The Current Situation In Germany (My experience As A Brit)
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- Опубліковано 18 тра 2024
- My Newsletter: benjaminantoine.substack.com
In this video I share my real and raw experience of living in Germany as a Brit in 2023.
I have been here since 2011 and have witnessed quite an evolution in certain areas of life. It's important for me to be transparent and honest but be warned that this video has it's fair share of sarcasm...
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:44 - Cost of living
02:29 - The Digitisation of Life
07:42 - The Job Market
About me:
I am a Brit (form England) who lives in Germany. After completing University in the UK I moved to China where I taught English for two years. I’ve learned a thing or two about cultural integration, language learning and everything else that goes with upping sticks and moving to a foreign country. I make videos about cultural, language and life and tend to pose a lot of questions. Join me on my exploration of life abroad.
Show some love:
ko-fi.com/benikon
#lifeingermany #culturaldifferences #livingingermany
Morning all. How is everyone today? Enjoy your Sunday ❤
SCHÖNEN FAULEN SONNTAG✌️
Good, 2nd day off in 14 days. Enjoyed the France - Jamaca game today.
Caught up on a little sleep. Did'nt get round to shopping yesturday , so a takeaway soon.
Enjoying being home.
@@nails3394 Glad to hear it. Make the most of your time off 😀
I'm doing better than German cocaine users if the price has doubled (@0:58)! 😉
Dunno who his dealer is but I’ve seen price inflation on everything BUT cocaine.
Did you just say that the price of cocaine doubled?!?!
Auto subtiles and me are thinking that too.
Glad someone noticed. Just included it as a joke to see if anyone would pick up on it😉
@@juns3554 these types of jokes come, when you sit in a German city apartment at 35 degrees Celsius and have no air conditioning.
I LOL'ed so hard 😂
@@britingermany Someone? Everyone was shocked into silence and then booked a hearing test.
I lived in Dresden for 2 years 2008 - 2010 and it almost broke my spirit. Almost as I am a high spirited person but my associates were so bogged down with the rules and even though highly educated and very intelligent hardly thought outside the box ever. My next stop was a Convent stay at Lago di Garda Italy and I felt such freedom and a relief to be away from all the heaviness of Germany
"my associates were so bogged down with the rules and even though highly educated and very intelligent hardly thought outside the box ever.". So, the Gerries have changed from being blind bootlicking followers to, drum roll please, blind bootlicking followers.
Yea but it depends on what you do professionally. Italy is a good place it you have your own thing set up less so if you have to rely on the Italian system
Lake Garda is a very beautiful place.
I forgot to mention my esteemed associates wouldn’t dream of questioning authority
They eat too much Kartofle. It is quite heavy to digest
I am native german, and living here . Lots of my staple groceries have gone up 50%+ within 2 years . Within 12 months my monthly utility bill ( gas/electricity ) has gone up 75% . My rent has gone up 12% beginning this year .
Meanwhile, Unions fight for raises around 2/2.5% .
This can not go on for much longer . No idea what can/will be done to change this though .
Well, we know what happened the last time Germany's economy went down the drain.
Protest until your leaders make peace with Russia.
Your country has been so betrayed
Weimar 2.0 is about to go global.
Remove the source of inflation - the incompetent greens party and sanctions demanded by the USA
In the energy department one easy thing would be to bring all the recently closed nuclear plants back online...
As a native I can totally agree with your assessment of the German job market. These contradictions have been going on for decades. Qualified workers? Yes, but please at ridiculously low wages. Many companies desperately look for employees but their stubbornness in terms of overregulation and bureaucracy makes it more or less impossible to hire people - no matter if they are Germans or foreigners. More than 200 000 qualified or even highly qualified persons have left Germany since 2016. You are right - this situation has to change really soon if Germany wants to prevent going down the drain...
It's deeply disturbing. I worked as a graphic designer and a federal police officer in Germany until I moved to the US a year and a half ago to live with my husband and I can tell you this:
I work a security job here that needed me to just take a course, an extended background check and I still make 17$/hr unarmed and 22$/hr armed. $ and € are almost the same by now and as a graphic designer in Germany I made 12€/hr after 3 years of school minus three 40% taxes. My wage as a reseal police officer was better, but only barely more per month than I make in this job here that I need no education level for when I work armed full time.
Food is definitely more expensive in the US now since the last administration got in power and ruined everything.
But I still wouldn't go back living in Germany.
I hope my people turn it around some day. Don't keep voting the same bullshit that only builds more cages around you.
@@SkiraReed its by design. i always wonder how people can be so clueless. imo germans are the most clueless people ever. they will literally believe everything.
look up wallstreet journal. as the us gets wealthier, the eu gets poorer. its made by design since the us sees the eu as an economic rival. the usa profits from the eu getting poorer. companies and high skilled people go to the us now.
why do you think the green movement is so strong in germany? because it gets backed by the us. germany dismantles its own car factories. everything that makes germany strong is getting dismantled now.
and with it, the eu as a whole. we will all be poor in 10 - 15 years while the us will get richer and richer.
the same with migration and all that other stuff. the eu is basically the tool so that the us can enforce its will on europeans.
Yes you are right... the wages are in stagnation since 1989! The proof is , do 1.02^33 it is ca. 2 . What does it mean? An inflation rate of 2% over 33 years. Compare your income in DM let's say 1990 with your income 2023 in €. 😊 Well , the excange rate of DM /€ = "2". Interesting?😊
Does anybody get the maths?
@@SkiraReed I got the idea to become a VHS lecturer or teacher "Schülerhilfe " etc. . I can do that as a retired Dipl.-Ing. ... but it was a joke they wanted to pay. To pay the tram to get there? 😊😊😊
Abolishing cash would be the single most privacy infringing thing they could do, I hope it never comes. I pay for everything in cash except internet purchases (obviously). No credit institute or data collecting firm needs to know what and how I consume. It's none of their fucking business!
Fair enough 😉
This could be very easily achieved by a "digital wallet".
Think of it like this: Instead of getting physical money at a cash point, you get your credit on a device that is not directly affiliated with you as a person - think of it as a prepaid card you'd use for a sell phone.
Also, to be quite honest, as long as you are not living completely analog, some of "your data" will be acquired and used. The second you stated that you utilize online purchases, you've pretty much forfeit your whole argument. Got a store card? Got a smart phone/tablet? Data will be gathered.
That is the reality of a modern society engineered around consumerism.
They want to remove cash so as to be able to implement negative interest rates across the board ?
@@markocarroll9424 Logically, there is no difference between paper money and a digital currency in terms of value (disregarding the material itself, ofc) - both has no real value itself and is backed by an idea of worth.
For your "argument" it simply does not matter. Interest rates are not imposed on the bill, but the system.
@@porecemusnox8805 Unless you live off the grid, of course some data is collected. But I can avoid at least them collecting my locations and behaviours by not using a smartphone and paying everywhere with cash. I don't see the use of a "digital wallet" when I can simply use cash. I like cash.
I work for a German company in the UK, I'm constantly surprised by how long it takes to make a decision. They are also very pedantic about everything and again nothing gets done.
Interesting. I think that is part of German culture it does take a long time to make decisions and they want to be sure that the right decision is being made. Once taken the implementation is fairly fast
that is funny, my wife has lived and worked in the UK and in Germany, we are in the US, and she cannot stop complaining about the slow bureaucracy in the UK. She worked for one of the councils in London and also in Liverpool. nobody wants to do anything, nobody takes ownership, etc. In Germany they may give you a hard time if you are not prepared when you show up, but they do the job. Here in the US people are very friendly usually, and completely incompetent, much of the time. Still, they are friendly... i have also seen german companies make huge decisions, and then implement them regardless of what the obstacles were.
@@britingermany With all due respect, sir, German culture? Americans like to get things done - Germans are seemingly _bureaucrats_ and _pencil pushers_ Think of all the "occupational therapeutic bureaucracy there is _and you need tons of hard cover binders_ for your respective bureaucracy. And, they do stuff - because - it has always been done that way. Like I said before - there are a lot of good things I _like_ about Germany. But government office bureaucracy ain't it. - However, the spankin' new Bürgeramt in MITTE was really good - the service was great - the official was friendly - absolutely NOTHING TO CRITIZE - However, Mitte is probably the most expensive part of BERLIN - as far as restaurant prices and rents are concerned
Plus a lot of Germans I know are _pedantic nitpickers_ - Why? Cause they can, and always _have_ been. Trust me, I "came" to Germany when I was more or less TWELVE. And there were 2 Germanys. West Germany _always_ wanted to get in to East Germany's face and business - and _weaken_ it from _within_ and - finally succeeded in 1989.
What we are NOW experiencing is more or less the aftermath of 1989. The entire European world order has disintegrated - and it is getting _worse and worse_. The EU - a castrophe.
The economic union was far, far better - and - fewer countries were involved.
I don't recall boatloads of refugees wanting to flee to GERMANY in the 2. half of the 20th century. The German government and companies actually came to places like Italy and Spain and _recruited them_. Why? Lots of WW II casualties.
They were only supposed to stay for a number of years - end result was - they liked Germany _so much_ - that - they STAYED.
And brought their wives here and established families here - all good.
Now, everything is out of control. Germany, as a country - has become a _laughing stock_. Trust me, sir, there will come a time when _you too_ will have had enough. If you can't get your money's worth due to super inflation - you move - which a lot of people will be doing _soon_
@@uliwehner Thats the public sector for you. Given how long it takes my local council to fill a pot hole; I'm not surprised your wife complain. To paraphrase Hitch Hickers Guide my local council are like Vogons. The would not fill a pot hole without orders, signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public enquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters..
Could be under qualified management lol. Germany suffers from leadership and technical expertise shortage because white collar salaries are low
In my lifetime the book 1984 has gone from being a dire warning to a welcome brochure.
Yes, ... you can trick the state in 1984... .You can't trick Schufa, Google... etc. . Sometimes you think something... and you get seemingly the content you just thought of. Uhm... that does not mean they can read your thoughts but guess what you think.😊
Its our fault. We have the option to buy phones with open source OS, where you can use your device anonamously, but we choose not to. We can use Firefox, which gives you privacy, but we choose not to, because chrome is faster. Same goes for many other products. But we choose whats more comfortable and more efficient and cheap. If 1984 comes, its because we chose so.
Employers asking for a Schufa report is far from universal, and in general they need to have a really good reason to even ask for it (such as the job giving you control over company accounts). They are also expressly not allowed to request the report without your consent. I work in financial services and all I ever had to produce was a "polizeiliches Führungszeugnis" (police clearance certificate detailing any recent brushes with the law). For the record, the Schufa's business practices are increasingly seen as violating data protection laws or defeating the purpose of e.g. private insolvency. I believe we will see their wings clipped a bit in future.
Yea you’re right. Not every employer requires this. I had to provide both because I’m involved in investing/money…unfortuanately I don’t get to take any of it home 🙄
yes, in the video it sounded as if that would happen frequently here and there. But I think Schufa report to get a job is very rare.
If you look for a new flat it is has become normal that the landlord ask for Schufa.
@@britingermany 😀
@@britingermany , all those beautiful little dots... *sigh* 😜
Dear Benikon,
the cost of living has risen but not the wages and subsidies by the administration. I'm a landlord with 30 flats and was asked by some tenants if I wanted to raise rents. My answer has been how can I in good conscience raise rent when I know that people are struggling with paying utilities? I can't. But I'm fortunate to have (at the moment) no long-lasting mortgages with the risk of rising interest rates. I know for a fact that most private landlords (and many companies) are in mortgages up to the neck and are forced to raise rents because of rising interest rates. Granted, there are always black sheep that try to exploit the situation but the majority of landlords prefer a smooth relationship with their tenants. Because guess, what happens next when you successfully raise the rent? The tenants will deduct even more money for real or fake defects and deficiencies (Mietmängel). And then you're worse off than before.
Schufa is obliged to destroy all data concerning fully paid credits, contracts, etc. after three years. Do they always do it? I don't know and I don't care. I don't ask future tenants or their Schufa-score, and I don't ask for a Gehaltsauskunft (salary report) either. I only ask for a Selbstauskunft (report on themself) about (besides personal data e.g. phone number, e-mail, etc.) how many tenants will move in, do they have pets, are they playing musical instruments, and net household income. If they lie in this form, it's grounds for immediate termination. Even though I can't just throw them out (I envy American landlords), at the latest after 6 months of court proceedings they will be out.
Personally, I prefer to know that all the craftspeople that do work for me have the required qualifications. I don't want a random person to repair the electrical installations in my home or the rental units. I want a regular electrician (with a certification of the Handwerkskammer) to do the job. It's for safety and quality assurance reasons. If you've got experience on the job you don't need to go through the whole qualification process with app. 3 years of apprenticeship. If you can prove to Handwerkskammer or IHK (depending on the profession) that you worked on the job for one and a half-time as long as the apprenticeship is set, you can enroll for the Gesellenprüfung (journeyman exam) which consists of theoretical, practical, and oral exams. I did this 10 years ago. After my marriage, I worked in the office of my husband's company for almost 25 years, doing anything from writing letters and invoices to payroll and accounting. When my husband passed away 10 years ago my mother-in-law suggested I should get the "paper" meaning an official certificate by the IHK as a "Bürokauffrau" to be able to get a job elsewhere and so I did. I got hold of some old exams, filled out the forms, and compared my answers to the correction sheet to train for the exam, I refreshed some areas (where I lacked knowledge) by reading books - and passed the exam with the mark "good". Not bad for a 48-year-old with no formal education in the field, just training on the job.
CU twinmama
Thanks a lot for sharing this perspective. I do t know anyone with 30 properties Sonora nice to hear your point of view 🙏
Hats off to you, Twinmama ❤❤
Related - and possibly relevant to some of your tenants - is that the Tory otherwise known as Christian Lindner doled out 300€ Cost of Living help to everybody.... except the Arbeitslos, the Langzeitkrank and Rentners - none of who he gave any means to claim it.
Methinks the sh*t needs a good hard kick in the elections for that one...
I hope you live somewhere in Baden because I have been looking for such a good landlord for years now
@@haithamalhassanieh9427 Almost, I live in the Palatinate just ouside of Ludwigshafen.
You don't have to pay for a Schufa report. They have to release the credit score and all information held on you for free by law. They just hide this option on their page as they want to charge for it.
So, Germans started cheating too.
You can only ask for that once per year.
@@ikemkruegerNope.
Really? I think the difference is that the unpaid option takes weeks to be delivered, no?
@@Thiesi Meaning one can't ask at all or one can ask as often as one wants?
I left in 2000. I had a passport and social security card from my dead beat Army dad and i took advantage of what he had left me.
All i knew was my single disabled mom struggling on Sozialhilfe which wasnt a Hilfe at all.
Growing up with that stigma and somehow being expected to stay in that system. I just wanted out for various reasons.
My mom still lives there and shes managed her minimalistic lifestyle and somehow is happy.
I am now a truck driver and have a paid off truck. Ive traveled the entire US and Canada. I dont think this type of freedom would have ever been afforded me in Germany. Im glad i had inherited and preseved a hard work ethic and i used my wits and chased my dreams.
I would never under any circumstances return to Germany.
I visited once and immediately felt claustrophobic. I also could not handle the materialistic cutthroat mindset of Germans.
Americans have always been friendly and receiving towards me no matter where i went.
I also couldn't imagine forking over 50% of my wages in taxes and being dictated on what size engine i could drive etc.
Had i stayed there i probably would have never been able to afford a car or even a driver's license.
The education system was amazing however where i went and sat in class with politicians kids and lawyers kids.
Everyone i graduated with somehow ended up in the financial or political market but more so because of parental guidance.
I just didn't really have any true role models to follow in my own family setting. Most unemployed and living off welfare or working their butt off on minimum wage.
I might return for a vacation and thats about it.
Nothing you have listed about the digitisation of life is something I would rate as something positive.
fair enough
I agree, not only as a German, but also as a citizen of this planet, and I see many dangers to our freedom in this rapid digitization of the world. And I don't really understand how one can be so critical about the German Shufa, which isn't even nearly as bad as the Chinese social credit system, on the one hand, and on the other hand be completely blind to the dangers of the ever increasing digitization.
In fact, I think that the Shufa would become a lot scarier if they merged it with all the other apps and data resulting from this digitization and if they were also interconnected with government institutions in both ways and they would share all of all this data within the institutions, resulting in the perfect transparent citizen and a complete loss of privacy and all of our civil liberties. In particular, I find the digitization of payment processes and even the planned introduction of a digital replacement for cash, which will certainly not be decentralized, but is already being pushed more and more each passing day as extremely worrying.
Well you will have to take to the streets and rally up a protest then...the thing is that most of this so called "important data" is stuff that we hand over willingly when we post a photo or comment online 😉. I think options are good. Imagine if I would have had to have done the whole residence permit thing in person....I dread to think@@WrongWorld23
living in the US for many years, i have learned to like digitisation. just about everything i do can be done from the convenience of my living room on a computer or on my phone. i buy tickets online, reserve parking online, pay online, bank online. I do not even have a bank branch near me anymore. I literally have to drive 10 miles or so to get to one. if i need cash for any reason i get it out of an ATM, those are close. i can transfer money, deposit checks, etc all at the ATM. i schedule doctor visits on my phone, even have tele visits. i order meds onlline, delivery via mail. just so you know, traffic in the Atlanta area is murder. If you don't have to drive, don't!
@@britingermany On the other hand, thinking on how long processes take when you HAVE to go to the Ausländeramt (I helped a co-worker from a non. European country with the process of getting an Ausenthaltsgenehmigung), I guess that going digital in that field IS really a progress, especially if you look at the time it takes to get things done actually.... Nevertheless, I am a little sad that meeting a partner in person beforehand has become less popular because of the digital dating experience. And I love the digital payment options we have here. I regret to say that when I go to the high street in my town in order to find certain clothes, books or games, they are often not available. Maybe, my taste is too specific, maybe, my figure or my feet are too much out of the norm, who knows. I am often only lucky to get what I want online. It was easier when I was younger, either the high street shops or my taste has changed to their disadvantage. Therefore, it is gerat to have so many options to pay.
"I'm going to break this video down into 3 parts".
Ah excellent. The German tendency for organisation and clarity has grown strong in this one.
I visited Germany several times, both cities and country sides. I don't dislike Germany, it's just not for me. Having said that, I have worked with a few Germans, I am impressed with their techniques - very solid foundation.
Thanks for the video. I'm very sorry to hear about the increased digitisation: I loved the old form filling days! Cash is still king to me - forget cards.
Thanks for watching!
I like cash but forms.... meh... need plenty of office devices to coup up, print out, scan and so forth.
Thanks for this. It's a very interesting video Very informative, too. It's actually made me appreciate my own country all the more! One was inclined to take it for granted. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it!😀
@@britingermany As they might say in the States: 'Sure thing!' 🙂
From what I've heard in the USA, they're undershooting the effect of inflation---one of the things they're doing is replacing a more expensive food with a less expensive one in the hypothetical budgets they're using to gauge inflation. So inflation is worse than they're saying it is.
Interesting but also nasty!
@@britingermany that's a normal politicians lie. They change the rules and products to get a lower inflation rate. Food prices went up 40%, but some TV and electronics got cheaper because they use too much electricity. So on avg they keep the official inflation lower
My food has doubled in last year. That's not 17%.
Wow! Love this channel and subbed 😊
Glad to hear it! Thanks for joining 😀
Price at FKK doubled too. I was there last month. The quality of service did not double though.
An excellent summary! I have been here eleven years and can only endorse your opinions. My rent has been upped by over 10% and will be raised again by the same amount in March! For me this has become unaffordable. But from my travels this year I conclude that we are still better off than many of our neighbours.
Thanks for sharing...Yes it is tough at the moment
Your rant is still very diplomatic! 😄
I can’t help myself 😉
Thanks for your informative video.
What I also want to emphasize on is, you have very nice voice! Seriously.
Keep doing the good work. 👍
Thanks a lot 😀👌🏻
High degree of digitiszation of life isn't something to be proud of or worthy of flaunting. It means that the State/big brother has higher degree of surveillance and control over residence. And lower degree of resistance from the residents, which only indicates their higher degree of sheepleness.
A totalitarian government will always abuse technology and law to get to where it wants. That doesn’t mean we can’t have better integration and simpler processes for a society. Faxgerät does not protect you from an abusive state.
Cash is also the only way to purchase something in case of a power outtage, or even a malfunction of the card payment systems. (We had the later one last year for half a day in austria, and people realized that cash still works then.)
True. And I think Germany has a competitive advantage over many other European countries in this sense. It is much harder to spend cash in most of Western Europe.
Have you come across the term “Führungszeugnis“? You Need a certificate of „good/decent conduct” if you go into teaching
or any other position related to public service. It’s always interesting to listen to your comments on life in Germany. I tend to have a “Tunnelblick” as regards my home country. Have a good Sunday.
Yea I also had to get one of those a Polizeiliche Führungszeugnis. Thank you and a lovely Sunday to you too
Health professions (e.g. therapists) require professional registration in many countries (including Anglo-Saxon countries), which I believe is actually a good thing. There is usually a health professional council or professional/ therapy board. In some countries you need only a police clearance. In others you need a “letter of good standing” which is not a reference from an employer, but a character reference from someone of high standing in the community. The list includes minister, police, etc - but not necessarily straight forward. Far fewer people are religious nowadays. A local police officer might be reluctant to complete the form if the form, especially if they already provided a police clearance and don’t know you. Some people more frequently, know less people in their community. In some cases you require two of these letters.
Fascinating stuff….now subscribed.
Welcome aboard!😀
So glad I left a year ago.... It's not really better elsewhere but you learn to be relaxed
Your experience with authorities is nice. For children there is now a Kinderreisepass passport which only valid 12 month. In my town I have to book a appointment online, which doesn't work on afternoon, for afternoon i have to call in the morning. It takes around 20 minutes, a new image has to be provided and both parents have to be there, or a letter that the other permits to do so.
Yes the people in the office are very kind and service oriented (which is not always the case) but the whole thing is just clumsy expensive beaurocracy
That sounds very annoying. Sorry to hear that
About the SCHUFA. It is one of the financial "line of defences" for non-trivial purchaces or contracts. The most common one is renting: the landlord (German: Vermieter) wants to see if this new custormer is actually able to pay the rent. This kind of distrust-in-advance has some nasty real basis: there are not few people who are called "Mietnomaden". They appear as wealthy on false claims or well dressed, or they abuse the (naive) trust of some landlord or -ladies. Then they move in but they never pay a single cent. They ignore all the reminders and let it go until finally, after maybe some years, thye landlord managed to get a court making a verdict against that person, with an order that he must leave the place he "rented". It used to be utterly difficult to get such a verdict as all courts are hopelessly overburdened with any kind of civil trials. Some landlords got bankrupt because of this. The Mietnomaden-trend is not new, it exists at least since 3-4 decades, but this and other kind of frauds rarely makes any headlines. People keep a cynical view on it: well, why did not they check the person in the first place ... "Passen Se doch auf!". Sorry for yet another "negative" comment, but that is reality.
I get it. And as far as I’m aware the law is usually on the side of the renter rather than the landlord which is not the case in the U.K. i guess there are positives a negatives of both sides. I’m fine because I have a positive Schufa score but I can imagine just how difficult life could be if it wasn’t
The problem with the Schufa is that they market now a very intrusive product for landlords. You have to give the Schufa full read access to your Bank account and they analyze every spending and income the last months for the "Mieterauskunft".
Of course you can always bring the normal Schufa Auskunft but you'll not get the apartment then.
In the US we have credit agencies knowing every credit line and utilization and addresses. One of those agencies - Experian - desperately tries to market a similar product ("give us access to your bank account so we can store your rent and utilities payments too") but it's not really widespread. It's for desperate people having bad credit scores in the hope a prospective landlord would accidentally choose Experian for the report...
ZEK in Switzerland is similar to Schufa with the certainly one aim being to ensure that people do not obtain too much credit / debt. So prevents people falling into a debt trap. Now it doesn't help if you need to buy something essential for your family (food, medicine etc.) but if you are 21 year old with no job trying to buy a car on a loan agreement then these and escalation of debt will be limited).
Just a note on Schufa. It comes across as if they were a government authority. However, they are a private credit rating company and they collect data within legal bounds just like many other credit rating companies (e.g. Schimmelpfeng etc.). Schufa is more concentrated on the private sector, the others focus more on industry. And b.t.w., one self enquiry per year is free.
Thanks for the note 👍🏻
Most supermarket items are up 20-40% since pre ccovid
Good Morning to you also.
I moved in in 2016 from Canada because I married a German. I was allowed to work under the program of family reunification. I'm in IT for 25 years now specialized in Data Management and Data Warehousing. Most job posting ask for a degree in computer science or mathematic or ... similar job experience, so on that aspect it's not to difficult for experience workers to find work. I work now fully in an English speaking environment having more than half the employees comming from abroad or being physically in Poland. My level of German suffers for not having enough daily practice, so looking for some other opportunity is difficult because most job ask for proficiency in the language + good English. B1 doesn't cut it, not even close. They often asked fluency at least C1. When I first arrived here I was qualifying for so many opportunities but 95% of the doors were closed because of the language barrier, even though everyone in the industry speaks English's. So when they complain that they can't fill vacancies even though they accept outsiders, they effectively don't. My goal for the end of the year is to get my C1 certification. That would open me so many more doors than at the moment.
As for the cost of living, I keep a very close eye on everything spent, track every expenses and group them into accounts so I can see where our money goes. Price of food have really shoot up in the last 6 months. I could not believed how much we spent in June, over 20% more than last June. We are relatively comfortable, both working and no kids but when I see the price of food and energy skyrocket I can understand that families with lower incomes are now feeling the squeeze hard. This said I speak with my Mother in Canada weekly and when she told me how much some items cost now over there I find that we have it much better still here. For example she told me that 500g of butter is now average 10 Canadian $ or about 6.5 euros. 500 grams of Nature Yogurt average 8 $. I don't know where this will slow down but if it's not salaries will have to follow ... hopefully.
Wow! That is crazy expensive. I didn’t realise it was so bad in Canada. Good luck with the C1. It’s all about practice so hopefully you can find some Germans to speak with 👍🏻
German here and living in Canada … here the groceries are really more expensive then in Germany. I was just home after 7 years not be back in Germany. And when I saw the price for groceries in Germany I couldn’t believe how cheaper is compared with Canada. Back to Canada yeah it’s true Almost everything cost here more .. yeah Butter around $10 … cheese a 500gr. package around $19… 150 gr. salami around $9 dollar. Good fuel is cheaper here … one litre diesel around $1.64 and petrol $1.66
But the experience you made, have the companies and the governement made also, and they learned from. The language bareer for immigration (no getting citizenship) has been lowered. And companies hiring what they can get, in the "everybody is better than nobody" manner.
Beeing fluent in English, is a requirement to Germans also, on the other hand.
Job ads can be considered a "wish list". Even if you don't fit 100% it's worth trying. But it makes many people hesitate.
But see it through companies eyes: If they request very little, they got lot of applications, difficult to pick the best.
With high request, at least there is an option to find somebody "I fullfill everything", even if they get somebody fullfilling just 70-80% at the end.
@@wolfgangselle3272 Und sind die Gehälter dafür wenigstens höher als in Deutschland?
@@SD_Aliasim Durchschnitt nicht wirklich aber dafür ist das Maximum wesentlich höher.
Thank you for the video! Okay, not going to leave my home country for now ;)
Oh where do you live?
From your video, it looks like we live in the same city :)
@@StKrane oh cool👍🏻
I lived in Germany in 1997, it was cool!
We have rental prices like Berlin now in Warsaw. It’s terrifying.
Wow! Berlin has also become one of the most expensive places in Germany
Good video, but as usual I will "correct" you. 😆
Yes, the prices in shops, etc.have increased a hell of a lot, as they have in the UK (I'm there several times a year). Now France and the UK are actually much cheaper than Germany. Traditionally they were more expensive, but considering the much higher quality and range of foodstuffs, I sort of accepted it. Now it really is painful to shop for food in Germany. I drive to France regularly as well, partly to buy food and bring it back for the freezer.
I have a feeling that in all countries, the supermarkets are pulling a fast one on the consumers.
Rent in Germany is still generally much cheaper than in the UK, although that has really increased over the last ten years.
Electricity prices going up! It was or is the most expensive electricity in the World and that was before they told me last year that my yearly bill would go up by (not to) 2,800€. It's an international joke what Germany does with its energy. The largest polluter in Europe, absolutely and per capita. They "invested" a lot in green energy, and look how it has helped. It reeks of German efficiency 🤣🤣
The digitisation of things in Germany: Since Covid many more places accept cards than they used to. Government dealings (taxing, registering, and deregistering of cars, for instance) is still while not necessarily painful, time-consuming. In the UK, you just go onto the website and it is done in a couple of minutes.There is a mass of people working for the government in Germany (I heard it was one of the largest per capita in the World), so they are obviously going to fight for their jobs at the cost of the normal folk.
With the Schufa: I#ve never been asked to produce it for a job (the last one being at the end of last year), or for an apartment (the last one being in March this year. For apartments they only ask me for the last years' bank statements.
You're correct about the qualifications that German companies ask for. They do love seeing your papers. I've heard that it's similar in France. The UK and other English-speaking countries tend to be more flexible, and definitely take experience as more equal to qualifications. It's obvious that they should, as well.
ETA about the qualifications: I can never believe how they think your O and A-level results are relevant to a job that you have been doing for thirty years. It does show a lack of thought. I have said this to them (having omitted my O and A-level results from my CV), and they have accepted it, to be fair, but it was (or is still?) the norm.
Hello there and thanks for your points. 😀. Let’s see how things develop…seems like things are changing fast when it comes to the cost of living.
@@britingermany Thanks for replying.
I think the cost of living will go down again (obviously I hope so). Too many people in Europe are being hit quite badly with the increased costs. There'll be more discontent and the governmanets will have to do something about it.
Germans are probably less affected than other nations, due to being net savers, so the only thing being hurt is their savings.
'The Brits tend to live in debt (a consequence of following US business models, I believe), so they will suffer more (argueably their own fault).
I read a few years ago that Germans on average save 9% of their salaries, whereas Brits spend 10% more then they earn. That's a recipe for disaster.
I don't know what the current stats are.
@@dandare1001 of course it would be great if prices went down but I don’t really see that happening. Yes I’ve never understood the idea of spending more than you have but a lot of people do do just that
UK's Domestic Debt 85.4% - 2019
Germany's 59.8% - 2019
France 98.1% - 2019!?!
@@britingermany Mostly it is when you have children, when you get older you go back into the Black, although some UK pensioners have part loans of their owned houses equity to help top up their pensions, a lot of interest rates in the UK are criminal as well on loans but there is no appetite to sort it out, UK demographics are better than Germany's at present with regard to age of population 40/47 and replacement which is 30% higher!?!
Thanks, for another insightful vid ! Schufa can indeed be a pain the posterior but only very rarely in the context of seeking a job.
The only thing I did not quite succeed to grasp was the point on the necessity to liberalize the labour market. What precisely is the problem according to your experience ?
It’s difficult to change direction as many employers require traditional qualifications. The barrier to entry is a little higher than in the U.K. in my experience. and just working hard and having a good attitude will not get you a job here whereas that can take you a long way in the U.K.
@@britingermany Thanks, that clarifies it. I mistakenly thought you meant legislation for the German labour market needed change. Employers' attitudes will change if and when they no longer find candidates while using their traditional approaches.
@@bigernie9433 yes i think so. In fact I think it is already happening. I heard that large companies such as Lufthansa and commerzbank are now hiring people from all sorts of backgrounds and industries because they miscalculated when laying off thousands of staff last year and are now a little desperate
Wow the digitisation looks amazing 😂 here in Portugal it's still 1985. Calls not answered to the immigration office, waiting for hours for an appointment to be told to come back again or you are at the wrong department 😂 it's a delight 😂 also the UK has had credit checks/reports since the 90s, it will not affect your job but it does affect getting a phone/bank/apartment if you have bad credit. Portugal doesn't have that though, probably it will soon given the number of foreigners moving here
Oh really?! So Germany is that bad afterall ?! 🤣. I guess when it comes to thing like government offices and immigration it’s pretty bad in a lot of countries.
I never had to give a Schufa record on anything for any reason.
I recently went into public service and they wanted to see police records (what they get is a slip that tells them whether you were sentenced for a crime or searched with a warrant, I think. Not an exhausive list of every legal interaction), medical checkup and birth certificate. Nobody asked for Schufa, though.
If anything in Germany is close to a social credit system, it's probably the police records, or the traffic violations register.
Schufa behaves much more like the American credit rating agencies. Except it judges tardiness as negative and not being in debt as positive, rather than rewarding a revolving door of credit card payments and mortgages.
Asking for Schufa is really the exception. I worked for a large multinational and was engaged in recruiting - no way would we ask for Schufa.
Concur up to now Police record more commonly asked for but can see landlords (usually assholes esp when demand is high) asking for Schufa. In Zwickau would be surprised if that be the case
Your content is always interesting, especially to an American who has traveled a lot, but only lived in Switzerland as an exchange student in the mid-70s when I was in high school. Basically, what you're saying, is that things are different from a short time ago, but not really so actually dire as life is in America. Inflation is bad, not as bad as in Europe, but incomes have actually dropped here and health care is a privilege for the rich and schools are desperate for teachers. You're lucky to live in a country where the living standard keeps improving, for vast swaths of America the country feels like a third world country. Also. your voice has an almost ASMR quality, soft and low, reasonable, calming, not a lullaby, but more like a soft breeze on a summer day. It is a pleasure to listen to a rant from you, sir.
Well thanks a lot for your kind words. I don’t think anyone has described my voice in that way before. Yes I do keep hearing bad things about the US. Some friends of mine were in NYC last month and were really shocked by the price of everything. They earn way above the average salary in Germany but after a week in New York their funds were seriously depleted. I am very grateful for the standard of living that I can enjoy here🙏
I agree on the ASMR aspect.
I was watching a video yesterday and almost spit my coffee out when I found out rent in Berlin was cheaper than middle-of-nowhere Virginia. When I was single I started researching moving to Germany, I was surprised my wages would probably be only slightly less than they are now here in the States. Now I'm engaged and she has kids so there goes that idea....
Maybe, it is nostalgia, but in some aspects, I even think that life in my childhood was even better than today in Germany. It was cleaner, the public transport was not as well built but much more punctual, the streets, the schools and the stops for public transportations were in better condition and I believe it was also easier to get a midwife and a doctor for children, and the health insurance paid for more things....But maybe, this is just nostalgia....
Most of this not true? The US has one of the lowest unemployed rates, has inflation at just 3%, is energy independent, has seen significant wage and gdp growth and has made strides on healthcare. Is the US perfect? No. It still has a lot of issues. But to paint it as some dire hell hole does not line up with the actual facts.
And yes NYC is expensive, but it’s one of the most expensive cities in the world and the median wage in the city is $70,000
That was great. New subscriber. I'm an expat in Prague for a long time, but when I visit Germany more and more Prague seems like a Disney toy town. Prices are now at Vienna levels, but the level of customer service or digitisation of govt. services is still below average. Most expats left after the GFC. Those of us who remained are all started to get itchy feet ( we thought things might improve post-Covid times, but they seem to be going backwards. Time for a change we're all thinking )
Very interesting. I've been to Prague a few times. What I noticed most is how touristy it is there, at least it was pre covid.
@@britingermany From about 2014 onwards lots of Russians and Chinese brought their spending power here. AirBnBs took over the centre (and AirBnB refused to share the owners' details with the tax authorities, so most of the rental income was untaxed, with that money fuelling landlords' purchases of more properties to rent out on AirBnB). So the centre was dramatically hollowed out of locals over a couple of years. Since Covid, it's mainly European tourists. It's as busy as ever again, but minus Russians and Chinese. Govt finances are in a bit of a mess. Although committed to joining as Eurozone, the Central Bank has continued to push adoption down the road. No sight of it pre-2030. Germany is now in a recession, and that will impact CZ as so much production is either owned, or bought by German businesses
Your voice would be perfect for audiobooks. Very smooth!
The root cause of spike in prices in EU and it's domino effect was Germany's disastrous policy of putting geopolitics above the interests of its own people and economy.
Scholz did not have a plan B for ditching cheap Russian energy and blindly followed US dictates. This was reckless and irresponsible at the very least.
That German manufacturers simply stood by together with most Germans shattered my respect for German intellect. As if everyone was mass hypnotized to go along with Scholz and equally pernicious Van der Leyen.
Keeping Ukraine neutral would've avoided this American Mal escapade but what US wanted everyone had to tag along. So sad for Ukraine that NATO turned into a graveyard just because US wanted Putin out but badly miscalculated.
God always upholds the righteous and smites the wicked.
Yeahhhh because the government that has been in effect for 2 years is responsible for decisions that happened under the CDU/Groko and a dependency on Russia that goes back even further.
Scholz is a sleepwalker, but there are more people in a government than just a chancellor.
There have been some decisions that may seem ridiculous or contradicting in hindsight, such as investing in new energies first, then scrapping that under conservative rule, back to slowly picking up where we left it 10 years ago. But please don’t tell me a country that ignores geopolitics in favor of a MAGA Spiel does good by it’s citizens.
We are living in a global economy and can’t ignore climate change, big migration movements and war-mongering despots.
I agree that the lack of digitization is exaggerated in Germany. It's mostly the government depts. that are behind, but in Canada, where I am from, it's the same.
One thing that blew me away here was how efficient and digitized Deutsche Post is. You can print out stamps, including registered mail from your printer. I can order stamped envelopes delivered to my door in 2 days. Mail picked up twice a day from mailboxes, delivered 6 days a week. Canada has been cutting mail service for decades.
That's true. I've never had an issue with the post...just the queues can be sometimes extremely long 😉
You don't even need to print the stamps, just write the code generated by the postal app on your letter.
Are there actually "Packstations" in Canada and the UK? I find them extremely useful, since you can have parcels sent anywhere in Germany. I don't even have to go to a DHL/Post branch anymore.
I was surprised I had never seen your channel before. I'm a US based Germanophile. I saw you remark somewhere about "knowing nothing about video" when you started but even your fairly early videos had a lot of style.
Well thanks a lot. Still feel very amateur but it#s all about taking small steps forward 😀
Regarding Schufa: Yes, the system is not perfect but if there was no schufa there would be worse problems. Say in France there is no schufa so if you take out a loan the bank forces you to get an insurance which increases the price borrowing money. The same applies to finding good renters for your property. If there is no schufa landlords will try to find other ways to protect themselves against bad renters "Messis" through higher rents, more checks, mandatory insurance or higher deposits. Finally, other countries have similar agencies. I think in the US it's Equifax and a few more.
Casually throwing in: ... the price for cocaine has gone up ... Wait, What? 😂
Freudian slip?
Though being a German living in Germany, I can not comment on the validity of that point due to lack of personal experience. 🙂
I'm an American in Germany, and I found this video both reasonable and useful.
Glad to hear it😀. Thanks for watching
@@britingermany Thanks for the advice about the AusweisApp2. It was mentioned in the letter accompanying my new visa, but I would have ignored it.
Cash only can be cumbersome>>>The option to use cash or digital is great>>>Digital only means someone knows everything you purchase>>> Centralised digital means someone else has the power to decide whether or not your purchase can take place.
Thank you for sharing this interesting comment! Have you ever considered to go back to the UK?
Kind regards,
A.
Re: Auslandbehörder
Your mileage may vary based upon location. I live in Berlin and we had a 7-month waiting period for a visa appointment. I heard Stuttgart is similar. The online was easy and the in-person appointment was easy, but just getting the appointment took a very long time.
I've heard it's gotten worse.
Maybe I got lucky
Mine was an absolute nightmare as well - that they don't even bother answering emails is the least of it. Absolutely the worst bureaucratic experience I've had here - and there's been a few that were high on the suckage scale - with a real atmosphere they were begrudgingly doing you favour because you were obviously a Brexiter who hated them...
A thing about Schufa. You are entitled to a free basic report from Schufa every year. Since Schufa is a private company, they arent realy open about that. This basic version is just as valid, but must be censored a bit, to protect your own sensitive information.
I did not see any option to get it for free. I know that there was an offer a while back to get lifetime access for it. Anyway I am able to claim the money back from work so it's not a huge deal
You can get a free copy of all data they have stored about you according to Art. 15 DSGVO (just Google that and Schufa). Last time I ordered one it took ages to process and was just a basic data dump, no fancy „certificate“. Most people requesting schufa Information will probably look at you funny when provided with this instead of the certificate and more importantly expect a more timely delivery.
@@britingermany Then you did exactly what Schufa wanted you to do. :)
Capitalism HO :D
As a german I can totally agree on the Food Price Increase subject but also the RAPID digitization at least in Urban Cities... Hell even at my work that has to do with vegetables and "Saisonarbeit" one can finally pay via EC Karte or Paypal... A change I would not have seen a few years ago if Cov19 did not have happened!
Your Videos are very interesting but BORING!!!! Whenever I have problems sleeping I watch one of your videos & I fall asleep within 30 seconds!!! Works a treat!! Thank you.
Glad to help!
😂 then you will like mine.
I Iived in Germany, but left because I could not find work or an apartment and took over three months to get I to a language course, there is too much of an emphasis on refugees and and Pakistani IT workers, it's seems that's all they want!
Indians work more in IT LOL
Eh, it's practically impossible to 'not' find gainful employment in Germany at the moment. What field are you in?
Austria always was more expensive than Germany so its less noticeable for me. I mostly buy strategically do a big shop once a month with the rebate stamps I collected with whatever discounts I can get. I always used to store and freeze a lot and buy if possible in bulk. I also changed jobs and made sure to earn quite a bit more than in my previous job. If you stay within the same company, you only very rarely would get a raise of about 10K a year. If you switch jobs however it is entirely possible if you appear to have some valuable experience. So make sure you steadily move forward. With energy, managed to curb consumption while staying comfortable thus I even got a bonus last Winter. At 50 I am quite used to things getting more expensive with time.
Well done on the job switch. I managed that a couple of years ago as well👍🏻
yes, Austria is more expensive and for the same job you earn less there than in Germany. In my industry, Pharma, pay differences are approx. 20% less in AT than in D for the same job.
@@johnofdebar4071 wow interesting. I would. It have thought so.
Grüsse aus den Bananensümpfen 😉 France is 10 minutes away but there's not much difference, even in fuel prices these days. Luxembourg is way better if you can be bothered, but generally life's too short.... Also, food prices have started to edge down - zB Litre milk 1,15 a week ago, now 99c (pre Ukraine 89c) but you can still eat cheaper overall in the UK if you try and don't mind chinese rubbish from Iceland - you'll just pay twice the rent and three times the car insurance for the pleasure.
Oh, and "Council Tax"
Yeah that’s a good point. How much is council tax these days?
Food has nearly doubled throughout Europe mate.
The CPI data is manipulated, they select the products they want to base the data on.
Did this dude just say the price of cocaine has almost doubled? I had to listen to that four times before I believed my ears. 😂😂😂😂
You heard it right
cocaine as ordinary article, still processing too
I assume the demand must be going pretty strong to allow for a doubling of the price 😄
Hard times call for drastic measures 😉. In all seriousness I don’t actually know it was just a joke and I was interested to see if anyone would notice it.
@@britingermany Well, this video was made in Frankfurst, so...
I was pretty *sure* you were kidding, but not 100% sure.
I love how he casually just throws into the mix the fact that coke has doubled in price too
In London, the cost of food has gone up between 15%-50% depending on what i'm buying.
But also the quality of food much declined...
Well, hope you travelled to the UK recently. I did, and the country looks and 'feels' like they went back to the sixties. And, I'm that old, that isn't a good thing, the streets are dirty, broken, under repair (with nobody working), and is a rather messy look. Won't be returning anytime soon.
Can't agree with you I'm afraid. I was there in may...made a few videos about it. I found the vibe very upbeat...sure there are empty shops here and there and some run down buildings...but that's the case in Frankfurt am Main (the finance capital of Europe)
Paul_C: I visited the north of England last year and it felt like a third world country - particularly the public transport. In Stuttgart, where I live, the public transport is integrated (U-Bahn, S-Bahn, DB and buses), as is the superb on-line inquiry portal. The absence of ticket barriers in the stations in Germany - you walk straight from the street onto the platform - makes for a more relaxed experience. Yes, there are occasional breakdowns and hold-ups, as there are with any public transport system, but, overall, there is no comparison . . .
. . . having said that, England is the land of Chaucer and Shakespeare, the land of wit and linguistic subtlety - our language is a cultural treasure . . .
I was heavily encouraged to move to Germany some years ago. Although I had been working, living and studying abroad for many years, I was (and, unfortunately, still am) a German citizen and could speak German fluently. My skill set was desperately in need in Germany. Once I got there, it was an ongoing nightmare. After six months of dealing with a never-ending bureaucratic nightmare, I took a job offer in China and just left. Years later, I was promised that Germany had grown more flexible, that people were more relaxed than they had been so I gave it another go. It was another disaster with the same frustrations and stress. I ended up moving back to England. Germany is a country that has a lot of good sides and a lot of good parts, but the way it's put together is simply dysfunctional. Even people who grew up in Germany and who are educated in Germany, but cannot toe the line or fit into neat boxes, often end up feeling the pressure to leave.
Yes I have heard this before. In fact many of the Germans I met on my travels were not necessarily the „conventional types“ and also found it frustrating.
@@britingermany Germany is a superb place for anyone who's employed - the bigger the company the better, usually.
Who fits neatly into the boxes of the taxation- and insurance system.
For anyone who's self-employed and/or working in some newer field of work, something that did not exist 20 years ago, Germany is a nightmare.
Germany must be one of the most innovation-opposed countries on the planet. If you're looking for a 9 to 5, steady income, lots of safety systems, and just living a quiet life, going to work, spending time with friends and family in the evenings, going on holiday a few times per year... you'll be happy in Germany.
If you are interested in cutting edge stuff, in moving things, doing things differently, trying to radically improve things, doing stuff that has never been done before... avoid Germany like it's the plague. Because it would do the same with you.
Really feels like this country has some kind of immune system that's triggered whenever someone's trying to do something differently and it just grinds that person to a pulp.
This resonates with me and my group of friends, several have moved again, from Germany back to other places. The drawbacks of Germany were compensated by a structure in day-to-day life. The structure has broken down.
What you write is nonsense. I have worked in several European countries and in comparison there aren’t any particular problems in Germany.
A person who voluntarily moves to CHINA instead, one of the most unscrupulous dictatorships of our times that is famous for ignoring the most basic human rights, is either insane or a paid manipulator.
@@barbarusbloodshed6347 I would tend to agree except for the fact that there are so many small businesses in Germany. If it really was that bad then this wouldn’t be the case.
I am remembering yet before cca 2-3 years situation in german supermarket in smaller town... I am croat and then our currency was still croatian kuna (now it's EUR)... After putting my mastercard in POS device I was asked do I want to charge my account in EUR or in croatian kunas (you must choose an option)... When I tried to type the answer using POS device keyboard cashier was total upset why am I touching and trying to type something on POS device and she called her boss... It was so silly situation 😀 p.s. on the end she was totaly amazed with bill printed by her POS in croatian kunas when i choose option charge my account in kunas 😀😀
ok...strange
The German Schufa only records data that are related to the financial background, similar to the US creditworthiness.
The Chinese system records data about the financial activities, the social behavior, the political behavior, misconduct in traffic, etc..
It is not that I (or the majority of other Germans) like the Schufa, but this is absolutely not the same.
As a Canadian who's been living in Germany for over a decade myself, I have to agree with you that with regards to digitalization and payments, things have indeed improved in Germany. However, when I compare with what's possible in Canada (or frankly even Belarus!) with what types of payments or bureaucratic digital forms are accepted in even every tiny village let alone cities, then I'd have to say Germany's still got a ways to go to meet us in the 21st century.
I couldn't imagine only being able to make cash payments in our capital at a great number of stores or restaurants for instance. In Berlin, it's totally expected. I would never carry hundreds of dollars around with me in Canada. If you don't carry around an absolute minimum of 50€ on your person at all times in Germany, you would have to start hoping there's an ATM nearby (which there isn't always).
PS loved your comment about the cost of cocaine btw 😅😂
Hey there...yes incremental progress😉
The need to pay cash is a pretty good indicator for tax evasion by the restaurant.
It’s not that they could not offer card payment… they just love that there is no trace or record of the transaction when it is cash based.
I didn't quite get the cocaine bit - but - yes - you are absolutely right -
I was in HENNIGSDORF, just outside Berlin - I couldn't get CASH from an ATM - or would have had to pay a € 4.00 surcharge.
People from there probably _have_ to do so - cause they did not accept credit cards at a Vietnamese restaurant. I already mentioned above - There used to be 2 Germanys - and - since 2005 this country has gone _downhill_. and it keeps going downhill. Worse yet - nobody is doing anything about it - and - the greens are RUNNING THE SHOW - and aren't even the MAJORITY
@@lonespokesperson7254 Rubbish.
Finally there is a party, that wants to get Germany out of the death spiral of doing nothing while the population believes it could still rely on Russian gas and a combustion engine car industry.
16 years wasted under Merkel and now the country has lost out on all future tech: Electric cars, industrial heat pumps, intelligent grid components… nothing there!
And China? They are aiming for 160GW new PV capacity this year … twice the amount Germany managed in 25 years!!
And they are buying electric cars like there is no tomorrow. Domestic brands, of course!
Nah. Merkel and the do-nothing conservatives ruined it.
… let’s hope that the Greens and the rest of the realists in the country can pull off a U-turn before the AfD and the xenophobes make Germany as run down and hopeless as Tory-Britain.
I was back in England twice this year & never had to get cash from a bank!!! Did it all with my phone!!!!! Try doing that in Germany.
Dont pay digital!!! PAY CASH, ALWAYS!!!!
I would love to accept cash😉 but it’s easier for me to receive digital payments
@@britingermany john titus recently anounced that he will only accept cash bills via mail from now on. he sends handwritten thank-you cards back. it's great!
Hi Ben, haven't seen you for a while.
The price for coco aka cocaine has gone up? I almost spilled the coffee from my mouth across the keyboard.
Well, I guess Frankfurt is the right place to figure that out.
There's the famous Banhofsviertel, the quarter near the main station which in my experience isn't half as bad as people like to to make it
that should help to find the street price, right?
I wonder if coco is still popular in the streets as it is pretty expensive.
And then there are the prosumers the banksters or high performers in in their high rising offices, price will be very different for them I guess.
This video is 6 month old. I'll check what you came up with after, thank you.
Good to know about the streamlining of the process of opening a bank account.
Yes I was really Impressed with how quickly that went. Obviously an online bank is not suitable for everyone but I think for most of us it really does the job. The only time I had to go to a physical bank was to close my account 🤣
Ever considered to make use of your "speaking voice" (for the lack of a better term)? Don't know if you use some sound filter (doubt it), but your eloquence, clear pronounciation and comforting "mic-voice" (yet again for the lack of a better term) would surely qualify you for that. It may not be a full time job and not exacly easy to get in, but maybe a fun way to genererate some extra income. Not suggesting that I think you need it, though. The reason I say this is the fact that people keep suggesting the same thing to me, because sometimes (I do have to occasionally answer incoming calls in my current job), callers tend to hang up the first time around because they think I am a professionally pre-recorded tape - or people immediately start to flirt with the guy they're talking to. Personally, I kinda like the idea for myself, substituting my income by being a GPS-voice, announcing stops in public transport or the voice in airport terminals. Should be fun without the hassle of being a celebrity. I just have no idea how to get in touch with anyone to even be considered for a casting. Sorry for getting carried away... Your content is great and your voice no less. Cheers, Daniel
Thanks a lot Daniel. Yes quite a few people have mentioned that before but like yourself I have no idea how to get started with that and I believe that with the rise of AI those kind of jobs might become irrelevant. We‘ll see I am certainly open minded😀
@@britingermany Same here. Dein Deutsch ist so gut, dass ich weiß, ich kann Dir auch in Deutsch antworten. In Deinem Fall dachte ich zum Beispiel an ein voice-over bei DW, aber da wird sicherlich eine journalistische Ausbildung vorausgesetzt sein. Kann ich auch verstehen. Liebe zu guter Sprache (und gerade bei Übersetzungen hilft Feingefühl und Kulturkenntnis, um das Ergebnis zu optimieren) in Verbindung mit einer angenehmen Sprechstimme ist schon bald aus Kostengründen nicht mehr konkurrenzfähig gegen AI (KI). Doch kann es sein, dass die emotionale Stimmführung bei Dokumentationen und Hörbüchern noch nicht so schnell von KI reproduziert werden wird. Das gibt uns noch drei, vier oder fünf Jahre 🙂 Es soll ja keine Karriere werden, die bis zur Rente trägt, nur ein schöner Begleiter, so lange man gefragt ist. Schönen Sonntag!
@@topofdescent schön wäre es auf jeden auf 😀
@@Ishkabibble-mm8xz thank you😀. If you know anyone send them my way 😉🙏
Thanks for the very interesting "rant" I live in Germany but still work in the UK, a decision make post brext vote but before leave. I think that the cost of living increase is much much worst in the UK than in Germany. Our energy costs have fallen because we have been lucky enough to improve the insulation on our house and other bonuses for reducing energy usage. However I must disagree with you on digitisation. Yes you can pay by card in most places now but this is more often by bank card rather than credit card. You still have to go in person to register your new address even though a digital system was introduce during COVID but rescinded at "the end of COVID". Where I see the greatest difference is in, my world of work, construction. In the UK all construction sites (above a few house developments) have digital entry & exit controls. logging everyone on and off the site. Without the correct work permissions you won't get on site. A recent German news report was of a man who died on site on a Friday afternoon from something like a heart attack, who was not discovered until Monday morning. A local site to me, building 78 apartments, has no secure fence and no way of knowing who is onsite. Perhaps more importantly the site operation seems to still be driven by paperwork. Most UK site will control how and what is built by a digital model, recording who put what in when with a full construction audit and health & safety audit. I was gobsmacked to see 5 men (and it is only men in German) discussing the progress of my local site, standing out in the rain holding a large paper drawing under a couple of umbrellas. Germany still has a long long way to go in digitsation, which will cost the country dearly.
Hi thanks for sharing your experience of the construction industry. That something which I have no experience in so it’s really I retesting tobtest your perspective😀. I’m guessing you still go back and forth and lot between the two countries or are you mainly working remotely?
Hi, Solarground. Very interesting comment. It's interesting to hear of something the UK gets right and Germany seems to be failing on. I am not in the construction industry, but Germany (I live in Baden-Württemberg) seems, however, to have tighter building regulations and better design than the UK - cellars, insulation, generally more substantial construction in domestic homes and small conglomerations of flats. Design and build quality in the UK is generally awful. The housing stock is in a parlous state . . .
You didn't touch on public transport costs. How do the FVV monthly / annual tickets costs compare now to pre-pandemic costs or even 10 years ago? Travel costs often make up a large part of UK commuters' costs. In Germany, there are usually good options available, e.g. a Job Ticket (if you have a good employer) or the new Deutschlandticket.
Yes the Deutschland ticket is pretty good...I'm not sure of 49€ is really going to be enough to fund the whole thing but we will see
@@britingermanyThe purchase is supported with money from the government. They want the people to take public transportation rather than their own car, it is part of the agenda of the government to fight climate change.
@@britingermany: The Deutschland ticket is a boon for me as I don't have a car. I suspect that the scheme is too expensive for the government to fund long-term, and will either be scrapped next year or bumped up to €69 or something like that . .
This is everywhere (the U.K. gets a bad rap but I think the EU is under reporting inflation as I noticed big rises in Spain which didn’t chime with a lower inflation rate)
Yes I think you're right.
🤔English are not Ausländer they are family and should stay here as long as they want... 🌹🏴Welcome
Thank you very much 🙏
Unfortunately, the fact cannot be proven. The record of wars, divide et impera insidious, is an Anglo-Saxon feature of the UK and USA. Unfortunately, the general daily stereotype about Germany cannot be escaped in MSM and free media. Boris Johnson's diplomatic preparatory work before the Ukrainian-Russian war. and the attempt by the RUSSIANS and Ukrainians in Istanbul to negotiate a peace has failed actively because of Boris Johnson. The peace was already ready to be signed in the proposals. and been torn. So the framing of an unexpected war of aggression by the Russians is only known to the naive German and if one is malicious like the traffic light regime Scholz. A shame not seen in several centuries. Except for Weimar, it doesn't matter. the same groups behind.
@@rigasarzemnieks4230indeed not....They are Saxons and Angles.....as we are..in northwest Germany
Why is it that the Germans are less attractive than the English
Paying with card in Germany: as a Dutchman, my experience is opposite. A lot of restaurants find it to expensive to maintain/pay a digital system, and require to pay cash, or you need to pay cash beneath about 10 euro's.
It probably depends on where you are. In the last 10 years I’ve seen a huge shift towards digital
The reason why many restaurants only take cash in Germany is because the "Finanzamt" (IRS) can't track the true turnover without proof from digital transactions & therefore the Restaurant owner can submit a lower turnover & pay less tax!!!!
@@britingermany
I havent seen that 10 euro cash limit he talks about either in like, the last 8 years or so
Danka dear. Still no proper bacon,no pie's.
But if the gherkin is tipple you are catered for like king it's bigger than our biscuit isle in the UK . Arbiter Deutschland 13 years . No probs finding work in Germany if you're specialist engineering. There systems can seem a little intrusive and old fashioned however it has improved. Returned to the UK now.
Been living in Germany for over 30 years (ex squadie). Since 1989 when the wall came down, Germany has drastically changed. How long did the ID card take ? from interview to possesion?
It was maybe a little different for me because of Brexit. I got a letter from the government telling me that they were aware of my status and that I would receive further instructions, So it was a pretty automated/digitised process. I think from the first letter to me getting the card there was a round 6-7 months wait.
Digitization of life.
I thought you were going to talk about issues such as digital IDs and other digitization that is aimed to track and control the population. Knowing the current EU and worldwide agenda I wouldn't say further digitalization and online identification is necessarily a good thing.
It was primarily a rebuttal of the complaint that most foreigners have which is that Germany is far behind when it comes to digitisation.
Anyone who has had a few appointments at the doctor in Germany would agree that a „Digitale Krankenakte“ would help everyone a great deal. Sincerely, a German
WTF. I have NEVER been asked for a Schufa report in my life, and I'm a German by birth and hardly young. I have rented at least 5 different appartments, depending on how you count certain student things, and worked at 4 proper different jobs, and have opened bank accounts at at least 5 completely independent institutions, plus subaccounts, etc.
A Schufa credit rating is just that a CREDIT rating. It should only be used to qualify you for loans, and it only takes into accounts whether you have failed to pay back any loans, which is why it has access to whether you have a bank account, but certainly not your actual transaction history, and it most certainly is not a social score system. You will not be punished for criticising the government or non-standard lifestyle. That would be insane.
It is actually super illegal for your employer or prospective employer to ask you for it, let alone require it, and also totally irrelevant, since you don't have to pay them, they pay you. I can understand it just a little bit more from a landlords perspective, but even there the only thing usually asked for is confirmation of your last 3 paychecks and them being high enough for you to afford said rent.
Am i to understand that Germany has a double standard for foreigners?! 🤔🤔
No, asking for Schufa is common. It happened with my last 3 rentals. It’s standard procedure.
@@britingermany I'm shocked, I tell you-shocked!
At 08 sec.I was happily surprised to see my favorite Austrian beer in a programme about Germany !
The Radler?! Yes it’s very popular here 😀
@@britingermany Radler ? Pfui Teifi ! My old and failing eyes only saw the "Goesser" label. Greetings from Siam !
OK, I have turned on subtitles because I thought there is something wrong with my hearing at 0:57, but the subtitles agree with my hearing. Does he really say "the price of cocaine is almost doubled?"
The subtitles don't lie
I really want to move to Germany. Are there many opportunities for young people still?
Dont do it! You will regret it. Im German and a lot of German people looking into leaving the country for good
Yes there are a lot of opportunities. Especially in industries such as IT, tech, healthcare etc etc and if you are young all the better
@@TLJB98 did you already leave?? Do you have a recommendation??
@@TLJB98 it’s possible to be a digital nomad now. You can live cheaply in Mexico and do work online, start your own business.
Germany has always been overloaded with rules and restrictions, Germans seem to love them.
ordnung muss sein.
We do not. The system has just become such a juggernaut that it seems like nobody can do anything about it.
As an Europian living in London for the last 10 years I could say: in the UK for the last 2- 3 years everything is changing from bad to worse in so many ways. The price of everything including rents are skyrocketing ..May be the only good change I could see from the very beginning of my expirience here is that now you can find good bread and coffeee easily ...but that is almost all.
Excuse me, do you think there used to be any problems in London with finding good bread and coffee? I'm really interested in this because I can't believe it. There was something in the news about problems with logistics and transportation, but this can't last long, can it?
Do you plan on staying there?
Listening to this youngster makes me realise how ignorant people have become. I grew up in 1970s, double digit inflation was to be expected, I always budgeted long term loans assuming a 9% interest rate.
I'm here in Germany too.. It's a total shambles. thank you Greens and the union!!
Hello hello 😀
I'm a German living in the UK since the late '90s, so your views of living in 2020's Germany are really very interesting!
I certainly find the job market much easier for "Quereinsteiger" in the UK. I wish Germany was more flexible in that respect.
Not sure I'd ever manage to come back and get a good job in Germany as things stand... (I have the German Abitur but studied and worked only in the UK.)
It probably depends how old you are but I think your international experience would be pretty valuable here.
You just need to go to job interviews in Germany and lecture them on how much of a superior candidate you are for your off country experience, unlike the other Germans that are such provincial short-sighted views.
Considering most outsiders'views being a pedantic a-hole lecturing others seem to be the norm...not sure, but maybe doing that will give you the:
HERE, TAKE ALL OUR COCAINE MONEY AS WAGES!
Try getting a permanent residence card in Bulgaria (EU Member). You have to go in with the expectation that you will fail the first three times because your paperwork is not in order. My wife is the daughter of two attorneys. I've never seen anyone who knows legal paperwork as well as she does. She broke their hearts when she came in with 10 times more documentation than they would ever ask for.
🤣sounds like the perfect contact to have
Bulgaria is a more corrupt country where officials are fishing for a bribe by claiming your paperwork in not in order. Time to wise up!
00:35 Moving to Germany? 40 years ago, the border to the GDR was 500 km away from me. Now it is only 2 km. The Green Khmer try their best to destroy Germany.
So summing up what I just heard, it's very close to a Totaltarian society with government involved in practically every aspect of your life.
Mmm🤔if that’s what you got from what I said I’m a little confused
@@britingermany how easily people gave away their freedoms. And they don't even seem to realize it.
the difference of course is that in other places, like the US, multinational corporations know and are involved in every aspect of your life.
@@Exgrmbl Not if you don't interact with them. You can shop local, refuse to buy from Amazon, or other big online retailers, refuse to go to the big box retailers, be self-sufficient, etc. I don't have any "multinational corporations involved in every aspect of my life". What in the world does that mean, anyway?
@@swisschalet1658 I understand what he was getting at. In many western nations, corporations and government are becoming one and the same. Many laws are lobbied for by corporations and big business with aim of eliminating the small operations you allude to. "Safety" is usually used to sell the new regulations to the public who unknowingly, or perhaps uncaringly, support the very law that will reduce their options. I can give many examples of that occuring in Canada.
Schufa is a big joke. A bad one. If you don‘t have any debts, no creditcard, pay in cash most of the time - you get a bad rating.
I guess they have their goals as well
I find groceries and eating out still very inexpensive. What I find alarming is the rising cost of rental/properties. As you mentioned, the salary has not gone up for most people but the new contract for an apartment is ridiculously high now compared to how it used to be. People in cheap old contract never move out until either they die or the contract runs out of its term. Good for them, but I see double standards or unfairness at play in the laws that protect the tenants under the older rules but allow landlords charge a lot more (aka market price) for any new contracts. I have a lot of complaints on this aspect in Germany but won't go there here. lol
Tbh it’s worse in the uk, my masters was 2 years and I had allocated the same amount of money for each year and this year halfway through the year I had to ask my parents for money and that just mega sucks and that’s just me buying and cooking at home and being cheap
That and I’m 25 and am having to live at home (like most of the people my age) because its too expensive to move out, whilst I’m working on being freelance musician and I expected to go home a lot of my friends have normal people paying jobs and they cannot move out even still
The population has embraced their digital slavery much quicker than expected - just like they accepted the government's needle - no questions allowed.
What are you rambling about?
@@mikicerise6250 when the next shoulder assault comes around many people aren't going to be the compliant sheep they have been in the recent past. There's much simmering under the surface and apparently some people might be taken by surprise about this.
Germanas as always: "We just follows orders"
@@mikicerise6250 I recommend the booster for you, it’s for the best. . Did you look up the name they gave the variant? Rather a rude word. Hilarious.
@@swisschalet1658 Aren't they supposed to be dead by now? 🤔🤣
I really liked the dead pan way you said the price of cocaine has doubled - that shows you are still a brit.
🤣🤣the Brit in me is still clinging on for dear life
Als jemand der in den end 60er Jahren und Anfang 70 er Jahren in GB gelebt hat ,ist es faszinierend heutzutage die Änderungen, wie aus einer anderen Welt zu erleben
Price of veggies has tripled in Belgium