(Untitled)

[nightrose83]

Hi all,

Had a scenario/some questions about Germany that I'd like some details on.

Comments

[shadowvalkyrie]

the general consensus is, 'If the person is currently 40ish (as of the year 2002) and under, kept up with their English, and lived in a city with Anerican military bases/tourism, most people wouldn't have trouble understading him/her. The percent goes down the older the person in question gets, or if they haven't kept up with their English.' I wanted to make sure that was accurate before relying on it. Better safe than sorry.

Seems accurate enough to me. It really comes down to individual talent and practice, since anyone who went to school in Western Germany would have had English in school for a few years, and if the environment is conducive to it (like with the military base in close proximity) they'd probably have retained quite a bit.

What mistakes might she make with her English that a native English speaker might pick up on? While the languages share some similar traits, the sentence structure is different from my understanding.I think pronunciation might be the most immediately noticeable trait. But again, that depends on

[sollersuk]

There's a story of a German tourist in an English cafe whose service was... not very good. Finally he stood up and called out, "I am here since half an hour. When will I become a sausage?"

[sashatwen]

Also, Britain's close enough that many Germans vacation there or do student exchanges, even class trips. It comes down to personal interest and practice, true, but I was pretty much fluent by the time I was 15 and the longest time I had spent in England was three weeks.

Which reminds me - one feature noone has mentioned yet is that Germans tend to be taught British English at school. At least I was, and I retain some B.E. expressions and grammar up to this day.

[sashatwen]

It would probably be difficult for her to distinguish between normal friendly behaviour between strangers and real sincere efforts to become friends.

This.

[sashatwen]

My first question would be: WHAT PART OF THE USA. I think the kind of culture shock she will experience will vary greatly depending on whether it's a rural place or a city, one of the coasts or the Midwest, a WASPish family or a family of mixed cultural/ethnic heritage, a rich or a poor family

[lied_ohne_worte]

Re guns: We actually do own them - 10 million registered ones, and the police estimates 20 million illegal ones. The latter often tend to be things someone's grandpa brought back from some war or other, which is just lying around somewhere because no one is bothered enough to return it, not necessarily something someone bought on the black market today. I know both people who own legal and illegal ones

[sashatwen]

I had no idea there were that many guns around! Interesting. I guess I was naive about this because I personally don't know anyone who owns one, and yes, you're right, definitely noone who displays theirs.

[lied_ohne_worte]

I used to think no one had them too, even though I am from a village that had a Schützenverein, people who went hunting, and all... but I really didn't make the connection between the people there and the ones in the US claiming their Second Amendment. It's an entirely different ideology when it comes to gun ownership and usage.

[selene_moon]

I spent my summer in Germany, so I can talk about #3 from the opposite experience (or if you want an idea of how Americans would react to learning about cultural differences

[selene_moon]

Part Two, because I talk way too much

[lied_ohne_worte]

For tipping we were told you generally rounded up to the nearest euro, or at most left and extra euro or two.

Ten percent is generally considered more appropriate (which of course with smaller orders will come to the amounts you cite, but which will be more if you pay for a whole group). Servers in Germany don't rely on tips to the extent that those in the US seem to do - the basic wage for wait staff here in Germany seems to start at what comes to about 9 USD per hour, and can go up to 13 or so, I think. Not tipping or tipping little, while not nice to the waiter, is not considered that much of an unusual gesture here. So, a German who comes to the US and gives a normal, even a high German tip, might unwittingly cause trouble and offence.

[rebecca2525]

Pharmacies are the only ones allowed to sell medication over here, even prescription-free stuff. There was a big fuss a few years back whether online pharmacies should be allowed or not, but I have to admit I don't remember what the result was. But now that you mention it, in the American book I'm currently reading a character bought medicine (with prescription) in a shop that wasn't a pharmacy, and it stood out for me as something that's different.

[rebecca2525]

I agree with shadowvalkyrie

[germankitty]

I think there might be differences regarding religion, too; religion seems less prevalent in every-day life here, though I'm not sure whether it only feels that way to me, whether it's because we're more private about religion, or less religious on average.I was thinking about that, actually; I'm in my mid-fifties, and NO ONE among my friends and neighbours ever offers or asks to pray for someone or something, for example. A few of my mother-in-law's elderly friends might offer to pray in exceptional cases and if they're known to be pious, but that's pretty much it