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German culture curiosities... | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6264 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes  Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 17 of 34 05 January 2012 at 11:37am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Jeff, not saying that it's always like that, or that people are always conscious of the
reason for this fashion, but well-stocked bookcases in the living-room are ubiquitous in Germany, even among people who are as likely to read a literary classic as I am to watch Germany's Next Topmodel.
Modern German words are not spelled with oe, the only time you'll see oe is as a replacement for ö in crosswords or when someone doesn't have a German keyboard. However, the original spelling must be preserved when it comes to names; "Göte" (th also went out of use, we write "tun" instead of "thun" now) is just wrong. Note that ae, oe, ue in names does not necessarily stand for ä, ö, ü. In my native region, the Lower Rhine area, the E was historically used to lengthen a vowel. For example, my chemistry teacher's name was Paeßens, and it's pronounced Pahßens. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5128 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 18 of 34 05 January 2012 at 11:43am | IP Logged | ||||||||
It is the same here. Book cases are simply the perfect wall paper. I do not know of any home with ethnic Norwegians where there are no books. I work at the book section of the flea market which my daughter's school organizes, and we do sometimes get people who come in and buy three meters of books, whith nice covers. Content does not matter. Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 05 January 2012 at 11:46am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| LebensForm Senior Member Austria Joined 4844 days ago 212 posts - 264 votes Studies: German | Message 19 of 34 05 January 2012 at 4:16pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Thanks for clearing that up! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| atama warui Triglot Senior Member Japan Joined 4495 days ago 594 posts - 985 votes Speaks: German*, English, Japanese | Message 20 of 34 19 January 2012 at 8:40pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I found those articles exagerrated. The original post also sounds like a collection of rather old customs. Today's Germans are relaxed people, not terribly different from the other Euros, who tend to turn more and more into a homogynous community already. I'd think that the picture drawn in this thread might have been true in the 1970's. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5879 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 21 of 34 25 January 2012 at 4:28pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
What a fun thread! I'm not sure the "teen question" was addressed maybe I can help. I have a few of those in my house from time to time ^^
No, not at all. As a rule, teens hate rules. Saying Guten Appetit is rather formal etiquette (Knigge). If you're sitting down to something rather formal (like somebody has a birthday) then it's good to wait to see if somebody might want to make a Prost. Other than that, the only eating custom that's really different is the thing with the silverware. I still eat/cut with my right hand and switch. My kids and my husband eat continental style. Also, silverware at the 5:00 o'clock position is a nice way to let the waiter know they can take your plate. When I first came to Germany I had to get used to eating pizza and french fries with a fork, but now I've noticed things have loosened up a bit since I've been here ^^
Some girls hug each other and give each other a Wangenkuss (they touch lips to the cheek, rechts/links). It's a Turkish custom but also French and Italian -- so it comes across very well (no pun intended). But this is only reserved for really good friends. Foreigners are not expected to do this at all. Young men give each other the hand but if there's 10 friends waiting in one spot they don't normally waste time greeting each one with a handshake. It really varies. Sometimes they just hit each other, he-he. If you're new don't expect too much personal contact. The only contact a new person has to worry about is EYE contact. People will assume you're nervous if you don't look them in straight in the eye when saying hello.
I would never think to bother somebody in a restaurant by greeting them while they're seated and eating. I've never heard of that one. The only exception would be continental morning buffets in hotels -- but I'd only do this because I personally enjoy politeness. It's really not a big deal. Greeting people in a room is most common in small waiting rooms where everybody is all cramped and nobody is really happy to be there, like doctor's surgeries/offices. Basically, just glance around and mumble "Guten Tag". Then everybody in the room will mumble "Guten Tag" and then you can go about your business. Also,when you leave a store or doctor's office -- say "Auf Wiedersehen" or "Tschüss". It's just routine and doesn't mean anything personal. In stores it helps to signal the clerk that you've left the store. Edited by Sunja on 25 January 2012 at 5:20pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4803 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 22 of 34 25 January 2012 at 8:09pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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About the flowers. Czechs have some traditions in common with Germans and giving the uneven number of flowers is one of them. There is one occasion when you are giving even numbers and that is a funeral. And I think it applies to later visits of the cemetary as well but I'm not sure as I prefer to bring candles.
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| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6346 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 23 of 34 25 January 2012 at 11:51pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
You might want to explain that to the large expat community that lives in Germany over at www.toytowngermany.com. They often "complain" about all sorts of stereotypes like staring in the U-Bahn, not being able to cross on red... A lot of posts over there are just letting off steam but they too have their list of strange behaviours. My favorite are the passive-agressive notes that are left in the workplace. :) Edited by zenmonkey on 25 January 2012 at 11:53pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Tecktight Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States Joined 4770 days ago 227 posts - 327 votes Speaks: English*, Serbian Studies: German, Russian, Estonian | Message 24 of 34 13 March 2012 at 4:39pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I think we all should be weary in overanalyzing all these supposed German 'oddities' when they seem to me
to be common across Europe. The continental style of eating is what I have observed everywhere except in North America, and, having grown up with it, it doesn't seem odd to me, at all. In fact, I would hesitate to even peg the United States with the 'American style' of eating, for I've seen people holding their utensils every which way imaginable. Some things, like cutting thin, Italian-style pizza with a fork and knife, seem just common-sense to me. I try to refrain from touching as much as possible with my hands at the dinner table, when possible, so avoiding getting my hands covered in pizza grease while dining out strikes me as practical. At home, whilst sitting with a pizza box in front of the TV, sure, I'll use my hands. And, obviously, certain things at the dinner table, like bread, mandate hand-use. The flowers also seem rather obvious to me. First of all, worrying about an even number of flowers seems only relevant if you're buying a scanty amount so as it to make it readily obvious that there are only four or six. Maybe it's my aversion to symmetry when it comes to things like this, but even-numbered flower bouquets are not visually appealing to me. I think bouquets look bigger, anyway, in odd numbers. -shrug- 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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