My Current View On Germany
By admin • Apr 30th, 2008 • Category: Personal
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Germany, my view is both a love and hate relationship on the country. I’ve not only made a lot of Germans angry with some of my outside views of Germany, but also connected with a lot of outside foreigners. Of course your view of Germany is going to be different as an “Auslander” (foreigner) than those born within the country. Almost everyone takes defense at any negative comments about their native country of birth. But, you’ve also got to realize that those coming to your country like Germany with an outside prospective are getting a better picture of how things actually work.
Germany is soon going to hit it’s downfall?
Some outsiders living in Germany have expressed their belief that Germany has gone forward as it can and well doesn’t have much future. I would agree with that statement, though I don’t have any current sources or actual statements to backup this sort of logic.
Germany, a little too much pride?Any outsider may agree that becoming friends with a German if you aren’t a German can be a challenge in itself. We’ve all felt the coldness another country can feel especially when people are closed and unwilling to accept in any new friends. Though Germans can be warm and heatfelt, it seems as if something’s missing in the friendships I’ve formed. I never really felt I could rely on these Germans or really give them 100% of my trust. Though it relies completely on personality, many have seemed more reserved in regards to open friendships.
There’s Too Many Rules in Germany
Anyone who has tried to get through the Beauracratic red tape of Germany knows that Germany simply has way too many rules. Rules aren’t quite so flexible either. It always seem cut and dry with no exceptions.
I’m working on compiling a research paper about these views, coming up with specific examples on how a foreigner really feels in Germany.
I’d love to hear from anyone with specific experiences in Germany and what their view is as a foreigner in Germany, Germans are welcome to respond to. Comment on this post or email nick “at” clickfornick dot Com
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Hi admin,
I am studying in Germany and i feel pretty much the way your words sound. There is a little exp. which i wanna share and which would sum up my view on germans. I used to live in a hostel in Southern Bavaria. I made friends with lot of Germans, although it took a lil bit time. But one thing i always realised all along the way they were kind of superficial towards me. May be because, they knew i would leave the hostel after 6 months. I mean nobody involved in a real friendship with me. As the time moved on, i wud find myself not able to understand their discussions during dinners as they spoke german/bairish too fluent enough for me and din care even when they knew my lang. situation. They jus din care for me at all. If these were the best germans i met, you can imagine my exp. with the rest. Now, i have lots of foreign friends who are much more warm and care about me. They are spanish, mexican and some east europeans. Germans are a diff. race of europeans. Don’t need any german friend now.
[…] If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my Daily Newsletter. Thanks for visiting!I wrote a post earlier about my current view of Germany, which I decided it would be appropriate to respond in another post.The original post “My Current View On Germany”. […]
As a student who studied abroad this past semester in Germany, I can confidently say that if you make an effort with the students and other people around you and have some patience, then you will see how great Germans can be. Also, I would say that this article is a bit unfair, stereotyping all of Germany because of some events in a hostel.
I have a question, did you ever say anything to your friends who spoke to quickly for you? I know as an American who is also a native English speaker, sometimes it is very hard to figure out when someone still needs me to speak more slowly unless they ask me to. They may have thought that you were able to understand much more easily than you apparently were able to, resulting in your frustration. I think that if you are willing to make friends with someone, you also have to be willing to realize that sometimes they make mistakes and aren’t perfect either. You may have also done some things that were culturally inappropriate during your time there, and they apparently didn’t simply stop talking to you because of that, so try to be a little more patient with others.
In America, people can be seen as extremely friendly at first, but then it leads to nothing in actual “you can count on me” type of friendship. In Germany it did take time to find friends, but nothing beats the time I did get to spend with them, and they were great friends to me. Also, in Germany there are different cultural influences for a German, and it just takes longer to find real friends. This is simply a difference, and I really don’t think it’s fair to write off all Germans just because of a few. I wouldn’t write off all Americans, Mexicans, or even from Spain as being rude just because I met a one or a few of them because I know that sometimes it’s just an issue of cultural expectations that are misunderstood.