What are some unique German conversational/attitude dispositions?

Question

For example, I know that Germans don't yell when they're angry; they lower their voices instead. Also, Germans typically are more straightforward and less likely to give praise than North Americans. What are some other unique customs like that? Also, Germans in general can't really be so humorless as the stereotype suggests, right?

Danke!

Answer 1

Who says Germans don't yell??? I'm having the honour of witnessing the daily row of our neighbours and they scream at the tops of their voices. Lol.

We yell just like everybody else.

Germans aren't as inclined to compliment somebody ,as Americans. When you look good, they appreciate it, but don't tell you. (I wish they did more, it doesn't cost a cent and makes people happy)

They do have a very dry sense of humour!

But they are generally inclined to feel depressed about anything, economy, unemployment, the government ... where other people would make an effort to solve problems, the Germans complain.

Germans like to be on time. When you arrange meeting friends, lets say, in spain, you say, come over in the afternoon and that means between 3 and 6 pm. In germany you say, come over at 3 pm, and if you're 5 minutes late, you have to apologize.

Germans tend to be not very open towards strangers. It isn't that they're not helpful, but they are very cautious.

Bitte sehr!

Answer 2

Right now I'm living in germany, i came from usa, and there's a big big difference on their culture, and the way they treat other people specially if  you are not the same as them, in my opinion they are cold, nothing affectionate, very arrogants, and seems like the mayority is that way.........and yes yes they get upset very easy and raise their voice a lot.........

Answer 3

Germans don't blame mishaps on others or circumstances, they take the blame for being clumsy, making a wrong decision, etc.

They also treat other property with respect.

They have rules driving and the rules are obeyed !!!

Answer 4

I moved to Germany almost 10 years ago, and there are some pretty big differences!

Germans may look cold and unfeeling from the outside, but they aren't. They are just very pragmatic and literal, which means they react quite differently to certain situations. Below a couple of examples:

Right after I came here, I ran into a German colleague in the restroom, and said "hi, how are you?" She replied with a detailed report of how her sinuses aren't draining properly... I was quite taken aback! I told another colleauge how strange I thought it was, and she said "well, you asked her how she is, didn't you?! What did you expect her to say??"

Moral of the story - if you ask a German how they are, they take it as a serious question, and tell you! If you don't want to know, don't ask. This is an example of how Germans approach relationships - they remain quite superficial with people they don't know well, but then develop quite deep relationships with people they get to know.

Another big difference is how they approach something bad / negative happening. If you hurt yourself in the USA, even if you do something dumb, people say "oh, how awful, I'm so sorry..." and if you do something dumb and hurt yourself in Germany, you don't get much sympathy - more likely they say "well, bad luck for you!" or even "it was your own fault, anyway!"

A quick story to illustrate this point - my German husband and I were cooking in my sister's kitchen in the USA; he accidentally broke a wooden spoon. Instead of apologizing profusely, as we would expect, he said "oh! you have a poor quality spoon!" When I asked him why he didn't apologize to her, he was quite taken aback, saying "why should I apologize if she has cheap utensils? She should apologize for not having the correct kitchen equipment!"

My best advice to people coming to Germany is not to be taken aback when a German person seems rude; try to look objectively at the situation, chances are they are simply reacting very literally or objectively, rather than emotionally. This doesn't mean they don't have emotions - they just keep them tucked away in their every-day dealings with people they don't know very well!