German Alphavbet and 'Have a nice day'.

[nightrose83]

Hi all

Comments

[sollersuk]

That sounds about the same degree of usage as in the UK - perhaps more than we do; someone phoning me would only say it if we have no real connection.

[nightrose83]

Thank you. I had wondered about how people view teenage pregnancy--a source I used said that when someone gets pregnant early, people will wonder why the couple didn't use a condom, but I wondered if people would generally be supportive of the mother or if it might still raise a few eyebrows here and there? Here, it's more lax than it used to be, but depends heavily on the individual people.

[nightrose83]

Yes, it does. Thank you.

[nightrose83]

I had one more (sorry). I know using anything to do with 'race' isn't socially acceptable in Germany when it concerns people. If someone is in a relationship with someone from another country/culture or has another skin color, what might be a way to describe that without using terms concerning 'race'? I also wondered if German schools have 'class picture day' where they line the kids up and take group class photos and then individual ones, of which they get prints later?

[nightrose83]

Thanks. I ran into an interesting word concerning what English speakers call 'snow angels.' Someone said the German for it would be 'Schnee-Engel' but another disagreed and said it was 'Schneeadler' (since they're also called snow eagles, although not in America). Which word would a German speaker use more, and do kids from Germany also make them when it snows?

[nightrose83]

That makes sense, given that the German Wikipedia seemed to refer to it being a North American/Canadian thing. I believe German kids will still make snowmen/snowballs/go sledding, though?

[nightrose83]

Thank you. I read more things and had more questions pertaining to that; when you meet someone German for the first time, what might be good topics of conversation? Asking 'how are you?' when you don't know someone well seems to come across as strange(again, from my reading), and asking questions about age/job/religion/etc. are considered prying until you get to know someone better. I know the concept of 'small talk' still exists, but would it be considered odd to use it if you don't know someone well? Some people who made trips from America to Germany have said that American topics of conversation seem to be more shallow (such as what they bought, or how the weather is, or what television show has most recently captured their attention).

[nightrose83]

Thank you. Just to be sure I have it right, 'how are you?' isn't for strangers, but people might use it to someone they've met a couple times/are friends with rather than someone they met, say, five minutes ago?

[nightrose83]

That makes better sense to me than the way we do things. Thank you.