Whats it like in Germany?

[Tokru]

Are the people in Germany accepting of non German speaking people in their country?

Varies GREATLY depending on the region and where you are from. In bigger cities it's not really a problem, when you are speaking English. Other languages can have a hard time finding someone who speaks them (except regions at the border of course. French, Dutch, Polish etc.).
But I would advise you to not travel to certain rural areas when you are of Arab, African or Eastern European origin.

[Deleted]

Dutch is german with a spanish accent.

No, it's totally not. And, a German accent just sounds funny from our Dutch point of view.
And for the rest, you know, WW2

[Deleted]

Apparently the Dutch hate Germans? Any truth to that?

Haha, come here to Austria and I'll show you some hate towards Germans. I really have no idea why most Austrians hate (there's no real hate, just general dislike) Germans. It's probably got to do with how Germans view us. Also, the only thing I personally really dislike about them is their accent. The only and really the only accent I can tolerate is Bavarian (they kind of speak like we do^^) and general German without any accent. Oh well, gotta exclude Munich though... they seem to have a special accent, not Bavarian, not any other German accent, not Austrian...

Though, regarding most things the Germans are pretty much the most similair to us. And I kind of like both nations, Germany and Austria (speaking of a quality of life aspect here).

[Lockon Stratos]

Haha, come here to Austria and I'll show you some hate towards Germans. I really have no idea why most Austrians hate (there's no real hate, just general dislike) Germans. It's probably got to do with how Germans view us. Also, the only thing I personally really dislike about them is their accent. The only and really the only accent I can tolerate is Bavarian (they kind of speak like we do^^) and general German without any accent. Oh well, gotta exclude Munich though... they seem to have a special accent, not Bavarian, not any other German accent, not Austrian...

Though, regarding most things the Germans are pretty much the most similair to us. And I kind of like both nations, Germany and Austria (speaking of a quality of life aspect here).

Perhaps it has something to do with a certain Austrian who self destructed germany via a world war...

[Ravenblade]

Haha, come here to Austria and I'll show you some hate towards Germans. I really have no idea why most Austrians hate (there's no real hate, just general dislike) Germans. It's probably got to do with how Germans view us. Also, the only thing I personally really dislike about them is their accent. The only and really the only accent I can tolerate is Bavarian (they kind of speak like we do^^) and general German without any accent. Oh well, gotta exclude Munich though... they seem to have a special accent, not Bavarian, not any other German accent, not Austrian...

Though, regarding most things the Germans are pretty much the most similair to us. And I kind of like both nations, Germany and Austria (speaking of a quality of life aspect here).

Hm, I've come to the conclusion through experience that "hate" is usually an overly strong term for that. There is no hate other than that propagated in the rainbow media.
Actually there's quite a lot dialects, like Svabian, Hessian, Palatinian, Franconian, Saxonian, Frisian, towns like Cologne and Berlin have their own dialects and of course they'd fail the Oachkatzlschwoaf-test but for communication's and understanding's sake High German is the lingua franca for administrative and general purposes. I know during GDR times it was Saxonian for us and any foreigner who got stranded only got so because that dialect was used. Other than that Austria's history is tied to German history up until Bismarck reformed the German landscape a bit and turned Austria into a landlocked empire. But I can't imagine that to be a source for gripe anyway. It's usually silly things like some sports event or something political.

[Morogoth]

When I was young, I read a lot of Astérix le Gaulois. I tought that this part of the world was about Ostrogoth and Wisigoth barbarians mixed with Helvétie and Bavaria.

Beer, sausage, mountains, cleanliness, strong, angry, methodological, bavaroises skirts, etc...

I think that's not to far for reality. One of my friend went to Berlin and he said that was really intimidating. Unknown language vs a huge crowd of people vs urbanism complexity = intimidating.

We're from Canada, maybe it's just because we have a lot of open space.

[RicardoZ]

I went to Germany for 2 weeks when I was in 7th grade on one of those study abroad exchange student programs. We had this big assembly in the auditorium of the school and the principal was like "Oh yeah, we've got some kid coming here from Germany next month and we have to send somebody over there, anybody want a piece of it?" I just kind of looked around and nobody was raising their hand so I said what the hell and put mine up and got to go.

It was alright, I got to check out this museum of medieval torture in this little town called Rothenburg and they had this cool clock where some guy comes out every night and chugs a big stine of beer (it's mechanical of course). Then I went off to see the Black Forest and got to hear the uncensored version of the Grimm's fairy tales which was pretty cool, then went to Munich and that was alright, but I don't remember much about it except that I bought my dad a lighter from some castle I visited there.

I remember it being pretty cool overall. Oh yeah, the people who work in hotels there are TOTAL PRICKS, at least they were to me. Every time you called down there to ask about something they answered the phone with this horribly stuck up accent saying "Rrrreception", rolling the R as if they were speaking Spanish, and saying "If you call down here again and bother us you'll be sleeping in the park." All I wanted was to ask if the gift shop was open...lighten up.

I'd like to go back and visit someday though now that I'm an adult and could probably appreciate it a lot better.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and the food was pretty bad (no offense). Breakfasts were always good, but generally, I wasn't a fan of the local cuisine.

[Svifnymr]

When I visited Amsterdam, I was told to learn a few choice German phrases to avoid the inevitable beggars on the streets. Apparently the Dutch hate Germans? Any truth to that?

My grandparents on fathers (dutch) side hated Germans. (There was that whole war thing...) Even hearing a german accent would cause them to cast a mean eye that way. My father didn't seem to have an actual hatred of germans, though more of a "dutch pride" sort of deal and got into a few fights with people that couldn't tell the difference between von and van. Myself, I couldn't care less, except for the Heckler& Koch guys having the thickest accents when I was asking them questions.

I'm sure there's plenty of nice things in Germany, but it sort of always struck me as one of those "work" countries that isn't terribly fun to visit. I'd love to go to the Netherlands, Ireland would be fun or anywhere in the United Kingdom (other than maybe Wales), France, Italy... I can think of things to see in all of them, but Germany? Nothing springs to mind.

[Wrien]

FC Bayern München

I'm not from Germany, but it's some of the biggest reason i'd like to go there

[Deleted]

I was born in Germany and I'm still living here, though I feel the need to disagree with one point mentioned above concerning tolerance of foreign tourists. For the most part, people I know won't even bother to communicate with tourists unless they have to (e.g. you work for institutions related to tourism). I consider Germany to be a country which is (as a whole, only my humble opinion) really rude to foreigners, for no apparent reason.
If you're looking for some majestic castles though, Germany is the right place to go!
In terms of government and weather, I'd say Germany is fitting my preferences. Rather Germany is a country being worth visting or not is up to the subject, but I can only recommend giving it a try! I have no plans of moving after leaving my great university here. I'm going to try to find a nice job here and settle down.

[Morogoth]

I was born in Germany and I'm still living here, though I feel the need to disagree with one point mentioned above concerning tolerance of foreign tourists. For the most part, people I know won't even bother to communicate with tourists unless they have to (e.g. you work for institutions related to tourism). I consider Germany to be a country which is (as a whole, only my humble opinion) really rude to foreigners, for no apparent reason.
If you're looking for some majestic castles though, Germany is the right place to go!
In terms of government and weather, I'd say Germany is fitting my preferences. Rather Germany is a country being worth visting or not is up to the subject, but I can only recommend giving it a try! I have no plans of moving after leaving my great university here. I'm going to try to find a nice job here and settle down.

I was about to ask if you speak french in germany, but I guess this question can be reversed for the french... I don't understand how people communicate in Europe... you travel 200 km and "poof" a new language.

[Deleted]

I was about to ask if you speak french in germany, but I guess this question can be reversed for the french... I don't understand how people communicate in Europe... you travel 200 km and "poof" a new language.

I am totally against this exact distinction of vocal boundaries. I can speak english and german fluently, and have no problems communicating in France when I ask them to speak slowly and forgive my poor grammar. I made the experience though, that when I was in France, noone is willing to speak german at all, even if they know it (! one time I met a bilingual person there, who was literally stating that hell will freeze before he speaks german in his own country). In Germany, it's the same. Sometimes you can even feel a little hatred going on for the french here. But when it comes to spanish, english, italian and stuff, people are totally fine with it.
It has to be some sort of remainder from WW II...and youth stupidity ofcourse. There are some places in Germany though where you can order things speaking french and "switzerdeutch". I don't know if it has a set translation, but spontaneously I'd translate it word for word "three-country-edge" - an area close to France and Switzerland, but still in Germany, where all three languages are present (I recognize Switzerland doesn't exactly have its own language, but Germans will not understand a fully native person from there)

[Morogoth]

I am totally against this exact distinction of vocal boundaries. I can speak english and german fluently, and have no problems communicating in France when I ask them to speak slowly and forgive my poor grammar. I made the experience though, that when I was in France, noone is willing to speak german at all, even if they know it (! one time I met a bilingual person there, who was literally stating that hell will freeze before he speaks german in his own country). In Germany, it's the same. Sometimes you can even feel a little hatred going on for the french here. But when it comes to spanish, english, italian and stuff, people are totally fine with it.
It has to be some sort of remainder from WW II...and youth stupidity ofcourse. There are some places in Germany though where you can order things speaking french and "switzerdeutch". I don't know if it has a set translation, but spontaneously I'd translate it word for word "three-country-edge" - an area close to France and Switzerland, but still in Germany, where all three languages are present (I recognize Switzerland doesn't exactly have its own language, but Germans will not understand a fully native person from there)

I'm a french canadian, that's why I asked. I always wanted to visit Europe. Germany, France, Espagne and Italia is always on the top of my list. Europe is so rich in cultures, it's incredible. But I fear I would get overwhelmed if I go in Germany without knowing a word of the language.

fun fact: I had a formation with a german with one of our DMC CNC machine a couple months ago, I spoke english with a french accent and he spoke english with a german accent. It was funny, but we understood each other. Thats why I think speaking english as a second language is always useful. "You got you Empire Queen Elisabeth!"

[Deleted]

German is splitted in so many little peaces it's hard to give you "one position"... I live in the middle (Hessen) and I say peoples, mindsets and even culture is completely different every 50-100km you go. Bigger cities are perhaps your best bet if you want to know "how most ppl are / live" but you will find nearly no cultural (history) stuff there (thats still relevant and not some museum stuff). There you have your typical meltingpots.
But if you are interested in german culture / landscape you have to visit different places (outside the bigger cities). There you will find many customs and many things that make germany perhaps how it "could be defined" if you want to blend out how most people in germany live after the long-going and still ongoing globalization.
I don't think anyone in the city would define "german" in any old fashioned or cultural ways while in smaller towns and the countryside there is still some traditional stuff left (even though it differs from province to province as stated before).

[Mormolyce]

When I was young, I read a lot of Astérix le Gaulois. I tought that this part of the world was about Ostrogoth and Wisigoth barbarians mixed with Helvétie and Bavaria.

I loved Asterix when I was a kid. Canadians read Asterix in French? Or only in Quebec or something?

[Morogoth]

I loved Asterix when I was a kid. Canadians read Asterix in French? Or only in Quebec or something?

I don't know about the rest of the country, but I read all the Astérix, Tintin, Lucky Luke, Spirou et Fantasio, Garfield, and I probably forget a lot. Astérix is a really popular character in Quebec. Every christmas since (well since I am born) we can watch every Astérix cartoons on ciné-cadeau. Les douze travaux d'Astérix, Astérix chez les Bretons, Le coup du ménhir, Astérix et les Gaulois, Astérix chez les Indiens, etc...

p.s. I will probably get crucified for that, but I think Quebec is the most European nation in America. (yup)

[insen]

FC Bayern München

I'm not from Germany, but it's some of the biggest reason i'd like to go there

haha dude
Bavaria is not Germany. Well you may only get that if you are acutally German
They kinda isolate themselves but thats not at issue now.

OT
Germany has one thing that no other country has. Guess many people come here just because of that.
Of course it's the Autobahn. No speed limits. Best thing ever. Couldn't imagine to drive 120 or 130 with a car that is capable of 200+. There acutally is one reason and that's the gas price
Sure there are many lines with limits. You may check that beforehand. I have to warn you too. Driving that fast should feel unusual and you maybe underestimate serveral situations.

Can recommend you two things. Visiting big cities like Hamburg or Berlin. The other thing would be to visit a mountainous region, maybe with some castles etc. pp. You may do both things

Greets from Rostock, Germany

[Morogoth]

Germany is very nice, there is so much you can do there!
You can go to Bavaria and experience all the traditional german culture like the Oktober Fest and then you'd go to Frankfurt or Hamburg and find the Modern Germany. It is also really nice in Germany because there is so much culture beside new, modern art.

welcome to mmo champion Kathy!

[-Zait-]

Great beer, awful food. The Germans keep invading the French for a reason.

WHAT!? BAD?? FOOD? FOOD? BAD?!

I have never eaten such good pastries and bratwurst in my life when I visited Munich. You crazy.

OT: I visited family in Munich last Summer. All the people were very nice, I spoke a mute's level of German, but I tried to speak it which was enough for most. So after a while of stumbling and butchering their language, the people I met magically spoke excellent English for me... (x

Food is great. Beer is better. People nice. Economy stable. Really nice weather, Good museums and shops, great restaurants, the castles are awesome, and the land is so green and clean. A very great place to be.

[Wikiy]

I was about to ask if you speak french in germany, but I guess this question can be reversed for the french... I don't understand how people communicate in Europe... you travel 200 km and "poof" a new language.

English. It's the lingua franca. You're of course expected to learn the basic phrases if you're visiting somewhere and if you plan to live in a foreign country it's essentially mandatory that you dedicate to learning it within the next few years.