What Germans REGULARLY Do That Americans NEVER Do! 🇩🇪
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- Опубліковано 26 лип 2024
- After moving to Germany and living in Germany for nearly 3 years, we have learned that there are some things that Germans do that Americans either DON'T do or would NEVER do! What things are unique to Germany or things Germans do that may just be social taboos in other countries? Watch as an American reacts to what he has discovered 😊
#AmericansInGermany #GermanyVlog #MovingToGermany
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❤️Aubrey was a Speech-Language Pathologist and Donnie was a graphic designer, but we both had a dream to #travel the world and experience cultures. After three years of being married and dreaming about if something like this great adventure would be possible, we decided to quit the rat race and take on the world. We sold everything we had, quit our jobs, and took off! After 9 months of aimless and nonstop travel, we now get to fulfill our dreams of #LivingAbroad as #expats as we move to #Germany!
000:00 - Video Starts
1:30 - Gettin' Outta Our Cultural Rut - Germans Say What??
2:06 - Thing #1
4:38 - Thing #2
7:05 - Thing #3
9:08 - Thing #4
10:55 - Bloopers
Thanks for watching guys! If you liked this video, try checking out some of our others:
Things Germans Do WAY More Than Americans! 🇩🇪 - ua-cam.com/video/UDTZ8wD6YB0/v-deo.html
4 Of Our Weirdest Culture Shocks in Germany As Americans - ua-cam.com/video/oYymq4iB8f4/v-deo.html
7 Random Things Germans Do That DON'T Make Sense! 🇩🇪 - ua-cam.com/video/Eo5iB-KCzHA/v-deo.html
6 Things That SHOCKED Us About Being Pregnant in Germany as Americans! 🇩🇪 - ua-cam.com/video/HFHFL6-vs8s/v-deo.html
5 Random Things Germans Do That Just Make Sense! 🇩🇪 - ua-cam.com/video/evns0GsbyrQ/v-deo.html
Americans Try Nostalgic German Candy & Snacks For The First Time! - ua-cam.com/video/7aIVVNz5u1w/v-deo.html
The reason for having a centralized mailbox is security and privacy.
All mailboxes in Germany are usually secured by a lock.
For the mailman to be able to take a letter from your mailbox at home means that you either have no lock at all or that they must have a duplicate key for the lock.
This means that potentially anyone (or at least anyone who can grab the duplicate key if you have a lock) would have access to your mail.
Hence unkown people could take some of the letters or just spy on what kind of mail you have in your mailbox.
To prevent such cases in Germany any private mailbox is usually secured by a lock which only the owner of said mailbox has a key to.
The only other people who would have a key to it would be people personally entrusted by the owner with a duplicate key - for example a close family member in caser you are on holiday or in the hospital.
So the only people with access to the mail in your mailbox are people you personally trust.
As a result you need centralized mailboxes (or post offices) to send letters.
mailbox argument 1. so your mailman comes at a certain time of day, once, with centralized boxes there is several times a day they get emptied, speeding up the process of sending something
2. centralized mailboxes also make sure how the mail does not get mied up
3. we got postmen which drive a bike they empty their poaches on their ride, thus making it less of a hustle to get back, also imagine it would be used as much in germany, they'll have to haul back a lot, sometimes exceeding capacities. but yeah not having to walk a few hundred meters must be a great advantaage for americans
I would probably go with: Guten Appetit, Lasst es euch schmecken, Guten Hunger, 'Nen guten
I never Reservation a restaurant. I never know people, that did this different to my.
Only if this is a highclass restaurant, big group or a day that many people go to a restaurant like Silvester.
I just think this people has much fear.
I dont see a really cultural different in average.
In the USA no theft in your home mailbox? And all are save?
"Mahlzeit" is more like a general greeting, often during break or lunch time, while "Guten Appetit" is usually only used at the table right before everyone begins to eat.
And it originates from "gesegnete Mahlzeit" (may your meal be blessed)
Depending of the region. In one region it is more used as greeting in other more as a way to say "Guten Appetit".
@@justTyping thanks, that helps a lot. I have lived in different parts of Germany as a child and never figured out why Mahlzeit is used so randomly. I never thought that was a regional difference, usually those are easier to spot.
🤣it got a bad habit in our regiment to great everybody on street with "Malzeit" - instead of a military salute. This let to a regiment order - somebody passed the commander 2AM and said "Malzeit"
@@SL-gb8qd "Mahlzeit" ist most commonly used as a greeting-phrase in West Germany, e.g. in the North most of the time is used "Moin" - even in the evening in both regions.
But it is correct that in other parts of Germany "Mahlzeit" is only said to start eating at the table.
For the mail system: Yes, the american system is easier. However for many germans it is just inconceivable that basically anyone could just have access to your mailbox and maybe steal either your incoming or outgoing mail. And this also interacts with the still happening majority of snail mail in germany. Mail in Germany can often contain contracts, your new payment card or passcode and many more. So for germans the mailbox is more of an extention of your home, and you wouldn't let anyone anytime in your home...
I don't know. If the letter is confidential just don't put it in. If its not (like almost every letter) the social embarrasment should stop someone reading your letters.
@@Kontra57 That may be true for outgoing mail, but above talks about incoming mail. Remember that official papers deposited in your inbox are considered legally delivered.
German mailboxes are built different too. They have a lock on them so you are the only person with access. putting a letter in your mailbox to send it just wouldn’t make sense. I would say 98% of German mailboxes are built that way so it would be way expensive to change that whole system… and I wouldn’t count on the embarrassment thief’s have 😅
The problem with the mail is that the mailman can't open most people's mail boxes. Only the owners should have the key for that.
Especially since we send so many important documents via letters it's important that our mail can't easily be accessed.
In Germany this is the case, whereas in the US, important documents aren't sent via mail nearly as much as in Germany. So there is that difference for sure!
Yeah, quite a few German prefer privacy over convenience!
My mailbox actually was broken up once and my letters were potentially stolen.
@@PassportTwo So how are important documents sent?
Would find it really risky if everyone could just open my postbox and steal everything.
Ok its not hard to break into one, but they still seem more secure than in the US.
It's rarly "Ciao" but "Tschau" (or Tschüs). Although it originates from the italian "Ciao" it's only used when saying goodbye whereas the italian "Ciao" also is used for greeting people.
Depending where you are it's also common to say "Lasst es Euch schmecken", "Guten Hunger" or just "Haut rein" 🤣🤣
Did you comment this before I got to the part where I mentioned it being spelled "Tschau"? 😉😅
Depends on where you live. In the western Rhineland area we say Tschöö, which has its roots in the French Adieu, it goes back to the French occupation under Napoleon.
Dont forget the spelling "Tschö" (mit ö)
@@PassportTwo I think they were talking about the fact that in the video it sounded like Ciao was the more common spelling, when in reality hardly anyone spells it the Italian way.
@@leDespicable I think many people don't even knew it's an Italian word to begin with and just used "Tschau" as if it was a german-origin word (until they eventually found out, probably in early adulthood or youth, that it actually comes from "ciao"). Aber kann nur von mir berichten.
In Germany you make reservations in restaurants just to make sure that there will be space for you, especially in large groups or on special days like Easter or Christmas. But you can also spontaneously enter a restaurant and ask for a table or just sit at a table you like which has no reservation sign on it.
In addition:
Reservations are also often made, if the restaurant in question is quite popular in your area...
reservations are also made if you want to meet up with friends in a restaurant and you will make sure it works as meeting point and you don't need to change the location while some of the friends haven't arrieved yet.
In addition waiting for a seat in or around the restaurant is not a thing here. Especially not for 1-2h like it's read from US. If it's only 15min one might wait, but otherwise you just look for another restaurant. But we prefer clear points of time in advance. And therefore we do reservations if it's at least a small group or you know it might be a difficult time.
Our personal mailboxes are designed to make it impossible (or at least hard) to take letters OUT from the outside / delivery side on purpose. So it's a lot less likely that someone is going to steal ones mail.
They are intentionally NOT designed for the mail man to take stuff OUT.
Also it would take the mail truck a loooooot longer to collect all the mail that needs to be SENT.
I find the german system way more efficient and safe, at the price of the inconvenience when one wants to send a letter out.
Also, there is usually a public postbox within 2-3 minutes walking distance of where people live and always in town centres where people tend to go shopping.
Putting a letter in your box with the red flag just screams to be stolen. I can only speak for Switzerland but here it is not that uncommon to send contracts, keys or other confidential documents in a normal letter as we generally have high trust into the Swiss Post. But putting your letter in a public available slot and even indicate, that there is something to grab, does undermine this trust. So centralized box it is, which has to fulfill security standards. If you want to be absolutely sure that your letter arrives you can always send it as a recorded delivery (Einschreiben), but this usually costs more and you have to go to the Post office for this.
No I don't like Schlager, but in Switzerland this is not as big of a deal as in Germany.
One of the big reasons why the US has dramatically moved away from snail mail is the insecurity and speed. But, like I mentioned, we still have centralized mail collection bins where you can send more secure mail if you so choose. You don't HAVE to put highly sensitive mail in your mailbox and raise the red flag, but if you are sending a birthday card to grandma, you can 😊
@@PassportTwo it's all about that the mailman and your neighbors and everybody else cannot access your mail box, since the mail box is only accessible with a key. So, to pick up mail from the senders' home boxes, the mailman would need to have the key to every single mail box. It's not feasible.
Also, mail delivererers in Germany usually do not check every mail box, they only get to the ones they have mail for. So basically, if there is nobody receiving mail in your street today, they won't even go to your street.
@@PassportTwo it's not about the important documents you send. It's about the one you get. Here in Switzerland it's not uncommen to get your bancdocument, credit cards, tax document and even the pin code for your credit card by mail. So imagine your mail box open for everyone and they can just grab the letter and go shopping with your card.
I feel the same. Sometimes I even avoid to use certain mailboxes at special time. For instance I would not post anything on 31.12 since I would be worried that some maniac puts a cracker in the box and destroys the mail. I could imagine the open letterbox works for rural areas and I would be surprised if this system is used also in big cities such as New York or Chicago.
In the US, it's still quite common to send checks in the mail. Yes, "the check is in the mail" is not an outdated stereotype.
In Bavaria we say "An guad'n." before we start eating. This roughly translates to "have a good appetite". And "Mahlzeit !" (Meal-time) even functions as a greeting during the time of the lunch break !
Very interesting! Hadn't heard "An guad'n" before 😃
@@PassportTwo maybe you have heart in the palatinate people just chewing it up a bit and say gudn' or something like that thats nearly the same in aniother dialect
@@gehtdichnixan3200 I can confirm - "gud'n" is fairly commonplace in the Palatinate (certainly in the corned of the Palatinate where they live) and in Saarland.
That is right and i also think it is often not possible to translate wird’s direktly, because there is not online the ethymology also a regionality how are words are used.
@@PassportTwo it's only in Bavaria and it is very casual.
I'm a German currently living with my wife and daughter in Manila Philippines.
We found it here super confusing, that when encountering people that eat (like colleagues, or the handyman in your place taking a break), they would usually say "let's eat sir".
The way its said, makes it sound like an invitation, to share their meal with them. We assum his is as well where the habit originated from.
Yet, it's more like a phrase then an actual invite. Similar to an American greeting you with "how are you?" and not really expecting you to say whats going on in your life.
Yet, at the beginning i was worried to be rude by turning down their friendly invitation, and started to sit down and try some of their food...
Well, looking back this must had been awkward for both sides quite a bit.... 😂
this is when phrases and idioms are "refreshed" in their meaning. People forget what they actually mean until they get reminded..... Good for you. I bet these colleagues now make sure to say something they mean when they talk to you. it is like when someone says good morning, and i look at them and say: "is it? is it really?"
In China you are asked whether you have eaten yet: "Chi le ma?" But it is meant just like: How are you? by closer friends. Because an empty stomach makes one feel bad.
"Mahlzeit" is more often used among workers, to tell each other that it is time for lunch and they can stop working. Earlier there was a bell to indicate lunch time but some workers in loud areas could not hear that. Some coworkers came to them and told them "Mahlzeit" and that is still a phrase today. "Mahlzeit" directly translates as "meal time".
"You are immediately seated". Another big difference there (that some expat(s) have mentioned :D): in Germany, you aren't seated in most restaurants, you pick a table yourself. No host/hostess, generally.
Yor are not be seated and your car is definetly not parked from a foreigner.
Or you even pick/get a closer selection during reservation (like "at a window" or "not next to the entrance")
In Deutschland fährt der Postbote nicht jeden Tag eine komplette Runde, sondern nur zu den Häusern an welche Post versendet wurde.
Und das bedeutet eine komplette Runde… also so gut wie überall, ausser in sehr spärlich bewohnten ländichen Gegenden.
@ Na ja, Weiler und Einzelhöfe und Einzelhäuser müssen oft / in der Regel gar nicht angefahren werden. Aber das ist vermutlich mit spärlich besiedelt gemeint. Ich finde schon, dass das dem Postboten ziemlich Strecke spart, weils eben keine komplette Runde ist.
@@brauchebenutzername Ja, das meine ich mit spärlich besiedelt. Klar spart das Zeit. Aber die meisten Boten machen die ganze Runde… da wird dann an dem einen oder anderen Haus (auch "Einzelhaus") vorbeigefahren, wenn dahin kein Brief geht, aber die Runde wird trotzdem komplett abgefahren.
Buon appetito, que aproveche... it’s common in many languages to have a phrase to wish each other a good meal, not just German or French. Sitting down together for a meal is a very important occasion to show your good manners, and your genuine interest in other people’s well-being, so wishing each other that they enjoy their meal seems a logical start. The outlier seems to be English in this case.
And “ciao”, which is derived from Venetian dialect, has not just spread to German. It’s probably more common in Europe, where more people learn at least one foreign language, than in English speaking countries, to use expressions that originated in a foreign language. Today this will often be English words, but since French preceded English as an international lingua franca among social elites, there are a lot of french expressions that have found their way into other European languages that can be used without causing any bewilderment, like pardon or merci, or even d’accord.
It’s generally people who know almost no foreign language who feel that someone who uses a foreign word is pretentious - this reaction really is a symptom for a solid chip on their shoulder.
Well, Italian immigrants have had an influence on that. Italian is not a common language to learn. But Italians are kind of the only nation of all, who speak very much italian in their restaurants, even have their menus in Germany in Italian. So what other chance do you have than to learn it. You have Insalata and Antipasti on the menu and you are lost of you have no idea what this is. And of course the patrone is welcoming you with Bienvenuto and Arrividerci.
There are also words, used by some generations only, they had kind of a fashion. D'accord was in style in the late 80ies, early 90ies and is hardly used any more today.
French as lingua Franca was in the 19th century. So it had influence on many banking, office, railway and theatre terminology. The only later push was in the 1970ies in the restaurant buisness, when french dining was state of the art. Introducing patisserie, chef de partie, chef de sous, mise en place etc. into language.
first of all, Schlagermusik should be considered a crime against humanity.
The Mailbox Pickup is quite work intensive, considering germans predominantly live in cities and the population density is about 10 times higher than in the us.
a central collected mailbox is just more convenient for the Postal Service and also alot less expensive
To be completely honest, I think the population density argument makes more sense for Germany to put the US system in place. With the population density being so low in the US, you would think it costs way too much for a mailman to drive all over in-between homes to get the mail rather than asking all those people spread out to put their mail in one concise location. Whereas in Germany, with the density being so tight (although, there are cities in the US with a much higher population density than even Berlin), mail is already close to each other meaning the mailman doesn't have to travel far to gather the mail from each person...
@@PassportTwo well, each Mailman in the US has to cover less households in suburbia than in a german city. (where suburbia does not really exist)
considering that just in the block where i live in an area of 200x100m more than 126 households exist, and that the postal service in general goes by bike...
And they even remove a lot of central letterboxes so that you have to bring your mail to a post office (or a shop that works as such) to get your letter delivered.
for the mail: in gemany the mail is a really high good and value, only on the country side you might finde mail boxes like the US ones, but in general except for the owner it is not possible to grab something out of the box, this is a safety feature. also the centralised mail boxes are secured, in differnt ways from electronic systems to just mechanikal systems to stop intruders. But you can alwys give your letter or parcell to a post employee, when u see one.
there is also another reason mail man in germany espacially in cities dont use cars to deliver letters, tese letters get braought in boxes to delivery< stations where the mail man can pick them up and do their round, this system is completly one way....
Damn! Please learn some English.
For the reservation thing: As a working chef for almost 15 years now, I can tell you it´s much more easy for the cooking team to prepare the right amout of food. Also the service personal can fit your groupe better in and maybe prepare something nice or a special wish for you. (PS.: plus kitchen staff likes to see when they can start cleaning after the table-list is finished ;-) )
About the mail thing - in Germany almost all home mail boxes can only be opened with a key. So the mailman (and everyone else, besides the owner) can only drop mail in but not take mail out (easily). Also it would require the mailmen to check every single mailbox (those with raised flags) and collect the mail and remember that Germany is generally much more densly populated then most areas in the US, so mor eoften then not a central mail box or post office is always in walking distance, so its not much of an inconvenience. Seems to me much more work for the mail office the US way. So its about efficency and privacy i guess.
We also just say " N' Gut'n!" instead of Guten Appetit as an abbreviation, so it means "Ich wünsche euch einen guten Appetit!"
As somebody who used to work in a family restaurant, I can tell you: There are still not enough people to make reservations.
Saturday lunch normally is one of the days not many people are comming. It is like 2-3 people per day. Sunday lunch it is full. Saturday evening full. Friday evening full, Thursday evening full. Sunday evening - quite full. Beginning of the month more people tend to go eating, etc. So - we do have a good clue when we will have more guests.
BUT, there are also saturday lunchtimes were 80 people decide spontanously to go for lunch. They arrive in groups of 3-4 people and are all thrown back, when the restaurant is full... Well happens... but if there are already 80 people there, it is quite likely that a bus will halt directly in front of the restaurant and all the people of the bus will also come in.
Since we didn't get exactly why these peaks happen - we speculate about some kind of primeval instinct, that gets people to make spontanous decisions to go out eating.
A valid alternative to "Tschau" is "Tschö" =). "Mahlzeit!" becomes a super-vocabulary at work, where it means "Enjoy your meal", "Hi", "Bye" and "I'm taking my lunch break now" - all at once! I think centralised mailboxes can have the advantage of being emptied and thus processed at the same time. And it eliminates errors by unattentive staff at sorting incoming and outgoing mail. This can be also be crucial in Mail centers. I think there's a Sendung Mit Der Maus on this topic. Schlager is dreadful.
Yes good idea to give your neighbors all the access to your mail. Especially in a apartment building. People snatching up my bank mails to see how much money i have. Going through my tax declaration and return. I want my mailbox locked up, to give at least some deterrent for people getting my mails. For that i have no problem walking to a mailbox once a month.
German Mailboxes are private. The post office worker has no access to the letters delivered. The boxes to send your letters can only be accessed by post office workers. So it is very unlikely that unauthorized persons can touch your mail.
And you have that option in the US as well with centralized collection boxes if you have very important documents you are sending. However, if you just have a birthday card you want to drop in the mail, no concern, just put that in your home mailbox 😊
Another big difference although I have not been in the USA awhile is almost everyone uses the 24 hour clock. Especially on the radio and TV. They say it's 18 Uhr, 6 pm. 18 o'clock. I can't remember when I was invited to evening dinner or a social event at 6 Uhr abends, evening. It has always been 18 Uhr.
As far as I can tell, modern German speakers will use "die Mahlzeit" to mean "the meal", because "das Mahl" is very old-fashioned nowadays, unless you refer to something specific like "das letzte Abendmahl" (the last supper).
About Schlagermusik: most of it feels like "ein Schlag ins Gesicht" ! (a slap in the face) I prefer Classic, Metal, and Jazz.
Ya, I really don't have any frame of reference for how often "Mahlzeit" is said before a meal besides I noticed that when I watched the German version of "The Office," "Stromberg," I noticed they used it a couple of times in the canteen 😅
@@PassportTwo yes its a "signal word " that the one saying it is going for his or her lunchbreak and the others to wish him a nice break with a good meal something like that
@@PassportTwo in my experience mahlzeit is most often used when someone burps which i think is funny. for guten appetit we also sometimes say just guten, guten hunger, or in as my grandma puts it: Lasst es euch schmecken! Besser wie es ist. (Enjoy your meal. better than it is). this is usually said by the person preparing the meal and comes from her time in the DDR where food after the war was often meager but prepared with love so it often tasted better than it was.
@@PassportTwo Mahlzeit can be used as the start to go about the food so everybody knows it is okay to eat now.
Then in an office environment "Mahlzeit "is used a greeting if you join a group in the canteen or meet someone after the official start of work. When you enter an office to start your work in the morning you will greet everybody with "Guten Morgen". But in contrast when you meet someone walking outside the office afterwards it is "Mahlzeit". Sometimes this is used to show a person that he is late to work in a sarcastic way. Meaning: he is long overdue to appear for work. (about 15 minutes)
I know 'Mahlzeit' only as a greeting. When you come into the office in the morning, you wish everyone 'Guten Morgen'. When you leave for your lunch break, you wish everyone 'Mahlzeit' and when you leave at the end of the day you wish everyone 'Schönen Feierabend' or on Fridays 'Schönes Wochenende'. 'Mahlzeit' is not connected to eating, it's connected to the time of day, noon in this case. When you enter a shop or someones house at noon you can also say 'Mahlzeit'.
And then there's 'Na, Mahlzeit', when something went terribly wrong. ;)
I'm in Denmark, I also often make reservations in USA, as I do not want to wait for a table, not even 15 minutes. If I'm told to wait, I leave and find another place. We do say "god appetit" just we before start to eat. We don't say Ciao, instead we just say "hej" which is just Danish for "hi". Sending mail in Denmark, how rare it may be, is like in Germany, not like the US way. And that has to do with what we call "letter secrecy" which is mandated by law. If I put a letter in my mailbox and raised the flag, my neighbors would would know about the letter and one of them or a random passer by, might steal it.
I put important documents in the mail in the US and I never had it disappear or be stolen.
the american mail system seems totally weird to me. so you just place IMPORTANT documents you have to send in your box standing at the street where EVERYONE could just yoink it cause the box even shows that something is in it, and of course its not locked cause the mail man couldnt take it out. from a data security standpoint alone that system sounds absolutly horrendous :D also our mailboxes usually are ALL locked via a key or a lock, so no chance for a mail man to take something out once its "in". so i see a centralized post box as the smartest way to go, tho i have to say as a fellow lazy person they idea to not leave once home to send a letter is quite nice :D
The American way of picking up mail when the red flag is up is also only possible if you live in a single family home. in an apartment building with multiple residents it would not work either. when we moved ro the States I did not like it that my mailbox was accessible to anybody. We live in an HOA community and cannot choose our type of mailbox. We cannot have locks on the mailboxes. I prefer the German way and walking to a mailbox is good exercise...
Maybe we Germans love to say "Guten Appetit" instead of a prayer? Sure, a lot of Americans aren't religious anymore but it seems way more common in the US than in Germany. And yes, it would be way more convinient if you just could leave your mail in the mailbox for the mail driver to pick it up. Schlagermusik? Nah, I had enough of it when I was a child
Could definitely be the case! Praying before a meal is definitely very common for many Americans.
@@PassportTwo very religious Germans do that as well but with 26% of the Germans having no confession/being atheists I guess it's just very uncommon and has become old fashioned even for some religious Germans.
@@qinn1996 More like 40%, 26% is the number only for west Germany.
@@leDespicable I looked it up before posting, so no.
@@qinn1996 Are we talking solely about atheists or about the number of atheists *and* people without denomination?
In your original comment you talked about both atheists and people without denomination at the same time, in which case 26% simply isn't true, since the percentage of Germans not belonging to any denomination is currently 39-41%.
6:42 With us one says always "Gut'n Appetit" or "Guten Hunger"
About the mail system in the US, it's unique in my experience. I have lived in seven countries and everywhere else has central collection points or you have to go to a post office. Maybe it's because the US is so vast.
We Germans Love our Country, and as you already mentioned in your other videos, we love to go out. Going for a Walk, a Bycicle Tour or what ever. Mostly we combine this with taking out trash, taking away letters to the Box or old Glas Bottles to the Container. I think this way is more efficient because the Mailman cant accidently mix up the letters, he does his tour, delivers his letters and at the end he collects the Boxed Letters. While in my mind in the US, he goes to a House, pus letters in, takes letters out and has this total cahaos in his Van^^ For the other Points, always remember, we germans are Control Freaks. We want to make sure our plans work, so we make a reservation, everything has to be perfect, everyone has to be happy and like the meal, so we wish everyone "Guten appetit" or a good meal and at the end of the day, we say good bye, or farwell, or see you, or catch you later or peace out... wait thats many ways to say good bye in english, so why is it confusing that we germans have many ways?^^ Almost nowhere (german or US) is everyone talking perfect dictonary versions of the language, and this is the same.
Hello... Just her in the comment section to say: Tschau!
That is funny and shows how different germans and americans think... Greetings from your neighbor in Saarland!
"haut rein" ;=)
Also, we don't say "ciao", we say "tschau". Oh, too soon lol
The Post thing is good as we have it here. Btw you can also give the letter or your package to the driver when you are at home when he or she arrives.
We don't say Ciao, we say Tschau. Same same but different. 😂
Did you comment this before I got to say that? 😅
Centralized postboxes feels more secure to me. When I was in the US, I did not dare to put my post in my host's postbox, because I was afraid, some one else than the postman will take it. For fun or for evil.
In former times most people had their prayers at table before eating. In the last, let's say 100 years, people more and more gave up the religious traditions, but there still is "something to say" to start the meal, it feels unpolite, if someone starts eating alone. My mother said "like the cattle in the stable".
I come from Lower Saxony, and in my region "Mahlzeit" is a greeting around midday, i.e. 11:00 am to about 1:00-2:00 pm. In the morning you say "Moin", at midday you say "Mahlzeit". In the evening it is called "Nabend" or "Guten Abend"
I'm from Munich and we don't say "auf Wiedersehen". We can say "pfiadh eana (God)", "pfia God", "habe die Ehre" "Wiederschaun" when formal and "pfiadh di", "servus" and "tschau" when informal.
About Schlager, I usually don't like that genre, but there were some artists that I appreciate like Udo Jürgens and Nana Mouskouri.
Hmm.... There is also the informal way of saying: "Haut rein!" which translates more to "Dig in!"
On Mail: The problem with the snail mail in Germany is the Briefgeheimnis, lit: letter secret. All mail is considered confidential to the public. That why nearly all personal letter boxes have a lock. And if the letterbox has a personalised lock, how would the postman get those outgoing letters. So either you have to go to the communal letter box or you have to wait for the postman to take your letters with him. On Schlager: No, nein, no, njet, non! Go away with that stuff, it's worse than R&B.
No...if you implemented the US system, you would just eliminate the locks as well 😊 And you have that option in the US as well with centralized collection boxes if you have very important documents you are sending. However, if you just have a birthday card you want to drop in the mail, no concern, just put that in your home mailbox 😊
@@PassportTwo How do you make sure that the letters you receive can't be taken out by someone else than yourself? For this system to work you'd need two mail boxes at each house, one for sending and one for receiving.
If there is only one box and without a lock it seems to just be a big invitation for thieves and anything more important than a birthday card shouldn't be sent with the post at all.
I understand that it's more convenient. But what's the point of a mail system if you can't send anything of any value because you can't be sure it will reach it's recipient.
love how you built " quasi" into the sentence @ 5:13
Regarding goodbye formulas, there is also "tschö". Which is however not a variation of "tschüss", but a malapropism of "adieu", another formula you may get to hear even now and then.
And Schlagermusik ought to be banned.
Own postbox vs. mail collection box:
SAVETY OF MY LETTERS.
When the postman is able to take my mail... everyone can.
Fair enough 😊
exatly what i thought, though the US-System seems to be more convinient imho
We get our health insurance, debit and credit cards + a few days later the pin via mail; also contracts ... I certainly don`t want anyone other than me being able to open my postbox.
It also seems that the US System invites mail thiefs and porch pirates.
Some other comment also mentioned population density and I think that is a fair point as I`ve never seen redflag postboxes in US apartment complexes, highrises and overall high density areas either ... as it it just not practical and save with the amout of strangers passing.
I think one of the reasons why german use more mail than americans is the more secure mail system. In germany usually the only person that has access to the mail is the household that person lives in. We drop of letters in centralised, locked boxes and our own mail boxes usually are locked as well. I wouldn't really trust unlocked boxes for my personal mail.
OMG. I have so many thoughts about this great and hilarious video. First, I have to explain that I am from Germany. I'm originally from North Rhine-Westphalia, lived in Rhineland-Palatinate for twenty years and now live in Bavaria for almost fifteen years. And there are already a few points in this video that I would like to pick up on.
I'll go through them one by one. Reservations in restaurants are not at all as common as it seems in the video. Only some Germans prefer reservations. Often, when the group consists of family members, friends or acquaintances who have made the effort to visit, you don't want to cause them any delays or detours. But when restaurant visits happen spontaneously, even in larger groups, extra reservations are almost never made and people just go for it, even in Germany. And sometimes you don't even shy away from restaurants that are not particularly trendy or high-priced. 😂
To the "starting signal" at the meal I would like to mention that there are actually many more phrases that are regional. These are more or less affectionate or polite. And again, of course, this is not mandatory and common in all circumstances. Nowadays, not everyone always eats together at the same time either. But from stories of my parents I know that partly until the 50s or 60s all meals were taken precisely every day at the exact same times. Children were punished if they were not on time or spoke before the father of the family started the meal. In some noble families, even nowadays, this has not completely gone out of fashion. 🍽
"Tschüss" is a really regional farewell formula and even here it depends on both the region and the status of the people involved. And especially in Bavaria „Ciao“ is much more widespread due to the proximity to Italy. In contrast, in Bavaria you can sometimes get unfriendly looks if you say goodbye with "Tschüss". This is partly due to the history that connected, or rather separated, Bavaria with Prussia of past centuries. 😅
The history with the mailboxes is a security factor here. The so-called „Briefgeheimnis“ (secrecy of letters) is deeply rooted in German law. In fact, children over a certain age would even theoretically be allowed to sue their parents if they opened their children's mail. However, I have never heard or read myself whether this has ever been done in practice. Here, it would actually be interesting to learn where this high need for security in correspondence comes from, that most Germans have a lockable mailbox. ✉️
And last but not least: Schlager and folk music are absolutely unbearable for me. 😂
Hallo, just my 2ct: I think our need for the secrecy originates from Gestapo and Stasi. Same like the data protection act fixation. We want to be sure nobody is spying on us. Of course I can't be sure I'm right, but it would make sense, seeing how these laws were set up after 1945.
Kids learn this in kindergarden as well, mostly like "Guten Appetit, wir essen alle mit", holding their hands and move them in rhythm to their saying.
Schlager....my parents used to have albums shipped to Canada back in the day. A lot of mailboxes in Canada are superboxes (a row of locked mailboxes at the end of the street). Those boxes have a mail slot for sending mail, otherwise there are postal drop boxes all over the place.
That "Ciao" also has a 'germanised' version, that I regularly use: Tschau.
German here living in America ..that Americans put your knife down before your finished with a meal. As a German we never put down our eating utensils till finished.
regarding mail, or at least parcels, you can now hand stuff to send out to your DHL delivery guy, and they can also print shipping labels for you from a QR code.
Ciao Kakao is the younger version of Tschau 😂
I think Tschüss is the cuteified version of ciao or at least has the same origin
Does the postman in the USA also pick your mails from your mailbox, if you're living in an apartment building with, let's say, 8 apartments?
The example of postman picking letters out of your mailbox though is very useful when you live on a farm or very detached home, far away from any collecting mail box.
I’m an American & I would never leave mail in my mailbox for the letter carrier they have enough to do & carry that no one should add to it & that people who do are lazy.
I couldn't imagine sitting in a waiting room at a restaurant, depending on how long it would take until a table was available, I'd go for a stroll outside or to another restaurant all together.
I definitely agree that reserving seems a bit over the top in most situations, I've only ever done it once myself for a special occasion. I guess it's part of the whole "Germans like everything to be in order" thing.
I would say, I very much dislike Schlager music in general or about 95% of those songs. Few are tolerable with enough alcohol in the right setting (Aprés Ski for example).
Wir haben hier in D ja eher geschlossene briefkästen. da müsste der postbote jedes mal klingen damit man ihm den briefkasten aufschließt. die gelben briefkästen der post sind ja weit gestreut. für mich persönlich ist das in ordnung. dann beweg ich mich auch zusätzlich noch ein bisschen an der frischen luft :D
We often say the short version "Guten" instead of "Guten Appetit" - at least in Rheinland-Pfalz (near Trier) where I come from and in Saarland where I am currently living.
Hey neighbor! 😅😊
@Passport Two - the mail process you are describing only works if you have your own house, right? How does it work if you are living in a flat/appartment having several parties in one house, like it is common in cities?
2 things regarding eating: i am german, my wife is peruvian. here in bavaria we say "an guadn" and start eating. meaning "a good one" basically as in "einen guten appetit". in peru, they say "gracias" (thank you) after finishing the meal. at home.
"Guten Hunger" (good hungry) is used as well.
I think the reservation thing is more a habit of your friends or if you are just going to leave more used as a check if there is still space in that specific restaurant or if you have to go somewhere else. Saving travel time.
I guess it depends on experience with certain destinations ("famous" place or not) and where the next possible restaurant is, where you can go.
You can also shorten "Guten Appetit" and say "N'Guten"
Your videos became quite successful the last weeks and months!
Ich gönne es Euch! ;)
In Italy we use the italian version of "Guten appetit" ("Buon appetito"), like Germans and French.
An usual response to it, expecially when there are kids is "Piatto pulito" (clean plate) because it rhymes.
We also use similar sentences in other situations, like "Buon lavoro" (good work), meanwhile in english you use it only in some cases, like "good luck".
In English you have the (once common) phrase _"at your service"_ (in German _"zu Ihren Diensten"_ ) which roughly translates to the same as the italian _"Ciao"_ or the Bavarian _"Servus"._
Tschö is also very common here in my region.
The letterbox system is not possible in Germany as most people have their letter boxes in the wall near the door, which can't be opened from the outside to take out mail. There is also the problem of other people having their mailbox right next to it. If it was easily openable the mail can be stolen.
We have mailboxes directly in the wall in the US as well and it still works, it would just require Germans to do some thinking outside the (mail)box 😉 See what I did there? 😂 But seriously, we have the exact same situations we described and we still have mailmen pick up mail. Not every American house has a mailbox on the street away from the house.
A reason for that is the different style of german mailboxes. Usesaly you need a key to get the mail out because of privacy protection.
I only use Mahlzeit at work whenunch time is close. It doubles as a greeting passing someone or when actually eating.
Here (Aachen, NRW) we do not use Tschau. It's usually Tschüß and occasionally Tschö.
Schlagermusik can be fun after a Drink or two, otherwise I really don't Like it. Btw: The ciao Thing is hilarious.😆 Nice Video as always.
Re "guten appetit" etc, as an American emigre to Austria, I think it is a wonderful addition to the eating culture,, just like saying "Prosit" or "Sante" before drinking wine. Why not add a bit of civilisation to the moment instead of just chowing down into your food/drink without any prior pleasant social interaction? With regard to the 'waiting room' in a restaurant, I find this is just another way to make a profit - you have a couple of drinks before taking your seat at the table and your tab is higher. Re reservations: who wants to show up at your chosen restaurant only to be told it is full and your group has to move to another restaurant in the hopes of finding a table? And, last but not least, who likes being rushed out of the restaurant as soon as you're finished; #in the States they even bring the bill before you ask for it!
I am a Mail man im Germany, it is in fact a service the Deutsche Post offers that we as Mail man / women / People will Pick up Letters or Packages from our Customers when we arrive at their Homes. Many People just Leave "retouren" packages outside for us to Pick up , the same goes for letters. This will obviously not work in a Big city Center but in smaller Towns its just normal (at least the Leaving stuff outside Peoples Homes for us)
Absolutely, that's what we do here in rural Bavaria. Give the mail directly to the mailman or have them pick it up.
In my opinion it depends on where you live (either in the US or Germany) if you feel the need to make reservations at restaurants. Whereas in a smaller city in Rheinland-Pfalz it‘s not necessary in Munich you would not find anything to eat if you didn‘t make a reservation ahead of time. This is also the case for many cafés as they tend to get very crowded on the weekends. It‘s very common in bigger cities in Germany and even in the US. I used to visit NYC a lot and all of my friends would always reserve a table for us in advance to make sure we would get a spot. So it really has more to do with demand which is higher in bigger cities in general.
As for the letter thing:
You can give your letter (or a parcel) to the mailman at your house if you catch him on time but since most of our letterboxes have locks on them, the mailman can't just take a letter out by themselves. Those US style letterboxes are very rare, normally they are designed so that once a letter is placed inside you won't be able to take it out except if you have the key to the letterbox
Edit: I've just noticed that someone else posted a very similar comment, I didn't copy his response, just didn't notice it
American mailboxes can simply be opened/accessed by everyone. German mailboxes are usually locked, resp. designed in a way that doesn't allow to take stuff out again without having access to the house/flat _(mail slits in doors)._
mahlzeit in western germany is a greeting at lunchtime.
when you are at work and u have lunchtime and u leave the office u norimaly say "mahlzeit" to the rest and they say it back and if you meet someone outside on ur break from work u also normaly say "mahlzeit" it just replaces the "hello" during lunchbreak xD
in Baden we say " 'n Gude" for Guten Appetit whihc directly translated to "a good one"
About the mail thing
I live i a verry rural area in bavaria (the next bigger city is araound 8km away) the mail man comes to our house to pick up and place mail but we dont have a mailbox in front of our house, he comes inside of a small foyer of our house and pets our dog :)
Also important by the Postthing is the German Law called Briefgeheimnis. I don't know if it is similar to the Rules in the USA.
In Germany it is even more usual not getting seated at all. You can sit down at any free table where no „Reserviert“ sign is on.
Did you see how personal mailboxes look in Germany? They are often only slits in the wall and you empty them from inside the house. This is especially true for appartment buildings and skyscrapers, but many single family homes also have this kind of mailbox. How would the mailman even get access to those? Would they have a key for every house? Crimerates would skyrocket and mailman would become the perfect job for criminals.
😂😂😂 ok 😊
"Announcing" the start of a meal is just part of secular continental eating culture, French inspired I assume (post 1800, replacing a prayer). "Guten Appetit" is more common close to France thought, "Mahlzeit" is the norm in the Southeast and the North has a bunch more.
Ciao is, quite intuitively, most common in Switzerland, Tyrol and Carinthia, and has spread north during the last few centuries. It's a direct Italian influence.
Came to say the same. As a German with Croatian roots currently living in Croatia, every meal here starts with wishing each other 'dobar tek' which also translates to 'good appetite'.
_"Mahlzeit"_ is short for _"gesegnete Mahlzeit"_ (a blessing to the meal) which also is a shortening of the once usual grace like _"Komm, Herr Jesus, sei unser Gast, und segne, was du uns bescheret hast."_
_"Mahlzeit"_ sometimes is used ironically to greet latecomers at work by indicating that they skipped quite some worktime and it is almost mealtime.
For me, "Mahlzeit" is most used between my coworkers. It is a greeting to signal "I am on lunchbreack, your bullshit, whatever it is, can wait".
Guten Hunger is one phrase that is sometimes used around here ;)
I remember jobbing in a tire shop when going to college. I once showed up like 2 minutes past 7h and everyone was greeting me saying ‚Mahlzeit‘
OMG - you have to leave the house to send a letter. That's hard. 😃
Ciao is the italian "hi"/"hello". Since we use it in the meaning of "bye", we use it wrong.
"Mahlzeit" doesn't actually have the same meaning as "Guten Appetit". It used to be a colloquially greeting at lunch breaks. Nowadays it's often used going to and coming from a lunch break and more and more instead of "Guten Appetit".
In Northern region of Germany you can use "Mahlzeit" instead of "Guten Appetit" at the table - often in it's Low German form "Mohltied". Though it is rather suitable at a canteen than a fancy restaurant.
Ciao is also used to mean bye in Italian.
6:42 A typical table saying, and I assume that many Germans know this saying. ;)
Piep, piep, piep,
wir ham uns alle lieb.
Jeder isst so viel er kann,
nur nicht seinen Nebenmann.
Und wir nehmen's ganz genau,
auch nicht seine Nebenfrau.
Hat er ihn dann doch gegessen,
Zähneputzen nicht vergessen!
Piep, piep, piep,
guten Appetit!
In germany you can give your mail to the postman and he will take it with him. It is just not common, because many people have just forgotten about it. And you have to wait for him to arrive or make an appointment for a day he will pick it up.
I would think that the German mail system with its centralized mail dropoff box would be more efficient since the the person delivering the mail would only have to focus on delivering mail.
Here in our small but tourist crowded german town, its kinda mandatory to make a reservation for Fridays and Saturdays evenings as long as you dont want do go from restaurant to restaurant and always hear: "Nope, no vacant tables anymore." 😅
the mail collection would not work that well here, because not all mailman deliver mail via truck.
There are some that deliver Mail on foot or per bicycle.
Regarding the reservation topic: We live in Boston and here it is definitely recommend to reserve a table in advance. I tried to go to a restaurant without a reservations and it was hard to find a table. I guess it also depends where you leave 🤔, doesn't it?
This was also my idea, it would be the other way around of what Donnie described. Maybe Americans are considering more restaurants as "fancy" or "special".
As Germans, would never apply a term like restaurant to a place like McDonalds, or the local "Inn" or "Pub" or "Saloon" or whatever english term may exist.
The term restaurant is already more sophisticated.
Here in the Netherlands most restaurants count on only one shift. For popular restaurants and in weekends making a reservation is a good idea.
We say "eet smakelijk" before a meal. It literally means "eat tasteful".
Mail boxes are usually in the front door, so it would be impossible for a mail man to pick anything up.
Oh, and as for Schlager music: no, please no. Sadly the construction workers in front of my house think otherwise. They've already been there for over a year 😭😂
The Ciao thing probably came from Italy, but nowadys you can find many evolutios of it. Tschüß, Tschau and Tschö for 3 very commen ones. However no german using those thinks of the italian Ciao in any way.
The Problem with the Mail is, that the Mailboxes in Germany are different. Often there is no way to open it withour a Key, and they are somtimes Mounted into the Doors. But it would be cool.
I'm from Bavaria and we often say "N' Gut'n" or "Guten Hunger" before we start eating.
I never made a reservation at a restaurant (and I'm German). Well, except during Covid restrictions, when it was necessary. Maybe it's a regional thing? With the only restaurant in a village it may make sense to make sure you get a seat. But in the city, when I really don't get a seat at a restaurant (I always did though), I just walk to the next one.
The Postbox flag thing would be much too insecure for me… Why should I give a 3rd Party the possibility to see what I send as a letter?
In our area you hear Tschau very often, but it is a variation of Tschüss and has nothing to do with Ciao.
in a cityapartmenthouse where would you leave your mail to be picked up ?