10 Clichés what Americans think about Germans

Clichés are very suitable for checking your own experiences. This is what we will do today.

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Americans and Germans are as different as the countries they live in - or maybe not? An American metalhead living in Germany shares his experiences. This is his channel: Krautsalat!

[matthiasoffermanns]

Germans love their privacy and respect your privacy. That's why it looks like they are reserved. The truth is they don't want to bother you. This is also due to the fact that Germany is so densely populated. If you disturb the others too much, it only causes trouble. That's why there are so many rules. And that's why Germans stick to rules.
If you are friendly to Germans, it shows that many (not all!) of them welcome you. If they are interested in you, then not only superficially, but seriously.

[Zaubernudel]

During "Berufsausbildung" (German System of job Traineeship) my Trainer told me: "punctuality is the respect of the other persons time". I think that' s a good description

[evabock]

Another foreigner in Germany: In my experience, more often than not, Germans have great sense of humour. It's clever, slightly dark, sarcastic and sometimes self-deprecating humour. If you know the language well, the possibility for puns is endless.

[dl]

Germans learn to respect people from an early age on. Speaking loud in public is considered rude because you are not alone and nobody is interested in your private details. Try to call somebody while being in the ICE silent area - it could be your last call if you do not stop after people told you to shut tf up. Always shaking hands is also a form of showing respect since we acknowledge that somebody is present. Furthermore looking people in the eyes while talking to them is considered to be respectful. If you do not do that, people assume that you are not interested in talking to them. Germans think that you are potentially lying to them if you do not look them in the eyes in certain situations. But do not exaggerate! Looking at people for 3 second is just observing and totally normal. The older generation like to stare though. Being on time is also expressing respect to another person. Because lets be honest, what is the most valuable thing in your life? Yes, your time! Lost time is invaluable.

[rstuhl]

In my German primary school we played cowboys and Indians aswell, but the cowboys have been the "bad" ones

[willydominiak]

"How many germans does it take to change a light bulb?" - "One. We are efficient and have no sense of humor."

[DoniBone]

Thats right, there is a rule. If you leave a Baumarkt you get your Bratwurst. Fully agree. 😂

[Bazibuaxtreme]

Ich liebe deinen Kanal er hilft mir mich als Deutschen selbst zu reflektieren

[Coksaugenatbrockhausen]

if you are being late you are basically saying: "my time is more important than yours"

[tosa]

Du bist eine coole Sau!
I'm happy to found your channel.

[wind-upboy]

In Southern Germany, pasta is very loved as well, like the Swabian "Spätzle" and "Maultaschen".

[grouhls]

The traffic light thing is, now when I think about it, much more funny. As a german, if I cross the road while the traffic light is red I look arround if some children could see me rather then looking for police or something.

[swanpride]

I think the humour one is mostly a matter of cultural context. I mean, the most famous and popular comedian in Germany is Loriot (RIP) and his humour was all about taking an everyday situation and then take it to the extreme. A German gets why it is funny that someone has a "environmental friendly Christmas tree" decorated with "fresh natural apples" but then fill up their living room with wrapping paper, for a foreigner, they would most likely not get the references and level of absurdity.

The rules are mostly a matter of Germany being fairly densely populated. If you don't follow the rules to a degree, you REALLY get on each other nerves. Plus, the idea that you should do the best for society in general is strong in Germany. Just not to the same degree as it is common in Japan.

[maximilianr.]

Love it you say so much nice things about us Germans that is so nice

Stay healthy I thing I can say in German we say "bleib gesund"
Keep going to make videos I like to watch it I hope my English is correct 😅

[mooncat]

The food preferences of Germans vary, like so many other things in Germany, because the country is right in the middle of Europe and is influenced by the surrounding countries. Of course Bavarians like 'Schnitzel' or the infamous alpine milk just like in Austria, while in the south-west of Germany people stick with pasta like in Italy. In the west people love their wine and their cheese, just like France, Belgium and the Netherlands, whereas in the east people rather eat goulash like their neighbors in Czechia and in the north they love to eat fish like basically every other country in northern Europe.

[dietrichengel]

Great Video. Your discpriptions of these Clichés are absolutly correct. Thanks, and Greetings from Germany. 👍

[mr.zimbel]

In Germany, we consider 5 minutes before the agreed upon time to be punctual. So yeah, that cliche is right

[venomous]

At the age of 15 I was out with two friends. One of them ignored the red light and simply crossed the street because he was such a "rebel". Ok, the street was currently empty BUT there was a young mother with two small children and they waited for the light to turns green. So we decided to wait too, yelled at him, asked if it was absolutely necessary to cross over in front of the children. We were pissed off and he was completely confused about that but the mother told us how grateful she was. I didn't expect anything from her but to see how important it was to her ... wow <3

Traffic is simply dangerous, so I think it's important to wait until the light turns green - especially (!!!) when children are nearby! So they don't learn to ignore the traffic lights and get hit by a car as a result. :)

Greetings from Wuppertal!

[eisikater]

Yesterday, Apr 1st 2020, I went to a supermarket, and there was the usual grilled chicken stand outside, like every Wednesday, and of course I had to have two half chickens: One and a half for me, and a quarter for my kittens. And, believe it or not, even without floor markings, everyone kept their distance (an arm's length plus a half, that's the rule of thumb), nobody wore face masks, and even the kids were very disciplined.

And even in the parking lot, it was all so quiet and somewhat cosy. I knew parking lots like, "I'm in a hurrier hurry than you, let me be first", but yesterday, none of that. That was like at a huge open air concert, this respectfulness and conversation by eye contact and hand gestures only.
Couldn't we just keep this up outside of disease crises and metal concerts, please?

[M.S.M.]

The way you say "Ampelmännchen" cool 👍👏