Kultur 2

Hallo!

I had two major impressions from these readings. First, I immediately became hostile towards the author of "The German National Pastime". Yes, Mr. Colberg, everyone complains. This is a fact. Americans may be more likely to complain to their friends and to themselves, rather than to anyone around, but everyone is dissatisfied with life. No one ever responds to the question "how is everything?" with "everything is perfect!" Perhaps Mr. Colberg has simply been speaking to a disproportionately large number of optimists (of which most Americans are not).

My second impression had two parts. Upon reading "Brutally Honest", I was at first somewhat accepting. "Ok," I thought, "its a different culture with different mores." So what if Germans are more forthright about things, instead of beating around the bush as Americans tend to? However, then I realized that the reason Americans are typically so circumspect is that they actually care about the person to whom they speak's feelings. That lead me to the conclusion that Germans really don't give a $%*@ about other people, at least at some subconscious level. Then I got caught in between these two opinions, and cannot really make up my mind as to which is more likely to be valid (I'm leaning towards the first at this point, but...).

As for the 'staring' article, I feel like this is just leftovers from cold war era mentalities. Although, now that I think of it, were the KGB active in Germany? Were Germans encouraged to rat out their neighbor? My knowledge of recent european history is quite sparse... The 'statistics' article just seemed weird... Are generalities not good enough...?

Overall, I'm just a little bit weirded out...

Auf Wiedersehen!

Kultur 2

Reading the assigned Kultur 2 readings was very interesting when put together with the experience I had while living in Germany over summer.  I actually had the opportunity to experience most, if not all of these things while I was living there.  My experience was very good, but I could not help to notice that Germans do tend to have very specific quirks, which stick out heavily in their interactions both between themselves, and with me as a foreigner.

Regarding the first article, this is definitely something that I noticed very quickly.  Germans tend to worry about everything, all the time.  And for this reason, they are always complaining about different things.  Whenever I would strike a conversation with one of my friends, they would complain about things not going well enough, about things I didn't even know about, and just about nothing in general.  At first I thought maybe this was just my friend's personality but as time went on I realized that this was just how most people were, so I had to get used to their constant overworrying about everything.

As for the second article, it was very interesting to see this as well, because I lived in an area with various elderly couples.  Each time I walked to and from home I would get a staredown, probably since I didn't look like a German, yet I was always polite and said good morning to everyone, which I also noticed wasn't very common.  It was a bit interesting, because I felt like I was being judged.  There was, however, an exception to this, and it was my landlords.  I barely interacted with them, but they were always very nice to me.  They even went as far as to give us strawberries that they grew for sale in their farm.

Finally, the article about statistics and Germans being very well informed is very true and one of the things I actually really liked about the country.  It was great feeling that I could have an intelligent conversation about anything with any of my friends because they would at least have some sort of opinion about it.  It was fairly often I found myself debating social issues with them.

Overall, Germans are very particular and their quirks can make them seem cold and impersonal.  However, they are very good friends once you actually become their friend.  I know I had a great time, although I sometimes got annoyed with the complaining nature of most of them.  However, underneath the complaining they are great people who like to meet new people, learn about them and are always down for a beer.

Kapitel Zwei, AMD2

Guten Tag!

Even though Germans might seem different from us according to the articles, they are in fact not too different. There are still people like the articles described in the US. Everyday, I see ton of people bitching about everything; I see young and old people staring at other people; I see brutally honest people who cannot or bad at lying (myself included); and I also see the nerds, who are absolutely cool, bringing out statistics. Germans and US aren't too different, as Germans have higher percentage of the people the article described. I'm sure there are also a lot of fat people eating burgers in Germany, as we are known to be.

There are however, reasons why most Germans are grown to act like this. There weren't many specific reasons in the articles, but one pointed out that due to cold war, each East and West Germany was in alert of strangers. Due to the threat of capitalism or communism, citizens from each country were looking for people acting out of the ordinary to find spies.

Before I read this article, I did not know that majority of Germans acted this way. But now I know! Before I fly to German to visit my friends, I must study and memorize the population and the size of Ann Arbor in square meters.

Kapitel Zwei - Watching foreigners

These articles reminded me about the last time I went to New York City. It was me, mein Schwester, und mein Vater. We sat down in one of the many parks to eat our lunch we packed. As we sat there, mein Vater would point out all the different people he thought were foreign and name their nationality. At first I thought he was full of it. Then he pointed out a family walking towards us and said that they were Germans. Sure enough they walked by speaking to each other in Deutsche. I thought something was up and wanted to know how he knew that. He said that Germans always have a straight stare on their faces, plus the Vater was wearing I think loafers with high-whites (which apparently Germans did). He was pretty good too, he picked out a few more German and French families and I don't think he ever guessed wrong.

The article about statistics is also very pretty cool. Mein Physiks teacher is German and he always gets so excited when he is talking about boring stuff like that. We were doing a generic problem during our discussion and he got progressively more excited as he wrote out the problem. When he finished he almost broke the chalk piece in half slamming it against the board. He was like "Ja! Das big number!" I'm not even kidding, he says "Ja" and "das" all the time during lectures. After every explanation he says "Ja" to make sure we understand. It was pretty amusing how overly excited he got about a simple Physiks problem.

Personally, I've only met two Deutschelanders. We once had a foreign exchange student stay for a few days, she wasn't really a foreign exchange student though. She was a ballerina who was in America for a few weeks doing something and she had an aid or mentor that went everywhere with her. Pretty much the entire time she "Whined, moaned, and bitched" about everything from the weather to the bedroom we let her sleep in for free. What a jerk, we definitely didn't miss her once she left. Her mentor/teacher gave my sister a Teddy Bear before they left though and I was so jealous. I was only about seven years old so it was understandable. Good riddance you selfish Germans, that will learn you not to give me a gift.

Kultur2!

Hallo!

After reading the four articles for this Kultur assignment, I feel that if I was to meet a German I would be both amused and still some what uncomfortably confused by their social habits (even after being slightly aware of them). It's hard to say that any American wouldn't be uncomfortable being stared at, even knowing that the person doing the staring didn't mean it in the way that we would take it. I think it's very interesting that the staring habits could come from historical and social periods in their history, but I'm curious if there is any real reason behind the complaining habit. At least in my opinion, at least a recognizable minority of Americans tend to swear by the grass always being greener on the other side. From the perspective of an American, their frankness and honestly is fascinating. I can imagine it would make some social interactions a lot easier and smoother, unlike a lot of the unnecessary rhetoric that we push ourselves through these days.

Personally, I love documentaries and I can't get enough of them (or enough time to watch them) so if I ever went to Germany I would definitely stake out on a couch for a few days and learn some new things.

A lot of the small facts (patterns and trends, rather) and ideas that I picked up from these articles seem vaguely familiar to me. Maybe the familiarity comes from when I lived there as a very, very young child or when I visited in late elementary school - but both times are too far back to remember specifics, nor was I paying attention to such differences as a child. If I ever get the chance to visit Germany again in the future I will certainly pay attention, and maybe stare at a few people for fun.

A Surprising German Quality? :/

Hallo,

Who would have ever thought that Germans could be crazy. I knew everyone made fun of them sounding wütend all the time, but I didn't think they complained a lot. I'll have to watch out for that when I visit my friends. Anyways, I thought that Americans complained more, or that we are just very critical on many things, but I might be wrong. Maybe Sigmund Freud could figure that out about us humans.

As for the staring and getting into one's personal business, I don't think I could manage. I already get nervous if someone stares at me in the dining hall, let alone a library. I don't think I could handle a game of stare with a German. What have they got to look at? In addition, I think it would be quite rude for someone to get into my business through a window. Did I offer it to them? I kind of expect this in old women, but if a lot of Germans do this, I will have to try to keep my actions at an Ordnung fashion. :)

In the sense of answering a question, being honest is not rude at all. If anything I see it as not being modest all the time. My saying is "Tun Sie es, wenn Sie wünschen!" Of course, people may be hurt to some responses, but I don't think it should be the respondents fault. I wish people were more honest in America. I like how the article calls it a "polite inquiry". I found it funny when the journalist pointed out that "We should get together sometime" actually means "I hope I never see you again." :P Another part ich leibe about this article is that Germans are not subtil. They answer quickly and don't think twice. I wish I was like this.

As much as statistics are resourceful, I don't think I could find myself giving stats about my place. It's not that interesting. However, I do like their enthusiasm for learning a lot through statistics. Sometimes I fear that Germans may be biased or learn the wrong statistics about us Americans.

Overall, I was very impressed to learn about the German mannerisms and its difference to us Americans. I was kind of expecting this from Germany anyway, since I notice from my friends. I must have the cool ones because I don't think they're that verrückt (I believe that means crazy).

Auf Wiedersehen!

Jonathon Parker

Kapital Zwei Blog, Kultur 2

So, I have read all four texts about how Germans behave. As a Chinese, I would like to write a blog and compare our behaviors with theirs.

Germans love whining, as we can see from the text. Chinese love whining, too. Anyway, a country can not develop better if there are not a lot of complains. When people complain, the government knows what should do to peace their anger and thus, make the country better. But I think the difference between Chinese and Germans is, Chinese don't usually complain our country in front of foreigners because I think most of us (not all) want other people in the world to know the brighter side of our country.

As for the staring problem, I have to say that there is a huge difference between the two countries. Staring other people in China is very very offensive, especially children to elders. There is a rule in China, if you are talking to people older or have higher statue than you, you must low your sight down. We don't even feel comfortable looking other people's eyes when we are talking to them. It's necessary to avoid other's sight while talking to them. Only doing this can show your respect. However, this seems exactly the opposite in Germany.

Germans are very honest when they are talking,too. "Yes" is yes and "no" is no. But in China, sometimes "yes" means no and "no" means yes. For example, if you are asking a Chinese to do a very hard project and he or she may not be able to do it. He or she would probably say yes with a twisted face. So his or her word means yes but  face means no. Another example is that, if you are taking gifts to their home when visit them, they will say "no, I can't take it." but they actually mean "ok, please put it right here." It's just polite to say no and you always need to guess what they really mean.

As for the numbers, I think Chinese will never understand why Germans have obsession with statistics. I have heard that Germans need to know exactly how many milligrams of salt should put into the soup while cooking.  In China, we just say "half a spoon". Nobody cares exactly how much salt is in the soup. So maybe Germans can cook exactly the same soup every time but we Chinese can always cook different ones.

Kapitel zwei Post

I really enjoyed the articles for this Woche. What I liked most was that it showed Deutschland in a realistic, and funny way. Oft, people romanticize other countries and as a result never have a realistic picture of the country or its people. For example, the first article, poking fun at Germans' tendency to complain, shows that there is a real divide between how outsiders view Deutschland and how Deutschland views itself. Deutschland oft seems to be in better shape than other countries - with a successful business sector, increasing use of alternative energies, plenty of public transportation, and universal health care. Personally reading the article brought me down to earth with respect to how I viewed Deutschland.

Of the vier articles, the zwei most interesting to me were on the "Germanic Stare Down" and "Have you Gained Weight?". To begin, both were hilarious. I imagine how uncomfortable I would feel if all of a sudden I constantly caught people staring at me. Similarly, if someone asked me if I had gained weight, I would be pretty put off. Both of these discoveries were surprising, I think because I had always assumed that the cultural gap between the U.S. and Deutschland was never that large. But, upon reading the articles I learned that we differ enough to cause at least several uncomfortable situations!

Willkommen!!

Welcome to our class blog!

Throughout the semester, you will be posting here roughly every other week for your Abenteuer mit Deutsch (AMD) assignment. First you do a fun activity that involves German, then you post about it. You should spend an hour total on this (maybe 45-55 minutes doing something, 5-15 minutes posting about it). And make sure to add your name as one of the "Labels." See the links on AMD Ideen and Beispiele for ideas! This should get you excited about the kinds of things you can do!