Kapitel 2 Kultur

It's interesting to learn about how selective the German schools are. It's also interesting to see how the German school system is now loosening up on how degrees are granted, as well as how the different school systems are comparable to how Americans choose schools based on what they want to study. Looking from the outside in, I agree with the article stating that the system is too inflexible to allow for proper educational growth.

Kultur2, Norman Lam

I found the articles very interesting, especially the one about the culture of complaining. I enjoyed reading them because I could compare the author’s view with my personal experiences in Germany.

During my one-week stay in Germany in 2010, based on my conversations with the staff of WHU and daily interactions with the Germans, I had the impression that Germans were very disciplined and straightforward. Particularly, the Dean of WHU pointed out that punctuality was extremely important to the Germans and even the slightest bit of tardiness would be frowned upon. I think some points in the article are consistent with my experiences, such as the German emphasis on social norms and order, and being honest and direct in conversations.

However, I don’t really agree that Germans tend to complain more than people in other countries do. For example, having lived in an Asian community, I do not see Germans complaining much more than some people living in Asia do. However, my view could be inaccurate, as I did not have the chance to spend more time in Germany.

To conclude, I generally agree with the interesting views of the article. I just don’t think we should view these cultural aspects in such negative light - in fact, some of them have their own merits too in maintaining the social order of the country.

Kultur2 - Joe Oliver

I was kind of worried when I read the disclaimer about these articles having negative information about Deutschland. I actually liked or felt neutral about a lot of it.

I really liked the straightforwardness sie haben. Perhaps being straightforward with comments wir as Amerikaners consider rude would take getting used to but the general ja means ja, nein means nein attitude seems sehr awesome. I remember feeling that people had a very "no nonsense" attitude when I visited New York, and liking it. Also, the idea that Deutsche people are open to discussing honest disagreements is pretty cool to me too.

I feel pretty neutral about the national past-time of complaining. I feel like Amerikaners complain a lot as well, and I also feel that a number of people im Amerika think that the country isn't what it used to be.

For the rest I feel pretty neutral. I think it's interessant and kind of funny that Germans sind obsessed with facts and statistics but at the same time they are prone to oversimplifying things, like the article said the think all Americans essen hamburgers all the time. Again, with the staring I feel that people around here stare a lot too, I relate to the public transportation Bespiel; I see people staring on the bus every day.

Part of the reason ich studiere Deutsch is because I want to eventually visit or possibly live im Deutschland, so I'm happy that the "negative" facets of Deutsch Kultur seem pretty manageable to me.

For the text readings, I wish I would've read Seite 50 the other day. I was trying to look up how to say "Biomedical Engineering" im Deutsch for the schedule assignment und I couldn't figure it out. I thought to check a Deutsch Tech Univ. website to see if they had it listed as a major, and today I found out what German Tech schools are actually called - die technische Hochschule. I remember reading in European how Universities are based on the original colleges started in Europe during the Enlightenment and I find it sehr interessant that the Deutsch schools were somewhat late in modernizing.

Kultur2

I find it interesting that Germans complain soo much! When I visited Germany all of the people were extremely nice. At least they admit they they complain. I always thought that Germans were such happy people, but apparently not.

The second article adds to the first one with the German staring problems. It adds to the fact that Germans complain. I find it so interesting that Germans think it is ok to stare at each other because in the United States people usually get reprimanded for such a behavior.

In the third article I like the fact that Germans are honest. If Americans and other cultures were more honest, then they would be healthier and happier people.

It is funny that Germans are so interested in statistics, but it makes them smart people. They are interested in learning where the people they meet are from. Even though it is a bit intense in pushy I find this to be a good thing.

Germans are different than almost every other culture, but they are interesting people!

Kapitel 2 Kulrue Reading- Cameorn Carpenter

I the first article the author a German who originally lived in Germany and now lives in the USA. His article is about how Germans can't be happy about what they have. He obviously takes it a little extra further, but Ich felt like what he is trying to show how Germans aren't being complainant like so many americans. The second article ist serh funny, die Augen von die Deutsch und how they like to stare that their neighbors. I had a hard time telling if there was anything deeper than the surface value for this article. die third article ist about how all die Deutsch are very strait forward with their answers to questions. It then goes through a few comical rule. My favorite was the yes is yes, and no is no, because so often we do think that if someone says yes in a non enthusiastic way they mean no.The final article is about Germans love of stats. The Author says that it comes from the national pride, and too many channels playing documentaries.

Kultur2

I found the first article a bit weird. There was no explanation as to why the German people complain so much and there was no supporting evidence that they even do such a thing. Americans complain all the time as well, so i wasn't sure why this was even published or what relevance this article had to my education. The second article which was about the "Germanic stare-down" was interesting to think about. I come from a city where if you stare at some one to long and don't move along, you are likely to get harassed or hurt. I know that I personally don't put up with being stared at and find it interesting that it is such an accepted part of their society. I like the topic of the third article. Being straight forward is one of the best ways to be, in my own personal opinion and i would like to experience a culture like that where everyone is not so worried about offending everyone. I don't think that i could live up to a German's expectations of knowing all of those sorts of statistics as discussed in the fourth article. I find information like that completely useless in everyday life and don't feel i should be responsible for knowing statistics like an atlas.

Willkommen!!

Welcome to our class blog!

We will be using this blog throughout the semester for two kinds of assignments:

1. Once per chapter, the homework plan will direct you to post a response to the culture readings for the chapter on the blog.

2. Roughly every other week, the homework plan will direct you to post here 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). See Was ist ein AMD, AMD Ideen and Beispiele for ideas. This should get you excited about the kinds of things you can do!

Whenever you post something, please include your name and the name of the assignment (e.g. AMD2, Kultur5) as labels. See "Blog: How To" for more details!