German V British Manners!

[hyidi]

The language is not the only difference I had thought that separated these two countries! There is cultural differences and manner differences aswell! which I never knew of.

Are Germans ruder than the British? Are Britons more dishonest than Germans? Fortunately, we don't have to rely on blind prejudice for answers. Serious academic research has been done on both sides of the North Sea.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13545386

[Ocko]

I think the difference is between (british) dominance and (german) power.

dominance needs control and 'coolness', overview, politely giving directions etc.

power, is direct, straight to the point and rather pushy. they don't waste energy they direct it.



But there are differences at least in Germany, Berlin is pretty rude, Hamburg is more british oriented and is more cool/polite, Duesseldorf is aloof, Frankfurt is about money. Frisian don't talk very much (there are exceptions as you see), Bavarians are pretty social, and so on.

British soldiers in Germany are direct, tough and aggressive, so it isn't very british.

It is also a question of class behaviour, I think the british still try to orient themselves after the upper classes, whereas in Germany you really don't, you are what you are.

I also think that Britains people have a better flavor for words, their preferred art form is the poem, or like Shakespeare, the play. I think they like more to play with words.

Germany's prevalent art form is music and painting. They express themselves differently. German language is difficult to use for poems, Rilke is very much a master and such an exception. The german language doesn't fit easy into poems.

There are significant differences but the cultures are not really far away.

[Hesse]

This article mentions how Germans dinnae like small talk and are direct; I'm so much like that because it really annoys me when people start doing small talk with me or just overall useless discussion capable of accomplishing nothing, especially when I need to move on. I just think to myself "what a waste of time"! I'm like, "talk about something more productive, cannae you"?

These people really need to learn to get a life

My grandfather, though 3-4 times as German was completely different though.

[hyidi]

Wall Flower,
Maybe cause you're German grandfather was not born in Germany? (not raised in Germany? he would be then different from Germans that were born in Germany. If he was born in USA,you're grand father would had learned 'small talk' cause USA is like Briton.I suppose.

Yeah I know,some German member on here, mention this a few weeks ago! If you say 'How are you' to a German that they will go on about there whole day even if they are having a bad day,they tell you everything (cancel my plans for the day,LOL) not realizing that we actually never meant that. Germans probably don't know small talk is a meaning of being polite.

In Australia we have the same policy as Briton! In Briton 'how are you' is always answered as' Good thank you, 'how are you'. Small talk but very polite.....There is no run down of how you're day has been unless some one actually requested directly that they want to know what you did for the whole day. So Briton (in that sense) won't be any trouble for me.

I have heard that during soccer season in Briton that the English men lose there politeness and some people call English men hooligans! They say that English can be the worst in the world in regards to politeness and English terrorists do not help Briton at all,while Germany's ranks higher in regards to German terrorist.

But over all,Briton is known for being polite more so than other Europe countries.....That's going off Internet responses for both countries,I never experiences this as yet!

[Hesse]

Wall Flower,
Maybe cause you're German grandfather was not born in Germany? (not raised in Germany? he would be then different from Germans that were born in Germany. If he was born in USA,you're grand father would had learned 'small talk' cause USA is like Briton.I suppose.

You're right, he was not born in Germany, he's just descended from German grandparents who came to the usa.

[EQ Fighter]

The language is not the only difference I had thought that separated these two countries! There is cultural differences and manner differences aswell! which I never knew of.





http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13545386

Are Germans ruder than the British? Are Britons more dishonest than Germans? Fortunately, we don't have to rely on blind prejudice for answers. Serious academic research has been done on both sides of the North Sea.

LOL!

As Americans we got them both beat, we are both Rude and Dishonest, sometimes at the same time.

[hyidi]

At least you Americans got the best accents out of the English speaking world. The British accent sounds odd and the Australian accent sounds squeaky

[Ralf]

Now my Father is Prussian, but I had no contact with him after I was 18 months old, so I was brought up by English in England, yet I identify 100% with the German side of this article, so much so that I wondered if maybe I had Aspergers syndrome.

So maybe this isnt a cultural trait but a hard wired genetic quality of the Germans?

[ozhammer]

Now my Father is Prussian, but I had no contact with him after I was 18 months old, so I was brought up by English in England, yet I identify 100% with the German side of this article, so much so that I wondered if maybe I had Aspergers syndrome.

So maybe this isnt a cultural trait but a hard wired genetic quality of the Germans?

Autism and Asperger's Is rubbish and was made up by A Jewish Psychologist

[Thusnelda]

I also think that Britains people have a better flavor for words, their preferred art form is the poem, or like Shakespeare, the play. I think they like more to play with words.

German language is difficult to use for poems, Rilke is very much a master and such an exception. The german language doesn't fit easy into poems.

Well sorry Ocko, but I must completely disagree here. Many German lyricists are famous and worldwide known for their excellent poems, it already starts with people like Walther Von der Vogelweide in the medieval ages. And as German language is extremely complex, it offers many and great opportunities to create lyrics and poems. German language is complex but very structured and brings forth beautiful words by our practice of combining different nouns into one word (which isn´t possible in English language) and the periphrasing of different words regarding their original circumstance ("Habseligkeiten" has a beautiful sound, for example, but it means nothing else than "possessions").

I think the basic problem here is that only native speakers of German language are able to understand and recognize the true depth and background of German poems and lyrics while foreign speakers can just scratch on the surface due to the fact that it´s not their mother tongue.

I´m pretty sure that I´m unable to recognize the true depth of Shakespeare just because I´m not a native English speaker the other way around.