Kultur2 John Pederson

I thought the various cultural differences that I read about in the
 articles online were actually quite fascinating. I really liked the article
 “Brutally Honest: ‘Have You Gained Weight?’" So often I wish people
 would just say what they mean! And at the same time I would like to be able
 to say things that I mean without offending anyone.  I don’t like lying
 and how in English, many times “white lies” become the norm.
I thought the article "The Germanic Stare Down’: Watcha Lookin’ at,
 Granny?’” was equally interesting. I often secretly want to stare at
 people. Everyone is unique and our differences always fascinate me. I
 thought it was interesting how “The German Stare Down” developed in the
 German culture in part because of their history of conflict. It makes
 plenty of sense. I would be pretty annoyed however if an older German woman
 reported my car and I got a ticket in the mail later.
I also thought it strange that Germans are known for complaining a lot. I
 always thought we Americans were notorious for rants of dissatisfaction.
I have German neighbors, and I did not notice any of these qualities about
 them. They were not the complaining type, and they weren’t too nosey
 either. I suppose they never had the opportunity to be “brutally
 honest,” but perhaps they would have been if they were given one. 

Kapitel 2

Hallo! I thought the article about Germans being obsessed with statistics was hilarious. I had no idea that Germans actually judge each other based on their town's population or area. The article also mentioned that Germans can rattle off these statistics fairly easily, which I found crazy because I couldn't even tell you the population of my hometown, let alone the land area or the religious makeup of the residents. It really shows the differences between German and American culture- even the statement about Germans enjoying documentaries was kind of funny to me because I don't know of many Americans (besides meine Großeltern) who willingly sit down and watch documentaries.

Of course, my surprise at learning these facts about Germans really isn't any different from the way Germans view Americans. I knew the English saw Americans as lazy, fast food-consuming people, but I guess it never occurred to me that other countries probably have similar opinions of us. I was both amused and offended by the German belief that all Americans eat burgers and carry guns. Looks like we all stereotype each other, even if we've never been to the other country or met anyone from there. Tschüss!

Kultur 2

I thoroughly enjoyed reading these articles about German culture. I appreciated the bluntness of the author's opinions regarding how German society differs from America. However, it seemed as though the author had a few undesirable experiences and let that influence their entire view. But these articles did point out how "polite" American's are. If you talk with any foreign exchange student you'll be asked questions you wouldn't normally hear from someone raised in the US. At first I wasn't sure if it was just a language barrier and some foreign exchange students just didn't know how to phrase their questions. But this article has made me think that maybe its not just an issue with language, maybe its just a difference in cultures.

Kultur2

To the right, is an picture of an actual poster that I found on MSU campus.

(I like to think that it pretty accurately reflects the life of an MSU student, but that's besides the point)

The point is that the "Germanic stare down" article reminded me about this picture. Many of the descriptions in this article I found to be very humorous and almost difficult to imagine. "Maybe the perpetrators have just never lived in New York, where prolonged eye contact can result in a messy homicide" is right. Eye contact in America is a very different thing. Everyone has experienced the brief moment of panic when you are caught glancing at a stranger's eyes for too long, or sometimes even a friend's. It's more of an unspoken rule than anything, but it happens almost on a daily basis.

The other scenario, where the person is watching you to make sure you follow the rules, also kind of "jumped out" at me. The article described how this was very historical, that communist Germany used its own citizens as internal spys and reported any unusual activity to the Staatssicherheit. In the Nazi class that I took last semester, we learned how the same place took place a decade before the "Stasi" was formed. Nazi Germany used the Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police), commonly known as the Gestapo, to monitor its citizens from the inside. I found it very interesting that not only has it happened repeatedly in the past, it still happens today! Albeit to a lesser extent, but still.

Kultur 2

As someone who grew up visiting my German relatives and experiencing some of the things discussed in these articles, I found them very amusing (and very true!). I think the thing that's most shocking about Germans is their directness, which for Americans comes off as rude. My grandmother told my mom that she hated the names my parents had chosen for me and my sisters. She also told each one of us as well. As a young child, if my grandparents disagreed with something I said (which tends to happen when you're attempting to have a serious conversation with a 5 year old), they would tell me I was wrong and explain why. Definitely very intense, but my family and I have developed a sense of humor about it.

I agree with Adam that sometimes I wish Americans were a bit more direct like this though. So much of what we say to one another is entirely meaningless - it'd be nice to know that when someone says "let's hang out!" they actually want to hang out with you. As for the statistical obsession, I think that's pretty cool. Maybe a little bit overboard, but it'd be nice to have people be more informed about where they live and where they're from.

Kultur 2

Like Brett, I found these articles to be much more interesting than the reading we were given for Kultur 1. This would actually help quite a bit when travelling to Germany so as to avoid being taken by surprise by their customs and such. Imagine a traveller’s surprise when they suddenly notice they’ve been stared at for a while now. It’s also interesting to note how Germans are much more direct than people here. They seem to be much more straightforward when they speak rather than lie and hide their feelings about things. It’d be a nice change of pace if we were more like this. As far as staring out the window goes, I guess it isn’t too different from here, at least in the suburban areas. I also found it interesting and funny how Top Gear, which is a British television show, made jabs at these stereotypes (as they do with every other country), particularly the bit about statistics and measurements, staring, and complaining, most notably in their review of the Porsche Carrera GT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE_WqdKbTvY

Kapitel 2 Kultur - Adam Zientarski

I found these articles very interesting but shocking. I cannot believe that you could actually get away with asking if they gained weight anywhere. If you were to ask that here you would be met with a glare that would eat your sole and a harsh slap to the face. I admire the straight-forwardness of the German culture and I wish that Americans would adopt something like this. As a society we are offended way too easily.

The Germanic stare is another curious oddity. I honestly do not find it that weird that they watch from their windows. Its not any different than the porch sitting that occurs in America and I know plenty of Americans that watch "the damned neighbor kids" from their window (including my mother). Making sure that nothing nasty is happening is about the least rude thing that happens in America.

Willkommen!!

Welcome to our class blog!

Throughout the semester, you will be posting here roughly every other week for your Abenteuer mit Deutsch (AMD) assignment. First you do a fun activity that involves German, then you post about it. You should spend an hour total on this (maybe 45-55 minutes doing something, 5-15 minutes posting about it). And make sure to add your name as one of the "Labels." See the links on AMD Ideen and Beispiele for ideas! This should get you excited about the kinds of things you can do!