Weird Things Germans Do | Easy German 383

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► PRODUCED IN COOPERATION WITH:
Easy Languages is an international video project aiming at supporting people worldwide to learn languages through authentic street interviews and expose the street culture of participating partner countries abroad. Episodes are produced in local languages and contain subtitles in both the original language as well as in English.

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Camera: Janusz Hamerski
Edit: Janusz Hamerski / Carina Schmid
Translation: Ben Eve

[bored.in.california]

I really enjoyed Janush's comments about shouting. Usually when you learn a language you only receive positive information and once in a while you want to know how to argue or verbally stand your ground. So that was nice.

[MahmoudJalajel]

9:00 Carina teaches how to speak, Janusz teaches how to live!
Love you guys!

[texarado]

Great episode. Janusz makes me laugh! My favorite strange thing that happened in Germany was, when I was visiting Heidelberg, I stopped with my German-born wife at a biergarten. There were no empty tables, but a older gentleman invited us to sit at his table with him, and we had a pleasant conversation before he left. This would not happen in America - it would be very strange to share your table with strangers!
Thank you for making Easy German!

[berg-tw]

Als sogenannte "Bio-Deutsche" finde ich es toll, wie engagiert und witzig ihr die deutsche Sprache und Kultur vermittelt. Ich gucke mir das gerne an, obwohl Deutsch meine Muttersprache ist. Weiter so und DANKE !

[ivicahercog]

Ich bin so beeindruckt, wie gut Janusz auf Deutsch spricht, ich komme auch aus Polen und Janusz du hast mich mit Deutsche Aussprache anstecken, ich lerne so fleißig, danke Janusz und Cari ich liebe ❤️❤️❤️easy German.😄👍

[mattesrocket]

Es gibt auch Buchstaben-Salat, der ist auch ohne Mayonnaise.

[AiKuksiani]

Janusz, du hast ja völlig Recht ! 👍🤷🏻‍♂️

[sdgardner]

I went on a business trip to Germany back in the 80's and I tried to speak local merchants all spoke English almost as well as me (except it was British English) but they did correct my German pronounciation. But I think they appreciated me trying. You should ALWAYS try to speak the language of the country you are in...I think people appreciate you trying.

[Domihork]

Go Janusz! I'm 26 and doing my second Master's in Germany. I'm staying in a dormitory which is divided into separate WGs. My bed is kind of wobbly and I didn't want to sleep on it, so I put the bed to the WGs corridor (where it was for months and my flatmates never had a problem with it) and I kept only the mattress in my room and I sleep on it.
Once I asked the Hausmeister to fix something in my room. He came and he saw the mattress on the floor. And he started yelling at me (in German) for not sleeping on the bed and saying something like "This is not a camp! You must sleep on the bed!" I just stood there and felt like I was 6, I had no idea what the hell am I supposed to respond. I just said that I do not understand why I should sleep on the bed if I don't want to and that I will do what I want. To which he thought for a moment and then hit me with the most German thing ever "It's against the fire regulations". So I wish I knew at the moment to say what Janusz said in this video.

Also about the cycle lanes - one thing that I find weird that Germans do - give you stares and yell at you if you happen to stand or even step on it. But then they cycle on sidewalks or the road. NEXT TO the cycle lane. WHY?! And when they zoom past you in full speed on a sidewalk from behind, they don't even use the bell. Ever.

The one thing that always puts me off is that whenever I go order food somewhere they seem to expect me to know exactly what I want right away and they're so so annoyed that I take more than 5 seconds looking at the menu to choose. Excuse me if you have too many options and I have to look at the ingredients to know if I'll like it or not, I'm not a regular in this establishment, lol.

[SaadQazi]

I agree with the shouting comment. After being in Germany for an year, I became sure that the only way to respond to a rude person here is to be super loud and rude yourself. If you don't assert yourself, the other person will make a habit out of it.

[lisagai]

Normal friendship in Germany: you meet your friend, you get a coffee together, you're having some good time and then, suddently, your german friend says "ok, now I have to go". That's it. I'll never get used to it! It's so unusual for me that one person can simply says "now I go", without any embarassment or, you know, justification! In Italy it's a boring ceremony of "oh, sorry, I must do this and this, maybe I can stay five minutes more, it's better to go, next time I'll stay longer, I'm so sorry". I can't get used to it but... I prefer the german way ;)

[pault]

As a visitor to Germany regularly, I would say that sometimes the cycle lanes are not obvious to see.

[anglerfish]

I really appreciate how worked up Janusz gets about that kind of rudeness. That's right, even if someone made a mistake it doesn't entitle you to scream at them like an animal, especially when it's very likely an accident. If people yell back then they will know not to overstep.

[benbritten]

Based on my experience, if you ask in english, people would respond in german, if you ask in german, the response would be in english!

[hariszaheer]

Einmal musste ich an einer Haltestelle auf den Bus warten. Ich war ganz allein auf der Straße. Es kamen ein paar Männer auf Motorräder. Sie hatten Lederjacken an und sahen wie typische Gangsters aus. Ich dachte daß es den Feierabend meines Lebens wäre. Einen von denen stieg von seinem Motorrad und kam zu mir. Er gab mir ein Blum, wünschte mir guten Abend und dann fuhren alle weg. Das war sehr lustig. 😂

[mikekind]

I think it’s weird for many when they go to Germany and experience how serious many people are. I know some Germans that live here in the US and here they are completely different. Way more open and you can joke around with them more.

[mikemcdonald]

Our visit to Germany was great. The thing that surprised me was there were no drinking fountains. When I went to buy water I asked in German and the reply I got was “gas, no gas”....I had no idea so I said made that mistake again!

[danielleantoinettemeyer]

I caught a bus in Berlin and told the driver where i needed to go. My German is probably as good as most five year olds. He was so angry that i was not a 'Berliner' ( a doughnut) that he interrupted me and shouted in my face " NUR DEUTSCH NUR DEUTSCH !" I then answered " Das war meine Deutsch ! Es ist ein bischen langweilig und einfach ABER ES IST DEUTSCH!" The best thing happened then- the people on the bus applauded me ! I am not usually so brave but he made me so angry! It seems crazy that the bus drivers are so rude when they are picking up people from the Hauptnahnhof from all over the world, who speak no german :( I understand everything must run on time, everything must be efficient ( my mother is swiss so i get it !( but i only said a few words before he shot me down. I still go to germany whenever i can ( I live in australia) but not Berlin.

[Trento]

Hallo, ich bin Italiener, habe Fremdsprachen studiert (Deutsch und Russisch), wohne in Belgien wo ich Französisch spreche und bin gerade dabei Niederländisch zu lernen. Ich schaue mir gerne Eure Videos an und wollte Euch gratulieren. Im ganzen Net seid ihr die besten Deutschlehrer. Man sieht einfach, dass es Euch Spaß macht. Nur weiter so...