Germany Questions

[jcat]

Originally Posted by Marine

Hi Bonnie,
While I was in Germany (in 2003 when the war started and sentiment was not great for US policies), I found that most people really understood the difference between an American Person and the American Government. In fact, people were very interested in exactly how elections worked (try explaining "electoral college" in broken German) and how involved the average person was in politics. I walked down the streets of Berlin in my Old Navy Flag Tees and nobody said a word to me.
The schools there can be demanding (I am sure that varies just like it does in your own home town). I don't know anything about the American schools.
I also found that you get a LOT of respect from locals if you try to speak what German you know. I have problems with verbs, so I would sometimes say "can you tell me how to going to the main train station" or something like that. Nobody ever laughed at me. Mostly they were impressed that I could come up with the basic vocabulary to ask questions. If you decide to go sightseeing while you are there, just look around the train station, there are lines at the ticket windows that say "English". I was surprised how many people wanted to practice their English on me once they did learn I was American.
As always, the best advice is to respect the fact that you are not "in Kansas anymore" and that you should respect the country you are in. Do what you can to respect their culture. Good luck to your sister and niece!

Great post! Your experiences seem to jibe with mine.

 

[swampwitch]

Originally Posted by Marine

...I also found that you get a LOT of respect from locals if you try to speak what German you know. I have problems with verbs, so I would sometimes say "can you tell me how to going to the main train station" or something like that. Nobody ever laughed at me. Mostly they were impressed that I could come up with the basic vocabulary to ask questions....

Wise words! This is good advice for travelling to any foreign country.