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What's the hardest part of life in Germany?
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- Published on Jan 2, 2023 veröffentlicht
- We decided to head to one of the most international cities in Germany to ask Is life in Germany really better than where you come from!. We had so many people all over the world ask this question.
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With the Deutsche Bahn is a 10/10 in comparision to americas trains - americas trains must be fucked up badly ngl.
Was never in america but as i german i know Deutsche Bahn pretty well - atleast enough to know it well enough to avoid it at any cost.
yeah, I did think wow he just gave deutsche bahn a 10/10 🤣
Deutsche Bahn before privatization was great. and yes, trains in the US got nothing on trains in europe. they don't go anywhere, they are slow as christmas, oh, and happy new year.
Avoid at all cost... that's a bit over the top. I think they've improved. And ppl tend to forget that not all delays are caused by them, but also by passengers or other ppl. For example when police needs to be called or ppl walking on the rails.
The DB App (previously for the word "App here" so that gave a false statement) has gotten really good now, too! I can have all tickets in one place now.
But it's the German way to underappreciate things I guess 😅
You have no idea what an average 1h train ride looks like in the US. Believe me a german train ride is luxury, even when it is 10mins late.
@Christoph Richter Dont know. I took the ICE 12 times last year. E V E R Y S I N G L E O N E was delayed. Ranging from 5 minutes to 3 hours. Is taking the train more comfortable than driving a car or flying? Yes! Does Deutsche Bahn has to improve massively to get even close to the 10/10? Also yes.
As a German, I would say the hardest part is the mood to complain about everything - sometimes with the intention to improve things, that's the core of german engeneering quality. But the permanent unsatisfaction can appear depressive by time. So I'm glad about some cultural "imports" who inspire how to enjoy life little more. ...starting with Connor beeing aware of the qualities of Deutsche Bahn, not with the odds.
Complaining is the Germans' favourite hobby.
Ich Kann "football is germans favourite Hobby" nah, its just because you can complain about bad play. so complaining is Germans favourite hobby.
@Nikioko that's the reason why we are or were the best at engineering
As an immigrant, living in Germany with a german boyfriend I couldn't agree more. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes helpful if you seek constructive feedback, but for God's sake, when I'm looking for validation, don't come at me with "nicht schlecht/passt schon/kann man nicht meckern". Enthusiasm is not part of the culture here
@Alina R. Nicht schlecht, ne. Muss man scho' sagen.
My biggest problem with Germany as a German is the darkness in the winter and the fact that our pension system is going to fall apart before i can make use of it. It`s really frustrating to give so much money as a 21 year old each month, well knowing i will get nothing in return and have to additionally safe way more while other generations where able to buy a house, have 3-4 kids and providing for the whole family alone sometimes. Today you can only dream of a good pension yet alone to buy a house with multiple kids (It is possible but only with very good payed jobs, while a few decades ago it was the norm). The trust in politics among young people is very low in Germany, and it`s for a reason.
The pension system has supposedly been collapsing for decades, but so far nothing has happened.
That's what people in Germany has been saying for the past 30-40 years, but yet it's still going. Stop letting fear mongers get the best of you. And you do get something back in the form of quality of life. Come to the US where you pay taxes, but yet you still have pay money when you break a bone and owe student loans out of the wazoo. Growing up in Germany and now having lived in the US, I can honestly say appreciate what Germany has to offer.
Ich habe es auch gehört von einem deutschen Freund. Dabei habe ich ein gemischtes Gefühl. Als Chinese bin ich immer dankbar dass Deutschland kostenlose Studienmöglichkeiten zur Verfügung stellt, sodass ich China endlich verlassen kann. Aber wenn sich das Rentesystem nicht verbessern lässt, habe ich auch Sorge für die Zukunft. Wenn ich sowieso einen großen Teil meines Einkommens für Steuer, Pension usw. bezahlen muss, würde ich nach skandinavischen Ländern auswandern, wo mein Leben besser versichert werden könnte.
@Doraemon Forever America is hell on earth for me, and you are totally right. But that doesn`t mean i cant be concerned about the state of my own country, just because its worse somewhere else. Otherwise nothing could ever improve anywhere.
@Char1es In Skandinavien bezahlst Du noch viel mehr Steuern als schon in Deutschland. In Deutschlan hast Du jeh nach Job zumindest noch die Möglichkeit eine private Rentenversicherung abzuschliessen.
I think it makes a big difference whether people only study in Germany and then go back to their home country or whether they want to stay in Germany permanently. I think as a student you stay more in your bubble and look at the Germans from the outside, while as an immigrant who works there permanently you get more contact with German culture and look for your place in society. This will also affect the question of what the hardest part of life in Germany is.
True most of the foreign students in university I have met just want to study here for getting a very good degree relatively cheap, whilst making experience in a foreign country to then go and work somewhere else. Yet a few want to stay for different reasons :). Most of these actually didn’t plan to stay in Germany in advance but decided so after living here for a while. I had this Indian roommate who was telling me of how in love he is with our workculture including the work and all the free time he is getting lol.
@Schwachsinnn A lot of foreigners who study in Germany leave because the netto salary is just too low in comparison to other countries. I have German friends with Master degree who got only 1800€ netto in Bayern. If you still live with your parents it is ok but paying rent and living it is relly bad. The state should support educated people but they punish them with the highest taxes, no wonder only harz 4 and asylants want to live here.
@Micha Actually you get paid well here. Depending on what work you do. Also not every master degree even in the US would lead to a higher salary than 1.8 k. The reason I see most are leaving a gain is 1. because home is calling them back 2. because Germany is German speaking. Many of the foreign students don't really try to learn the language, since their courses etc. are mostly English held and they group up in their groups sharing the same cultural background (Chinese mostly staying with Chinese, Indians with Indians, Nigerians with... you guessed it). So it is definetely more convenient to go to other English speaking countries (Ireland, USA, Australia etc.) than having to learn the language when you are completely on your own in the job and housing etc. market. Yes there are countries with higher salaries, but honestly for most foreign students who come here to study it's more than they are used to.
Those who work - stuck at their dusty offices, sipping cheap coffee at townhall meeting, listening to mumbling of another CEO and thinking of suicide. Those who get out on a street are by default way happier than majority of a working class.
As an Aussie living in rural Germany I think the hardest part about living in Germany is the fact the supermarkets and shops are all closed on a Sunday haha. Seriously, there is this Saturday afternoon anxiety that sets in... "Oh SHIT I need to go shopping for food (or we will die)" feeling. When you have babies in nappies you are always hyper aware that the shops will be closed soon and you need to have everything sorted for baby needs and Monday morning sandwiches. It is stressful haha.
In worst case you can still go to a gas stations or main stations, because the stores there are open.
In what state?
@Chris B I am in NRW
@L Wedel Oh, cool! Rural Bavaria can be even sleepier!
@Chris B But probably nicer scenery!
I’m German🇩🇪 and I would say that, unless you’re at uni or at school or have small children, it’s really hard to form friendships. I went to a new city for a new job and it’s taken years to build a circle of good friends. And even now some of them move away and you have to kind of start over again. I wish people got a bit inspired by other nations who open up more quickly, even if it’s a bit shallow. But that’s just my personal experience. And my city is much smaller than Munich.
Yeah I agree, I think if I was German it would be a lot harder. when your an auslander, normally they ask why you are here and it starts a whole convo :)
Which city are you from ?
Best way is to join a sports club in my experience^^
@yourtruebrit 😆 you got to be a certain type of "Außengeländer" though to get asked and to be interesting to know where you're from.. otherwise you might be seen as a threat to "whatever".
@yourtruebrit It must be really hard for foreigners, probably much harder because being in a foreign place forces you to adapt to how life is being lived there, so you do feel a bit out of place at first, and at some point you would just like to belong to the family - but people have lives and you’re not the center of their attention. That’s quite harsh to realize. I had to realize that when I went to live in France. But it is true that being from another country gets people asking questions which usually leads to a big, nice convo indeed :) ….At the same time in France: French people at Church asking me as an exchange student: Do we still have to fear Germans? …I was torn between 1. getting upset, being, as I was, in France because I was interested, had my bf there etc - and 2. telling them with a straight face that I was actually a spy.)
I'm English. I moved from Switzerland to Leipzig ten years ago when I was 70. I have my pensions and a mini job at the International School. It's good to live in a city where people are friendly, a second language keeps my brain active and eight year old children can safely use the super public transport to go to school on their own.
You moved when you were already 70? Wow!
Brave man! That's the only thing I can say! Good on you! Thumbs up!👍👍😀
"eight year old children can safely use the super public transport to go to school on their own" East Germany is not full of "refugee"-migrants yet, so its pretty safe. big cities in the west are not safe and even smaller towns in the west are problematic.
@VarouEx I live in a town in BaWü with 20k inhabitants and a Flüchtlingserstaufnahmestelle. There are literally more refugees in the city than regular citizens 😂
As a mexican, contrary to what the guy from Mexico said, one of things I like about countries like Germany (and other wealthy countries) is that most of people respect rules and others by not having loud parties. If I wanna hear loud music I wear headphones, but that is my personal thought, however most of mexican people (and latinos) love loud parties.
You are totally right. If you like to party as in Latin America (Argentina in my case) just go to Latin America. Following the rules and being a country that's woth living go hand in hand
You are on the right track!
I'm glad here in Gramado (southern Brazil) we are mostly german descendents because this is strictly prohibited here. Meanwhile everywhere else in Brazil police just doesnt care if you blast loud music. I have lived in Fortaleza (northeast of the country) and despite being beautiful people drive like crap and blast loud music whenever they want.
As a German I don't mind a loud party, but there is time and space for that. The party itself is not so much the problerm, but if it's during the week and you have to work next day it sucks. Trying to perform the way you are used to while you only slept like 4 hours really sucks.
@Rafaela B. 🇧🇷 Isso não é verdade, não, hein...
Pro tip for grocery shopping: Don´t bag your stuff at the checkout. Put them back in the shoppingcart and go to your car and THEN put your stuff in bags. Safes you a lot of stress!
Do you have some coins for the cart 😂
@B G everyone does. It's basically a requirement to posess a cart coin from 18 yo onwards, otherwise you're not fully german
not very efficient of you. Bad German!
Ok. But which car?
@FRALex you don´t need a car to bag your grocerys outdoor lol
I am foreigner living in Germany but originally from EU as well (Czechia). I don't think one can generalise living in Germany, because it's massive and every federal state is a bit different.
There are things that apply for whole Germany, but those usually apply for half of the Europe. That leaves us with few specifics.
Therefore biggest problem I have with Germany would be the resistance against digitalisation and automatization. Even my "eastern European" country has a working e-government. Just very few german banks offer good e-banking app. And it's not only about the system but as well the people (even so, obviously not all), who directly and intentionally hinder the progress in this area.
This is very interesting, I never imagined Germany of all places would resist technology making life a little easier.
@Deniz Germans have very strong sense for traditions and hate changes. That is mostly the reason. Their motto is rather "Slow but sure" than "First and pioneers".
Hi Filip, I am German and I lived for 20 years in CZ.
There is a strong and very reasonable reason for the resistance against digitalization in Germany - the same reason why we prefer cash money and not card payments: we do not want that all our life can be tracked by anybody - mainly for business reasons, but it can also be used for fraud, for blackmailing etc.
In CZ protection of personal datas only exists in theory, but not in reality. It is very simple to destroy the life of somebody in CZ by putting some infos on the internet about this person - even Czech police puts personal datas on internet, which is totally crazy.
The extremest digitalization is in China - what does it tell you? China is a dictatorship, by the way.
@Kralik Kral Hi.
This is not the first time I am talking with German about this topic. I have to say I absolutely understand the fear of giving up your personal data or being watched. Especially as there are countries like China or Russia who basically openly invade Europe in cyberspace and are trying to get as much from us as they can. It is a valid argument. I myself chose not to buy products from chinese companies. (Yes, everything is manufactured in China, but not everything has the chinese software in it.)
However I don't think not using a card to pay for something will really help that much. Yes, you can get scammed, robbed or even tracked. But that mostly happens if you give your card details to somebody you should not. If you missuse the card payment. Cash is tracked too, every note has a number and we do know that there are institutions whose work is to track people's activities trough money. What is the difference then? Cash as well can be scammed or stolen. It's just about the manipulation and having control. Not the means. I would never pay with a card online or log into an account, on device I do not own.
On the other hand, Germans do not want to use cards or are against google maps, but are okay using chinese phones from companies directly connected to chinese government. That is crazy in my point of view.
@Deniz Macht das Leben vielleicht einfacher, aber ganz bestimmt unsicher - und wenn wir eines verabscheuen, dann das!
always fun to see the foreigners mentioning the fast cashiers at certain supermarkets.
Germans don't do cardio, they buy groceries.
I hate this. Stressed me my whole life. 😅
@Dirty Dörte einfach bei Rewe oder Edeka einkaufen. da gibt es hinter den Kassen noch platz und nicht nur einen 30cm Tresen
Yes, but it's the same in Spain. I also lived there for 5 years and saw no difference to the German supermarkets. But strangely nobody complains about Spanish supermarkets
i would complain about snails (very often men) who do not do how to put their goods into the bags and leave the shop. i have no idea where they were raised but it is impossible. people, move your butts!
I live in Germany for more than 20 years now. The language was easy for me, but something else always made me feel like I could never really let go. It was hard meeting new people and making real friends. This is partly due to the culture and to a certain extent to the mentality of the Germans. That was something I had to understand first.
How did make friends then? Any tip?
@Mahmud Arfan Well you need to get to know someone who already has some connections in a group of people. Most of the time, it is one person who is the connector for others. And I learned that it is sometimes better to do it in „German way“. It is almost like getting a appointment at HR management for a job application.😁
making friends as a native is also hard. basically, its easy if you already belong to a group of people and you meet friends of friends, but its pretty much impossibly to do otherwise, as germans ar really private, and tend to see attention from strangers as weird, like there is some strange motivation behind the interaction, since its so out of the ordinary. either you are inside a circle and get the machine rolling or you cant make friends basically.
This is the hardest part for me and why we will probably end up back in the US at some point soon. Even though Germany has much to offer, my heart is in the US.
@newasblue1981 I hope that's not the only reason. But again, when heart says something else...go for it.
"People don't think that I'm a german"
Guy with a youtube Channel: picks her for questions about living as a foreigner in Germany.
Yeah, we originally had that idea. But then we thought it would be cool to see the germans point also. The guy with the pink hat is also german. Have a nice day :)
@yourtruebritquite funny how easily I could identify them through their accent 😄
@yourtruebrit the guy in the pink hat has a Henry Kissinger accent
🤣🤣👌
I like the guy who talked about student loans, listening to his gratitude puts the whole situation in a different light. thats Germany too and most Germans want to See only Bad Things...
That's true. But the stuff being said by those ignorant people are mostly by those, who never had to depend on the state and can't get of of their job they hate to do ^^" I just pity my other german citizens for it. They are dissatisfied with their own life and now try to argue with anyone they can as a target 🥲
My husband (German) and I married 12 years ago. He got a letter the month after our wedding saying basically, "If you pay your student loan now it will only be 4,500 euro instead of 8,000 (something to that effect)". I had some savings so helped him pay it off at the cheaper rate. He studied engineering. In Australia that degree would have been a 25,000 euro plus repayment! I was so happy to hear his degree was not nearly as expensive as an Aussie one.
Is that good to have a student debt? 🤔
@Gad Rark Depends on the amount and what the debt is for. I have friends with 100k debts and others with 4.
Yeah but only a very few people get the privilege for such a high amount of Bafög… he doesn‘t looked very poor and still get the highest amount of bafög - that is very very uncommon especially if you already graduated and be (theoretically) able to care for yourself
The hardest part about living in Germany is not being aware of all the good things this country has to offer.
Like Putin's cheap Gas, right?
@ZDF Yes, envious?
I would say the same thing about the Netherlands. I am so annoyed when foreigners, the non-Dutch who have lived here for a long time, even the Dutch complain about this country. It’s a very beautiful country and it offers a lot of good stuff compared to others.
@Πυθία Απόλλων Absolutly the same in Germany. There is no place on earth where you work less than in germany or netherland... Still is see comments from young people like "you only live for work in germany" wtf then go to mexico where you can work 80hours a week
@Dumont XTNope, I don't make money by sacrificing my neighbors children. Ze Germaz are accustomed to this...
scanning and packing in the supermarket as an Olympic sport - this guy made my day😂🤣😂
It's part of the famous German efficiency! Who wants to spend more time then needed at a dreaded cashier?
@TheSamuiman apropos time clip-share.net/video/f7TboWvVERU/video.html
I was born here, so the language was never a problem for me, but I can see how the language and the weather are really difficult for people that come to Germany. My father came from Italy, and as long as I remember, his German was at a native level. So it just might take a while. The hardest part for me is, that when you are unemployed and need an additional qualification to get a job, the services you get provided, depend heavily on the person working your case, although I am not sure if that is just a German problem.
Can you share your unemployment experience with more details please ?
I adore Germany, it will remain in my heart(like a second homeland) and I wish it well, no matter even if I may move away one day, I hope it becomes even more prosperous and not has any kind of war thrust upon it.
As a Ukrainian 🇺🇦 who came to Germany a couple months ago, I cannot put into words, how tearfully grateful I am. The country pays for my Integrationskurs, gives me some money, the volunteer provides me with a room. I'm going to study Deutsch first, then find a job and, maybe, have a baby here someday.
After you come from a country at war, all these "hardest parts" don't look so scary and annoying in real life. Just don't forget to appreciate things that really matter: your life, safety, developed economics and open-minded society.
Thank you Germany and Germans!
We just had someone from Ukraine also in our new video :)
@yourtruebrit I suppose I have to subscribe now :)
@SshreddderR I would just say about it that I don't support in any way immigrating to a country without the will to work there as soon as possible, study the language and integrate into society.
Haha it’s up to you, she said similar stuff to what you said 🙂
I was born in Germany, and I emigrated. The main reason was the over-regulation of pretty much everything. I left the country once I realized what that would mean for my foreign spouse.
I am Asian, now a citizen of Germany. While there are some good things about the system in Germany, there are many unnecessary restrictions, regulations and limitations. Yes, that is correct - almost everything is overregulated and overcomplicated. So I am also thinking of moving somewhere else in the near future. May I know where you emigrated to? I lived in America and Thailand for many years. Even in those countries life was much easier in some aspects, although I prefer Germany to America.
@Claire Chloe can you give examples?
@Claire Chloe I actually live in the US these days. The lifestyle in the US seems to vary by region rather drastically, and I have lived in the Midwest as well as California, and the slower pace in Ohio suits me rather well. Traveling to Germany still feels weird, as I do speak the language, but many daily aspects of life have become somewhat foreign to me, from payment systems to public transportation. However, looking at Germany more from tourist's perspective makes me appreciate it a little more. I've never been to Thailand, I'm afraid.
I also left Germany because of racism, ridiculously high taxes, unorganized public transportation, aging infrastructure, bureaucracy, bad weather and may other reasons. 3 years now and it was the best decision of my life.
@Claire Chloe I am also an Asian and I feel the same. But what annoys me most is the DB. I am also planning to move to another country, perhaps Spain, in a few years
My first year was the language barrier. Eventually I learned German fluently and had a beautiful life there, but of course, as a non-German, there were cultural things that to this day are challenging. People have no compunction about pointing at you as they talk about you or asking you questions that people in other countries wouldn't dream of asking (I chalk it up to naivete and child-like curiosity). That being said, I love Germany, loved my years there, and miss it very much! It is a clean country, efficient, people know how to work and enjoy life, the country works hard to ensure that people are taken care of economically and health-wise. People take care of the environment, their homes, and their cities. Truly a wonderful place!
The hardest parts for me:
1. Understanding their jokes. Sometimes the Germans are laughing at something a German has said. Even though I understand the language, sometimes I have a hard time understanding why a joke is funny.
2. Most supermarkets are closed after 8. Most supermarkets are not open on Sunday or holidays. Oh and a lot of cafes in some of the places I lived close at 5pm or so!
You should go back to your land .Because dont think we will ever have shops opened on sundays and holidays.Or you work so much so you dont have time to make your shopung until 9
@Space Explorer you are so rude man...
different humor. I see this also related to different cities, friend groups and even cultures ! so interesting :)
@15 sec that's this kind of humour, the foreigns don't understand? You meant to say this with your comment?
no i was not trying to be funny.i dont understand why people who come here think that one of big problems in germany for god sake are closed shops on sunday or on BANK HOLIDAY.wow.And i would like to see caffe whic is closed by 17:00;
I am 24 years old and I was born and raised in a small town in western germany. I was very priviliged with my family to go for whatever job or education I want and iam very thankful for that. But my parents cant pay for my tuiton or my life as a student and you its not easy to get the mentioned BaFög...
I think the hardest part is that a lot of people always act like germans are mean or stuffy and dont realize how lucky we are that we can live in Germany. Nice vid! =)
For me as a German the hard part is deciding which insurance are necessary and when it's time to see a doctor if there is an odd thing even after a day
Yeah Moin and servus! haha
Ich bin seit 22 Jahren in Deutschland und ich liebe das Land. Danke Germany!
Wilkommen (spät nach 22 Jahren lol)! Wohnst du auf dem Land oder in der Stadt?
@fr3ud 4137 18 Jahre in der Big City, jetzt auf dem Land
warum?
@V.jr. woher kommst du denn / wo wurdest du geboren?
Schön, dass es dir gefällt!
Funny, I'm Asian American and work around Europe a lot. In Frankfurt everyone would speak to me in German, assuming I was a local because I have to dress in business casual clothing. Then when I spoke with my American accent they were confused for a second and switched to English. 😂 This was pretty consistent. Pretty much no one assumed I was a tourist. So there's always the opposite side of the story. My German colleagues were all really nice, but very straight to the point, just like New Yorkers, where I'm from. In general, I think Germans have a positive view of Asians so I was never treated badly anywhere I went in Germany.
@Friedrich Baeker like your friends circle.
@Funky Child epic roast
Are you a Chinese American? I mean your ancestors from China?
Coming from Scotland, the winter here isn't that bad and the weather is pretty dry overall, where I am there's also almost no wind, its so strange to me! Worst part: Taxes, forms, any kind of beurocracy here is a nightmare, literally cried trying to understand the systems here.
Yeah even for us Germans its a lot of beurocracy sometimes. I understand that is even harder if you didn’t grow up with that. Hope this will change…
@Valentin even growing up here I hardly understand our bureaucracy.
Formulare, Formulare - von der Wiege bis zur Bahre 😉
@Vidal1970 🤣und alles auch noch auf chinesisch rückwärts
I came here recently and for me, some things have been extremely difficult compared to back home. The lack of digitization and slow and tedious bureaucracy. Sometimes it feels that people apply rules arbitrarily at their whims. Also it's a lot quiter here, which I'm not used to. So it's abit weird at times. Maybe it will grow on me.
Yeah things will get easier over time!, hope your doing ok :)
@yourtruebrit yeah bro. Thanks. 😊
@Andreas Iversen I will after some time. Don't worry.
The hardest part is loneliness, not only for foreigners but for Germans as well. Two words to describe Germany: depressingly beautiful.
True
Thank you. This is so true.
Is it that difficult to meet and start a relationship with German girls?
@Karl Larsen that was not a problem for me. Many of my German friends were lonely. I don’t live there anymore
As a German living abroad since over 15y i have made following conclusion from distance:
a) Germans have the tendency to see everywhere only risks instead of opportunities.😱
b) safety feeling aspects are super important.👷 e.g. unemployment insurance or house hold insurance.
Since being out of DE i never had an unemployment insurance, but I am in the 5th job now. So, I learned the meaning of "Spare in guten Zeiten, dann hast du in der Not".
c) to work with Germans while yourself is abroad makes you feeling what I call "German tank style" .... There is only one way to do it right and that's the German solution! ☝️
d) especially in the smaller towns you get the feeling you need to be local in 3rd generation to fully integrate. 😜
But what i really miss is the nature and environment in Germany. Just open the water tap and drink from it. Run through the old tree Forrest that's normally just a few minutes away, enjoying the long summer night with beautiful sunsets. So my ❤️ is forever with DE. 🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪
I am so related to the first point. Especially when I invite a friend to eat something. My German friends will react with skeptical looks and question "what is it inside", not for a reason like an allergy at all 😅They are always skeptical about everything and never take a risk, in general. Sometimes I feel like they've missed so much fun in life. But it probably does not matter, as long as they feel comfortable.
Where do you live now?
@Prof. S. Martass still in China
@ShuBenCool, do you find it better to live in China than Germany?
@Prof. S. Martass everything has two sides. So it's difficult to answer.
For those having problem with the language, buy the Michel Thomas German language bundle. Using the bundle, you can master the German language in under 60 hours. You only need to know English to use those courses. That's how I learned German When I came to Germany and ever since, I have had no problems in the past 10 years or so.
If you are going to make a big (and loud) party, tell the neighbours about it. They are more understandable if they know about it. But usually not good to make it on a sunday, rather do it on friday/saturday.
Invite your neighbors to the party if possible
That and maybe turn the noise a little bit down after midnight out of respect for your neighbours. Nobody has a problem with a party but if someone doesnt respect others you will have a problem. Simple thing imagine you have to get up the next day and someone blasts the music so loud you hear it on the other side of the town through closed windows and earplugs, you´d also be on a killing spree the next day due to not getting any sleep.
As a life-time German I rofled so hard about the American guy saying packing your stuff at Rewe is like an olympic sport :D He is so right. At times, you can hardly keep up. Especially, when they already start and the person in front is not even finished xD
As Thai who's living in Germany for 5 years, the hardest part is..
1. the language, it makes me feel less capable of many things like learning or making a conversation with german people when we gather in a group and i'm the only one foreigner, I kinda afraid if I understand something wrong or kept asking "wie bitte?".
2.Mindset, German are really straightfoward when they want to criticise something about you or someone else and they will say what they think without thinking about one another's feeling because in Thailand we always try to say something indirectly and hurt less.
3. Winter, it always dark here and I always get blue out of nowhere.
4. Appointment, you have to make an appointment for everything from seeing a doctor, cleaning, cooking even meeting someone because german likes to plan ahead for around 2 days to 2 weeks.
5.As an asain-looking person, i sometimes being discriminated at work from older generation colleages.
go back
As someone from SE Asia (Indonesia) I never had any obstacles regarding languages, most Germans speak perfect English, even in smaller cities like Oberhausen or Kassel. But i dont know, i only visiting not living there. Regarding directness, that's the best thing from German people, but I think the Dutch is even more direct.
@Friedrich Baeker chill out Adolf
I recommend you a Latin saying:
Si fueris Romae, Romano vivito more; si fueris alibi, vivito sicut ibi.
The Latin phrase meaning literally:
“if you are in Rome, live in the Roman way; if you are elsewhere, live as they do there”
@Zalán Emese bro you don't look intelligent for googling the latin version, we all know the phrase "When in Rome, do as Romans"
Im half german and venezuelan with curly hair and toned skin. People often asked where I come from but it is ok for me and I like it because I love to speak about Venezuela. Maybe just to explain that Venezuela is more than drugs, politics and the other bad news.
I live in a small village not so far away from France and nobody has ever asked me about my origin. Sometimes Im offended by this 😂
Saarland ? 😂
@yourtruebrit fast 😂 bin aber Saarländerin, weil ich schon immer dort gelebt habe. Jetzt ist es die Südwestpfalz …
CIA joined..
It’s so fun to see foreign ppl talking about Germany, especially as a Bavarian. I had a lot of fun watching this lol 😂
Glad you enjoyed it!
Bavarian people are more like Austrian but not Germans, in my opinion.
@martin0909 Bavaria is the German’s Texas
@1DarkBlossom Do you know where Hitler comes from? Bavaria.
@martin0909 He was austrian
A lot of nice people we need here in germany. You are all very welcome. Have a nice time. And good luck for learning german. Its hard but it is worth learning the language!
Very nice of you!
Thank you very much
I think there are three things that are hard. Number 3 language but it’s not the end of the world. Second is very slow digitalisation: internet is slow, often there is no connection or phone signal. Finally the hardest thing is making friends, as Germans tend to be rather protective of their own circle. What I mean by that is that you can have many colleagues but it’s hard to form a real friendship
I currently speaks Japanese, Korean, Chinese, English, and Spanish. And I have been learning and studying German for many months. I am not fluent in German yet but I can still hold my conversation in German. I wish I could be fluent in German one day.
👻 i wish i could speak more than 2 fluently
Loved the music, a nice touch! I can totally agree about the bagging of your own groceries and the unwritten time limit. I got so scared of doing that and I decided to order products for delivery to the house to avoid it completely lol!
Just throw them into your cart and bag your groceries somewhere else like at your car. this way it is much easier and less awkward
-sincerely a german
I’m not even in Germany yet but finding an apartment it’s being so far the worst part of moving to Germany 😢
it's because more people wanna move to German cities than there is place to offer. Only in 2022 1.5 million refugees came to Germany. They'll be prioritized on the housing market over you (assuming you aren't coming as a refugee) because the govmnt pays the tennants sweet sums to house refugees instead of standard citizens (the idea itself is meant well but the execution causes harm to non-refugees).
@Diego agree 100%!!
@NoctLightCloud may i know whats the reason they spend more for refugees?
@GAMEof Drones If you rent out to refugees, you can basically say any sum and the govmt will pay it for the refugees to you. You can charge 3000€/month for an old shack that's run down. (My sister knows a dude who is doing that, he gets 3000€/month for his run down house.) You don't have to renovate anything, just rent it to people that the govmnt will pay for. Since "the govmnt" isn't a person, they don't care what the housing accomodations look like or how much they cost. We'll see a drop in living standard within the next two decades, or a straight-out civil war. Mark my sad words.
As a native, the hardest part is the darkness in autumn and winter 😑
That's literally one of my favourite things about Germany 🤣 also what winter? Don't ever visit Canada!
@indrinita Actually most of Canada´s population lives on roughly the same latitudes as southern Germany or even beneath. Montreal, Toronto, Québec, Ottawa and Hamilton are all on northern Italy latitudes! Thus most Canadians get longer days in winter than I do here in northern Germany, to which of your bigger cities, only Edmonton and Saskatoon compare. So if it´s not one of those cities I´d gladly come visit and enjoy more daylight than at home 🙂
@Andrew Hill well I'm from Calgary which I suppose some could say is in those "southerly" latitudes - actually just 3 hours driving south of Edmonton - and we had like 8 hours of sunlight in the dead of winter, max. My husband's from northern Germany and I did my master's up there, and the difference was *maybe* a half an hour of sunlight less in the dead of winter (if even that), but it was about 8 hours of daylight as well. The main difference between where I'm from and northern Germany is that we get actual sunlight every day of the year almost, while most of Germany is cloudy and grey during the "winter". But the temperatures are more like a Canadian fall to be honest (not including the Canadian west coast, where they also don't have winter). So I get how people with seasonal affective disorder might find Germany hard, but temperature and snow wise - imo Germany has no winter. And if you're ok with -30°C temperatures on the reg for literally half the year, then be my guest in Canada. Also the season that Germans call "winter" is again *maybe* 2-3 months before spring like temperatures abound again.
It's the summers in Germany I can't handle. Absolutely horrible. But they're getting worse across Canada as well due to climate change.
@indrinita You are right, the difference between Calgary and Hamburg at winter solstice is about 30 minutes, summing up to many, many hours over the course of autumn and winter. You are also right about this half of the year being mostly cloudy and grey here, resulting in even less sunlight. However, I´m still a bit confused - the question was what the hardest part about living in Germany was for me (it´s the darkness) - then you jumped in to invalidate my answer and kept telling me that it is cold and snowy in Canada. I don´t know why 🤷♂
@Andrew Hill oh my intention was definitely not to invalidate, so sorry if it came across that way. As a Canadian living in Germany, I just find it ironic that many Germans don't like my favourite part of the year in Germany. In your case it was because of the darkness, but most complain about the cold. But I also acknowledged in my comment above that I can understand for those who suffer from SAD that the German "winter" can be hard, such as it is. In either case, I just don't feel that there's such a thing as "winter" here compared to what I'm used to, and that's what I was trying to get across.
1. Service - Germany and customer service it is two different universe. In all
2. No digitalization
3. Bureaucracy
4. To early get up for school, 7.45 for what?
5. it is difficult to have friends despite the fact that the Germans are generally responsive
But goods thins is:
1. safety
2. people do not interfere with each other in terms of noise and so on.
3. following the rules especially on the road
Conditioning to comply, to get ready for the real world, the real life, it is about conditioning!
Sounds like Japan
How could the the customer service be improved in you opinion? And what could be done to make it easier to find friends? What is the difference to other countries in making friends?
@Broel In terms of making friends, if you know some germans for a bit as in study colleagues or work colleagues invite them on a beer or ask them if they´d like to show you around town or have good recommendations to get something to eat. Tell them you´re new in town and I´d say in 80% you´ll get atleast some positive response as in either you get a recommendation or invitation for some drinks BUT the most important thing, be punctual as we dont like to have our time wasted and its considered extremely rude.
As a German myself I think the main difference in general is that we are more reserved and kinda formal i.e. we dont want to bother anyone in their private life so as long as you dont directly tell us "Hey go out with us for a drink etc." you wont get anywhere in terms of making friends. As soon as we know someone better it gets less formal and reserved but it takes a while.
Surely it depends from region to region in terms of how reserved we are but that could be taken as a rule of thumb. Furthermore I think we dont engage all that much in small talk except if its about the Trains being unpunctual again.
5 is disappointing because one of the reasons i want to move from my country is to know new people.
3:14 😂It's even worse at Aldi. I'm german and seriously I don't know who the hell had the idea to make the checkout so stressful. A few years back you had actually extra space where all of your goods were placed and they were also separated from the goods of the next customer. So you had plenty of time to pack everything up. I'm in Australia right now and here you have many of the self checkouts. I love them, makes everything so easy. You have them in germany as well but they tend to be rare.
As a German, I have to say that you should do this video again in a more northern city. Munich, actually the entire south, is very different from other parts of the country.
In my opinion you should repeat it in Hanover
What would there be different? He only interviewed imigrant students and maybe one hyperliberal German. He should ask the working class no matter where in Germany, that would be interesting.
Nope that’s not true more than half in this video are working in Germany.
@yourtruebrit Working does not necessarily mean doing somethign useful. Making money and working often are two pairs of different shoes. It is a big problem of the whole west, most try to find an
easy way to be wealthy and very few are willing to do the essential manual labour.
That video was filmed in Munich
I recommend Berlin! ☺
The worst part about Germany is not only the rising prices but if you have a child or children that's where the problems are starting. It's hard to combine career with Child/ren and also the lack of medicine and doctors is also a huuuuge problem :/ (coming from a German myself)
As a German, the hardest thing about living in Germany for me is having to pay the taxes, duties and fees for the whole party. 😂
I don´t understand why so many people say that it´s hard to make friends. You just need things that you are really interestet in like music, sports, arts, etc. Then you get interesting for people who share the same interests. And with some time good friendships evolve. Just find out what you are passionated about and share it with others.
For me as a russian citizen it is a problem with payment methods in Germany. In Russia you can easily transfer money in a blink, you can transfer to anyone and you can also open a bank a account easily without spending almost a month waiting for your card. For me was strange to see some stores where you only pay in cash... It is not really a problem because you get used to it but sometimes it hurts! :)
да, я тоже заметил
It's because of surveillance(-angst) and Finanzamt reasons..;) the store owner has to pay a fee, most dont want to do that.
@fr3ud 4137 yeah, I know that :)
3:18 "You've got a race with the scan that it's like an Olympic sport" 😂 Omg, that's so true. It used to be better in Germany though like 20 years ago when you had more space in the supermarket to pack your groceries. But all companies have decided to remove this space to force you to pack faster and serve more customers per hour. Anyway, it's so funny he picked this as the hardest part. But I feel him - I remember how different it is in the US when I was there.
Hey Mate I love your channel. I’m an American that wants to move to Berlin. I have had the travel bug ever since me and a squad went to Montréal. If you ever make it for a trip in NA please go there. I’m a new Yorker but I love how open and calm some of these European cities look. Cheers!
I can do with cashiers, Deutsche Bahn, all the rules, the need to categorize everything into smallest details, somehow handled the language and a bit of a local dialect, but for me personally the hardest thing is the bureaucracy and the administrative German that comes with it. It's like a totally separate language, riddled with paragraphs, references to laws (like I know them). Sounds like German, but it looks more like like a mix between German and Klingon. And it's everywhere once you start living here - the contacts, the insurances, the taxes etc. If I only knew all these tricks at the beginning...
Not to deny that there are many great and wonderful things here, but the question was "what's the hardest part" for me.
That Klingon reference was gold and is just accurate. I had some law courses and yea it's basically an entire own language called "Gerichtsdeutsch". Took me a couple of months to just get the basics in my head and twist my synapses in ways I didn't know was possible or even necessary. Bureaucrat jobs regarding law usually take at least a couple of years of intense training. But there were also crash-courses when people were needed which were done in 6 months. Absolutely brutal stuff which changes you as a person and how you think and approach things. It's like becoming a part of the machine and getting re-modeled.
Everything about this is twisted and oh just like with new hardware you have to stay up to date with any kind of changes in your resort because of all the updates to the law. A huge portion of required energy gets into all of this. No wonder the bureaucracy is so bloated, slow and costly here.
But usually it's for good reasons. Well, lets not get overboard. I think they've good intentions and that's that ^^
Alemania es un lugar hermoso, la gente más noble que he conocido esta aquí. También hay malas personas como en cualquier lugar pero solo las ignoro. Lo difícil es el Idioma.
Awesome video. I love seeing all this different cultures coming together....the people appreciate all that german stuff that feels so "normal" for us germans.... In the End, the biggest Difficulty / Hardest Part is....to take everything for granted as a german. And to alle the ppl in the Video :) i am glad we ve u here.
Wait till you see this new one ;)
I need to see more videos like this because I need to know. I’m going to become German, so please clearly spell out all of the pitfalls and traps I will encounter. Danke in advance!
Gotta agree with the Deutsche Bahn take, being a recent ausländer I simply love it, it does have delays and what not, but compared to most countries it´s actually decent.
Fellow Latvian here...
There's much stuff happening here and im personally looking forward sometime to pay an visit in Germany.
You have such a warm and open attitude . Love your style of interviewing people 👍🏻
Well, there is a difference in having German citizenship (or any other European), or actually being an ethnic German. Isn't any different when it's the other way around as a Westerner in Asia, India or Africa. In the end it's also a question of respect being aware of that people in Europe have their own native identity and ethnicity.
That was more fun to watch for a German than I thought it would be
It´s good for Germans to see your and other videos of expats, cause we see Germany from a new perspectiv! Example: Germans hate the "public transportation" they mean it´s very expensiv and unpunctual! The most expats love it!! So you learn as a German to love it new!
That's what I tell my german friends, "here is everything better!". I ♥️ Germany and the people here! 😍
I think it is the Bürokratie here and the mindset. The former one is because of the stress during the application for the visa (I am Chinese, that kind of problem doesn't concern everyone), all the documents are "entangled" with each other, like without an address you don't have the bank account, but without a bank account you don't get to rent a place to live, all stuck in a very bad loop. I can just hope somehow it could get fixed... And the mindset, I got this from the driving license, I don't get how it should be the right way to drive in Germany, I don't have and cannot read a good German driver's mind, it went pretty bad in my Prüfung, still didn't get it. My goal for 2023! hahaha
You're being taught to be a good German driver in fahrschule, no need to read anyone's mind.
I am in Germany for six+ years already, and I never was asked this question.
This is brilliant!! By the way, you didn't mention which city you're in. But once I saw the Munich city hall I realized it was Munich. Later a person mentioned it too.
Small tip for the people who suffer with packing goods to their bags in Germany at the supermarket. Unfortunately I also initially suffered with that as a foreigner when I first moved to Germany. But now what me and also what other Germans do is giving the goods to the cashier, and after that they are billing those goods and one by one I'm putting to the shopping cart instead of putting them to the bags. After paying, I'm taking the shopping cart to a corner at the supermarket and slowly packing into bags which I'm taking. That's what can be done practically. Otherwise, if you try to pack those goods to the bags when the billing part is done, actually it's taking time to pack and also to pay. 😬✌️
Life hack for supermarkets in Germany.
In every entrance to a supermarket you will find plastic baskets to put in your groceries and stuff. Grab one, take advantage of it, use it. Go to the cashier, let them scan your stuff, take it and put it directly in your basket, then pay, grab your basket and go to the packing station behind the cashier desk. Every big supermarket has a place with a separate desk to pack your stuff. There you can be as slow as you want and you don´t annoy anyone in the queue. You´re welcome
I worked in Germany for three months in Augsburg in 1969 and returned for a month of study in Bremen in 1988. I’ve been back for vacations several times since 1997. Now I tend to fly into München and then drive to Austria and stay there. It is much more difficult in today’s economy. I am almost 75 years old. I am not sure I want to bag groceries blitzschnell at a supermarket at my age. If I could teach at my age, I would consider it.
When you’re past 60, never mention your age to anyone. Nothing good can come of it 👍
I like that people don’t feel offended when you ask “Where are you from” like they do in the states or England.
Walking up to anybody with the first question being "where are you from" is rude. However, talking to somebody for a while and "then"asking that question is totally acceptable. But if they don't have an accent, that should be a hint
How does a German look like? Many years ago, while with a group of friends holidaying in Spain, we met a group of dutch women at the beach, one of them asked "where are you from?" We answered "Germany"... they looked stunned "really"? We asked "why" and they answered unisono : "You don't look like...Germans always have bid bellies, drink beer and you drink, what - Chocolate.. ? (we drank Lumumba (Dead Aunty), Chocolate with Brandy or Rum) this is where Stereotypes lead to! Nationality is only a section in ones birth certificate and Passport - none else - this system caused and causes a lot of Problems !
the french girl talking about amazing german strukture and organisation at workplaces is funny. almost everywhere i was working till now i was AT LEAST upset (sometimes freakin' angry!!!) about missing strukture and organisation. yes, i am german. 😅
Californian here. I’d never forget my first time at a grocery check out in Germany. I got the uncomfortable looks also. Same about the train system. I could’t understand all the complains about the train system. 😂
Although Deutsche Bahn is 100 percent state-owned, it is organized like a private company. It has a board of directors and a board of directors. Unforeseen events such as accidents, weather-related technical faults or blockages are common reasons why a train cannot run as planned. Trees that have fallen over due to storms often block the tracks, particularly in the autumn or winter months.
Around 92 percent of Deutsche Bahn passenger trains arrived in January 2023 at the scheduled arrival time plus a maximum of 5.59 minutes. Around 98 percent of these passenger trains reached their en route and final stops at the scheduled arrival time plus a maximum of 15.59 minutes.
Next episode.. Hardest part of life about living in the UK. Can't wait!! 👍
man shopping experience in germany is really something.. they scan every stuff faster than the speed of light and and tell you the amount.. i was like hold your horses for a while..i havent finished packing yet 😄
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.
Try travelling with Deutsche Bahn in North Rhine Westphalia, the Ruhrgebiet to be precise, Germany's premier dilapidation zone which is neglected in all fields. It's a disaster. You'd have 3-4 problems in a single work week -- EVERY week. Worst public transport in all of Western Europe. Very expensive for that, too.
@Ian Cavon mhm not good. No wonder the automobile lobby is so powerful here
One reason that I'd love to live in Germany is about rules and respecting them. I really don't want to hear anything from outside of my home after 10pm. Maybe someone wants to wake up at 6 am and do their stuff early in the morning to have a productive day.
The words on the thumbnail are just so sad. I can so understand her. The fact that you can't see your own face can sometimes temporarily makes you forget you're from another race since you think and express locally, only when someone points out something like you're different such as making an assumption of certain things like diet or habits or getting a direct stare at you when you said something that only the locals would say, then you'll realise your not a true "local".
Obwohl ich habe vor, dass ich nach Deutschland in der Zukunft ziehe. Bis dahin werde ich sowieso Ausländer.
02:55 unfortunately its true for a lot of 'native' germans, especially here in Munich where I live aswell. My parents came her as Immigrants but I was born and raised her. Even though I'd say Germany is my home, many 'natives' don't really see me that way
06:00 As someone who lives in Munich I can absolutely vouch for that. Even other german cities make fun of us because of our housing prices. And it gets worse every year...
If it's already hard in Germany, then imagine how hard it is almost everywhere else to live as an immigrant.
For me a service area is too bad in Germany.
It’s so annoying that often it takes too much time to solve some simple issues.
And post is biggest problem for me when your shipments delivering not to you directly but to your neighbors.
(I know that this is a German tradition, but it’s sick for me especially when neighbor living in a different house😂)
How are shipments in other countries handled when you are not a home at the time the package is arriving?
And if it helps you can always use "Packstationen" where you can go and get your stuff any time of the day once it arrived, you just have to make a dhl account and hopefully have a packstation near your home or work where it can be delivered to
I only know how it handled in Ukraine.
So, first of all courier will call you before he’ll decide to deliver shipment to you.
If something goes wrong and you’re not at home - he’ll trying to call you again. If this doesn’t help - then your shipment goes back to post office where you can take your shipment by yourself.
I think this is better flow.
Instead of bringing your shipment to third person.
im trying to get my shipments only to packstation, even if i pay a couple of euros more. i hate it to wait for the spedition person to deliver a package, when he rings i rush to the building door and i find him already wanting to leave.
so when possible have your stuff delivered to packstation, when not packstation prepare to organize how you handle the delivery.
there were also situations when they delivered to a tankstelle (gas station), you are informed and can pick package up from there during the next 2-3 days.
@Albert Medow I personally prefer the postman giving it to my neighbor. My neighbor is right next door while the post office may be a few kilometres away. Calling beforehand seems like an interesting idea but I have problems imagining the postman delivering multiple hundred packages per day and calling every single person beforehand. I've seen in the DHL-App that with some packages you can "track" your delivery and see where your postman is right now and the estimated time of arrival but I'm not sure whether this works for every package or only some
"Checkin out at the REWE....." yeah, that´s so true. This is definitely a phenomenon in so called discounters and in many supermarkets as well. You feel like an employee :-) In return, you pay lower prices. For foreigners this must be very unfriendly. I´m sorry for this.
9:22 I like how Conner, in an attempt to speak German, speaks English with a German flair.
Hard part of the Germany is, peoples are very friendly but very hard to make a real & true friends. Except that whoever they come from peopels just want to be around them self. Lack if openness and and friendliness. To be honest even i dont know who my neighbours is. Just say hello even you are living for so many years. If we dont know our neighbours where we living then you can imagine how it would be the outside. Where i belongs ; in that place as an neghbours we used to share foods and friendship and always help eachothers. you work hard and make your life better..except that i like & live Germany and also thankful because this place make me more strong and independent and learned so many things. There is +ve & negative.
This is a very successful channel. Interesting to Germans as to International viewers. In 3 weeks, already 360,000 comments!
The comments are as fascinating as the actual street interviews. Bravo Mr. British !
*People pursuit happiness and for me having intimate relationships with your family,friends,wife,husband is the most important thing that gives people happiness,unfortunately,relationships are not a German thing, Germans are unsatisfied and they're chasing perfection in everything,it's depressive and unhealthy and the weather makes it even worse,I think Germans have to trust people more and open up just a little bit,being emotionally intelligent will make you happier.* ❤
Glock
*I'm not trying to change the whole country,I accept reality as it is,it is people who have this mentality who're not ready to accept reality,I'm looking within people close to me for those who are ready to change and develop intimate relationships because if you don't find at least one person then you will be unhappy and sick,in fact,if people have this mindset the whole country will change.*
the language and trying to understand some german dialect ..haha but still life work balance here is super awesome 100%
I'm british and my best friend is german , the german language is very literal which makes the language very easy the problem is german articles are hell spawns even Germans say that because there's no set rules it's genuinely just a "you just know them" there's no rules of thumb.
Living in Munich since October and I can totally relate to the grocery buying thing. Lol.
The hardest part was hearing my country criticized constantly and just keeping quiet. I always waited to go home so I could say that I hated the food, the weather and the arrogance.
My hardest part of living in Germany - well, that's hard to tell. I am as German as they come (despite having a mother who immigrated from Slowenia), so I actually can hardly imagine living anywhere else. Public transportatiom right now pretty much sucks. However, therer were times when this was different and I am sure they are able to get there again.
For me, living in a densely populated area, the hardest part is driving a car. It's just so crowded, everywhere, lots of construction areas (similar to the Bahn, btw) and some people really drive as if they were nuts. I avoid going by car whenever possible. In other places, like the Netherland, people seem to be much more relaxed. But then, I never dared to drive in France oder in Istanbul. Maybe if I did, I would not complain anymore. ;)
I also finde it a tad stressful to be permanently confronted with people who think that no doubt, everything will change for the worst.
Well, sometimes it does, but then - folks, I am more than 50 years old and have lived and worked and spent the major part of my lifetime in Germany, growing up with very conservative values. I have heard that everything will change for the worst and that we all are lost for my entire life. There have always been periods of time when things went extremely well and periods of time when they didn't. And so far, the country has not perished, we are not all speaking Turkish or Italian, women are not all wearing headscarfs by now, we were not extinguished by viruses from Asia and there still ist a pension from the state. Ever since I remember, which means, since the ealy 1980ies, I was told that all these things would no doubt happen very soon, and that we Germans were not prepared for this and would no doubt perish in an instant. They did not. And they have not. And I have considerable doubt that they will, in all extremity, in the closer future, even if a lot of people seem to believe they will.
But then.... as I said, I am quite used to that and do actually only mind a little. "Driving behaviour" stresses me out way more.
Edit: I just read a comment from @Chris G about difficulties of forming friendships, and I guess she is right. Once a certain phase of one's life is over, it is hard to come into closer contact with other people and make new aquaintances, leave alone friends. (I think the man from Spain mentioned that in his video). Germans tend to stick to themselves and their closer inner circle. Now I don't mind overmuch, being rather reclusive myself. But that can make life very hard for people moving someplace else, eg.
I loved your comment. I would say that Germans are so kind and polite that it really surprises me how they become nuts as soon as they get behind the wheel! On the other hand, traffic is still way better here than in Southamerica where I come from. I'm so so grateful to Germany!
@Green Tea - I don't think I am arrogant. As I said, I am over 50 years old, and some of my family were rather far out on the right wing. I have literally been listening to all theses "phrases of doom" I was mocking in my post about as long as I can remember. Always felt somewhat weird about it with my mother being actually an immigrant. For a long way reluctantly expecting things to happen that way nonetheless. And they didn't. In fact, things remained more or less the same over the years. But every now and again someone will stand up and complain about the many, many immigrants and how things have changed for the worse in the whole country. - While I do absolutely sense no difference.
Okay, it may be a bit unfair to expect from anybody experiencing this for the first time to feel the same like I do who has experienced 4-5 waves of "we are all doomed" and noticed that eventually it never happened. ;) So maybe I _was_ arrogant, and therefore, I apologise. But I just lost patience, I guess.
Btw.: The only thing that changed crime rates for the worse, considerably, at least for the region where I grew up in, was, when the iron curtain fell and borders to the East went wide open. Not because of the people coming from there, mind you, but because there was a lot more transit traffic all of a sudden. All sorts of ppl were suddenly driving through that area and also trought the whole of Germany from all directions all of a sudden, good ones and bad ones. And a few exclusively to commit crimes.
I think the large and inefficient bureaucracy especially with regards to digitalization is a huge minus in Germany.
And although there are many foreigners working here, Germany is doing massive damage to its fellow poorer EU countries by capitalising on cheap labour both intellectual and physical.
The hardest part about living in Germany is the sour attitude of Germans and constant complaining. I have to fight the urge to tell them, "I'll give you something to complain about!". Or "if everything is so bad, why don't you try living somewhere else?". Half the time they're complaining about things I didn't even know it was possible to complain about honestly. I always used to think Canadians were big complainers, but we've got nothing on the Germans!
Truth
We like to be number 1 on everything, but its really hard to achieve - 😉
As a German I'm annoyed by this too sometimes. I had a really bad case recently. Toxic personality.
I think often you can tell how much/little someone enjoys their job by how much they complain. For some people complaining is everything that gets them through their work day.
You only have to look at the media. 24 hours a day people are stuffed with negativity and fears. The problem is that people believe this garbage and are kept in constant fear. This is then compensated by constant complaining and whining and assigning blame to others. Dissatisfied people tend to numb their frustrations with consumption and if they are divided into groups they may be easier to control.
Maybe, just maybe the urge to complain is linked to the desire for improvements? I think about this very often and I always wonder
Visited and lived near Hanover for 3 months. Hardest part was recist people. Me and wife walked in residential street with camera in hand. It was week end afternoon. Suddenly police car came, cops asked us to stop and start asking questions like we are criminals. We are Asians and requested ask in English. They refused to talk or ask in English. We found out that some one in neighboring house called police with complaint that we are taking pictures of their house! Police took half an hour. Looked through our pictures, found nothing other than street pictures. Gave us copy of the complaint and warning. Such a horrible experience!!
This is shocking. I live in Hanover and I feel most people aren’t racists here at all.
I’m glad this happened to you. This is the same way you Asians (Koreans) treat me in my home neighborhood of 27 years, Koreatown Los Angeles. 👍🤣 And I can trace my 63% white ancestry back to the 1600’s in New England, too.
I am really sorry this happened to you. Actually, Hannover used to be a rather open-minded city due to the many fairs with customers from all over the world visiting regularly.
However, someone in a comment further above mentioned it already: A lof of Germans live in constant fear - mostly of things they seen on the media but will never happen to them. I am quite sure that the one who called the Police was an elderly person being afraid that you were criminals taking photographs of houses in order to burglar them. (Maybe that even had happened a short while ago, but more likely is they heard it on the news). - Of course the notion that foreigners are more suspicious than Germans is racist, but then - this person probably also calls the Police regularly for Germans not parking their cars correctly or having too many guests, or... whatever. (And the root of that is, unfortunately, loneliness and again, fear and discontent). One such person will not only make like of any tourist crossing their way miserable, but of the whole neighbourhood.
The other explanation is that they thought you were from google maps - in Germany, one had the option to tell google not to take pictures of one's house and many Germans did that. Afterwards, many people started to believe that it is illegal for passengers to take photopgraphs of private property, but in fact that is not the case. Whatever can be seen in the street can be photographed for ´private purposes, but not by google. ;) - Anyway, this could be another reason
Anyway - normaly police staff should know at least basic English, but especially the older ones are not very familiar with that. Which of course was very unfortunate in this special case. Again, I am sorry you had to make this experience. Lived in Hannover for several years and actually, it still is my favourite German city. I always feel sorry when things there are not well even if I don't live there anymore...
let's not call everything that happens automatically racism; my opinion is that you didn't get stoped and questioned by the police because you are asian, it was because you were taking pictures on a residential streets. There are many criminals who will scout streets and homes, taking pictures before they break into a house and rob it in the night. The police probably thought that you are checking out some homes to robe them later. They would have stoped and questioned anyone regardless of ethnicity. I don't know the whole story but from what you are saying I can only assume that is a misunderstanding.
@🇷🇺Andrei I am also glad that happened to you after how you people (Russians) treat foreigners of other races in your country. Think about it when you write your next comment.
As somebody that lives in Los Angeles, the hardest part about living in German - and the reason why I came back - is the weather. Man, it sucks compare to LA. And it's impossible to find a place to surf.
3:10 Im german and this is 100% true :D and you dont get used to it, even after 30 years
Regarding the Mexicans, if you want to party, go to a club or a bar. It's the same problem that bothers me about the other roommates in the dorm. It doesn't matter to me whether you like to party longer and drink, you're welcome to do that, but in the place where it's intended and not in a dorm where hundreds of people want to have their peace and quiet. You have also signed a rental agreement that states that there will be rest periods (22:00 - 06:00/ 11pm - 6am) from certain times. Double L
I agree. Consideration. The world does not need to cater to you.
I can relate. I was a student at the Biederstein student dorm (which I suppose he also is) some decades ago and obviously that laywer is still around. One day we went to him and announced that we will have a summer party. Fine, he said, so I know that I can call the police early.
That is so annoying… I happy to be half italian, because I dont want to be so annyoing. Sometimes you just wanna have a big party with friends and family… not in a club or bar, wtf? So if you want to have a party you have to go to a club? Just no. I dont want to have my birthday party in a random club. I want to have a big party at home. And I think Germans should chill a bit if someone throw once in a lifetime a party at home.
@Lucas P. Well if it's a dorm for a few hundred people and everyone celebrates their birthday once a year, that means loud party noises basically every night. But i guess consideration is just not your thing, is it?
Or just any place that's not densely populated, renting grill huts in the middle of nowhere is a good option where you can be very loud without anyone there to complain. Many in rural areas have something like that. I checked the prices for the one nearby:
for people from outside:
50€ for the first day and 40€ for additional days.
It's 10€ less for people who life here. Maximum of 50 people. Though I doubt actually 50 people will fit in there, but they come with a reasonable area around them that's included. They are usually 1-3 km outside the village noise should not be an issue unless you brought very powerful audio equipment.
My husband and I visited Germany last month, were from california. we felt so blessed, it's so beautiful and people are frindly. we werent prepared for the cold. I want to love there.
No problem! You can love everywhere.
“If you can’t be with the one you love, honey, love the one you’re with” (Crosby Stills, and Nash)
3:19 Checking out from the grocery store..."You gotta race through that thing !" Hey that's great !!! Pokey packers are the bane on my existence here in Canadian grocery stores. I'd love to live in Germany where standards and expectations are higher !
If she thinks that the people are arrogant in Germany she can just go in her originally country 😊 as simple as that.
8:30 That's not at all as positive as he's making it out to be. See the riots on New Year's Eve in Berlin and other cities. In recent years, no-go areas have emerged in every major city in Germany, which you shouldn't go into at night. Even in cities like Hanover. Especially not as a woman. It wasn't like that before. Violence against rescue workers, police officers and teachers has also increased sharply. That was unimaginable 10-15 years ago
Sweden has the same problems now and 10-15 years ago it was fine. No coincidence at all
Clients are the same everywhere. In France, the problems started in the 90s. The other western governments should have seen that. The Eastern European countries, on the other hand, have learned from the mistakes of the West
@inoToni indeed. That's a reason why I admire many Eastern European countries. Don't think that something will change in the next years. Client's is a good word for them. I think I will start to use it
Well, it depends on the kinds of immigrants. It is the failure of German society, government(maybe) and media as well not to recognise the differences of different parts of the world and their cultures and what would fit in the value system you have/want to change. For example, I'm from Bengal, India and Indians are the highest number of blue card holders (given to immigrants above a certain income threshold) of Germany and Indian Americans by percentages are the richest in USA out of all "ethnic groups" apart from Jewish Americans, if you don't count them to be among "white Americans". Similarly, South East Asian and East Asian immigrants also do decently well but of course, I am not generalising any ethnic group including Indians.
My point is that each immigrant/expat or anybody ought to be judged individually and if you talk about statistics and group identities, then also different ethnic groups and groups in general need to be categorised individually and not just how they look for example (for instance, many middle Easterns look like me, a fair skinned Indian). So, just like it is the responsibility of each individual to behave well, it is also the responsibility of others to make proper judgement, whether that judgement involves giving permit to stay in a particular place through government or simply reacting upon seeing the person in the street.
For example, if a fair skinned Indian comes across you (by you, I mean anybody, not you specifically and I don't know you) on the street, learn not to jump to conclusions about his background, let's say assume that he's from middle East, and learn that he might be in one of the highest tax bracket, behaving well and in fact, may even return back to his country or some other place as many Indians tend to do (not saying it's necessarily a good thing but Indians stay on average 5.3 years in Germany compared to 15.3 of all foreigners). And, also let others and the government know about this as well so that the message well across the board and this would be good thing for the society in general and the well meaning immigrants as well, who are helping themselves and the society as well.
And, btw, I am not being prejudiced against middle easterns (I'm sure many middle Easterns behave well and are valuable contributors to the society) and I am just giving their examples because that and some other groups are taken as an example by the side who speaks upon this issue and that probabalistically their cultures are thought to be quite antithetical to the cultures of the society in question. Basically, I am saying to make proper value judgement of each entity (group or individual) specifically with nuance.
"People are frendlier" - made me laugh hard))
I am not German but I moved here when I was 11, so for me is always tricky how to answer this question, as I don’t consider myself German but I don’t consider myself really an expat since I am very well integrated into the culture, went to school, uni here etc. 🤔 so I am local foreigner? 😂
Einheimischer Ausländer 😂😂 sage das jetzt immer, endlich weiß ich was ich bin🥰
Well, basically we are all humans and maybe one day cosmopolitans!
@TheSamuiman Okay, why not go further: we are all mammals. Why not let the lions out on the streets then? Lol.
@Alfred Wulf I never said I felt being a ethnically German but many people have those prejudice that you don’t know about the culture or the way of life and system if you are a foreigner. 😄
@Anne Neville This is reality. A person is determined by: genetics, environment and upbringing. On all 3 points, the average German and the average, for example, Turks in Germany are different.
The hardest part for me is the german accent. Because i speak german really well, understand everything, but the natives think that i don’t understand the most of what they say because of my accent. It’s like pretty disappointing to be in this situation😅
You can learn to have a better pronounciation if you want to and take the time to develop it
I am german and I personally get frustrated when I hear a non naive speaker because Im fed up with all the immigrants. its just waaay to many.
@SshreddderR relatable, but do you know what is even more annoying? If they talk to you in english, but their english is either plain bad or just not understandable due to a heavy accent/mispronounciations
@Thomas S. yeah, so frustrating. its like the more non local they look and the heavier the accent the more it angers me
@SshreddderR think about this case: England people think your accent is annoying and don't want to speak with you in English, what do you think? Good feeling?