkative (I can NOT confirm that, however) and at least the real Northerners (so north of Hannover) are very relaxed and friendly, despite being direct.
Upon moving here, my more or less native Rhineland neighbours eventually came to the conclusion that we were nice, but horribly ignorant folks because everytime they wanted to complain to me about something or wanted me to do or to change something I did, they would do that in a so indirect way that I (and my husband either) simply did not get the point at all. By now, after almost 20 years living here, I know a polite complaint when I see it, however... but I still realise it only halfway trough the talk that ppl indeed do complain. 😅
From my personal feeling, the further sout one moved, the more impatient (and hence sometimes seemingly rude) people became.
Second culture shock when moving from the comparativly thinly populated North to here: "So many people everywhere!..."
Reverse culture shock every time I am coming back north: "People here are even more insane when driving than elsewhere in Germany!"
(In the Rhine-Ruhr-area, because of the many people living there, most of the time there is simply not an option of driving very fast, and most ppl have resigned to their fate and are comparatively relaxed with respect to that. You will realise that someone is not a local if the does not simply go along with the traffic and tries to beat the system...
As for real culture shocks: My BF and now husband spent half a year in Argentina (in a rather small town with a minor local university), and I joined him there for 6 weeks or so. And he for sure had severly culture shocks. In the beginning, he was very angry that in the lab he had joined for a cooperation no one despite him seemed to work during the day. Some ppl came there for short hours in the morning, setting up experiments, then leaving. Professors were around 1-2 hours in the morning twice a week or so. All would drop in in the afternoon, have lunch together, talking things through informally, and then start to work 2-3 hours. The rest of the time they were just - gone.
By the time I arrived, however, he had realised that all of them, be it professors or PhD-Student, were having different jobs to support them, as fees for University staff had not seen a raise in 20 years or so and just would not support them.
The wife of the head to department had a confenctionery, so three days a week he would be there in the morning, selling pastrys and cakes. Another professor was near retirement, but had an own private business, too. And in the evenings (to be honest, as it was Winter, read summer in Argentina, these were the better work hours anyway) they would do research at the university with the rather limited means they had. They were more or less supporting themselves AND the university by getting second jobs.
I, personally, am still deeply impressed by that. And it for sure gave me another perspective.
My personal one, also there, when helping in the lab: They had the same lab devices we were using back home, alongside with tips you were supposed to use only once. Back home, there were days when I was using about a hundred or more of these. As I was familiar with the devide, I was asked to use it during the experiment. Which I did, merrily disposing off the tips after each step - until suddenly one of the local researchers intervened, asking me not to put them with the ordinary waste but collect them separately because the had to clean them for reusage. - The lab owned exactly 20 or 25 tipps that had come with the device, and not a single one more. They were not doing molecular biology, or anything related (in contrast to me), so it was more or less feasible to do so. However, it made me really feel bad (and nowadays one would probably call it "entitled") when I realised how well equipped we were and how very short-sighted it was to take that for granted.
Last culture shock: Argentinians alwas kiss each other on the cheek upon greeting each other. I adaptet, most reluctantly, but that is a thing I personally have great difficulties to find even tolerable. It's just too close for me. 😅
Even we, especially the younger ones, suffer from our German punctuality, so we feel you.
I plan to return to the UK soon after living in Berlin for almost 50 years so I'm probably in for a reverse culture shock XXL!
It would have been a good idea to ask people why they live in Germany.
moving to the UK: 1) their fear of snow;-) Cancelling everything just because of some centimeters of snow.. 2) They don't mean what they say. It is really hard for me as German to cut through all of this politeness and know what they really mean
Left Germany in 1996 for the US, came back in 2017. I missed some food items living in the US, I miss some customer service from US stores. Only to mention a few things.
Keep your humour ! ... it's great to see things from this perspective.
The french guy speaks sooo good. Some parts of his sentences are virtually no different from native speakers. Bravo
I live in Kiel, northern Germany while my sister has lived in Munich for several years. I visited her for the first time there last year and maaan I got a culture shock. 😂 And even though we both actually grew up in Baden-Württemberg. 😂
Thank you, I loved the video. I love to be in England or Scotland, because the people are so friendly and have a good humour- much better then in Germany.
Diese Reflektionen sind super unterhaltsam 🙂 Danke sehr.
@5.45 - Spot on. I've been trying to explain this to my German husband! Perfectly phrased!!
I live on that one street you filmed on, it’s really interesting to see there are so many people from all places in the neighborhood!
Maybe you should have asked if they made different experiences in other metropolitan areas like Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Ruhr Area or Berlin.
Beeing in Germany I don't feel like a german, don't feel I fit in....going somewhere abrod reveals how much of a German I actually am 😂😂
Culture shocks from moving to various places in England, Scotland and Ireland: People don’t automatically navigate around each other on the sidewalks…! As a German, that had me absolutely irritated five minutes into my Spaziergang. LOL
Now, what I really loved though were the groups of women 40+ all dressed up and giggling on their way to a bar with their group of friends. Whereas in Germany, you often get the impression that people’s lives just kind of ‚end‘ after 30something. Never seen a tipsy mother of three in heels and a sequin dress in Germany - and that’s a damn shame, cause life does in fact not have to end after 30something. Chapeau, islanders 👏😉
Tomahawk you should live where you feel good, right? Back to the UK it is 😉
@N T K yeh, I did. I wanted to point out the same.
@Karin Land good for those kind of moms, but there’s more than one kind of person and I believe you actually got my point, didn’t you 😉
Moms can have fun with out heels and alcohol. And thats what they do
apart from commenting on one of your interviewers thoughts, i'd rather like to mention your absolute positive attitude. it is you as a person, so enjoyable seeing and watching your videos. good job.
Why did the Scottish accent turn me on though 😅 also, French and British person talking to each other in german was priceless
YES! ^^
The Scottish guy was so hot 😂
As an American with 100 percent German ancestry (yes, totally plausible in rural areas back in the day) I totally get the punctuality thing. In fact, the need to be punctual is almost a mental condition for me and I blame my ancestors! 😊
Not born in Germany but sooo German. I forget that I am a foreigner until some wiseass says "scheiß Ausländer" - I think I am going to make myself a T-Shirt with it and wear it. I happen to have spontaneous German friends matching my spontaneous need of meeting or doing stuff. I love the respect for private time and the need of relaxation. I love the roads and transportation, I love the possibilities you have as a person. Nobody gives a cra* if you are wearing comfortable clothes or shoes or not wearing make-up. In my country of origin your unaesthetic appearance is frowned upon. I am considering Germany my home and every time I am visiting my family I want to get back as soon as possible. I love this country and maybe someday it will learn to love me back :))
Es tut mir Leid, dass manche Menschen dir das Gefühl vermitteln wollen nicht zugehörig zu sein. Das darf nicht sein und widerspricht dem Wert, dass alle Menschen, egal welcher Herkunft, gleich sind. Liebe Grüße!
The only country I stayed more than a few days and not for holidays is England and in the 2000s.
What surprised me, was how beautiful the countryside and the small towns and villages are. At this time our impression of of England here in Austria was only dirty coal miners and broken down factories ....
What negatively impressed me was if you wanted to eat good it was really expensive, normal priced food was awful.
ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ғᴀɴ,❤️ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ sʜᴏʀᴛʟɪsᴛᴇᴅ ᴡɪɴɴᴇʀsᴜsᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ᴛᴇʟᴇɢʀᴀᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴄᴋɴᴏᴡʟᴇᴅɢᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘʀɪᴢᴇ..🎁
The spelling of the french guy is nearly perfect. At first I thought he is a native speaker. Really impressive
First look at this channel. Good questions, careful editing and a charismatic interview guy. Actually makes me want to visit Germany.
That's something I avoided during my student years in Europe. I hitch hiked a lot thru France and the southern countries. The only ones who pretended to crash into you ( not funny!) and never offered a ride, had the German D on the car.
All other nationalities would stop. It got to where if I saw a Mercedes coming, I'd put my thumb down and step well back from the edge of the road.
What could possibly make German travellers so rude, even dangerous?
Everything else we see about life in Germany nowadays is so positive.
🖕🖕Thanks for watching 🙏 feedback appreciation I have a gift for you 💌💌🎁