(Untitled)

[nightrose83]

Hi all,

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

Comments

[lied_ohne_worte]

- Metric system. She'll have difficulties understanding miles, gallons, etc.

Oh yes. I can do the miles - kilometer thing, but liquid measures totally elude me, to the point where I really cannot understand why anyone would cling to those strange things. ;-)

[lied_ohne_worte]

Oh dear, I am so frustrated when I see English-language recipes mentioning "a cup of" whatever ingredient. I have so many different cups, most probably different from US ones, and a volume conversion will only work for liquids... nightmare.

[lied_ohne_worte]

An issue that no one has mentioned, as far as I can see, is religion. In Germany, it's a very private thing, and some things that are happening in the US (like introducing literal content from the Bible into school science classes) seem weird even to Germans like myself who belong to a church. Here, a politician who had a literal understanding of the Bible and wanted to legislate people's private lives using the parts that deal with rules of living made for people in a desert 2000 years ago would pretty much remove themselves from any chance of being elected, even if they were in the party that sports a "C" for Christian in its name

[lied_ohne_worte]

Another small thing that surprised me: TV advertisements for lawyers (I think for the ones you call "ambulance chasers"). In Germany, damage sums for suing somebody are much lower than in the US, some say too low, so you will hear few threats of "I'll sue you!", and there doesn't seem that big a rush to find out whom you could sue if something unpleasant happens.

[chesneycat]

My husband was cycling on a marked cycle path when a car driver drove across it without looking. One fractured spine later, we got to learn all about the German legal and compensatory systems. Luckily, he can still walk (and breathe!), but I imagine most American's would be shocked ata the compensation levels. It doesn't seem disproportionately low to my English POV - you're covered for expenses, loss of earnings/ability to work for either you or your employer, and there's a level of compensation for personal injury and inconvenience. For six months in a back brace and all that that entails, plus some minor ongoing discomfort, the tariff is well within four figures. Our lawyer showed us the book she had which set it all out - all very organised, really, even if it did take the best part of two years before everything was done with (though mostly that was to cover the medical follow-ups

[veradee]

Pronunciation. The 'th' can be an issues but far mor telling is the 'r'-sound, the English 'r' is pronounced very differently than the German 'r'. Same with 'v' and 'w'.

The r might be a problem, particularly the American r, if one like me never learnt American English, but I think reports that Germans can't pronounce the th and mix up the v and w are widely exaggerated. :)

I've come to believe that the most telling problem when it comes to pronunciation is that the English language knows no terminal devoicing. Most Germans will pronounce words like "hand", "bag", "gas" with a t-sound, k-sound or s-sound respectively because that's how it is done in German. And that seems to be something that no teacher ever explains properly.

[veradee]

I'm pretty sure that we were taught th, v, w and the British r at school. I only heard about the terminal devoicing at uni, though, and that came a bit as a shock because I couldn't understand why no one had ever bothered to mention it during nine years of learning English. I really think it makes a lot of a difference.

[m_kir]

Other mentioned less guns here - not just guns, but also, video games are censored for violence/too much gore/etc.

The other side of it is that you have much more access to nudity - for example, most sports/fitness magazines will have pictures of nearly nude or topless women, sometimes on the covers. You also have a topless woman in newspapers on page 3 or page 7 or whatever.

Hand in hand with the "less religion" thing is also the fact that picketing clinics that provide abortions is just ... very very fringe behaviour.

Also, look up the political system in Germany, which is very different than in the US: there are more political parties than in the US, and they act differently. In the US, it feels like they're only election machines.

Oh, and nth-ing the bread thing. I'll also add that the one time I was in the US, there were some big yummy-looking apples, which turned out to be the blandest things I'd ever tasted. But I don't know if it's like that everywhere.

[lied_ohne_worte]

Hand in hand with the "less religion" thing is also the fact that picketing clinics that provide abortions is just ... very very fringe behaviour.

Or handing out religious pamphlets, randomly telling people they will go to hell, asking them whether they have been reborn... all well beyond what most Christians would consider acceptable behaviour.

[lied_ohne_worte]

I think I have handled two checks in my entire life, and was really not sure what to do with them either. And agreed on "balancing the check book" - I read that in English-language texts, and I'm still not entirely clear on what that entails. Even people like my parents who don't do online banking use standing payments and direct debits. Actively paying something that happens regularly each month isn't something I'd even consider.

[rebecca2525]

I've never seen a check up close in life. I also only have have had my credit card for two or three years, and the only reason I got it is for ordering online outside of Germany, or for trips outside of Germany. Normally debit card, cash and bank transfers are sufficient. It's also worth noting that most credit cards people have here are tied to their bank account and not so much *credit* cards, but rather more like a different sort of debit card, i.e. you're accessing the money you already have. And you normally just have the one card or maybe two (I have one visa and one master for the same bank account). Big companies like Amazon providing their own credit cards are popping up here, too, but so far they haven't really caught on.

[syredronning]

I think the last time I actually had to deal with a check was last century.

Oh yes, that check thing! I read some financial US blogs and I always shake my head about this aspect.