I was born in Russia and moved to Germany when I was 8 - Russia is a really patriotic country, Germany is not and I do not see the point in being patritoc, why in the fucking hell should someone be proud to be born in a specific country? That just doesn't make any sense to me, there may be many things to be proud of but being born an american, german, russian, turkish, british or whatever country you're from, is definitely NOT one of them. And I feel like this i a really big issue in the US, there's just no fucking point. Be proud of your education, of your achievements, your knowledge and so on but being proud to be an American? No. And again, this applies to every other country in this world too but we all know that America's patriotism is on a whole other level. Here in Germany we say "Nationalstolz is die billigste Art von Stolz" which kind of translates to "National Pride (Patriotism) is the cheapest kind of Pride." I don't know if you would say it like that in english but I think you get the point. Have a nice day.
About the patriotism thing: French guy: VIVA LA FRANCE!! - nothing happens. Spanish guy: Arriba espana! - nothing happens. American guy: USA! USA! - nothing happens. German guy: Yaay Deutschland! - World Newspaper headline: *GERMAN NATIONALISM ON THE RISE!!!* *FOURTH REICH CONFIRMED!!!*
***** sadly it is a true statement. National pride is no longer an accepted thing in germany, as long as your german. Btw I'm pollitically on the left just so you know. In my opinion, we should celebrate something like the EU instead of the individual nations. make montan day a National/Multinational holiday and celebrate it like the USA do it with their 4th of July.
Auf Personen kann man sehr wohl stolz sein, dies hat aber absolut nichts mit dem zufälligen Flecken der Erde gemein auf dem man geboren wurde und, so wurde hier behauptet, für den man "Stolz" empfinden könne. Die Frage ist, wie sich "Stolz" hinsichtlich eines abgegrenzten Bereiches dieses Planeten, der oft mit dem zufälligen Ort der Geburt zusammenfällt, konstituiert? Welche Kriterien existieren diesen "Stolz" zu beurteilen? Inwiefern kann man auf Teil unseres Planeten Erde "stolz" sein? Die Frage ist explizit: wie drückt sich diese Zuneigung zu einem Stück auf diesem Planeten aus, auf den man zufällig geboren wurde? Welche Kriterien des Stolzes legen man dabei an?
active285 In wie fern man darauf Stolz sein kann? Nun man kann selber für das stehen, und dafür "kämpfen" was dieser Ort für Errungenschaften gemacht hat. so wie die USA den Independenceday feiert, könnte man in Europa den Tag des europäischen Versprechens feiern. Oder in Deutschland wenn man wollte den Tag der Deutschen Einheit. Statdessen kommt irgendein Greis labert ein bisschen und das wars. Ich fänds schon geil, wenn wir Europa feiern könnten sowie die USA sich selbst.
+active285 lass mich raten..schämen kannst du dich aber für dtl., oder? wenn du das kannst, ist es sicher nicht so schwer zu verstehen warum andere stolz auf ihr land sind.
The difference between nationalism and patriotism is, that patriots don´t think that their nation is superior to other nations. You think that your nation is best? Congratulations! You are a nationalist. Also I really don´t get why people are "proud of their nation". Imho you can be proud of your own achievements. But being german, american or whatever is something that happened to you, nothing you achieved on your own. Besides that this proudness stands in the way of criticism towards the own nation - be it the politics, economy or social behaviour. Yes, I am german. Yes, I am glad that I was born here. But I am neither proud nor ashamed of being a german.
+Ingo Knito What's wrong with national pride? It's a normal mental function of healthy men. Only wankers and losers haven't national or racial pride. The problem with some kinds of national pride is the aggressiveness. Especially Turkish and Arabian pride usually is extremely aggressive and rude against other nations and races, especially against whitese cuz they really resent and hate whites. They usually set their pride in put down other nations. But what's wrong with the, shall we say, Irish national pride? It's natural, pretty cool and somewhat narcissistic in a positive way. They never put down other nations (except maybe the English, but that's for historical reasons).
Exactly, being born in a certain country is purely a matter of 'luck' (not in the sense that I personally could have been any nationality, because my parents are from the Netherlands so I am too) and not anything I have done. I like my country because I think certain things we do as a nation are good (things like how we organize the care of elderly or poor people) and I do believe that other countries have better/worse/equal systems, but mostly because the outcomes of those systems are better/worse/equal. Not because MY country chooses a certain way, that is suddenly the best. Like, a person from the US may believe the US is the best, but in what way exactly? They are not the most free. Many other countries are either the same or better at giving their people freedom, and you could do that for almost any metric. The US is very rarely actually the best at something. Hardly any country is consistently the best at anything. And it also depends at how you measure. You could argue universities like Harvard are (among) the best in the world, and that would be true for a large part. I've heard that from people trying to argue the US has the best universities. But I would not nessecarily consider that true, since most universities worldwide have a great level of education. If all universities in a country are great, and not just some, I would agree. Stuff like that makes me shake my head.
What I don't get about American patriotism is that so often when you criticize the US for something, you're being called unpatriotic, or Un-American. "My country is the best" (besides saying that it's better than other countries who might disagree inasmuch as a non-sentient entity can) can lead to the assumption that it's impossible to improve it, and THAT'S dangerous. The US has a lot of problems. Germany has a lot of problems. All countries have problems that they need to tackle and solve/improve. In fact, I would go so far as to say that a TRUE patriot is the person who points out that there is a problem and then works on solving it, and NOT the person who says "my country can't do or be wrong." I don't mind flag-waving. I do mind brainwashing.
you've explained the patriotism thing so well! i've tried to explain how i feel about this to my non-german friends, but I never really knew how to put it into words, because I grew up like this and never knew it any other way. I don't know how to be proud of my country because nobody around me has ever shown pride for our country. i don't remember seeing any german flags around my hometown before the world cup 2006 here in germany. but i also feel like it has changed a lot since then and again i don't really know how to explain it though. it just feels different.
Jenni Miau to be proud of a nation is dumb(my opinion) , the result is country>country . the only things i am proud of are the progressive thinking and the ideas of humanity
lXlElevatorlXl I agree with you. Especially as nowadays in the age of globalization (or written with s?) we should NOT define us via countries anymore. How are we supposed to accept anyone no matter of his/her/its (gender neutral) origin if we always think about 'us' and 'them'?! We are all humans, that is the only thing that matters. And I still think that patriotism is just the same as nationalism. As long as we divide the world into us and our country on one side and all the others on the other side we're building little barricades inside our heads. That MAY not be harmful in everybody's head. If someone very tolerant and open in every other aspect of thinking thinks this way about countries it may not affect (or effect? DAMN) his behaviour towards other beings. But if we communicate such a way of thinking it will have an influence on the 95% of stupid people that the tolerant people live among and if those grow up with dividing in their head, how can we expect them to be good people and able to accept others the way they are? (By the way: This division is even unhealthy when it's only applied to soccer. Psychologists made quite many studies showing that even being patriotic for a short time every 2-4 years make you think more radical and increase the level of hatred you feel towards others that are not from your nation. The effect get's weaker afterwards if I remember correctly, but for a month and a short time before and after the world and european cups people that tend to think patriotic become less tolerant. And THAT's why patriotism still is wrong and dangerous.)
Birgit Schwäbe Yet all my friends, relatives, neighbors and co-workers have been patriotic all our lives and we do NOT hate other nations. It has never made us do that. Loving the one thing does not make you hate another.
I think the thing about closed-off rooms may have something to do with the different systems of heating. I cannot back this idea up with data, it's just a guess. But in another video you said in the US you have central heating regulating temperature for the entire house, whereas in Germany you have individual rooms with individual heaters. It is very difficult to heat a very large room with a heater, not to mention that it is a complete waste of energy. Having smaller rooms that can be individually regulated when they are in fact used makes more sense from an economical point of view and they are easier to get warm.
And possibly that, one can also set their room's temperature according to their preference, which again is a probably a respect of privacy and personal preference.... Am I right?
I think the guy who was like "I wish I could do this" meant it more in a way of "I wish I had the strength to be patient enough to cut up all of my food before I take a bite of it because I'm just too damn hungry".
I think we are proud of our country, about our Wirtschaftswunder, the peaceful protests that lead to the German reunion, about being export world champion (yes, that's what we call it; we are recently only 3rd place but we don't mention that). We just don't show our pride for our country publicly. There's no point in waving around our flag. If we do we get snarky comments about us being Nazis so we just don't do that. That doesn't mean that we are not proud of our country.
100% agree! In addition to the topics you already mentioned, there's also our status in Europe atm. We are economicly the best und Angie is probably the most powerfull woman in the world (even though she doesn't do much ^^)
I'm quite happy with Germany not being patriotic. Patriotism honestly just makes me roll my eyes. I wanna be objective and I wanna judge countries objectively. If I just think MY country is the best then where's the sense in that? I find it the best because it's MINE? Isn't that just another form of egoism? Of courses it's cool if you love your country but saying your country is the best just because you were born there? It's just random, you could've been born in China as well, it's not like you choose the country yourself. Also looking at the corruption in most governments I really don't see a reason to be proud. If I lived in some super advanced country with great ethics and social situation, ok. But I never really got why different country names are even nevessary. In the end we're all earthlings anyway, just born at differently places. It causes an illusionary feeling of seperation that often leads to this "The Others" mentality and war.
And even if I was super proud of my country I'd be humble about it. If I'm rich or pretty or whatever bragging about it would be considered unpolite. I get the same feeling when someone brags about their country, I find it annoying.
Even if you did in fact live in the best country ever (in all aspects), that is still not something you did, you were just born there by happenstance. And still, a country that I would consider the best, still is not the best because it it MY country, it would be best because it has working systems in place that make the country good, if other countries adopt those systems I would consider those countries equally good.
I never thought saying the pledge was weird until my British friends on my study abroad program pointed it out. And now I think it's a bit weird to condition kids to say that without really explaining the implications behind the statement.
allofyousuck11 For starters, why do we pledge allegiance to a country in the first place? Why are we told to do so? Why does God have to get involved, especially for kids that don't believe in God. The only part of the pledge I agree with is the last statement "with liberty and justice for all." As a kid you don't have the capacity to think critically about these matters.
We pledge allegiance to a country to build patriotism at an early age. Children should always remember that they're American. I may move to Germany after college and live their for many years, but I will always be an American and take America's side in whatever fight we get into. Why are told to obey laws? Some laws are completely ridiculous, but we're told to obey them no matter what. Again, this is just reminding us that we're American and have a responsibility to our Country and fellow citizens to be a model civilian. Obey laws, pay taxes, and have freedom. That's America. The God issue I don't care about. I'm not a huge religious nut. I don't care what religion anybody wants to follow. We still have a majority in this country that believe in God, so we are a system set up to please the majority. If the majority wants God on money and in the pledges then fine. If a child grows up and can't form an opinion on God by themselves then you shouldn't be worried about God on money. You should be focused on why your kid is too dumb to formulate his or her own opinion. If you're a kid that doesn't believe in God then that's fine. You can say the pledge and skip that part. The real problem we have in our country is people that get overly upset over small things. We have a strong generation of people who don't believe in God, yet they all grew up saying God in the pledge. If that generation turned out fine then why are we stressing out over the current young generation. If a 7 year old is curios about God then he or she can just google search it.
allofyousuck11 "If you're a kid that doesn't believe in God then that's fine. You can say the pledge and skip that part." And just ignore the fact that this line is unconstitutional?
TheYasmineFlower You're talking about unconstitutional because of freedom of religion or freedom of speech? Because freedom of religion allows everybody to openly express their religion. So taking God out of the pledge would take away the rights of those kids who believe in God. What about take away the kids rights of freedom of speech? By taking out God from the pledge you're also taking away these kids' freedom of speech. They have the right to choose whether or not they want to say God. You can argue the constitutionality of both sides, but in the end one side will have to compromise. Seeing as how the pledge has had "God" in it for over 50 years I don't think we need to change it again.
Cutting off just one bite at a time helps retaining heat in the remaining piece. The little pause for cutting the next piece gives you a little more time to savour the current one. Eating is not about gobbling up the food as fast as possible and when one takes his time with it, even a smaller amount of food will leave him fully satisfied.
So i definitely have to address the patriotism thing. I think it's pretty obvious why us Germans are shit scared to show any kind of patriotism. It's because WWII isn't even 100 years ago. So we still have a few (not a lot) but enough death camp survivors left. We are constantly reminded that feeling patriotic in the way of putting our flag up outside our house or singing the national anthem ,unless it's the world cup like you said, is NOT okay. Especially people outside of Germany still constantly call us Nazis even though none of us were responsible for what happened. This generation and the one before me didn't really experience the war. But still whenever we talk about loving germany or something like that we're called Nazis. I took part in an exchange programme to Oslo, Norway and they have this amazing celebration for their national day. They have a huge parade singing songs and what not. If we had such a thing the outside world would declare war. It's so sad because it makes you ashamed of your country. It even makes lots if people move..:/
I know and I agree that when the older generations die it won't be as much as a problem. And to the first comment I think it's incredibly ignorant to behave that way and I think everybody should be ashamed of themselves if they generalized everything. try being the person generalized:) Not you specificly though:)
Ehh. "Ways are as they are at the time being." This quote will never not be true, so theres my input. There will always be ignorance, categories, and generalizations in the world, nothing to freak over.
Victoria Beilschmidt hahaha " Now adays most people think of Germans as blonde-haired beer-loving cute little efficient mechanics. Nothing wrong with you guys taking pride in your country. Go at it if you want. " that sentence was so cute, it really put a smile on my face °u°
SamWaltonMan You should really mention the one cultural difference why Germans are considered rude: We say things as they are, while people from other countries have some sort of social code that requires them to verbalize stuff in a highly encoded meta-language, due to which, if one hasn't been programmed to match this exact same social code during their upbringing, one completely misses the point (which is why I think the "German way of saying things" is the most honest way).
That's one of the things I wish we had in America. People here are too afraid to speak their mind now. Everybody here gets overly offended very easily. It's super annoying.
I guess I have to take up the cudgels for Germans here... we are indeed very proud of our country and we say it all the time... like when it comes down to german inventions... especially beer, cars and other stuff, that Germany is known for... the simple truth is - we don't need a flag to express our feelings for the country... waving a flag always meant something, that is not related to peace in europe... armies show their banner to give a hint, who they are... different flags were used for revolts against royality to say "we're not yours! we're different!"... also for germans the national flag just shows our origin... the colors of the country we were born... it doesn't have the symbolic power of the american stars and stripes... so just because we don't wave our flag here doesn't mean we can't be patriotic... and we do so when it DOES have a meaning - during the world cup for example... that being said - this can't be generalized for all Germans... some might think, that waving a flag is "too patriotic"... most don't even care or haven't thought about it... and of course there might be people who are not proud of their own country... in the end it's just another cultural difference...
In Germany we were actually taught to be ashamed of our country and filled up with guilt when I was in elementary and middle school (70s to early 80s). It's strange to see than that it was British scholars who wrote books that glowingly praise German culture, science and history (sans the Nazi time, obviously - but even there you find examples of bravery, heroism, sacrifice and courageous resistance of all sorts). If you don't know it - here be some suggested reading: The German Genius, by Peter Watson. We didn't only have Hitler, we also had Kant and Humboldt, and Albert Schweitzer and, yes, the other Albert was, German, too. What I really, personally, and glowingly, hate the Nazis for, in addition to the more obvious atrocities, is that they crippled our country, our culture, by forcing many of the best out and by cutting us off from our history and our roots. The chance I see is that, over time, something like European Patriotism (using the word with care and some doubt here) might form. For me that emotionally - and logically - makes much more sense. Oh - and, although as a kid I loved the US and thought it was the greatest nation on Earth, although I visited and lived there, studied there, over the years, decades, I have become convinced that the EU by and large is a much better place to live - and in many respects is superior, culturally. I could almost say that I love the Union. Maybe I am becoming a, well, transnational patriot here? ;-). Keep it up!
Hm, i don't think it has anything to do with being strict in Germany, bcs of the cutting-eating thing. It's just the way we learned eating? xD I don't know, i don't think anyone really cares about HOW you are eating your Schnitzel, Steak or whatever. ^^ Nice Video :P
i think the most irritating thing for germans is that americans switch their fork to the right hand after they cut their meat. germans are used to hold the knife in the right hand during the whole meal. for right-handed ppl the fork has to stay in the left hand. the 'knife-in-your-right-hand'-thing historically was a symbol of status. the sociologist norbert elias (born in germany and fleed to france/UK during hitlers reign) did research on this topic.
***** i didn't/don't want to be insulting (i myself think that etiquette is kind of stupid) but there is a difference between the traditional elites and the social climbers. and the usage of cutlery is one of the little issues where you can tell someones origins (at least the traditional elites can). in germany the differences between the classes still are present today.
***** i'm from west germany and there isn't a real difference between rural areas and cities (i lived in both). and i'm not speaking about noblemen (i think i don't know any 'real nobles').
***** that's the problem. because often only the traditionals recognize these differences they can prevent social climbers to get into their communities or get well paid jobs, they have to offer. with the social climbers not recognizing the differences they cannot simply imitate this way of behavior. as i mentioned before i personally don't like this system (and often consciously ignore the unwritten laws, because they are stupid), but unfortunatly that's the way it still works.
I have never, do not and will never understand what could possible make anyone proud of their country. What exactly are you proud of then? I often hear things like "We Germans invented the car, Germany is the country of poets and thinkers." But the fact is Carl Benz invented the car. You as a person have nothing to do with that. Absolutely nothing at all makes you responsible for Mozart and Einstein to be born in Germany. Patriotism makes no sense. You can be glad to be born German and happy about us being export champions and our football team winning the world cup, but pride you can only earn by things you do yourself. You can be proud to have risen a business, you can be proud of getting A grades at school, you can be proud of achievements your children make (because you know... you made them), but you can't be proud of some German dude inventing the car or even just of the fact that certain German dudes were born here. That's just my opinion and the case might be that my definition of pride is different from everyone else's, I don't know.
I think thats true but it is just human to like the things you have some connection with. And if someone say that he likes your country you just feel a little proud of it.
Pyriold Thank you, thank you very much. You can love your country and even think that it's "the best in the world" (although this a objectively disputable), but that's a whole other thing than being proud of your country.
We lack patriotism? Well hell yeah. I'm honestly so offended by you saying this. We are always looked down for what our grandparents did. We still get called Nazis all the time, we face racism from americans, brits and a whole lot of other people and you expect us to just get out there and put a flag in our frontyard and sign our national anthem just so everyone can judge us again and tell us how we're going "back to being nazis"? Heck no. We have been "allowed" to show flags again since the world cup in 2006, because so many people came here and realised that we're a peaceful friendly nation who's damn good at playing football. I love germany, I'm proud that we're doing so well even thought people always judge us. The only thing that helps is thinking that everyone that's being racist and from another country also has a history like we do. The americans slaughtered their natives and they still kill black people, the Brits killed a whole lot of Indians and the French's killed a ton of hugenots, but that isn't talked about because it didn't happen last century and they aren't told how " I killed their grandfather in WII" or "destroyed their family" So please excuse us for not showing everyone our patriotism.
Lightningstime Nein, wir bezeichnen uns ungerne als Patrioten weil es dämlich ist. Kein Schwein interessiert die Meinung von anderen Ländern. Und nein, kaum jemand fühlt sich - so wie du - in irgendeiner Form rassistisch (ernsthaft, wtf?) angegriffen. "Mimimimi, alle nennen uns Nazis." Warst du jemals im Ausland? Es ist fast schon xenophob von dir zu sagen, dass alle uns als Nazis beschimpfen würden. Das einzige, was das Ausland doch will, ist, dass wir "patriotischer" werden. Wasn Quark du da von dir gibst. Ernsthaft, Leute wie DU regen mich auf
tmaster7331 Ich war wahrscheinlich öfter als du im Ausland :) und ich wurde oft genug persönlich oder über Twitter beschimpft also bitte tu nicht so. Patriotismus ist nicht falsch. Man kann stolz sein auf das eigene Land. Ich will stolz sein auf mein Land ohne lowkey Angst davor zu haben dass jemand wie DU kommt und mir erzählt was falsch und richtig ist.Xenophobie ist die Angst vor Fremden oder Fremdenhass und ich kann kein Wort davon in dem was ich gesagt habe erkennen.Ich hasse niemanden Aufgrund seiner Nationalität. Beleidigt werde ich aber nicht gerne also mach dir nicht die Mühe zu Antworten wenn du das willst. Ich bin im übrigen auch nicht die einzige die so denkt oder sowas erlebt hat.
Herr der Zeiten First of all no I won't stop caring.I care what people think about my home and we're not bastards that kill people because of unbelievably stupid reasons.
I guess formal/informal is defined differently by different people and again different by different generations. When I grew up I was taught that in the confines of my home I can be as formal or informal as I like in any aspect, as long as it doesn't offend any family members. And I can set those rules to be respected by any guests. Exception: for guests I want or need to impress or see me at my best behavior (ie. my boss) or in order to have a special day (celebration or similar) I may go all formal at home. But outside my own home I have to go by different standards. Since a school cafeteria is outside my home, I have to show common table manners, unless there are specific rules to go by. And in Germany common means, eating with fork and knife and cutting each bite.
Propose eating/cutting food: As a German I also found it very strange to see Americans switch their fork back and forth. They'd hold the knife in their right hand and the fork in their left, cut off a piece of food, then put down the knife, switch the fork over to the right hand to put the food in their mouth, then switch the fork back to the left hand and pick the knife up again to cut off the next piece of food. I don't get why they do that, it seems rather inefficient to me. I've also noticed that Americans sometimes only use a fork. For example, when eating a salad. And lastly, I've seen some rather strange ways of holding utensils in the States, like wrapping all fingers around the fork so that your hand is a fist and the fork sticks out on either side.
ClaGaCla That might actually have come across as more criticizing than intended. I'm not saying the "German way" of using your utensils is better and the "American way" worse or anything like that. They're simply different.
Lol, I am a German and do those things xD. See I'm right handed, so I have more control in my right hand than in my left. That's why I'm switching the fork. It's more efficient for me. And why would you need a knife for a salad? Okay the only thing I don't do is holding my fork and knife like that xD.
Interestingly with the patriotism is, that most people are patriotic of their local region and not so much about the whole country, that might be because of history, and I don't mean WWII and national socialism, but the time when germany was not a unified country (or empire back then) but consisted of many small countries, kingdoms, principalities and so on.
According to history, "Germany" was a country, that had been formed not by a common ancestry, but by a common set of languages (primarily different Germanic dialects, that formed the Germanic "standard languages" of today).
I'm a German exchange student in the U.S right now and I really enjoy to see how you Americans love your country. And it also makes me so sad because - it is true - in Germany we are afraid to be proud of our country or even to show it and if somebody does it it feels just weird and wrong. And I think that's not fair. Honestly I am proud to be German (and no that doesn't mean I'm proud of our history in WW1 and WW2) and I wished we could be at least a bit more patriotic. I really enjoy watching you're videos btw hope you have a nice time im schwabenland ;)
I think so too. In my opinion, what our generation or especially the generation of our parents have accomplished after the the 2nd WW is worth being proud of! And also our status in Europe atm. Economicly, we are the best in the EU to this day, so why shouldn't we be proud of that. But I also think, the patriotism (not nationalism by all means) will slowly come back in Germany since the events happed in WW1/2 can't be related with our generation anymore ..
tmaster7331 Where are you from? USA? or any other country for that matter ... I don't see anything wrong with being proud of your own country, since you certainly have something to do with it. It might not be much, but every citizen has some influence on the country, since everybody is paying taxes and most of 'em go voting.
overTIMe Why does it matter where I'm from? ;-) My problem is, that it's random where you're born. You're proud to be born somewhere random? Well, everybody pays taxes everywhere, so... If you decide to change something in your country, to personally make it better, well, then you can be proud for having done that. But being proud of somethings history where you haven't take influence in? Yeah... Whatever, let people do what they want to, but pride can result very dangerous. It would be best if people just did things for people, not for nationalities...
tmaster7331 Don't worry, I can assure you that we germans really are carefull with our pride in our country - for obvious reasons. And while America usually is a little bit too patriotic imo, Germany on the other hand lacks a bit of that patriotism ...
I actually don't quite understand why Americans are so patriotic. I mean most of them got ancestors from europe and the country itself doesn't even have a real culture. They just kinda copy different cultures from other countries and mixed them up. Also I can't see why the citizens of the US would be proud of their country? Because biggest argument against german patriotism is because they had a dark past and made a lot of wars etc. But did the USA do anything different from that. Talking about Vietnam, Irak, Afgahnistan and so on, I don't think that should be something to be proud of. Of course there's allways this argument that they want to spread the democrazy, but as we all know that's not a reason for invading another country and kill millions of civillians...So I would really like to know why an american should be proud of his country. I would appreciate any answer
Hello +jack phillips. I happen to be a proud American, so I'll answer your question as best I can. Now, I live in a country with a population of about 317 million people, so I can't speak for all of us but I'll tell you what patriotism means to me. I'm not proud to be an American because I have any great accomplishments to my name or because I've done anything significant to help shape what the United States is today. In fact, my patriotism has very little to do with myself. A lot of the pride that I feel for my country comes from some of the very people you mentioned in the second sentence of your post... my ancestors! Some of my ancestors were native American, some were Italian, and the others were English. It amazes me that so many people from different parts of the world could come together and find love. Now, I can't say what exactly brought my European ancestors here but they came nonetheless and they found one another. Just thinking about that is very humbling. I live about a 15 minute drive from a small town that goes by the name of Germantown. It was originally settled by German immigrants, as you might have guessed. That small town is apart of a larger city. The city is Louisville, named after King Louis XVI of France. French, German, Italian, English, Native American... if you can think of it, we have it! If world history is any kind of indicator, then this shouldn't work. To be honest, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes, we hate each other for the most ignorant reasons. But when it really comes down to it, the only things we have that really unite us all is our humanity and our love for country. Millions of men and women have come before me and millions have fought and made tremendous sacrifices to build this country and to defend the freedoms that I enjoy today. I'm not just referring to our brave soldiers. Some of our most heroic countrymen, are the people that refuse to fight. Men and women that use their mind and words to better this country. People that take a stand for what they believe is right, even knowing that they risk all they have, just so their children and their countrymen might have a brighter future. I'm not always proud of my government or the wars we fight, but I am very proud of the men and women that serve in times of war. I'm proud of them because I know the fight itself may not always be noble but the things that every individual soldier fights for, almost always is. I have an American flag that flies on a pole just outside of my bedroom window. I can hear it flapping in the wind as I type this. It can be so inspiring sometimes, just to hear it and know it's there. Thinking about what that flag represents and what it means to me. Maybe pride isn't the right word to use. I think honor is a better word. Like I said before, my patriotism has little to do with me but instead comes from so many courageous people that came before me, and of the extraordinary people that surround me today. I don't fly an American flag for myself, but I am honored to fly it for them.
In Canada, the public discourse distinguishes between civic nationalism (the pride in shared institutions and values) and ethnic nationalism (the pride in one's ethnic background). The policy of multiculturalism arises out of this important distinction. Most immigrant countries in the Western Hemishere do this.
There was a German film where two German soldiers are sitting in Stalingrad. One asked the other "what are we doing here?" The other soldier said "We are exporting the German culture." You ask your self what were we were - are doing in Vietnam, Irak, Afghanistan. In Vietnam they are drinking Coca Cola again and exporting goods to the USA. Irak and Afghanistan are to be decided. I assume that when they recover from the American visit that there will be Coca Cola and Hamburgers on every street corner. Other than that nothing was achieved.
The thing that many forget is that Germany has not been a country for long. Most of its history it has been ssplit up into small moarchies and principalities. And much of that divided-ness is still prevalent in how Germans see themselves. That and the negative image patriotism has in Germany lead to an identity that is much more tied to region. Many Germans don't see themselves as German, they see themselves as Fraconian, Swabian, Saxon, Berlin... This regional identity can lead to mindsets that are as positive as patriotism can be and as negative as Nationalim. You will find fnd people very proud of their culture who wear traditional clothing at fests and bake their regional sort of bread and brew ther regional sort of beer. You will also find people from Berlin speaking very hatefully of Swabians "invading" their city and their culture or radical groups in Bavarria that want Bavaria to become an independent country. There aredifferent regoins with different cultues in almost any country, but the diference is that usually the country is sen more important than the region. In Germany it's theother way around
MrsXanatrix you're right, local patriotism is very common in germany, even the political left does it. i am for example against any form of nationalism, but at the same time i love my birth region.
jemanden mit vornamen anzusprechen wird bei uns auch "duzen" genannt. weil man dann ncihtmehr sie sondern du sagt. meistens wenn man jemanden privat trifft, z.b. in ner bar oder so, ist man eher beim du, wenn eine der beteiligten gerade "arbeit" macht, z.b. den kassierer an der kasse, ist sie angebracht
das ungefragte Duzen greift in Deutschland immer mehr um sich, es gibt viele Lebensbereiche, in denen es schon als unpassend angesehen wird, wenn man eine unbekannte erwachsene Person überhaupt noch siezt, z.B. in Sportvereinen, unter Studenten, unter Fabrikarbeitern, aber auch in anderen Branchen am Arbeitsplatz, in sozialen Netzwerken - wer hat auf Facebook noch Respekt vor dem "Sie" für einen erwachsenen? - und bestimmt noch in zig anderen Bereichen. Diese Distanzlosigkeit und der Verlust des Feingefühls für den Respekt eines erwachsenen Bürgers werden immer schlimmer, bald haben wir hier wirklich amerikanische Verhältnisse.
Michael Fenske das als amerikanische Verhältnisse zu bezeichnen mit einer art negativem Unterton halte ich für eher unangemessen, da es in USA sicher nicht als Respektlosigkeit anzusehen ist. Es sind einfach gewachsene Strukturen. Ein kultureller Unterschied eben. Mit dem anderem allerdings gebe ich dir recht. Es lässt sich nicht so einfach auf uns übertragen. Ein Beispiel: Ich war in Stuttgart bei Dunkin Doughnuts und habe mir nen Kaffee geholt. Das junge Mädchen hinter der Theke hat mich einfach mit du angesprochen obwohl ich bestimmt 20 Jahre alter bin als sie. Mich hat das unangenehm berührt, aber auch gleichzeitig schmunzeln lassen da es eine etwas schräge Situation war. Normal bin ich nicht spießig oder so, aber da fand ichs schon komisch. Ich habe nicht gewusst wie man den Deckel der kaffeebechers öffnet und hatte sie das gefragt. Ihre Antwort: "Du, das is ganz toll, das musst du so und so machen, dann geht das ganz einfach, und du kannst den Becher dann auch wieder zu machen." Ich hab mich dann gefragt, wer von uns eigentlich das kleine Kind ist.
one quick fun fact to the floor thingy. in austria there is even a mezzanin or hochparterre which in fact is the first floor or would be the second floor in us. so it goes zero, "higher zero", first, second, and so on. so an old three floor building might have 5 floors including ground floor or erdgeschoß.
Proud? Or Happy? I like the most of our culture Hegel, Kant and Marx. But why I should be proud? It's cool yes ... but mine our. Its from this people for us. And not for the country. Nobody cares about the county, I think there is a real problem with Patriotism. I mean if you are patriotic and other countries attack your pround and culture, it's leading fast to a war. Just look at US, Turkey, France, Russia are quite fast at using weapons for stupid or no reasons.
as far as floors in houses are concerned, we call the 1st floor (US) the Earthfloor (GER: Erdgeschoss), above that one is the first "upper floor" (GER: erstes Obergeschoss) then second "upper floor". Below the "Earthfloor" it is called first "under floor" (GER: erstes Untergeschoss) an so forth. In smaller houses with a singular subterranian level it is just called Keller (US:basement) usually. Funny thing being: Geschoss is also used for bullets/projectiles/shots
It's not like we are embarrassed of our country. No, we are damn proud of our economy, of our cars, our beer, our "made in Germany" in general and we sure know that's the best but we aren't showing it in public because of obvious reasons. The whole world still calls us Nazis although it's the second generation after WWII and we are not to blame for anything that happened. Like get over it world, you have dark history too. But we are still seen as the "Nazi Germany" without us doing anything so we are smart enough to not show patriotism in public to not give the rest of the world more input discriminating us.
warst du in der whole world? und hast gehört wie uns jeder nazi schimpft. schau mal. niemand nennt uns nazi und meint es ernst. wenn uns jemand nazi nennt dann aus spaß. und wir deutschen checken das nicht. oder woher kommt das vorurteil wir deutschen gehen zum lachen in den keller? nicht von ungefähr.
Dein Optimismus ist wirklich zu beneiden. Ja,die Meisten sagen es wohl aus Spaß,aber es gibt immer noch genug die es ernst meinen. Wenn du so etwas lustig findest,dann nur zu. Jeder hat bekanntlich einen anderen Humor. Ich bin aber davon überzeugt,dass es die Amerikaner auch nicht lustig finden,wenn wir sie Rassisten nennen. Das hat nichts mit "wir gehen zum lachen in den Keller" zu tun.
Celine Ak das liegt daran das die amis nicht die hellsten sind und das mein ich nicht mal rassistisch oder vorurteils behaftet. aber mental gesehen sind die so vernebelt von merica das die bisschen blöd sind wenn es um das thema geht. gut man kann es nehmen wie man will. entweder wir verstehen keinen spaß oder die amis lachen über jeden scheiß. ich wähle aber lieber ersteres und lache mit den amis über alles (so auch über deutsche die über nix lachen können) denn lachen ist gesünder als weinen. wie viel ist genug? 100? 1000? america allein hat 300mio einwohner. der rest der welt hat knappe 8 milliarden minus 80 mio (deutschland) wie viele nennen uns nazi und meinen es ernst? von mir aus sind es 1 mio leute. das sind dann 1 mio idioten auf die man keinen wert legen braucht. ich mein 1 mio is weniger als 1 % der welt bevölkerung. es wäre sogar weniger als 1% der bevölkerung der usa. also wie wichtig sind die die das ernst meinen? ich bin auch kein patriot um gottes willen. ich bin nicht mal deutscher. und grade deshalb kotzt es mich echt an das deutsche sich ja schon fast für ihr land schämen. also bitte. man muss sein land nicht lieben. aber sich dafür schämen. ey komm. wegen weniger als 1%. wenn mein optimismus zu beneiden ist (keine ahnung was an meinem kommentar optimistisch war) ist dein pessimismus zu verachten?
Du scheinst das ziemlich zu unterschätzen. Außerdem geht es nicht nur um die Amis,es gibt auch andere die immer noch auf dem Nazi-Deutschland stand sind und es ernst meinen. Habe ich schon oft genug erlebt. Selbst wenn die meisten es aus Spaß sagen, nervt es auf Dauer einfach. Was du scheinbar als ebenfalls Ausländer (?) nicht verstehen kannst. Wenn man es lustig findet als eine Person bezeichnet zu werden, die unterstützt bzw dabei geholfen hat,dass 6 millionen Menschen getötet wurden,dann sollte man wirklich an seinem Verstand zweifeln. Ich persönlich ignoriere solche Kommentare dann lieber. Das heißt nicht,dass man keinen Humor hat und das hat vor allem nichts mit Pessimismus zu tun. Das ist wirklich zu weit hergeholt. Außerdem schämen wir uns nicht für unser Land (was ich in meinem eigentlichen Kommentar schon erwähnt habe), wir sind nur nicht so "in your face"-patriotisch wie beispielsweise die Amerikaner.
Celine Ak gut das argument lass ich dir. ich als nicht deutscher (bin in deutschland geboren und ausgewachsen. meiner ganze familie aber stammt aus polen, also technisch bin ich deutscher fühle und sehe mich aber überhaupt nicht als deutscher. eher als pole aber auch nicht wirklich. ich sehe mich eher so weder noch) habs natürlich einfacher da ich mich nicht damit identifiziere. das stimmt. ja wenn du mir, warum auch immer, optimismuss vorwirfst (keine ahnung worauf das bezogen war) werf ich die einfach so pessimismus vor.
Hey Sam, this vlog is awesome. Just found you last week and I've been browsing through the videos for days. I just moved into Germany a couple of weeks ago as I'm doing my bachelor level exchange studies in Munich. Im working on a vlog with the same idea and i can find a lot of inspiration from your content, so thank you :)!
The ground/first floor thing is easy to explain. You think in total floors, while we think in build floors. The ground floor is mandatory for every building and in ancient times is really was the earthen ground, so it was not build, it was already there. The next level was the first floor which had actually to be build. Here it´s called "1. Stock", you might translate that to "first stacked floor".
When I moved to the states from Japan, I was very surprised to see the US patriotism. I don't particularly think that it's a bad thing, I just feel that America kind of steps over the boundaries of loving their country. It's not like people from foreign countries hate their country, I think they just respect their country and other countries, where America feels that their country is (the best or) well built in many circumstances. Also when you think about it, Germany has a history of Nationalism with Hitler, and isn't their most proudest moment. I know that Germans don't like to talk about the war, or any war, really, because they don't want other people from other countries speaking badly about their country, which I think anyone would agree.
4:04 There is even a more complicated thing with the names of the first floor and so on. In some old buildings there is the ground floor, the mezzanin, and after that the first floor. Which means for an american, the third floor would be called first floor.
LoL, I never really realized that you could also cut all the food on your plate before eating it. I guess it just seems unusual to most Germans but not outrageous or impolite. Some might associate it with premature behavior only because the only scenario that I can think of where you would cut all of the food before eating it, is when you prepare it for a small child.
How is that possible that you are able to observe and name such sensitive topics with this amount of consideration, non-chalance and accuracy? You are a real talent!
As a high school teacher, people are expected to call me Mr. Antrim or Herr Antrim, but I don't really like it all that much. As an American, I like the casual conversations. That being said, my colleagues don't really like it when teachers allow their students to call them by their first name, as it sets a "dangerous precedent" where students might be encouraged to do the same to other teachers. For that reason, I don't let my students call me by my first name, but I do let them call me "Antrim" or "Herr" instead of the accepted terms. The closed door thing is a huge adjustment for a lot of Americans staying in German homes. I was a part of an exchange program where I spent 3 weeks in a German home and the following year my host brother came to live with my family in the USA for 3 weeks. While I was there, I thought it was awkward that all of the doors were closed all of the time. It seemed like they were trying to avoid me, but it really isn't like that at all. My host brother thought it was weird that if I was in my room I would leave the door open. The vocabulary difference between floors of a building is a big enough deal that it is actually in our German 1 curriculum. Great list. Thanks for sharing.
Now I've seen a couple of these vids in a row now. This was by far the most accurate and also relaxed one. Kinda made me smile and go "oh really?!" at the same time. So good job! ;)
About the patriotism, for me it's not really about being afraid, I just don't see why I should feel proud to be a German I mean I haven't worked for it or anything so why be proud? And I can't be proud of Germany when there are still so many things wrong here like not really allowing same sex marriage or that nationalistic demonstrations are approved by the government.
Jassi Arja U.S.A has a falling economy, owes billions to nations like China, only prospers due to expensive products like jeans and refridgerators and a good social media/entertainment industry. Have you checked out the health care there? You'll like Germany a lot better after a visit to the U.S.
the floor thing (where to start count) also is a latin american thing. the count like you while the spanish (and probably all european countries) also count the "german" way.
About the patriotic thing, it's not like we Germans don't love our Country, I do love Germany, but it's more like we aren't allowed to show patriotism, because as soon as we would, it's like "are you a nazi?" O.o And I don't want to start any shit, but I do have to say that people tend to forget that the majority of the Germans weren't nazi's because they believed in it, but because they had to be or were "forced to comply". But I think that you don't necessarily have to wave a flag everywhere to be proud of your country, that makes it kind of fake, in my opinion... But you wear it in your heart! btw. I really like your video's, keep up the good work :) and I do hope you have fun while staying here in Germany, maybe you even start to grow a liking to Football (or Soccer, as you call it) And hey, you should check out Hamburg, it's really nice especially the "Centrum" and the harbor ;)
Jeder weiss dass BRD eine Ami-Kolonie ist. Irgendwann werden wir beschuldigt Amerikaner gewesen zu sein. Dann kommt die Entamerikanisierung, Berufsverbot für AmiMarionetten und die Reparationszahlungen an Vietnam und Laos.
Susanne Dienst NEIN ;D gab auch keine großartigen Verfahren gegen Italien und die nationalsozialitischen Puppet-Staaten und alle die Fremden.Legion-SS-Einheiten , daher würde nur die Usa entamerkianisiert werden
About that foodcutting-thing. I don't think its formal or informal thing to cut your food piece by piece. I think for most german or other europeans it just doesn't come to their mind to cut their hole meal before actually eating it. And on a note: Your food is geting cold way faster on the American way.
Regarding cutting your food. I personally don't know of any formal rule stating that it is impolite to cut it all before eating. However, I never saw someone doing it, so I would also look surprised when someone does it. Not because I think it's rude but because it's unusual.
I'm German and I eat my food the way you described - Cutting & into the mouth. But I never thought of it as formal. It's more like a natural "I want to eat it as soon as possible, so I eat it once I cut it' mentality. For me, the only reason to cut something completely apart before putting the first part into my mouth may be if it's too hot and has to cool down first.
Actually, if you would ask a random German at the street about Germany and his feelings about that, in 9 out of 10 cases he would tell you that he is very proud to be a German. There are some Anti-German-Movements within Germany, but those exist in every country. We just dont have to sing our national anthem the whole time or raise the flag, our patriotism is just more subtle than in other countries.
proud isnt the word the ppl will use. they say stuff like: "i like it to life in germany and im happy to be born here. im proud of my work. im proud that i lost 10kg wight last half year. proud that the faith born me into a country called germany? no. but happy about" 9/10 will not use the word proud. im pritty sure ;P
Spatz Sturm Nah I'm sure people will say proud, because most people are idiots. They don't see how little sense it makes to say you're proud of a country.
Spatz Sturm HOLyP | Gaming I would say proud, but i wouldnt think about meaning that im proud to be born here, i would be proud of the country itself, its behavior and so on. And everybody who know screams about some nazistuff is the real idiot, because first of all, it happenend a rather long time ago, and there is almost no country at all in the world whitout some sorts of mass murder. For example, the USA and the native Americans, the Spains and the Maya etc.
***** That something happened a long time ago does not in any way increase or lessen it's influence on today. The second I agree with, however - every country has had it's dark past. Everything's always grey. I mean, the democracy in Athens was almost entirely based on the fact that they had enough slaves to allow their citizens to spend most of their time with politics rather than anything else. I think we all agree that democracy is a great system, but it's history _is_ pretty dark.
TheYasmineFlower I didnt meant it that way, i wanted to say that it has no influence on my opinion. I can say that im proud of my german background, despite we had Hitler and all this stuff, like an American can say im proud of being american, despite my ancestors held slaves for a very long period and discriminated people only because their skin was different then ours. Like Sam said in the video, that this refuse of being patriotic vanishes more and more.
There is a place you should go to as long as you are in Germany. Its the "Schwabenquelle" at the Si-Center near Möhringen. Its a super luxurious spa, but its also a place where families are going to. I've been there with one American and a Scottish friend. Its great and it does't exist in Germany. Some soldiers from the Robinson barracks nearby go there as well. Ran into one of their walking cupboards once. First thought its a wall made from concrete. Used for bunkers. With a towel wrapped around his waist. One other place is in France just across the border: Le Lignet Maginot. Its a fortification line the French built in the 1920s. Some of the bunkers are open to have a look at. Make sure you have a warm pullover with you even when the planet is burning in summer. At the end of the hallway there is an artillery tower you can operate manually.
Doesn't your food get cold faster if you cut it up first? It makes more sense to me to cut off a bite at a time and eat it. On the other hand, while it is really uncommon in Germany (I cannot remember seeing anyone ever do that), I would not regard it as socially unacceptable, it would just be somewhat curious or unexpected.
I'm German and good point with the patriotism stuff, last year I told an American exactly the same, Germans being afraid of loving their country. A lot of Germans still mix up patriotism and nationalism. Sad!
Many people mix up liking your country and being proud of your country. For Americans it's the same, for Germans it's not. Most Germans will say that their country is one of the best or the best country to live in, that it is their favorite country and maybe even "the best in the world". That's okay. Not okay is having pride in your country, because most will tell you that it's dump to be proud of something you haven't had any influence in.
I have to say it again, to see your perspecitve on our country is rly awesome! Especially from a American POV, since the german culture becomes more and more common with the american one because of all the TV shows, and pop culture, etc. Thx
Although I agree on your point on Germans being generally more formal when they first meet, calling a person "Herr/Frau" and using "Sie" as opposed to the informal "Du" is not so much about formality but about respect. It is about respect for the other person, acknowledging whether you know each other well (or not), and also about differences in social standing. These things - under the surface - are there in the US as well. You just don't express them as much through names and language. For example, whether you call your college professor by first name or "Mrs./Mr", he or she will give you your grades at the end of the semester, not the other way around. You will always be more open with friends you have known for a long time than with the waitress who serves you at a restaurant, although you address them both with their first names. German is more complicated in that respect, but I also think more honest.
Actually, if I am eating at home, I will cut my Schnitzel up completely before taking a bite. Sometimes, my aunt makes a weird face when I do that, but I do not think they really care. When eating somewhere else, I am doing the more formal cut-behavior. And to the thing with first and last names, as a child, you'll probably make some friends (I hope so :D) and you will visit them at their home, play with them, and then, you are expected to call their parents Mr. and Mrs. until they invite you to use their first name. You even have to use "Sie" instead of "du" when talking to them. I don't know why this is done with children even under six years old... My parents do not care, I think thats good, it'll probably something else, when your friend is not six but sixteen, which makes a lot more sense to me.
i have to say.... whenever i see people cuting their whole meal before eating it always looks to me as if they want to feed a child.... dont know why, but thats a reasn why i cut one piece, eat that, and then the next one (and cause im used to it)
Bladen3t All Americans are children. We're the one country that never grows up. Thats why we have such a large media/entertainment industry. Americans don't grow up ever. Thats why we cut our food up first and eat most things with our hands.
Besides the point that it is a so called "tradition", I can only think of one reason to do so. When you cut just one piece off and eat that (and then the next and so on), it might prevent the meat of cool down
When I was doing an exchange year in Montana, I started to love to say the pledge of allegiance and even announced it with pride. After I came back to Germany, I put an Star and stripes banner in my room and our backyard
Very well put with the patriotism/nationalism descriptions. It's a thin line but I think what you said makes sense. I would say that I love Germany (and sometimes hate). But I also love other cultures/countries etc.
i've been taught that it's not polite to cut up the food bite by bite when having an american host because it's not polite to hold the knife all the time while eating... i'm german and i know some americans back from my military time and now since i play american football we have some americans playing in our team and i can totally agree to what you said in another video about starting conversations.
The patriotism thing is spot on. When I watch american movies or TV shows I'm always.. erm.. confused... to see a flag in EVERY SCENE. What do you need so many flags for?? I don't understand, do you forget what country you're in if you don't see a flag every 30 minutes? what? I don't think patriotism is necessarily a good or a bad thing, I just really, *really* don't see the point of it
it's not zero Its ground flour or something like that "Erdgeschoss". abouve is the first wood-flour or "Stockwerk" because in former times the additional flours were made of wood. so you count Erdgeschoss first Stockwerk second Stockwerk ...
when you have dinner or lunch in germany with someone, it is also polite to put both!! hands on the table. I heard in the USA you don´t, is that right?
To me it never was about the formality of the eating occasion, but about.. I don't know. I never (until 2 minutes ago) thought about doing that. I guess a piece of meat gets cold more quickly like that. But then you can eat it quicker. I don't.. know. I simply in all my life haven't thought about cutting food completely before starting to eat. And I still don't get why I should do that. Is it.. mor comfortable to eat like that?^^ I'm gonna try next time definitely..
I don't cut bite for bite and i'm german i mean i'm right handed and i just like it more to have the fork (i think that's is the name for Gabel) in the right hand and not to holde the knife the whole time.
"I'm not saying that Germans need to be more patriotic." That's exactly what you are saying... It's not that we are "not allowed", it's that excessive flag-waving with the exception of big events is synonymous with nationalism to many europeans and basically the whole world. You have to understand that the US is the odd one out here. You are fine to do it don't get me wrong, but it's not surprising that it's considered crass by a lot of people.
The name thing is in most parts due to the German language. We have the a formal and an informal version of the word "you" when speaking to another person. Using the informal "you" when talking to an adult stranger is very impolite because it makes him feel like a child (they always get the informal one). However using the formal version of "you" followed by the first name of a person makes you look like a child because that generally how children in kindergardens and elementary schools call their teachers. Most (young) Germans do sort of hate this impracticality and whish it was as simple as in English, but since it is part of the language we have to deal with it.
Pople here often keep the knife in the right hand and always hold the fork in the left whereas in america we cut w right then after cutting put the knife down and transfer the fork to the right and proceed to eat our bite-sized pieces...until theyre gone then we do the same thing alll over again
some older adults are pretty formular if they meeting each other for the first time , but the younger people (around 14-16) are really outspoken , in particular the boys , some girls are even really shy nowadays , but it depends on the situation when u meet them
I don't think cutting your food before eating it is impolite or anything it't just a bit wierd to us since we're all used to cutting a single part before eating.
my dad told me about the food cutting thing, when he went to the US for the first time my mom got him a book about American habits and he read about it. he thought it was a lie but the first time he went out in the us to get food there sat a woman at the next table cutting her stake first and then eating it
I am german aswell, but i wouldnt say i am patriotic or "proud" if you have the time to look at docomentation about the history of the young country germany, its more like awe-inspiring. From the times of roman dominion and biting their teeth of in the old german forests to today is a crazy development to see. Documentation i can recommend to see is the "Die Deutschen" series, with alot of individiual episodes for different timespans. Especial if you want to see behind the WW2 curtain.
It´s not considered rude to just cut your meal in pieces at first (okay maybe it is too). But the main thing is that many people then put their knive on the table or plate which is considered very rude.
My personal problem with saying that one's country is the best is that a lot of people use it as an excuse not to improve anything. As an example, Because of Obamacare you see a lot of politicians stating that American health care is the best health care in the world. Just because it is American. Without any facts to back it up. And when you look at statistics, it in fact isn't. I'm not saying that everyone who is patriotic thinks that but I see it a lot.
Regarding the Floor-Count-Difference.. This is actually different between ex-GDR parts of germany and west-germany. in the ex-GDR, floors are counted like in the US (1st floor is ground floor). In western germany, floors are counted like you described. Before the GDR, all floors were counted in the west-german way (groundfloor is zero) In the GDR, they adopted the other counting method, because houses then appear to have one more floor then they actually have. Its all show in socialism.. :-D
It's not about fear of nationalism but because fear of dumbness. Germans think, and I'm with them, that pride about a thing you couldn't even influence in, is stupid. And I dislike people who do that because it makes us look stupid. It's another thing to love your country, think that it's the "best in the world" (although disputable) and cheer for it at sport festivals. Pride =/= liking your country. We mostly disagree in mixing those things up. You might not understand that, because you have another context in the definition of patriotism and maybe even of the terms pride/to be proud.
My two cents regarding patriotism: Personally, unreflected patriotism makes me feel queasy. Surely that has to do with being called a Nazi basically in every country I've ever been to at least once, however apart from that I don't really understand how you can feel proud of being born in a particular country. You didn't decide to be born there, you (more often than not) had absolutely nothing to with how it developed or transformed througout its past. What exactly is there to be proud of? Also I don't think that there is something like a "best country in the world" (and if there was, it certainly would be neither Germany nor the USA). Rather than being patriotic, I thinkg a society should create something like a feeling of togetherness: thinking about how you can shape a society in which everyone has equal opportunities etc (i won't go into that or else I'll be sitting here writing this comment until tomorrow morning ;-) ) but to cut it short: Patriotism can't get shit done. Too many people -especially in the US - rest on old laurels.
On the how you cut up your food thing. Is it because I'm an American that I find it confusing as to why anyone should care? I just don't see why something that minor would be anybody else's business. I guess I'm not that big into formalities.
I'm german and that's the first time i heard that it's not allowed to simply cut your food before you eat it. No one cares about how you eat as long as it's not sloppy. So nobody has to worry about that it's not true.
Sam, last summer I stayed a week with a friend in Munich and found they like their doors closed. If we were in the kitchen they would shut the kitchen door. Do you find this is true in general in Germany?
Huh, I think cutting up your food before eating it sounds tedious, like a barrier between me and eating. I wanna start eating a soon as possible, this I cut off and eat immediately. I never thought of that as formal - I honestly expected it the other way 'round. Of course I've got no idea about that stuff in the first place.
I never thought about cutting and eating. I wouldn't cut everything before I eat because I associate that with toddlers' food. It's like cutting Spaghetti to eat them easier. And it just hearts my heart to see it xD
... of course our country is our favorite! And we like it too when there is one big room with a kutchen a livingroom an ofgice etc! And at your diffrences( sorry if i spelled it wrong) are just right at thevgalf of all german ..
I live in midwestern-germany (NRW) and i've never heard about that rule of not cutting your food before eating... I mean yeah, it might be considered a bit weird, but it's not rude or anything...
Lars T. NRW here too. And yes, it is. It is what your parents do for you because you're still too young to cut your own food. Try even doing that in a restaurant.
one little thing about the last point: I don't think anybody is "offended" or "disgusted" by seeing someone cutting the food before eating it. It's just… nobody does that in germany… and I don't, too… but if someone feels like doing this I'd go with it and just be ok with it… to me it's just not the way I'd eat my meal… but if anyone wants to to it differently then I'm totaly fine with it… and I think that applies to most people in most everyday-situations :)
What's wrong with "my country is the best"? Dude, that's so easy. "Best" is a comparison. Comparison to what? Other countries. (Duhh you might say). But what does that cause? A huge divide between the "in-group", in your case the US, and the "out-group". The short step towards Nationalism comes when the American sacral identity (elitist but inclusive) becomes exclusive on some form, most likely on racial grounds. So we Germans lived through what it means when we get indroctrinated by this group-think. No good. Many Germans will say they like their country but those who make comparisons most definitely will also mouth one, two or a couple more racial charged assessments of other countries after a couple of beers or so.
If you donT cut all your food, it will stay warm a little bit longer. I say, there is an unspoken rule, where you can cut at least half of your food (in order to cool it down more quickly, so that you donT have to burn your tongue). Personaly, I donT feel well to cut my food right away as soon as it's on my plate. This is how i got raised.
Thanks for the video! I grew up in Germany and never understood why Americans are so patriotic. You gave me a different point of view. For me there wasn't really any difference between patriotism and nationalism. I wouldn't say that I'm going to be a patriot now but it helps me to understand cultural differences in a better way.
Woo, I always find it interesting to see Germany through someone else's eyes soooo - cool video! :) Now, I've got a little something to say about partiotism... I think you are totally right, as Germans, we usually do not support patriotism for our own country... You said that we seem scared to show 'love' for our country and I believe that often that is the case - honestly though, I feel that we would be judged if we did, you know? Obviously, there's nice people (like you) who understand that patriotism and nationalism are not the same thing, but not everyone thinks that way. In other countries, when something goes wrong "Nazi-Germany" seems to be the cause; people don't realise that our country changed so, so much in the past sixty years... So, I think showing patriotism for Germany would only add fuel to the flame :/? It's much easier to keep quiet than being reminded of what our anchestors did wrong.
I think most Americans don't think about Nazi anything anymore. Its just your language that throws us off. If you scream to the world that you love Germany in english, no one would care. Do it in the German language though, and it would be like you're throwing bombs. In an American perspective, though this might be/sound rude, be as patriotic as you want, just do it in English. If I started being patriotic towards Mexico in the spanish language and you didn't know what I was saying, you'd freak out too. Its the language not the country, ok? "ICH LIEBE DEUTSCHLAND!!" Sounds scary!! "I LOVE GERMANY!!" Sounds fine to me. Thats what/how Americans think.
Victoria Beilschmidt I actually never thought of that but yea you might be right.. I am (obviously) so used to our language that i wouldn't consider it to sound aggressive or what not, but always when i compare a german sentence with the english version, i am surprised about how much "smoother" the english one sounds haha ^_^
***** Ich bin nicht stolz, weil es keinen Sinn ergibt, schließlich bin ich nur zufällig hier geboren und habe noch nichts getan, um das Land an sich zu verbessern. Aber ich mag mein Land und denke, dass es eine der besten Orte ist, in denen man leben kann. Und das ist ein Unterschied der wichtig ist. Nationalstolz =/= Liebe zum eigenen Land.
hahaha, I only know the cutting the whole piece first before you eat from little kids who cannot do it themselves, so the parent will do it for them first and then they can eat at their own speed. X-D Beside that you just don't do it. I never thought about that before.
yeah, that's just normal! O.ô I didn't even know people cut everything up before eating, except parents for children. And I lived in the US for half a year, didn't notice somebody doing that there. Also the food cools down wayyyy too fast, if you cut it all before eating!
I was born in Russia and moved to Germany when I was 8 - Russia is a really patriotic country, Germany is not and I do not see the point in being patritoc, why in the fucking hell should someone be proud to be born in a specific country? That just doesn't make any sense to me, there may be many things to be proud of but being born an american, german, russian, turkish, british or whatever country you're from, is definitely NOT one of them. And I feel like this i a really big issue in the US, there's just no fucking point. Be proud of your education, of your achievements, your knowledge and so on but being proud to be an American? No. And again, this applies to every other country in this world too but we all know that America's patriotism is on a whole other level.
Here in Germany we say "Nationalstolz is die billigste Art von Stolz" which kind of translates to "National Pride (Patriotism) is the cheapest kind of Pride." I don't know if you would say it like that in english but I think you get the point.
Have a nice day.
danke für diesen bedachten beitrag, gibt uns einen kleinen einblick auf deinen IQ
xddd
+hxm you are right,,,
+hxm Completely right, but lokal pride/patriotism is really common
Mid Night yeah unfortunately
About the patriotism thing:
French guy: VIVA LA FRANCE!! - nothing happens.
Spanish guy: Arriba espana! - nothing happens.
American guy: USA! USA! - nothing happens.
German guy: Yaay Deutschland! - World Newspaper headline: *GERMAN NATIONALISM ON THE RISE!!!* *FOURTH REICH CONFIRMED!!!*
***** sadly it is a true statement. National pride is no longer an accepted thing in germany, as long as your german.
Btw I'm pollitically on the left just so you know.
In my opinion, we should celebrate something like the EU instead of the individual nations.
make montan day a National/Multinational holiday and celebrate it like the USA do it with their 4th of July.
***** But there *are* people who call everyone who just happens to say something positive about germany a Nazi.-
Auf Personen kann man sehr wohl stolz sein, dies hat aber absolut nichts mit dem zufälligen Flecken der Erde gemein auf dem man geboren wurde und, so wurde hier behauptet, für den man "Stolz" empfinden könne.
Die Frage ist, wie sich "Stolz" hinsichtlich eines abgegrenzten Bereiches dieses Planeten, der oft mit dem zufälligen Ort der Geburt zusammenfällt, konstituiert? Welche Kriterien existieren diesen "Stolz" zu beurteilen? Inwiefern kann man auf Teil unseres Planeten Erde "stolz" sein?
Die Frage ist explizit: wie drückt sich diese Zuneigung zu einem Stück auf diesem Planeten aus, auf den man zufällig geboren wurde? Welche Kriterien des Stolzes legen man dabei an?
active285 In wie fern man darauf Stolz sein kann? Nun man kann selber für das stehen, und dafür "kämpfen" was dieser Ort für Errungenschaften gemacht hat. so wie die USA den Independenceday feiert, könnte man in Europa den Tag des europäischen Versprechens feiern. Oder in Deutschland wenn man wollte den Tag der Deutschen Einheit. Statdessen kommt irgendein Greis labert ein bisschen und das wars. Ich fänds schon geil, wenn wir Europa feiern könnten sowie die USA sich selbst.
+active285 lass mich raten..schämen kannst du dich aber für dtl., oder? wenn du das kannst, ist es sicher nicht so schwer zu verstehen warum andere stolz auf ihr land sind.
The difference between nationalism and patriotism is, that patriots don´t think that their nation is superior to other nations. You think that your nation is best? Congratulations! You are a nationalist.
Also I really don´t get why people are "proud of their nation". Imho you can be proud of your own achievements. But being german, american or whatever is something that happened to you, nothing you achieved on your own. Besides that this proudness stands in the way of criticism towards the own nation - be it the politics, economy or social behaviour. Yes, I am german. Yes, I am glad that I was born here. But I am neither proud nor ashamed of being a german.
+Ingo Knito What's wrong with national pride? It's a normal mental function of healthy men. Only wankers and losers haven't national or racial pride.
The problem with some kinds of national pride is the aggressiveness. Especially Turkish and Arabian pride usually is extremely aggressive and rude against other nations and races, especially against whitese cuz they really resent and hate whites. They usually set their pride in put down other nations.
But what's wrong with the, shall we say, Irish national pride? It's natural, pretty cool and somewhat narcissistic in a positive way. They never put down other nations (except maybe the English, but that's for historical reasons).
Exactly, being born in a certain country is purely a matter of 'luck' (not in the sense that I personally could have been any nationality, because my parents are from the Netherlands so I am too) and not anything I have done. I like my country because I think certain things we do as a nation are good (things like how we organize the care of elderly or poor people) and I do believe that other countries have better/worse/equal systems, but mostly because the outcomes of those systems are better/worse/equal. Not because MY country chooses a certain way, that is suddenly the best. Like, a person from the US may believe the US is the best, but in what way exactly? They are not the most free. Many other countries are either the same or better at giving their people freedom, and you could do that for almost any metric. The US is very rarely actually the best at something. Hardly any country is consistently the best at anything. And it also depends at how you measure. You could argue universities like Harvard are (among) the best in the world, and that would be true for a large part. I've heard that from people trying to argue the US has the best universities. But I would not nessecarily consider that true, since most universities worldwide have a great level of education. If all universities in a country are great, and not just some, I would agree. Stuff like that makes me shake my head.
What I don't get about American patriotism is that so often when you criticize the US for something, you're being called unpatriotic, or Un-American. "My country is the best" (besides saying that it's better than other countries who might disagree inasmuch as a non-sentient entity can) can lead to the assumption that it's impossible to improve it, and THAT'S dangerous. The US has a lot of problems. Germany has a lot of problems. All countries have problems that they need to tackle and solve/improve. In fact, I would go so far as to say that a TRUE patriot is the person who points out that there is a problem and then works on solving it, and NOT the person who says "my country can't do or be wrong." I don't mind flag-waving. I do mind brainwashing.
you've explained the patriotism thing so well! i've tried to explain how i feel about this to my non-german friends, but I never really knew how to put it into words, because I grew up like this and never knew it any other way. I don't know how to be proud of my country because nobody around me has ever shown pride for our country. i don't remember seeing any german flags around my hometown before the world cup 2006 here in germany. but i also feel like it has changed a lot since then and again i don't really know how to explain it though. it just feels different.
Jenni Miau to be proud of a nation is dumb(my opinion) , the result is country>country . the only things i am proud of are the progressive thinking and the ideas of humanity
lXlElevatorlXl I agree with you. Especially as nowadays in the age of globalization (or written with s?) we should NOT define us via countries anymore. How are we supposed to accept anyone no matter of his/her/its (gender neutral) origin if we always think about 'us' and 'them'?! We are all humans, that is the only thing that matters. And I still think that patriotism is just the same as nationalism. As long as we divide the world into us and our country on one side and all the others on the other side we're building little barricades inside our heads. That MAY not be harmful in everybody's head. If someone very tolerant and open in every other aspect of thinking thinks this way about countries it may not affect (or effect? DAMN) his behaviour towards other beings. But if we communicate such a way of thinking it will have an influence on the 95% of stupid people that the tolerant people live among and if those grow up with dividing in their head, how can we expect them to be good people and able to accept others the way they are?
(By the way: This division is even unhealthy when it's only applied to soccer. Psychologists made quite many studies showing that even being patriotic for a short time every 2-4 years make you think more radical and increase the level of hatred you feel towards others that are not from your nation. The effect get's weaker afterwards if I remember correctly, but for a month and a short time before and after the world and european cups people that tend to think patriotic become less tolerant. And THAT's why patriotism still is wrong and dangerous.)
Birgit Schwäbe Yet all my friends, relatives, neighbors and co-workers have been patriotic all our lives and we do NOT hate other nations. It has never made us do that. Loving the one thing does not make you hate another.
I think the thing about closed-off rooms may have something to do with the different systems of heating. I cannot back this idea up with data, it's just a guess. But in another video you said in the US you have central heating regulating temperature for the entire house, whereas in Germany you have individual rooms with individual heaters. It is very difficult to heat a very large room with a heater, not to mention that it is a complete waste of energy. Having smaller rooms that can be individually regulated when they are in fact used makes more sense from an economical point of view and they are easier to get warm.
And possibly that, one can also set their room's temperature according to their preference, which again is a probably a respect of privacy and personal preference....
Am I right?
I think the guy who was like "I wish I could do this" meant it more in a way of "I wish I had the strength to be patient enough to cut up all of my food before I take a bite of it because I'm just too damn hungry".
I think we are proud of our country, about our Wirtschaftswunder, the peaceful protests that lead to the German reunion, about being export world champion (yes, that's what we call it; we are recently only 3rd place but we don't mention that). We just don't show our pride for our country publicly. There's no point in waving around our flag. If we do we get snarky comments about us being Nazis so we just don't do that. That doesn't mean that we are not proud of our country.
100% agree! In addition to the topics you already mentioned, there's also our status in Europe atm. We are economicly the best und Angie is probably the most powerfull woman in the world (even though she doesn't do much ^^)
I'm quite happy with Germany not being patriotic. Patriotism honestly just makes me roll my eyes. I wanna be objective and I wanna judge countries objectively. If I just think MY country is the best then where's the sense in that? I find it the best because it's MINE? Isn't that just another form of egoism?
Of courses it's cool if you love your country but saying your country is the best just because you were born there?
It's just random, you could've been born in China as well, it's not like you choose the country yourself.
Also looking at the corruption in most governments I really don't see a reason to be proud.
If I lived in some super advanced country with great ethics and social situation, ok.
But I never really got why different country names are even nevessary. In the end we're all earthlings anyway, just born at differently places. It causes an illusionary feeling of seperation that often leads to this "The Others" mentality and war.
And even if I was super proud of my country I'd be humble about it. If I'm rich or pretty or whatever bragging about it would be considered unpolite. I get the same feeling when someone brags about their country, I find it annoying.
Wanna?
Even if you did in fact live in the best country ever (in all aspects), that is still not something you did, you were just born there by happenstance. And still, a country that I would consider the best, still is not the best because it it MY country, it would be best because it has working systems in place that make the country good, if other countries adopt those systems I would consider those countries equally good.
I never thought saying the pledge was weird until my British friends on my study abroad program pointed it out. And now I think it's a bit weird to condition kids to say that without really explaining the implications behind the statement.
What implications?
allofyousuck11 For starters, why do we pledge allegiance to a country in the first place? Why are we told to do so? Why does God have to get involved, especially for kids that don't believe in God. The only part of the pledge I agree with is the last statement "with liberty and justice for all." As a kid you don't have the capacity to think critically about these matters.
We pledge allegiance to a country to build patriotism at an early age. Children should always remember that they're American. I may move to Germany after college and live their for many years, but I will always be an American and take America's side in whatever fight we get into. Why are told to obey laws? Some laws are completely ridiculous, but we're told to obey them no matter what. Again, this is just reminding us that we're American and have a responsibility to our Country and fellow citizens to be a model civilian. Obey laws, pay taxes, and have freedom. That's America. The God issue I don't care about. I'm not a huge religious nut. I don't care what religion anybody wants to follow. We still have a majority in this country that believe in God, so we are a system set up to please the majority. If the majority wants God on money and in the pledges then fine. If a child grows up and can't form an opinion on God by themselves then you shouldn't be worried about God on money. You should be focused on why your kid is too dumb to formulate his or her own opinion. If you're a kid that doesn't believe in God then that's fine. You can say the pledge and skip that part. The real problem we have in our country is people that get overly upset over small things. We have a strong generation of people who don't believe in God, yet they all grew up saying God in the pledge. If that generation turned out fine then why are we stressing out over the current young generation. If a 7 year old is curios about God then he or she can just google search it.
allofyousuck11 "If you're a kid that doesn't believe in God then that's fine. You can say the pledge and skip that part."
And just ignore the fact that this line is unconstitutional?
TheYasmineFlower You're talking about unconstitutional because of freedom of religion or freedom of speech? Because freedom of religion allows everybody to openly express their religion. So taking God out of the pledge would take away the rights of those kids who believe in God. What about take away the kids rights of freedom of speech? By taking out God from the pledge you're also taking away these kids' freedom of speech. They have the right to choose whether or not they want to say God. You can argue the constitutionality of both sides, but in the end one side will have to compromise. Seeing as how the pledge has had "God" in it for over 50 years I don't think we need to change it again.
Cutting off just one bite at a time helps retaining heat in the remaining piece. The little pause for cutting the next piece gives you a little more time to savour the current one. Eating is not about gobbling up the food as fast as possible and when one takes his time with it, even a smaller amount of food will leave him fully satisfied.
So i definitely have to address the patriotism thing. I think it's pretty obvious why us Germans are shit scared to show any kind of patriotism. It's because WWII isn't even 100 years ago. So we still have a few (not a lot) but enough death camp survivors left. We are constantly reminded that feeling patriotic in the way of putting our flag up outside our house or singing the national anthem ,unless it's the world cup like you said, is NOT okay. Especially people outside of Germany still constantly call us Nazis even though none of us were responsible for what happened. This generation and the one before me didn't really experience the war. But still whenever we talk about loving germany or something like that we're called Nazis. I took part in an exchange programme to Oslo, Norway and they have this amazing celebration for their national day. They have a huge parade singing songs and what not. If we had such a thing the outside world would declare war. It's so sad because it makes you ashamed of your country. It even makes lots if people move..:/
I know and I agree that when the older generations die it won't be as much as a problem. And to the first comment I think it's incredibly ignorant to behave that way and I think everybody should be ashamed of themselves if they generalized everything. try being the person generalized:) Not you specificly though:)
Not trying to be rude or sound overly offened haha!!!!
Ehh. "Ways are as they are at the time being." This quote will never not be true, so theres my input. There will always be ignorance, categories, and generalizations in the world, nothing to freak over.
alessandra нет *fangirl squeal* yay!! another Hetalian!
Victoria Beilschmidt hahaha " Now adays most people think of Germans as blonde-haired beer-loving cute little efficient mechanics. Nothing wrong with you guys taking pride in your country. Go at it if you want. " that sentence was so cute, it really put a smile on my face °u°
SamWaltonMan You should really mention the one cultural difference why Germans are considered rude: We say things as they are, while people from other countries have some sort of social code that requires them to verbalize stuff in a highly encoded meta-language, due to which, if one hasn't been programmed to match this exact same social code during their upbringing, one completely misses the point (which is why I think the "German way of saying things" is the most honest way).
That's one of the things I wish we had in America. People here are too afraid to speak their mind now. Everybody here gets overly offended very easily. It's super annoying.
I guess I have to take up the cudgels for Germans here... we are indeed very proud of our country and we say it all the time... like when it comes down to german inventions... especially beer, cars and other stuff, that Germany is known for... the simple truth is - we don't need a flag to express our feelings for the country...
waving a flag always meant something, that is not related to peace in europe... armies show their banner to give a hint, who they are... different flags were used for revolts against royality to say "we're not yours! we're different!"... also for germans the national flag just shows our origin... the colors of the country we were born... it doesn't have the symbolic power of the american stars and stripes...
so just because we don't wave our flag here doesn't mean we can't be patriotic... and we do so when it DOES have a meaning - during the world cup for example...
that being said - this can't be generalized for all Germans... some might think, that waving a flag is "too patriotic"... most don't even care or haven't thought about it... and of course there might be people who are not proud of their own country... in the end it's just another cultural difference...
hachja... wie man ein Argument immer schön mit einer Beleidigung untermauern muss ^^ auf sowas geh ich erst gar nicht ein
+hAuNtEd KiD buhu, hat der Döner damals nich gut geschmeckt? ^^
Traurig.
In Germany we were actually taught to be ashamed of our country and filled up with guilt when I was in elementary and middle school (70s to early 80s). It's strange to see than that it was British scholars who wrote books that glowingly praise German culture, science and history (sans the Nazi time, obviously - but even there you find examples of bravery, heroism, sacrifice and courageous resistance of all sorts). If you don't know it - here be some suggested reading: The German Genius, by Peter Watson. We didn't only have Hitler, we also had Kant and Humboldt, and Albert Schweitzer and, yes, the other Albert was, German, too. What I really, personally, and glowingly, hate the Nazis for, in addition to the more obvious atrocities, is that they crippled our country, our culture, by forcing many of the best out and by cutting us off from our history and our roots. The chance I see is that, over time, something like European Patriotism (using the word with care and some doubt here) might form. For me that emotionally - and logically - makes much more sense. Oh - and, although as a kid I loved the US and thought it was the greatest nation on Earth, although I visited and lived there, studied there, over the years, decades, I have become convinced that the EU by and large is a much better place to live - and in many respects is superior, culturally. I could almost say that I love the Union. Maybe I am becoming a, well, transnational patriot here? ;-). Keep it up!
Hm, i don't think it has anything to do with being strict in Germany, bcs of the cutting-eating thing. It's just the way we learned eating? xD I don't know, i don't think anyone really cares about HOW you are eating your Schnitzel, Steak or whatever. ^^
Nice Video :P
i think the most irritating thing for germans is that americans switch their fork to the right hand after they cut their meat. germans are used to hold the knife in the right hand during the whole meal. for right-handed ppl the fork has to stay in the left hand.
the 'knife-in-your-right-hand'-thing historically was a symbol of status. the sociologist norbert elias (born in germany and fleed to france/UK during hitlers reign) did research on this topic.
*****
it seems to be a matter of social status and the ppl you are surrounded by.
*****
i didn't/don't want to be insulting (i myself think that etiquette is kind of stupid) but there is a difference between the traditional elites and the social climbers. and the usage of cutlery is one of the little issues where you can tell someones origins (at least the traditional elites can). in germany the differences between the classes still are present today.
***** i'm from west germany and there isn't a real difference between rural areas and cities (i lived in both). and i'm not speaking about noblemen (i think i don't know any 'real nobles').
*****
that's the problem. because often only the traditionals recognize these differences they can prevent social climbers to get into their communities or get well paid jobs, they have to offer. with the social climbers not recognizing the differences they cannot simply imitate this way of behavior.
as i mentioned before i personally don't like this system (and often consciously ignore the unwritten laws, because they are stupid), but unfortunatly that's the way it still works.
I have never, do not and will never understand what could possible make anyone proud of their country. What exactly are you proud of then? I often hear things like "We Germans invented the car, Germany is the country of poets and thinkers." But the fact is Carl Benz invented the car. You as a person have nothing to do with that. Absolutely nothing at all makes you responsible for Mozart and Einstein to be born in Germany. Patriotism makes no sense. You can be glad to be born German and happy about us being export champions and our football team winning the world cup, but pride you can only earn by things you do yourself. You can be proud to have risen a business, you can be proud of getting A grades at school, you can be proud of achievements your children make (because you know... you made them), but you can't be proud of some German dude inventing the car or even just of the fact that certain German dudes were born here. That's just my opinion and the case might be that my definition of pride is different from everyone else's, I don't know.
Don't be mad about patriotism in Germany. If you Love your Country = Nazi/ Neo-Nazi
Exactly my feeling. I am not proud to be a german, i am glad to be a german. Makes a lot of difference.
I think thats true but it is just human to like the things you have some connection with. And if someone say that he likes your country you just feel a little proud of it.
Pyriold Thank you, thank you very much. You can love your country and even think that it's "the best in the world" (although this a objectively disputable), but that's a whole other thing than being proud of your country.
I, as part german part american (not that it matters, just a little background) completely agree! Well said(:
We lack patriotism? Well hell yeah. I'm honestly so offended by you saying this.
We are always looked down for what our grandparents did. We still get called Nazis all the time, we face racism from americans, brits and a whole lot of other people and you expect us to just get out there and put a flag in our frontyard and sign our national anthem just so everyone can judge us again and tell us how we're going "back to being nazis"?
Heck no.
We have been "allowed" to show flags again since the world cup in 2006, because so many people came here and realised that we're a peaceful friendly nation who's damn good at playing football.
I love germany, I'm proud that we're doing so well even thought people always judge us. The only thing that helps is thinking that everyone that's being racist and from another country also has a history like we do. The americans slaughtered their natives and they still kill black people, the Brits killed a whole lot of Indians and the French's killed a ton of hugenots, but that isn't talked about because it didn't happen last century and they aren't told how " I killed their grandfather in WII" or "destroyed their family"
So please excuse us for not showing everyone our patriotism.
Lightningstime Nein, wir bezeichnen uns ungerne als Patrioten weil es dämlich ist. Kein Schwein interessiert die Meinung von anderen Ländern. Und nein, kaum jemand fühlt sich - so wie du - in irgendeiner Form rassistisch (ernsthaft, wtf?) angegriffen. "Mimimimi, alle nennen uns Nazis." Warst du jemals im Ausland? Es ist fast schon xenophob von dir zu sagen, dass alle uns als Nazis beschimpfen würden. Das einzige, was das Ausland doch will, ist, dass wir "patriotischer" werden. Wasn Quark du da von dir gibst. Ernsthaft, Leute wie DU regen mich auf
tmaster7331 Ich war wahrscheinlich öfter als du im Ausland :) und ich wurde oft genug persönlich oder über Twitter beschimpft also bitte tu nicht so. Patriotismus ist nicht falsch. Man kann stolz sein auf das eigene Land. Ich will stolz sein auf mein Land ohne lowkey Angst davor zu haben dass jemand wie DU kommt und mir erzählt was falsch und richtig ist.Xenophobie ist die Angst vor Fremden oder Fremdenhass und ich kann kein Wort davon in dem was ich gesagt habe erkennen.Ich hasse niemanden Aufgrund seiner Nationalität. Beleidigt werde ich aber nicht gerne also mach dir nicht die Mühe zu Antworten wenn du das willst.
Ich bin im übrigen auch nicht die einzige die so denkt oder sowas erlebt hat.
Herr der Zeiten First of all no I won't stop caring.I care what people think about my home and we're not bastards that kill people because of unbelievably stupid reasons.
Herr der Zeiten Well I wish you were right.
Herr der Zeiten It's not possible.like seriously Wunschdenken!
I guess formal/informal is defined differently by different people and again different by different generations. When I grew up I was taught that in the confines of my home I can be as formal or informal as I like in any aspect, as long as it doesn't offend any family members. And I can set those rules to be respected by any guests. Exception: for guests I want or need to impress or see me at my best behavior (ie. my boss) or in order to have a special day (celebration or similar) I may go all formal at home. But outside my own home I have to go by different standards. Since a school cafeteria is outside my home, I have to show common table manners, unless there are specific rules to go by. And in Germany common means, eating with fork and knife and cutting each bite.
Propose eating/cutting food: As a German I also found it very strange to see Americans switch their fork back and forth. They'd hold the knife in their right hand and the fork in their left, cut off a piece of food, then put down the knife, switch the fork over to the right hand to put the food in their mouth, then switch the fork back to the left hand and pick the knife up again to cut off the next piece of food. I don't get why they do that, it seems rather inefficient to me. I've also noticed that Americans sometimes only use a fork. For example, when eating a salad. And lastly, I've seen some rather strange ways of holding utensils in the States, like wrapping all fingers around the fork so that your hand is a fist and the fork sticks out on either side.
ClaGaCla That might actually have come across as more criticizing than intended. I'm not saying the "German way" of using your utensils is better and the "American way" worse or anything like that. They're simply different.
actually you're supposed to only eat salad with a fork.
ClaGaCla You were watching some strange individuals. I'm American, and I do none of those things! lol
Keo Mitchell
that's why i always ask for chopsticks
Lol, I am a German and do those things xD. See I'm right handed, so I have more control in my right hand than in my left. That's why I'm switching the fork. It's more efficient for me. And why would you need a knife for a salad? Okay the only thing I don't do is holding my fork and knife like that xD.
Interestingly with the patriotism is, that most people are patriotic of their local region and not so much about the whole country, that might be because of history, and I don't mean WWII and national socialism, but the time when germany was not a unified country (or empire back then) but consisted of many small countries, kingdoms, principalities and so on.
According to history, "Germany" was a country, that had been formed not by a common ancestry, but by a common set of languages (primarily different Germanic dialects, that formed the Germanic "standard languages" of today).
I'm a German exchange student in the U.S right now and I really enjoy to see how you Americans love your country. And it also makes me so sad because - it is true - in Germany we are afraid to be proud of our country or even to show it and if somebody does it it feels just weird and wrong. And I think that's not fair. Honestly I am proud to be German (and no that doesn't mean I'm proud of our history in WW1 and WW2) and I wished we could be at least a bit more patriotic.
I really enjoy watching you're videos btw hope you have a nice time im schwabenland ;)
I think so too. In my opinion, what our generation or especially the generation of our parents have accomplished after the the 2nd WW is worth being proud of! And also our status in Europe atm. Economicly, we are the best in the EU to this day, so why shouldn't we be proud of that.
But I also think, the patriotism (not nationalism by all means) will slowly come back in Germany since the events happed in WW1/2 can't be related with our generation anymore ..
Why should you be proud of anything you didn't have any influence in? That's unreasonable.
tmaster7331 Where are you from? USA? or any other country for that matter ... I don't see anything wrong with being proud of your own country, since you certainly have something to do with it. It might not be much, but every citizen has some influence on the country, since everybody is paying taxes and most of 'em go voting.
overTIMe Why does it matter where I'm from? ;-)
My problem is, that it's random where you're born. You're proud to be born somewhere random? Well, everybody pays taxes everywhere, so...
If you decide to change something in your country, to personally make it better, well, then you can be proud for having done that. But being proud of somethings history where you haven't take influence in? Yeah...
Whatever, let people do what they want to, but pride can result very dangerous. It would be best if people just did things for people, not for nationalities...
tmaster7331 Don't worry, I can assure you that we germans really are carefull with our pride in our country - for obvious reasons. And while America usually is a little bit too patriotic imo, Germany on the other hand lacks a bit of that patriotism ...
I actually don't quite understand why Americans are so patriotic. I mean most of them got ancestors from europe and the country itself doesn't even have a real culture. They just kinda copy different cultures from other countries and mixed them up. Also I can't see why the citizens of the US would be proud of their country? Because biggest argument against german patriotism is because they had a dark past and made a lot of wars etc. But did the USA do anything different from that. Talking about Vietnam, Irak, Afgahnistan and so on, I don't think that should be something to be proud of. Of course there's allways this argument that they want to spread the democrazy, but as we all know that's not a reason for invading another country and kill millions of civillians...So I would really like to know why an american should be proud of his country. I would appreciate any answer
Hello +jack phillips. I happen to be a proud American, so I'll answer your question as best I can. Now, I live in a country with a population of about 317 million people, so I can't speak for all of us but I'll tell you what patriotism means to me.
I'm not proud to be an American because I have any great accomplishments to my name or because I've done anything significant to help shape what the United States is today. In fact, my patriotism has very little to do with myself. A lot of the pride that I feel for my country comes from some of the very people you mentioned in the second sentence of your post... my ancestors! Some of my ancestors were native American, some were Italian, and the others were English. It amazes me that so many people from different parts of the world could come together and find love. Now, I can't say what exactly brought my European ancestors here but they came nonetheless and they found one another. Just thinking about that is very humbling.
I live about a 15 minute drive from a small town that goes by the name of Germantown. It was originally settled by German immigrants, as you might have guessed. That small town is apart of a larger city. The city is Louisville, named after King Louis XVI of France. French, German, Italian, English, Native American... if you can think of it, we have it! If world history is any kind of indicator, then this shouldn't work. To be honest, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes, we hate each other for the most ignorant reasons. But when it really comes down to it, the only things we have that really unite us all is our humanity and our love for country.
Millions of men and women have come before me and millions have fought and made tremendous sacrifices to build this country and to defend the freedoms that I enjoy today. I'm not just referring to our brave soldiers. Some of our most heroic countrymen, are the people that refuse to fight. Men and women that use their mind and words to better this country. People that take a stand for what they believe is right, even knowing that they risk all they have, just so their children and their countrymen might have a brighter future.
I'm not always proud of my government or the wars we fight, but I am very proud of the men and women that serve in times of war. I'm proud of them because I know the fight itself may not always be noble but the things that every individual soldier fights for, almost always is. I have an American flag that flies on a pole just outside of my bedroom window. I can hear it flapping in the wind as I type this. It can be so inspiring sometimes, just to hear it and know it's there. Thinking about what that flag represents and what it means to me. Maybe pride isn't the right word to use. I think honor is a better word. Like I said before, my patriotism has little to do with me but instead comes from so many courageous people that came before me, and of the extraordinary people that surround me today. I don't fly an American flag for myself, but I am honored to fly it for them.
In Canada, the public discourse distinguishes between civic nationalism (the pride in shared institutions and values) and ethnic nationalism (the pride in one's ethnic background). The policy of multiculturalism arises out of this important distinction. Most immigrant countries in the Western Hemishere do this.
There was a German film where two German soldiers are sitting in Stalingrad. One asked the other "what are we doing here?" The other soldier said "We are exporting the German culture." You ask your self what were we were - are doing in Vietnam, Irak, Afghanistan. In Vietnam they are drinking Coca Cola again and exporting goods to the USA. Irak and Afghanistan are to be decided. I assume that when they recover from the American visit that there will be Coca Cola and Hamburgers on every street corner. Other than that nothing was achieved.
jack phillips You would need to live here to understand.
Justin Goodin Thank you. You've stated it well. Love and respect to you! -A fellow American
The thing that many forget is that Germany has not been a country for long. Most of its history it has been ssplit up into small moarchies and principalities. And much of that divided-ness is still prevalent in how Germans see themselves. That and the negative image patriotism has in Germany lead to an identity that is much more tied to region. Many Germans don't see themselves as German, they see themselves as Fraconian, Swabian, Saxon, Berlin... This regional identity can lead to mindsets that are as positive as patriotism can be and as negative as Nationalim. You will find fnd people very proud of their culture who wear traditional clothing at fests and bake their regional sort of bread and brew ther regional sort of beer. You will also find people from Berlin speaking very hatefully of Swabians "invading" their city and their culture or radical groups in Bavarria that want Bavaria to become an independent country. There aredifferent regoins with different cultues in almost any country, but the diference is that usually the country is sen more important than the region. In Germany it's theother way around
MrsXanatrix you're right, local patriotism is very common in germany, even the political left does it. i am for example against any form of nationalism, but at the same time i love my birth region.
jemanden mit vornamen anzusprechen wird bei uns auch "duzen" genannt. weil man dann ncihtmehr sie sondern du sagt.
meistens wenn man jemanden privat trifft, z.b. in ner bar oder so, ist man eher beim du, wenn eine der beteiligten gerade "arbeit" macht, z.b. den kassierer an der kasse, ist sie angebracht
das ungefragte Duzen greift in Deutschland immer mehr um sich, es gibt viele Lebensbereiche, in denen es schon als unpassend angesehen wird, wenn man eine unbekannte erwachsene Person überhaupt noch siezt, z.B. in Sportvereinen, unter Studenten, unter Fabrikarbeitern, aber auch in anderen Branchen am Arbeitsplatz, in sozialen Netzwerken - wer hat auf Facebook noch Respekt vor dem "Sie" für einen erwachsenen? - und bestimmt noch in zig anderen Bereichen. Diese Distanzlosigkeit und der Verlust des Feingefühls für den Respekt eines erwachsenen Bürgers werden immer schlimmer, bald haben wir hier wirklich amerikanische Verhältnisse.
Michael Fenske
das als amerikanische Verhältnisse zu bezeichnen mit einer art negativem Unterton halte ich für eher unangemessen, da es in USA sicher nicht als Respektlosigkeit anzusehen ist. Es sind einfach gewachsene Strukturen. Ein kultureller Unterschied eben. Mit dem anderem allerdings gebe ich dir recht. Es lässt sich nicht so einfach auf uns übertragen. Ein Beispiel: Ich war in Stuttgart bei Dunkin Doughnuts und habe mir nen Kaffee geholt. Das junge Mädchen hinter der Theke hat mich einfach mit du angesprochen obwohl ich bestimmt 20 Jahre alter bin als sie. Mich hat das unangenehm berührt, aber auch gleichzeitig schmunzeln lassen da es eine etwas schräge Situation war. Normal bin ich nicht spießig oder so, aber da fand ichs schon komisch. Ich habe nicht gewusst wie man den Deckel der kaffeebechers öffnet und hatte sie das gefragt. Ihre Antwort: "Du, das is ganz toll, das musst du so und so machen, dann geht das ganz einfach, und du kannst den Becher dann auch wieder zu machen."
Ich hab mich dann gefragt, wer von uns eigentlich das kleine Kind ist.
one quick fun fact to the floor thingy. in austria there is even a mezzanin or hochparterre which in fact is the first floor or would be the second floor in us. so it goes zero, "higher zero", first, second, and so on. so an old three floor building might have 5 floors including ground floor or erdgeschoß.
4:57 Regionalism is very important in Germany. Where I live, there are tons of flags of our state. But I guess that depends on the state aswell.
6:59 I am German and very proud of my country and culture. But for that I don't need a flag.
Proud? Or Happy? I like the most of our culture Hegel, Kant and Marx. But why I should be proud? It's cool yes ... but mine our. Its from this people for us. And not for the country. Nobody cares about the county, I think there is a real problem with Patriotism. I mean if you are patriotic and other countries attack your pround and culture, it's leading fast to a war. Just look at US, Turkey, France, Russia are quite fast at using weapons for stupid or no reasons.
That music in the backgrund really helps to set a good mood for the video
as far as floors in houses are concerned, we call the 1st floor (US) the Earthfloor (GER: Erdgeschoss), above that one is the first "upper floor" (GER: erstes Obergeschoss) then second "upper floor". Below the "Earthfloor" it is called first "under floor" (GER: erstes Untergeschoss) an so forth. In smaller houses with a singular subterranian level it is just called Keller (US:basement) usually.
Funny thing being: Geschoss is also used for bullets/projectiles/shots
It's not like we are embarrassed of our country. No, we are damn proud of our economy, of our cars, our beer, our "made in Germany" in general and we sure know that's the best but we aren't showing it in public because of obvious reasons. The whole world still calls us Nazis although it's the second generation after WWII and we are not to blame for anything that happened. Like get over it world, you have dark history too. But we are still seen as the "Nazi Germany" without us doing anything so we are smart enough to not show patriotism in public to not give the rest of the world more input discriminating us.
warst du in der whole world? und hast gehört wie uns jeder nazi schimpft.
schau mal. niemand nennt uns nazi und meint es ernst. wenn uns jemand nazi nennt dann aus spaß. und wir deutschen checken das nicht. oder woher kommt das vorurteil wir deutschen gehen zum lachen in den keller?
nicht von ungefähr.
Dein Optimismus ist wirklich zu beneiden. Ja,die Meisten sagen es wohl aus Spaß,aber es gibt immer noch genug die es ernst meinen. Wenn du so etwas lustig findest,dann nur zu. Jeder hat bekanntlich einen anderen Humor. Ich bin aber davon überzeugt,dass es die Amerikaner auch nicht lustig finden,wenn wir sie Rassisten nennen. Das hat nichts mit "wir gehen zum lachen in den Keller" zu tun.
Celine Ak das liegt daran das die amis nicht die hellsten sind und das mein ich nicht mal rassistisch oder vorurteils behaftet. aber mental gesehen sind die so vernebelt von merica das die bisschen blöd sind wenn es um das thema geht.
gut man kann es nehmen wie man will. entweder wir verstehen keinen spaß oder die amis lachen über jeden scheiß. ich wähle aber lieber ersteres und lache mit den amis über alles (so auch über deutsche die über nix lachen können) denn lachen ist gesünder als weinen.
wie viel ist genug? 100? 1000? america allein hat 300mio einwohner. der rest der welt hat knappe 8 milliarden minus 80 mio (deutschland)
wie viele nennen uns nazi und meinen es ernst? von mir aus sind es 1 mio leute. das sind dann 1 mio idioten auf die man keinen wert legen braucht. ich mein 1 mio is weniger als 1 % der welt bevölkerung. es wäre sogar weniger als 1% der bevölkerung der usa. also wie wichtig sind die die das ernst meinen?
ich bin auch kein patriot um gottes willen. ich bin nicht mal deutscher. und grade deshalb kotzt es mich echt an das deutsche sich ja schon fast für ihr land schämen. also bitte. man muss sein land nicht lieben. aber sich dafür schämen. ey komm. wegen weniger als 1%.
wenn mein optimismus zu beneiden ist (keine ahnung was an meinem kommentar optimistisch war) ist dein pessimismus zu verachten?
Du scheinst das ziemlich zu unterschätzen. Außerdem geht es nicht nur um die Amis,es gibt auch andere die immer noch auf dem Nazi-Deutschland stand sind und es ernst meinen. Habe ich schon oft genug erlebt. Selbst wenn die meisten es aus Spaß sagen, nervt es auf Dauer einfach. Was du scheinbar als ebenfalls Ausländer (?) nicht verstehen kannst. Wenn man es lustig findet als eine Person bezeichnet zu werden, die unterstützt bzw dabei geholfen hat,dass 6 millionen Menschen getötet wurden,dann sollte man wirklich an seinem Verstand zweifeln. Ich persönlich ignoriere solche Kommentare dann lieber. Das heißt nicht,dass man keinen Humor hat und das hat vor allem nichts mit Pessimismus zu tun. Das ist wirklich zu weit hergeholt. Außerdem schämen wir uns nicht für unser Land (was ich in meinem eigentlichen Kommentar schon erwähnt habe), wir sind nur nicht so "in your face"-patriotisch wie beispielsweise die Amerikaner.
Celine Ak gut das argument lass ich dir. ich als nicht deutscher (bin in deutschland geboren und ausgewachsen. meiner ganze familie aber stammt aus polen, also technisch bin ich deutscher fühle und sehe mich aber überhaupt nicht als deutscher. eher als pole aber auch nicht wirklich. ich sehe mich eher so weder noch) habs natürlich einfacher da ich mich nicht damit identifiziere. das stimmt.
ja wenn du mir, warum auch immer, optimismuss vorwirfst (keine ahnung worauf das bezogen war) werf ich die einfach so pessimismus vor.
Hey Sam, this vlog is awesome. Just found you last week and I've been browsing through the videos for days. I just moved into Germany a couple of weeks ago as I'm doing my bachelor level exchange studies in Munich. Im working on a vlog with the same idea and i can find a lot of inspiration from your content, so thank you :)!
The ground/first floor thing is easy to explain. You think in total floors, while we think in build floors. The ground floor is mandatory for every building and in ancient times is really was the earthen ground, so it was not build, it was already there. The next level was the first floor which had actually to be build. Here it´s called "1. Stock", you might translate that to "first stacked floor".
When I moved to the states from Japan, I was very surprised to see the US patriotism. I don't particularly think that it's a bad thing, I just feel that America kind of steps over the boundaries of loving their country. It's not like people from foreign countries hate their country, I think they just respect their country and other countries, where America feels that their country is (the best or) well built in many circumstances. Also when you think about it, Germany has a history of Nationalism with Hitler, and isn't their most proudest moment. I know that Germans don't like to talk about the war, or any war, really, because they don't want other people from other countries speaking badly about their country, which I think anyone would agree.
4:04 There is even a more complicated thing with the names of the first floor and so on. In some old buildings there is the ground floor, the mezzanin, and after that the first floor. Which means for an american, the third floor would be called first floor.
LoL, I never really realized that you could also cut all the food on your plate before eating it. I guess it just seems unusual to most Germans but not outrageous or impolite. Some might associate it with premature behavior only because the only scenario that I can think of where you would cut all of the food before eating it, is when you prepare it for a small child.
How is that possible that you are able to observe and name such sensitive topics with this amount of consideration, non-chalance and accuracy? You are a real talent!
As a high school teacher, people are expected to call me Mr. Antrim or Herr Antrim, but I don't really like it all that much. As an American, I like the casual conversations. That being said, my colleagues don't really like it when teachers allow their students to call them by their first name, as it sets a "dangerous precedent" where students might be encouraged to do the same to other teachers. For that reason, I don't let my students call me by my first name, but I do let them call me "Antrim" or "Herr" instead of the accepted terms.
The closed door thing is a huge adjustment for a lot of Americans staying in German homes. I was a part of an exchange program where I spent 3 weeks in a German home and the following year my host brother came to live with my family in the USA for 3 weeks. While I was there, I thought it was awkward that all of the doors were closed all of the time. It seemed like they were trying to avoid me, but it really isn't like that at all. My host brother thought it was weird that if I was in my room I would leave the door open.
The vocabulary difference between floors of a building is a big enough deal that it is actually in our German 1 curriculum.
Great list. Thanks for sharing.
wait, I live alone, so I don't know... they leave the doors open in Germany or the US?
USA - doors open. Germany - doors closed.
hmm.... doesn't it depend on the weather?
Inside the house German houses are more closed, but I assume it varies from house to house and also depends on the family.
Now I've seen a couple of these vids in a row now.
This was by far the most accurate and also relaxed one.
Kinda made me smile and go "oh really?!" at the same time.
So good job! ;)
"Soccer....Football, sorry." God, I love you!
About the patriotism, for me it's not really about being afraid, I just don't see why I should feel proud to be a German I mean I haven't worked for it or anything so why be proud? And I can't be proud of Germany when there are still so many things wrong here like not really allowing same sex marriage or that nationalistic demonstrations are approved by the government.
Go to America for a few years. You might prefer Germany afterwards.
Victoria Beilschmidt
why?
THE U.S.A SUCKS!!
Wow that's a mature answer to a normal question.. But really though I'd be interested to know
Jassi Arja U.S.A has a falling economy, owes billions to nations like China, only prospers due to expensive products like jeans and refridgerators and a good social media/entertainment industry. Have you checked out the health care there? You'll like Germany a lot better after a visit to the U.S.
the floor thing (where to start count) also is a latin american thing. the count like you while the spanish (and probably all european countries) also count the "german" way.
About the patriotic thing, it's not like we Germans don't love our Country, I do love Germany, but it's more like we aren't allowed to show patriotism, because as soon as we would, it's like "are you a nazi?" O.o
And I don't want to start any shit, but I do have to say that people tend to forget that the majority of the Germans weren't nazi's because they believed in it, but because they had to be or were "forced to comply".
But I think that you don't necessarily have to wave a flag everywhere to be proud of your country, that makes it kind of fake, in my opinion...
But you wear it in your heart!
btw. I really like your video's, keep up the good work :)
and I do hope you have fun while staying here in Germany, maybe you even start to grow a liking to Football (or Soccer, as you call it)
And hey, you should check out Hamburg, it's really nice especially the "Centrum" and the harbor ;)
Jeder weiss dass BRD eine Ami-Kolonie ist. Irgendwann werden wir beschuldigt Amerikaner gewesen zu sein. Dann kommt die Entamerikanisierung, Berufsverbot für AmiMarionetten und die Reparationszahlungen an Vietnam und Laos.
Susanne Dienst NEIN ;D gab auch keine großartigen Verfahren gegen Italien und die nationalsozialitischen Puppet-Staaten und alle die Fremden.Legion-SS-Einheiten , daher würde nur die Usa entamerkianisiert werden
About that foodcutting-thing. I don't think its formal or informal thing to cut your food piece by piece. I think for most german or other europeans it just doesn't come to their mind to cut their hole meal before actually eating it.
And on a note: Your food is geting cold way faster on the American way.
Erdgeschoss means ground floor. But sometimes it really confuses us too...
Regarding cutting your food. I personally don't know of any formal rule stating that it is impolite to cut it all before eating. However, I never saw someone doing it, so I would also look surprised when someone does it. Not because I think it's rude but because it's unusual.
I'm German and I eat my food the way you described - Cutting & into the mouth. But I never thought of it as formal. It's more like a natural "I want to eat it as soon as possible, so I eat it once I cut it' mentality. For me, the only reason to cut something completely apart before putting the first part into my mouth may be if it's too hot and has to cool down first.
I didn't even knew about that cutting thing. I just never did it, since I think it is stupid, because the heat will leave.
Actually, if you would ask a random German at the street about Germany and his feelings about that, in 9 out of 10 cases he would tell you that he is very proud to be a German. There are some Anti-German-Movements within Germany, but those exist in every country. We just dont have to sing our national anthem the whole time or raise the flag, our patriotism is just more subtle than in other countries.
proud isnt the word the ppl will use.
they say stuff like:
"i like it to life in germany and im happy to be born here.
im proud of my work. im proud that i lost 10kg wight last half year.
proud that the faith born me into a country called germany? no. but happy about"
9/10 will not use the word proud. im pritty sure ;P
Spatz Sturm Nah I'm sure people will say proud, because most people are idiots. They don't see how little sense it makes to say you're proud of a country.
Spatz Sturm
HOLyP | Gaming
I would say proud, but i wouldnt think about meaning that im proud to be born here, i would be proud of the country itself, its behavior and so on. And everybody who know screams about some nazistuff is the real idiot, because first of all, it happenend a rather long time ago, and there is almost no country at all in the world whitout some sorts of mass murder. For example, the USA and the native Americans, the Spains and the Maya etc.
***** That something happened a long time ago does not in any way increase or lessen it's influence on today. The second I agree with, however - every country has had it's dark past. Everything's always grey. I mean, the democracy in Athens was almost entirely based on the fact that they had enough slaves to allow their citizens to spend most of their time with politics rather than anything else. I think we all agree that democracy is a great system, but it's history _is_ pretty dark.
TheYasmineFlower
I didnt meant it that way, i wanted to say that it has no influence on my opinion. I can say that im proud of my german background, despite we had Hitler and all this stuff, like an American can say im proud of being american, despite my ancestors held slaves for a very long period and discriminated people only because their skin was different then ours. Like Sam said in the video, that this refuse of being patriotic vanishes more and more.
There is a place you should go to as long as you are in Germany. Its the "Schwabenquelle" at the Si-Center near Möhringen. Its a super luxurious spa, but its also a place where families are going to. I've been there with one American and a Scottish friend. Its great and it does't exist in Germany. Some soldiers from the Robinson barracks nearby go there as well. Ran into one of their walking cupboards once. First thought its a wall made from concrete. Used for bunkers. With a towel wrapped around his waist.
One other place is in France just across the border: Le Lignet Maginot. Its a fortification line the French built in the 1920s. Some of the bunkers are open to have a look at. Make sure you have a warm pullover with you even when the planet is burning in summer. At the end of the hallway there is an artillery tower you can operate manually.
Doesn't your food get cold faster if you cut it up first? It makes more sense to me to cut off a bite at a time and eat it. On the other hand, while it is really uncommon in Germany (I cannot remember seeing anyone ever do that), I would not regard it as socially unacceptable, it would just be somewhat curious or unexpected.
Hey Sam, I really enjoy watching your stuff. Greetigns from Mannheim ;-)
I'm German and good point with the patriotism stuff, last year I told an American exactly the same, Germans being afraid of loving their country. A lot of Germans still mix up patriotism and nationalism. Sad!
Many people mix up liking your country and being proud of your country. For Americans it's the same, for Germans it's not. Most Germans will say that their country is one of the best or the best country to live in, that it is their favorite country and maybe even "the best in the world". That's okay. Not okay is having pride in your country, because most will tell you that it's dump to be proud of something you haven't had any influence in.
Nope. A lot of PEOPLE confuse patriotism and nationalism. And plenty of them are Americans, too.
Oliver H
Yeah, that too.
I have to say it again, to see your perspecitve on our country is rly awesome! Especially from a American POV, since the german culture becomes more and more common with the american one because of all the TV shows, and pop culture, etc.
Thx
Although I agree on your point on Germans being generally more formal when they first meet, calling a person "Herr/Frau" and using "Sie" as opposed to the informal "Du" is not so much about formality but about respect. It is about respect for the other person, acknowledging whether you know each other well (or not), and also about differences in social standing. These things - under the surface - are there in the US as well. You just don't express them as much through names and language. For example, whether you call your college professor by first name or "Mrs./Mr", he or she will give you your grades at the end of the semester, not the other way around. You will always be more open with friends you have known for a long time than with the waitress who serves you at a restaurant, although you address them both with their first names. German is more complicated in that respect, but I also think more honest.
Actually, if I am eating at home, I will cut my Schnitzel up completely before taking a bite. Sometimes, my aunt makes a weird face when I do that, but I do not think they really care. When eating somewhere else, I am doing the more formal cut-behavior.
And to the thing with first and last names, as a child, you'll probably make some friends (I hope so :D) and you will visit them at their home, play with them, and then, you are expected to call their parents Mr. and Mrs. until they invite you to use their first name. You even have to use "Sie" instead of "du" when talking to them. I don't know why this is done with children even under six years old... My parents do not care, I think thats good, it'll probably something else, when your friend is not six but sixteen, which makes a lot more sense to me.
i have to say.... whenever i see people cuting their whole meal before eating it always looks to me as if they want to feed a child.... dont know why, but thats a reasn why i cut one piece, eat that, and then the next one (and cause im used to it)
Bladen3t All Americans are children. We're the one country that never grows up. Thats why we have such a large media/entertainment industry. Americans don't grow up ever. Thats why we cut our food up first and eat most things with our hands.
I never thought of that. I never cut up anything completely.
Besides the point that it is a so called "tradition", I can only think of one reason to do so. When you cut just one piece off and eat that (and then the next and so on), it might prevent the meat of cool down
Bladen3t Seriously, why would anyone do that? :D
When I was doing an exchange year in Montana, I started to love to say the pledge of allegiance and even announced it with pride. After I came back to Germany, I put an Star and stripes banner in my room and our backyard
Very well put with the patriotism/nationalism descriptions. It's a thin line but I think what you said makes sense. I would say that I love Germany (and sometimes hate). But I also love other cultures/countries etc.
i've been taught that it's not polite to cut up the food bite by bite when having an american host because it's not polite to hold the knife all the time while eating...
i'm german and i know some americans back from my military time and now since i play american football we have some americans playing in our team and i can totally agree to what you said in another video about starting conversations.
The patriotism thing is spot on. When I watch american movies or TV shows I'm always.. erm.. confused... to see a flag in EVERY SCENE. What do you need so many flags for?? I don't understand, do you forget what country you're in if you don't see a flag every 30 minutes? what?
I don't think patriotism is necessarily a good or a bad thing, I just really, *really* don't see the point of it
it's not zero
Its ground flour or something like that "Erdgeschoss".
abouve is the first wood-flour or "Stockwerk" because in former times the additional flours were made of wood.
so you count
Erdgeschoss
first Stockwerk
second Stockwerk
...
when you have dinner or lunch in germany with someone, it is also polite to put both!! hands on the table. I heard in the USA you don´t, is that right?
To me it never was about the formality of the eating occasion, but about.. I don't know. I never (until 2 minutes ago) thought about doing that. I guess a piece of meat gets cold more quickly like that. But then you can eat it quicker. I don't.. know. I simply in all my life haven't thought about cutting food completely before starting to eat. And I still don't get why I should do that. Is it.. mor comfortable to eat like that?^^ I'm gonna try next time definitely..
I don't cut bite for bite and i'm german i mean i'm right handed and i just like it more to have the fork (i think that's is the name for Gabel) in the right hand and not to holde the knife the whole time.
"I'm not saying that Germans need to be more patriotic."
That's exactly what you are saying...
It's not that we are "not allowed", it's that excessive flag-waving with the exception of big events is synonymous with nationalism to many europeans and basically the whole world. You have to understand that the US is the odd one out here. You are fine to do it don't get me wrong, but it's not surprising that it's considered crass by a lot of people.
I don't think he said it wasn't allowed. And if he did, I think he meant socially. I mean, of course you're allowed, but it's just seen as weird.
The name thing is in most parts due to the German language. We have the a formal and an informal version of the word "you" when speaking to another person.
Using the informal "you" when talking to an adult stranger is very impolite because it makes him feel like a child (they always get the informal one). However using the formal version of "you" followed by the first name of a person makes you look like a child because that generally how children in kindergardens and elementary schools call their teachers.
Most (young) Germans do sort of hate this impracticality and whish it was as simple as in English, but since it is part of the language we have to deal with it.
Pople here often keep the knife in the right hand and always hold the fork in the left whereas in america we cut w right then after cutting put the knife down and transfer the fork to the right and proceed to eat our bite-sized pieces...until theyre gone then we do the same thing alll over again
some older adults are pretty formular if they meeting each other for the first time , but the younger people (around 14-16) are really outspoken , in particular the boys , some girls are even really shy nowadays , but it depends on the situation when u meet them
I don't think cutting your food before eating it is impolite or anything it't just a bit wierd to us since we're all used to cutting a single part before eating.
my dad told me about the food cutting thing, when he went to the US for the first time my mom got him a book about American habits and he read about it. he thought it was a lie but the first time he went out in the us to get food there sat a woman at the next table cutting her stake first and then eating it
Soory but that "and justic for all" thing is just funny because.. u know about 200 years of slaves..
I think that discussion is wrong at this place.
yes i know and im soory. every counntry has a dark history.
slavery in the usa ended 1865 and the pledge of allegiance is from 1892. ;)
Melcome X Martin Luther king....
TheChaosfreak97 oO
if you count them as slaves: for how many years do you think slavery exists in germany?
I am german aswell, but i wouldnt say i am patriotic or "proud" if you have the time to look at docomentation about the history of the young country germany, its more like awe-inspiring. From the times of roman dominion and biting their teeth of in the old german forests to today is a crazy development to see. Documentation i can recommend to see is the "Die Deutschen" series, with alot of individiual episodes for different timespans. Especial if you want to see behind the WW2 curtain.
It´s not considered rude to just cut your meal in pieces at first (okay maybe it is too). But the main thing is that many people then put their knive on the table or plate which is considered very rude.
My personal problem with saying that one's country is the best is that a lot of people use it as an excuse not to improve anything. As an example, Because of Obamacare you see a lot of politicians stating that American health care is the best health care in the world. Just because it is American. Without any facts to back it up. And when you look at statistics, it in fact isn't. I'm not saying that everyone who is patriotic thinks that but I see it a lot.
Regarding the Floor-Count-Difference..
This is actually different between ex-GDR parts of germany and west-germany. in the ex-GDR, floors are counted like in the US (1st floor is ground floor). In western germany, floors are counted like you described. Before the GDR, all floors were counted in the west-german way (groundfloor is zero)
In the GDR, they adopted the other counting method, because houses then appear to have one more floor then they actually have. Its all show in socialism.. :-D
It's not about fear of nationalism but because fear of dumbness. Germans think, and I'm with them, that pride about a thing you couldn't even influence in, is stupid. And I dislike people who do that because it makes us look stupid. It's another thing to love your country, think that it's the "best in the world" (although disputable) and cheer for it at sport festivals. Pride =/= liking your country. We mostly disagree in mixing those things up. You might not understand that, because you have another context in the definition of patriotism and maybe even of the terms pride/to be proud.
My two cents regarding patriotism: Personally, unreflected patriotism makes me feel queasy. Surely that has to do with being called a Nazi basically in every country I've ever been to at least once, however apart from that I don't really understand how you can feel proud of being born in a particular country. You didn't decide to be born there, you (more often than not) had absolutely nothing to with how it developed or transformed througout its past. What exactly is there to be proud of? Also I don't think that there is something like a "best country in the world" (and if there was, it certainly would be neither Germany nor the USA).
Rather than being patriotic, I thinkg a society should create something like a feeling of togetherness: thinking about how you can shape a society in which everyone has equal opportunities etc (i won't go into that or else I'll be sitting here writing this comment until tomorrow morning ;-) ) but to cut it short: Patriotism can't get shit done. Too many people -especially in the US - rest on old laurels.
On the how you cut up your food thing. Is it because I'm an American that I find it confusing as to why anyone should care? I just don't see why something that minor would be anybody else's business. I guess I'm not that big into formalities.
Good, interesting info. Thank you!
I'm german and that's the first time i heard that it's not allowed to simply cut your food before you eat it. No one cares about how you eat as long as it's not sloppy. So nobody has to worry about that it's not true.
Sam, last summer I stayed a week with a friend in Munich and found they like their doors closed. If we were in the kitchen they would shut the kitchen door. Do you find this is true in general in Germany?
That made me LOL about calling/introducing as Mr. vs first name. LOL
Huh, I think cutting up your food before eating it sounds tedious, like a barrier between me and eating. I wanna start eating a soon as possible, this I cut off and eat immediately. I never thought of that as formal - I honestly expected it the other way 'round. Of course I've got no idea about that stuff in the first place.
Hi Sam, have you already come across the habit of Brüderschaft trinken? If so, I would love to see your vlog about it.
I never thought about cutting and eating. I wouldn't cut everything before I eat because I associate that with toddlers' food. It's like cutting Spaghetti to eat them easier. And it just hearts my heart to see it xD
I'm sorry if you've answered this before but what camera are you filming with? And great video btw :)
Das Konzept mit Erdgeschoss und 1. Stock etc hab ich anfangs auch nicht verstanden.
... of course our country is our favorite!
And we like it too when there is one big room with a kutchen a livingroom an ofgice etc! And at your diffrences( sorry if i spelled it wrong) are just right at thevgalf of all german
..
I live in midwestern-germany (NRW) and i've never heard about that rule of not cutting your food before eating... I mean yeah, it might be considered a bit weird, but it's not rude or anything...
Lars T. NRW here too. And yes, it is. It is what your parents do for you because you're still too young to cut your own food. Try even doing that in a restaurant.
Nice Video!
5:14 too funny your ironic view after that statement was hilarious
6:20 Not sure if serious :-D
one little thing about the last point: I don't think anybody is "offended" or "disgusted" by seeing someone cutting the food before eating it. It's just… nobody does that in germany… and I don't, too… but if someone feels like doing this I'd go with it and just be ok with it… to me it's just not the way I'd eat my meal… but if anyone wants to to it differently then I'm totaly fine with it… and I think that applies to most people in most everyday-situations :)
What's wrong with "my country is the best"? Dude, that's so easy. "Best" is a comparison. Comparison to what? Other countries. (Duhh you might say). But what does that cause?
A huge divide between the "in-group", in your case the US, and the "out-group". The short step towards Nationalism comes when the American sacral identity (elitist but inclusive) becomes exclusive on some form, most likely on racial grounds.
So we Germans lived through what it means when we get indroctrinated by this group-think. No good. Many Germans will say they like their country but those who make comparisons most definitely will also mouth one, two or a couple more racial charged assessments of other countries after a couple of beers or so.
8:00 You can start with this if you are old enough to live in German caring home :D
If you donT cut all your food, it will stay warm a little bit longer.
I say, there is an unspoken rule, where you can cut at least half of your food (in order to cool it down more quickly, so that you donT have to burn your tongue).
Personaly, I donT feel well to cut my food right away as soon as it's on my plate. This is how i got raised.
Is that a WTSDA blackbelt certificate in the background?
Thanks for the video! I grew up in Germany and never understood why Americans are so patriotic. You gave me a different point of view. For me there wasn't really any difference between patriotism and nationalism. I wouldn't say that I'm going to be a patriot now but it helps me to understand cultural differences in a better way.
Woo, I always find it interesting to see Germany through someone else's eyes soooo - cool video! :)
Now, I've got a little something to say about partiotism... I think you are totally right, as Germans, we usually do not support patriotism for our own country... You said that we seem scared to show 'love' for our country and I believe that often that is the case - honestly though, I feel that we would be judged if we did, you know? Obviously, there's nice people (like you) who understand that patriotism and nationalism are not the same thing, but not everyone thinks that way. In other countries, when something goes wrong "Nazi-Germany" seems to be the cause; people don't realise that our country changed so, so much in the past sixty years... So, I think showing patriotism for Germany would only add fuel to the flame :/? It's much easier to keep quiet than being reminded of what our anchestors did wrong.
I think most Americans don't think about Nazi anything anymore. Its just your language that throws us off. If you scream to the world that you love Germany in english, no one would care. Do it in the German language though, and it would be like you're throwing bombs. In an American perspective, though this might be/sound rude, be as patriotic as you want, just do it in English. If I started being patriotic towards Mexico in the spanish language and you didn't know what I was saying, you'd freak out too. Its the language not the country, ok?
"ICH LIEBE DEUTSCHLAND!!" Sounds scary!!
"I LOVE GERMANY!!" Sounds fine to me.
Thats what/how Americans think.
Victoria Beilschmidt I actually never thought of that but yea you might be right.. I am (obviously) so used to our language that i wouldn't consider it to sound aggressive or what not, but always when i compare a german sentence with the english version, i am surprised about how much "smoother" the english one sounds haha ^_^
what a crap. most of germany í know give a shit of what our ancestors did and are proud of germany. we just need no flag to be.
*****
Ich bin nicht stolz, weil es keinen Sinn ergibt, schließlich bin ich nur zufällig hier geboren und habe noch nichts getan, um das Land an sich zu verbessern. Aber ich mag mein Land und denke, dass es eine der besten Orte ist, in denen man leben kann. Und das ist ein Unterschied der wichtig ist. Nationalstolz =/= Liebe zum eigenen Land.
hahaha, I only know the cutting the whole piece first before you eat from little kids who cannot do it themselves, so the parent will do it for them first and then they can eat at their own speed. X-D Beside that you just don't do it. I never thought about that before.
another thing that is common in Germany is to eat open face sandwich
Like.... For the last one: I'm german and I only ever cut and eat and cut and eat I didn't even know this was considered formal lol
yeah, that's just normal! O.ô I didn't even know people cut everything up before eating, except parents for children. And I lived in the US for half a year, didn't notice somebody doing that there. Also the food cools down wayyyy too fast, if you cut it all before eating!