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Culture Shock: Germany | Easy German Podcast 515 Live in Berlin | Easy German | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Culture Shock: Germany | Easy German Podcast 515 Live in Berlin
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Video Transcript
Hello, Manuel.
Hello, Cari.
And hello, dear audience here in Berlin today. Wow, they are loud, Manuel.
But that's a nice greeting. We're sitting here with
about a hundred people. Sixty of them are from the Easy German Summer School. Nice
that you're here. These are the loudest. And then we have a few more guests.
They have already trained for ten days for this welcome here.
Exactly. And if you listen to this podcast, there is also a video version this time. You
can find them on our YouTube channel. And if you're already watching on YouTube,
there are subtitles below. You can click on “CC” and then it starts.
And then you might ask yourself: What is this, this podcast? Do you hear it regularly?
You can hear us twice a week, you can't always see us,
but search for Easy German in the podcast app of your choice and you'll find us.
Fantastic. Manuel, I'm happy because we crowdsourced
another fantastic topic with our audience today . That's why we have to start straight away with...
Manuel.
You told me: "Manuel, feel free to take care of the technology. Leave the content to me,
that's a surprise." I know about as little as you do.
Manuel, our topic today is: Culture shock Germany. What kind of culture shocks exist in
Germany? What can you imagine? Did anything come up as an answer?
Nope, I can't actually imagine, so...
Everything's normal here, right? I'm fine here.
Exactly. We asked you, you are people from all over the world, we asked you:
What culture shocks did you have in Germany? And a lot has happened, I say,
Manuel. And I have now prepared my top answers and would confront you with them.
You're actually a pretty good one... Would you describe yourself like that as a normal German?
Very normal, yes.
That means we can now take a look, okay,
what do you think about it? Do you think this is actually strange in Germany? Or
would you say: Huh, why is that a culture shock? I do that every day.
OK.
Let's get started. I've picked out three short topics
that we'll just talk about... just as a warm-up so that you can react briefly.
Daria writes to us from Russia: "My culture shock is
that the offices still use fax machines. And that is often the only way
to communicate. There is an app to send faxes, but there are no other ways . I
'm thirty-one years old, I've never seen a fax. This is really shocking."
It's actually a thing in Germany that, at least in the
offices and sometimes even among companies, I think communication is done by fax. And I
mentioned this before in the podcast, I use a website — I think
faxsenden.de or something like that — to be able to send faxes. I always have a balance of two euros, a fax
costs twenty cents because sometimes they only accept a letter or a fax. And then
I just do it via the website as a fax. But then it comes out printed out from a fax machine somewhere
. And that's really a shock, even for us, but that's kind of a German thing.
Okay, you already knew this culture shock, you also find it bad.
How about this one? Peter from Australia says: "The biggest culture shock for
me in Germany was how bad the coffee was and how hard it was
to get a coffee in the morning. I was in Freiburg and the cafes don't open until
nine or ten o'clock. And the coffee from the vending machine, well, we don't want
to talk about that. I ended up buying a French press and Italian coffee to make coffee myself."
Peter, come to my house because I make very good coffee with an
AeroPress. And on my street, like many streets in Berlin, there are very good cafes
that sell very good coffee beans. So I think Peter was just in the wrong place...
In Freiburg.
Yes. So, Freiburg is also very hip. I would think
that you could get good coffee beans there too.
Does it have to be hip for the coffee to be good?
No, but vice versa. So if it's hip, there are expensive cafes somewhere
with good beans.
What is your experience? You say... Who says, "I can understand Peter's comment"?
About four people.
OK.
Peter, we're sorry, you're wrong.
So you would simply deny him the culture shock.
No, I invite him for coffee to prove him wrong.
Understand. Then Shannon wrote. Shannon is from the US and she writes:
"My culture shock is the sense of personal space. My
friends are always way too close to me and it took
me years to feel comfortable enough to stand that close to them , without backing down. In
the United States, we usually have some sort of personal space." Do you know?
This sphere exists in all countries. It's just a question of how far does it go? And I had
this culture shock in China. Because if it is perhaps a spectrum, very roughly,
the USA, there is a lot of personal space. China is relatively small and Germany
is somewhere in between. So I think, yes, it's a spectrum. And I can totally understand that,
because when it's different than what you're used to, it feels very strange.
Who among you thinks that here in Germany the people are too close?
Yes, have you had any experiences with that too? OK. Charlotte from France thinks so.
There is more space in France, yes? And who thinks we are too distant,
we Germans? Also two people. So for most people that's fine here.
It's also a matter of getting used to, I think.
Yes. Manuel, I would like to invite our first guest onto the stage. We have some
personal stories here in the audience today. And our first guest, I don't even know
where he is, is Mathias, our good old friend Mathias from Austria.
Do you have his microphone? Ah, there it is.
Do I have his microphone? That's already there.
Good bye.
Hello, Mathias. You are also here today as a surprise. And I'll say, if
you come from China, from the USA, then you might think that Germany and Austria
are the same thing. It's not like that, right? Do Austrians also have culture shocks here in Germany?
Absolutely. We've already done the topic the other way around, so culture shock Austria,
but culture shock Germany, actually, I made a brainstorming list with my
sister. And it was really long, but I'll just list the top reason. And
I've noticed that with you too. First of all, you are... Germans are super direct.
That's correct.
Yes. And there are two forms of it: On the one hand, in your personal environment,
when people know you. The example would be like this: "Hey, do you want
to come over tonight? I'm inviting friends over." And Cari would say, "No, I don't want to."
Yes, Cari always comes, but I would say this.
You would say that. Exactly. And for me it would be like: "Well, unfortunately, I still have to do something,
I can't today. I would really like to come over, but unfortunately it's not possible."
Exactly, yes.
And that would be the example of people you know. And the second thing with directness
would be people you don't know trying to explain something to me,
even though I didn't ask for them to explain something to me.
I've never heard that before.
Really?
The Germans want to explain the world?
Is this Germansplaining or something? Is there already a report for this? Expression?
Yes, so explainer bear. We call this explanation bear. For example, the situation here
again in the hotel is that you need a card to get the lift. And I went there,
took the card, as I should, and got the elevator. And then a German person
came and explained to me that you have to hold out the card to get the lift. And then
there is such a strange situation. How do you answer that? "Yeah, I know anyway" or what do you say then?
Thanks. Thanks for the explanation. And they certainly don't mean any harm,
but I always feel like they think we're all stupid or...?
That's quite a phenomenon, isn't it? In German I would call it know-it-all.
Germans often know better and want to tell people about it.
Show, yes.
So Manuel's manual would be such a category.
We like to explain things. That's true, Mathias, but you're also right,
it's also nice to ask beforehand whether the other person even wants to know.
"Would you like me to explain something to you?" you could say directly.
Then gladly. Explain to me...
Mathias, I would like to explain the world to you.
Nice.
Have you had this experience too? So I have another comment here that
maybe you can comment on, Mathias. Amanda wrote to us about intrusive
neighbors. I think this is an example where that becomes very clear. She writes:
"The neighbors are very...curious. When we bought a new trampoline, our
neighbor came to us to oil the trampoline so that it would be quieter. It was..." And then she writes:
"It was not successful, lol. But we thought about it a lot after that." So that's
a terrible situation. You do something and the neighbors come to correct or
improve it. Now that’s… that’s a step further than explaining, isn’t it? That's...
Yes, it goes further than curiosity, right? I expected
that the neighbor would want to try out the trampoline. But
wanting to oil it obviously indicates that there was a problem
that you want to fix. And that is also something very German. That's true, of course.
Your sister just moved to Berlin. She can also report
how she perceives this with her neighbors.
She just moved in and has been here for two weeks. And one day a box was
left outside the door and two neighbors rang the doorbell to say
that the box wasn't allowed to be there because of fire regulations and escape routes.
That wouldn't happen in Austria?
Maybe after five days, but not the first.
Okay, okay. Yes, Manuel, what do you say? Have we discussed some real culture shocks yet?
Yes, all understandable so far.
All understandable. Yes, thank you, Mathias,
for letting us... Maybe next time we'll invite Nathalie, after she's
lived in Berlin for a bit. Then she can talk again for a whole episode.
She will come later, you can then ask her in person.
Super. Thank you, Mathias. Manuel, I still have so many topics.
Namely, an anonymous person...
Oh, now it's getting spicy.
...wrote to us: "My culture shock is Sunday!!!
Nothing happens on Sunday. In a small town or village there are hardly any people on the
street. You can't shop, you can't even vacuum. Why?"
The first step in achieving intercultural competence is
identifying these cultural differences and first evaluating them as different. And then you can
try to think: Isn't that actually a good thing? And I would call for
Sunday to be included. Because it's great that nothing happens on Sunday,
that we collectively all chill out on Sunday and don't go shopping
and don't shop and most people, with the exception of the police, hotels and so on,
but many people don't have to work. So we can have a picnic or a party on
Saturday. The Sunday off is a very good idea and all countries should do it that way.
I like it. You have just confirmed Mathias' prejudice once again. You
explained to people why Sunday is important. Sunday is important.
It looked like people wanted to know.
Yes, that's right. What do you say about Sunday? Is this a top or a flop?
Flop? I'm sorry, what?
It is divided. Some people seem to be Sunday fans,
like you. And some people say, "I'd like to vacuum on Sunday too." I have to say,
I find this a bit annoying too. I have now... It's like this, I've wanted it for months
really hang a curtain higher for me. And somehow I could do this every day,
but it's only on Sundays that I get annoyed that I can't do it. And then
I don't do it again for the whole week. And then on Sunday I think again: "
I have time today to hang the curtains," and then I think again: "I can't drill."
Yes, but we're not going to change society as a whole
so that you can hang your curtains higher.
Why not? So, I think…
It would be justified, okay.
Would be fair.
I received a wonderful message from Isadora, who often
comes to our meetups here. I don't think she's here today. She writes: "I came to Germany
to do a master's degree at a German university. Right at the beginning, when I wasn't really
familiar with German culture, I
met the coordinator of my course in the hallway of the university. She was quite young and I didn't think twice. 'Hello,
how are you?' I asked. But her shocked look immediately showed me
that I had made a big mistake.
Yes, we've talked about it often, right? That's very difficult, when do you use first names? When
do you eat? But in an academic context, I think you should first look at things at the beginning,
especially if it's the professor.
I find it really interesting what she then writes. She also says that her
German friends then explained to her that in an academic context, i.e. at university, it is an
absolute no-go to use first names, no matter how old you are. But she writes: "In my home country, Brazil,
it's completely different. We even hug the professors and invite them to our parties
so that they... making them feel like us is a way of showing our appreciation."
Yes, in Sweden, there is Rita from Sweden, they call her politicians, right?
Really?
So it always depends on the culture, but in Germany,
if you have a title, if you are a doctor or a professor or a federal chancellor,
then you want to be elected. We just have to accept that.
And there is... Do you only see the king?
Only the king is judged. It ends somewhere, so...
I think that's fantastic. In Germany,
this has become a bit of a trend, there are now some podcasters and YouTubers
who invite politicians and use them on a first-name basis. They then say: “You,
Olaf.” I recently saw a podcast title: “Why are you so unpopular, Olaf?”
But they knew each other personally, I heard that too.
Did they really know each other personally?
That was Hotel Matze, right?
He doesn't know everyone personally.
Yes, yes, he knows everyone.
Okay, but I think that sometimes, my feeling is, it's sometimes a bit harsh
when people use the first-name terms of the Chancellor. So it's already... don't you think?
No, I think you should only use the first name for the king and everyone else. I think
Sweden is doing it exactly right.
We have another guest here in the audience, that's Tamlyn. Welcome to the stage, Tamlyn.
Hello!
Very nice to have you here. Where do you come from?
I am from the USA.
And do you live in Germany?
Yes, I live near Stuttgart, yes.
And for how long?
For five years now, yes.
Wow. Did you ever have a culture shock in Germany or did you think,
no, everything was normal here?
A couple. So, I... my husband is German and then I have a lot of experience with
German things, so to speak, yeah. So, a little story maybe: When we were in India,
at the beginning of our relationship, we really took a lot of photos and everything. And then he
said so directly: "Yeah, your face doesn't look so good. Do it again."
I can see straight away that the Americans in the audience are shocked. I think:
Quite normal, why... it's a nice hint.
It's nice though. Your face doesn't look so good, we'll take the photo again.
You'll be happy later when you take the photo again.
Yes, but that was such a gross thing for me to say in a relationship. I was like,
Oh my God, this is...what's wrong with my face? So what's the problem now, yeah?
You didn't smile then. Didn't look good, Tamlyn.
Yes.
So, that would be a no-go in the US, yes?
No, we always say something first, yes.
The photo is nice, but let's take another one.
Yes, exactly.
Yes, how would you say that now if you did it the other way around? So let's say
you take a photo of your husband, he just doesn't look good. How would you…?
Like Manuel just said. So, yeah, okay, we'll try again maybe, yeah.
But it's actually the same message, right?
But not so directly. It's a little, yes, a little better, yes, I think, yes.
Fantastic.
What's it like when you have something in your teeth? Will you tell her that or will that…
Yes, if they are close friends. So not to a stranger or something, but yeah.
I always think it's good when people tell me that.
I think it's good too, but it's weird on the street, right?
Yes, but when I'm shooting a video, I'd rather have a stranger tell me, "By the way,
you've got something between your teeth," than me continuing to shoot the video like that for five hours.
Do I have something...?
Not right now.
OK, good.
Or how did you come up with that?
No, it's a real situation. That I had something in my teeth for hours
and no one noticed. And then I look at the material and think:
Oh God. Rawad, is there any way to get this out with After Effects...? Yes.
Nice. So, the directness in Germany is a
culture shock for many people. Do you still have problems with it after all these years? Or
have you become a bit German or has he become more American?
Probably, I've become a little more German. But yeah, it still bothers me
a bit, but I'm doing a lot better. So, it... I always remember, okay,
it's just that he's German, so, not a problem with me or anything, yeah.
And the interesting thing is that we Germans sometimes
have this culture shock in our own country, because in Germany there are gradations between direct and more direct. In Berlin ,
for example, I would say people are much more direct than where I come from. And we
have, for example, our mutual friend Emanuel, with whom we have already
made one or two videos. And he's so direct, it's really bad sometimes. So he says
directly what's going wrong or what he thinks. And I've realized now for the first time,
I think we've known each other for eight years or so or seven years, and I've
realized now for the first time that I can really fully accept that without thinking he's unfriendly.
So you always have to remember, Manuel, we often come across as unfriendly.
The Berliners are just direct.
Exactly. But we're not unfriendly, are we?
It is very efficient. Yes.
Exactly.
We say something like, yeah, like I would something, two nice things
before I say the third thing. So, it's not efficient, yes.
The famous feedback sandwich.
Yes. Exactly.
Thank you, Tamlyn, for your story.
Thank you very much. And good luck with your intercultural marriage.
Thanks.
Manuel, I received another comment, which goes a bit
in the same direction, but with a completely different topic. Ken, you know him too, right?
Naturally.
Do you know Ken?
I know Ken, yes.
Ken is also an Easy German member. We've met before too.
Ken writes: "The real diversity in political thought and the desire
to discuss and debate political issues was my culture shock
in Germany. I met my first real communist in West Germany
when I was seventeen. Before that they only existed in rumors. I experienced a lot of discussions,
that challenged my own ideas and my understanding of the world, but I also think
that I challenged some opinions in return." That can
be a culture shock, how open and direct people are about politics in Germany, right?
That's true, That's also a topic in our podcast, that we like to
talk about politics often and then we often get the feedback that people...
n't do that, don't talk about politics, you're a podcaster, you should...
politics It's forbidden.
And that's also something cultural,
I think, that we can still discuss politics relatively openly,
even if we have different opinions
I'm fine, as long as it's conducted in a friendly and respectful manner.
Yes, and I think it would be a total shame if that changed. Well,
of course, politics is also increasingly polarized and people
discuss it that way I think that there
is already a culture of discussion in Germany. I remember, for example, before one of the last federal elections
we sat in the family together with Janusz and Isi and my parents and
we did the Wahl-O-Mat together. Then we saw, okay, we vote for
different parties. And then we discussed, why do you vote for this party?
Who won?
Yes, no one, because we had different parties,
but I thought that was really good. And I want to continue
to argue with my friends about, in a positive sense, which party we are voting for.
This episode is slowly degenerating into
us telling you: The way we're doing it here is right.
I didn't say that. I like it in Germany.
Yes, I like it too. But I can understand that it is also a shock
when things are different in a culture or in a country where people simply don't talk about politics.
With now strangers or with not the closest friends.
Manuel, one more topic.
Namely, you recently got a tattoo. Maybe we want to
expose it here on TV today, on YouTube?
On TV?
Sorry, Manuel, I didn't tell you that before.
This is very small.
I didn't tell you this, but I think there's definitely an audience for it here.
So easygerman.org/membership, maybe I'll show my tattoo in the after show.
No, Manuel. Now come on, show me.
No, I'll show it in the aftershow. I can't take my clothes off on YouTube now.
Yes, the sweater, or is that...
That's too complicated. Later, when it gets dark.
Look out, we got a message from Chiemi or Chiemi,
are you here? From Japan. Oh yes, did I
pronounce your name correctly? Chiemi. She wrote to us: "In Germany it makes
no difference whether someone has tattoos or not. I like Berlin and visit it three times
a year. More than eighty percent of people - interesting observation - have a tattoo."
That's right, Berlin is tattooed, there's no other way to say that.
And I found that very interesting. "If you have a tattoo in Japan,
you won't find a job or you'll be fired. You always have to
hide. Entering thermal baths and saunas is also generally forbidden."
Yes, I knew that. I know that, I've been to Japan before. It has something
to do with the gangs too, I think, right? It doesn't have such a nice background. That
's a bit of the association. And I really thought about it
because Japan is such a great country and maybe I want to go to a thermal spa there again.
But it doesn't work anymore.
Yes, I think you can cover it up if it's small.
What did you tattoo again, Manuel?
A strawberry.
So you're the strawberry gang. Is that your symbol?
Exactly, there may be more tattoos to come. But yes,
I can imagine that it's a shock when you live in a country
where no one has a tattoo almost. And then Berlin is really awesome. Well, I think that often too,
I also like looking at people's tattoos. And staring is also
a German thing. I don't know if anyone else... I think that happens to me
when I see an interesting tattoo, I look. No, and I can
imagine that. But how is that for you? Is it really strange or actually okay
that this is the case here? Okay now, but you had to get used to it. Yes. Okay, tattoos.
It's a bit similar to graffiti, right? That's what we write... a lot of people also write
comments that are very nasty and say: "Why is your city so ugly? There's graffiti everywhere."
Yes, you really have to say...
It's true.
It's true, the Berlin graffiti, there are some really good ones,
but there's also a lot of graffiti. But somehow an aesthetic develops from it
. So when everything is fully lubricated, then it's nice again.
Manuel, our last guest is Janusz Hamerski. He is here again today
and I would like to invite him on stage with a round of applause. Janusz,
I should throw a disclaimer right in here. Janusz is not yet fully recovered.
I'm actually healthy, but I'm still foggy.
Dazed. It doesn't matter, you just have to remember a story. Namely,
you came to Germany forty years ago.
Yes.
And what was your very first culture shock in Germany?
First of all, I can't tell you that. There were probably others,
but a culture shock that I remember to this day because it's funny, basically.
Tell us that one.
Namely, you must know, I lived in Poland, which firstly
suffered under the communist regime and secondly experienced an absolute economic catastrophe
. So everything was... you couldn't buy anything in a store. You
walked into a store and there were only bottles of vinegar because everything else was sold out,
right? I was nineteen at the time and my memories are funny and happy
because I was very young, yes, and because I had nothing to do with it. My grandmother
made sure that I always had something to eat and my youth ensured that I
wasn't afraid of it either. And then I came to Germany and I remember
driving with someone on a highway. And cities came left and right,
right? Cities or towns and it seemed too colorful to me. I was...
Too colorful. Too colorful. I was used to this gray in Poland and I liked this gray too. You can
imagine, some people like black and white photographs or black and white films.
It seemed very quiet to me . And I found this colorful thing everywhere, everything blue and red and yellow and
I thought it was a bit silly. I didn't think it was serious. I found it as if people
had just bought it in a store, with no story, no soul, no real life
in it. In Poland, at least in my time, if you walk down a street, you see
the history of that street. Then you feel the soul of this street, yes? And in Germany
everything was straight, everything was colorful and everything was soulless. And that was my biggest culture shock,
which I had no problems with, by the way, because I was able to explain it to myself, right?
Today, do you still think Germany is too colorful or does it look good with the red houses?
Yes, exactly, I think Germany is totally normal.
I was just about to say that,
in my opinion, Germany is actually not colorful at all.
Yes, I don't find it colorful either. Above all, I can relate to that a bit
when I came back from Mexico after a year. Mexico is much more colorful than Germany. But
when I drove through Germany, everything seemed much too straight and symmetrical to me
and I thought, somehow, this word "soulless" is right. Because in Mexico everything is
colorful and not so perfect. This way, that way, right, left. And that's a shock, yes.
But I like this word or concept in relation to Germany.
Soulless?
No, normal.
Normal. Yes, Germany is normal for us.
Everything is normal for us, including me. I have lived
in Germany for forty years now. And I don't feel normal or exotic
when I visit Poland now. And Germany is a normal environment for me.
Yes, that's a nice final word, well...
Germany is a normal environment for me.
Germany is normal and everything else is different.
Very often better, very often better, yes? But Germany is normal, yes.
Guys, it was a fantastic episode with all of you. Janusz,
stay seated to say goodbye. Now comes the outro.
OK. It would be stupid if you left the stage in the outro.
Okay, let's sing together on the outro.
OK.
Let's do it next time, shall we?
Guys, it was fantastic with you. Thank you all for being there and
also sending us culture shocks, lots of interesting ones. We haven't
discussed them all yet, but there will be a few more in the aftershow. And if
you want to see it on YouTube, then... it's not on YouTube at all, it's...
You can become a member at easygerman.org/membership, then you get a private
podcast feed, you can always hear a little more and get a few other things too.
I still have so many topics, we'll have a lot more in a moment, Manuel.
All right, Cari. See you soon!
Bye, dear people!
Bye!
Ciao!
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