Reacting to Stereotypes about Germany (as a Canadian Expat)

Hey everyone, in this video I react to some of the common stereotypes about Germany (as a Canadian who lived in Germany for ~3 years). Hope you enjoy and let me know if you agree or disagree with my reactions in the comments below. Thanks for watching!

Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:00 Efficiency
2:49 Punctuality
03:42 Strict about rules
05:46 Cold/unfriendly
7:57 Love of beer/Octoberfest
8:59 Obsessed with cars
10:17 No sense of humour
12:40 Outro

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License code: FHH5N1XG0N9FSV2D

[wora]

11:50 "someone mowing?" How fitting. That was German humor!

[Nikioko]

The punctuality of Deutsche Bahn is infamous. And it's a result of converting a state service into a private company. The purpose of the state service was to transport people from A to B, while the purpose of a private company is to make money for their shareholders. And that includes cutting costs, like having these expensive trains running all the time. So, the vehicle fleet was shrunk, holding sites removed, and real estate sold. The result is a broken rail network with no capacities to compensate delays and cancelled trains.

[Slippy]

HAHAHA! Annoyed by a neighbor, because he is mowing... Respect the quiet hours... You are german! Congratulations!

[maraboo]

Humor and culture: Loriot, the greatest of all German humorists (I don't like to call him a comedian because he was more than that) got a lot of his funny scenes by watching typical everyday's German behaviour and put them a little bit over the top. He was one of the very few people who had admirers at every age and every social class. So if you don't know the basics there is no chance to find those things funny - or if foreigners find it funny they have no chance to get the whole sense. And I think that is a reason that meanwhile a lot of younger Germans cannot find him as funny as older ones because times and behaviours have changed.

[wora]

Efficieny and bureaucracy: Sounds bad and as an (old) German I complain about that a lot as well. But I have also come to see a lot of positives resulting from all the rules we abide by. Most of the rules were set up to make things work out smoothly in the long run. Paying by cash makes it very visible if you run up a debt, registering where people live ensures being able to send them informations about the area they live or vote in, plan for necessary expansions of the grid (gas, water, electricity, internet access, roads, kindergartens, homes for the elderly, ...). Requiring an appropriate education in order to get a license for driving a motorcycle, car, truck or boats reduces the number of accidents, and so on. Yes, we sometimes overdo this kind of thing, but in the long run it does help to live in this crowded place. Oh, I need to add one thing: When I was a young lad, I saw things differently, looked more at the immediate consequences of any rule. Now I see efficiency in the things that I do not have to do because I adhere to the rules: I do not need an ups, because the electric grid in Europe is reliable. My kids went to Kindergarten and school by themselves either walking or riding their bikes because everything was close by and safe. Heck, I can even take a nap at noon because my neighbor will not use his lawn mower at that time.
One more thing: I have a neighbor, she is around 85 years old, does not have a mobile phone or computer. Recently, she complained that she got a bill without a preprinted transfer form (as used in the last century by about everyone). She lives by herself and her kids live far away. So now she takes the stuff to the bank office 'in town' by public transports and has the people there fill the necessary forms. So I ask myself, what is more efficient for her?

[Nikioko]

Germans just don't have that superficial friendliness which you find everywhere in the US. Germans are reserved, polite and honest.

[hape]

I agree with all of your assessments. As for our humor, we have a word for it: "hintersinnig" (DeepL translates "subtle", but I would say it means "with a hidden meaning"). We like it when you first laugh out loud at a joke and then the laughter gets stuck in your throat because you realize that there is another meaning behind it and that you are the one you just laughed at.

[herrbenrath]

I am a Canadian having lived in Germany for 11 years... and I think you have done a good job here. Fair and balanced :)

[insulanerin]

Of course we will cross the street at 3 am with no cars for miles. Would't be efficient to stand around waiting for no reason, we might be late.

[tomhanky]

On the humor side, I think your observations are correct, one of the hardest things when learning a foreign language is to understand jokes and humor and often it is not easy or even possible to translate without killing the joke. Even harder it is to make jokes in a foreign language, I embarrassed myself numerous times...

[gehtdichnixan]

im totaly against this self checkout in stores ! all it does is they whant to pay less workes and we as customers save nothing

[nirfz]

I think the "efficiency" stereotype comes from a very different angle: It's when a german person has work to do, they do it until it's done without getting distracted or having to be reminded several times.
There was a nice documentary on YT where a british couple lived in germany for a few weeks accompanied by TV. The man was to work at a writing utensil manufacturing company during that time. (in the pencil manufacturing to be specific)
He seemed quite surprised that the workers start working on time, and until there's a break, and then punctually started working again.
No fiddling with their mobil phones or talking isntead of working or dreaming about the day, if there is work to do, they work. And that's where that stereotype comes from.
And i agree, if you take their rules and "bureaucrazy" into account, that can make them look inefficient as a whole, but that's not what the stereotype means.
A recent example where their "papermasturb..." (as some people call it) is what makes them look inefficient: Tim Raue a german chef married an austrian women, and both registered their "second home" at the respective others main home.
=Berlin and Graz. Raue explained to a journalist, that his wife needed several appointments and it took 7 months for her to complete everything, while he called in for an appointment in graz, asked what he had to bring, and at the appointment, he left again after 5 minutes and it was done.)

The pedestrian crossing at red lights. I am with the germans on this. (But then again, i am from their southern neighbouring country, so not that far off ;-) ) As i told an intern once: "laws don't just apply when it's convenient for you.
The traffic laws don't say _on a red light you have to stop, unless you think it's not that bad, or nobody is around, or it's 3 am_".

[stephanteuscher]

German guy here. Very well observed! Thank you.

[nikomangelmann]

the german comedian michael mittermeier does also stand up in english and did shows in uk, usa and canada

[carstenhardt]

Bureaucracy: What you don't understand is that all those shenanigans are *designed* tto annoy all those pesky foreigners who come here.
Are you a pesky foreigner who came to Germany? Yes. Did you get annoyed? Yes. So, mission accomplished.

[Ashorisk]

german efficiency is more about getting it done CORRECTLY :) therfore we accept the process to be slower, but right more often than wrong. Its always a deicsion between speed and accuracy.

you are inofficially allowed to cross if you can make sure no children are watching. Its not funny but there is a reason for this. Kids in germany are allowed to walk alone to school normally by the age of 6-7 but at that age the skill to judge speeds and timing and the overall broader perception is not fully trained. So it is important that the young children follow the rules ....

its also well known that the best way to teach something is not by saying it but by doing it :)

There you have the whole reason why germans stop at red .... and have "funny" stickers" (also a typical german behaviour by my side .... writing a whole essay about a topic to explain something while no one asked for it :p)

[Kralle]

Sorry Meghan, but the point you have made on efficiency is not as stringent as you might think. We Germans do not want an efficient bureaucracy and I do not think, that there is a stereotype about the efficiency of our administrative strata of government. The German individual might be considered efficient, but only if he does something for himself. F.e. if someone helps you, he does it as good as possible, to go on with his life a.s.a.p. without any danger of having to help you again in this matter :D
And if you think, that the practicability of cashless payments at the self check out in a store is a hallmark of efficiency, then you are still caught very much in the north-american mindset. Live isn't about 24/7-consumption of branded merchandise. 

I hope you'll find the humour in that comment not too offensive - we do have it and it is true blue self-referential deprecation of each other; let's call it suspensive sarcasm without any hint of earnestness.

[pkracki]

If you want to learn more about German humor, watch some videos of the "humorist" (old word for comedian) LORIOT. He already passed away in 2011, but I think many of the modern comedians learned from him. He played with German stereotypes. A French friend once told me that he learned to understand the "German essence" better through Loriot.
What I have noticed in my professional life is that humor or situation comedy in business is unfortunately often associated with superficiality. Which is, of course, absolute nonsense!

[rolandscherer]

There are few countries where traffic is heavier than in Germany, so it makes sense to follow the traffic rules.
However, the infatuation with regulations also has disadvantages, for example dealing with mistakes is very poor. Word has not yet got around that only those who don't work don't make mistakes and that the probability of making a mistake is extremely high when you try something new and that this should be tolerated.
Bosses like to say: "Everyone can make a mistake with me, but only once!" They forget that if a mistake is made more than once, the fault usually lies in the system and not with the employee.

[WarbirdFan]

doin stuff "differently" has nothing to do with efficency really, and there are many rules and regulations in place because people, often foregeiners, try to bent or break the rules, ...just sayin