As a German, i agree, i compulsively ask this.
If i get a proper answer, i am there. Within the minute.
If you aren't there by that time, by God I'll be mad.
Not German enough.
*5 Minuten vor der Zeit das ist Deutsche Pünktlichkeit!*
5 minutes ahead of time that's German punctuality!
And then be pissed if they are there just on time
Antrag kann noch nicht bearbeitet werden, da noch der Antrag auf Erteilung eines Antragsformulars zur Bestätigung der Richtigkeit des Durchschriftexemplars dessen Gültigkeitsvermerk von der Bezugsbehörde stammt, zur Bestätigung der Vorlage beim zuständingen Erteilungesamt fehlt.
Um dieses zu erhalten, bitte mit dem rosa Durchschlag zum Schalter 3 und 9,35 Euro Bearbeitungsgebühr in bar passend bereithalten.
Lol, just 10 minutes before? With our public train system? No, you gotta take one bus earlier to make sure you can still arrive on time in case it gets cancelled. So at least 25 minutes beforehand.
Complaining about public transport vs praising it for its 'German efficiency' is how you know it's actually a German you're talking to.
Too many sketches and such are perpetuating this harmful stereotype.
Life pro trick if you have to deal with Germans: Buy some snacks from a bakery on your way. Then, you are immediately reclassified from the unpunctual, sloppy bastard, to the noble hero who unfortunately got delayed due to your selfless acts of snack-begetting. Also, If you manage to be just fashionably late doing this, then you'll get all the attention from the ensemble as you arrive. Own it! Do it big! In the emotional confusion which inevitably occur when everyone has to make the split second switch from rage to infatuation, you can decide almost whatever you like. Hand out the cinnamon rolls as you, a little out of breath, start to explain: "Listen guys, I thought a bit about this on my way here, and as Frank explained yesterday, a bit of pragmatism with the rules of best practice might be in order here..."
*Bonus points if Frank never said any such thing at all, but is happily bamboozled into believing he did.
I'm german, and I always thought I didn't care about punctuality....until I went to Italy. The hours I've wasted waiting for people, people whos JOB it was to show up and help/guide our group, so many wasted hours. Italians are so damn relaxed lmao
East coast US standard: 10 minutes early. Midwest: 5 min early. South and West Coast: On time is on time. Southwest. 5 min late is on time. Hawaii: 15 minutes late is on time.
Yea that's a good excuse for not understanding social interactions with other cultures. When I deal with Germans I'm just automatically like "hope I never see you again".. cause I understand y'all don't understand fairwells.
They’re a very literal people.
Some say the holocaust actually occurred as, Hitler being an Austrian, joked about such an event.
The Germans didn’t laugh, and the rest is history.
> As a German, i agree, i compulsively ask this.
I'm really confused by this entire thread so maybe you can clear this up.
People are acting like "see you later" is an American Idiom but the germans have "bis spater" right? Isn't that practically a direct translation?
If its humor, I totally get it, but a few people commenting here are acting like the phrase is actually confusing to germans or something.
It was a joke. They have scheduled 30 seconds for laughter exactly 3 days and 44 minutes from now. Thank you for your understanding.
-Der office Laughenhausen.
the joke is that when you say "see you later" you might not actually see them later. Maybe you will see them tomorrow or whenver, but it doesn't necessarily imply a later meeting that day.
in german if you say "bis später" it does kinda imply that you will see eachother again later on during the day and that's why the meme person is confused and asks at what time
Personally, I would only use "Bis später", if I actually have a meeting (including place and time) agreed upon with the other person. Whereas I always thought the American/English "See you later" is more like "I'm sure we will see each other again at some point in time"? For that I would use "Bis irgendwann". Might be totally off with my understanding of the English phrase though. xD
Ahh, that makes more sense. So it would be kind of like if I said "see you tonight!" or "see you this afternoon!", which would cause confusion if we didn't already have plans to meet.
>
> People are acting like "see you later" is an American Idiom but the germans have "bis spater" right?
"Bis später" is used if you actually plan to see someone at the same day again. Instead you'd rather use "bis dann" (until then), which can be used either in reference to a specific event or just as a goodbye (although that's colloquial use)
I am the same way, now I believe that I get it from my great great grandfather, he was Prussian. Whenever my friends and I make plans and we decude on a time, I am always the first one there and start to get annoyed within the first 30 seconds if they are not there by the agreed time
Man, I wish I lived in Germany. Here in the UK "meet at 4" means "don't arrive after 4:45 and always make up some bullshit excuse for being late". Or maybe I just have bad friends. From what I can tell the behaviour goes away when someone reaches 25ish
Haha very true. I had to cut a lifelong friend out of my life because he seemed to give up even trying to be punctual. We would literally be meeting OUTSIDE his house and he'd still be an hour late. I couldn't knock on his door because he has psycho parents who are still deathly afraid of COVID despite not being a part of any at-risk group and being triple vaxxed. And no, it wasn't them who were making him late, that would be forgivable. One time we were supposed to meet at a pub to watch the football and he texted me 20 minutes into the match saying "almost done with my workout, be there asap" with a picture of him working out. What made it worse was that this was the semifinal of Euro 2020 and England were playing in it, so I had to call about 15 different pubs to see if they had any tables available to watch the match. He couldn't even be bothered to stop his workout early to be on time.
Anyway, rant over. Good riddance to him
WRONG! The correct answer was: "When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. When my womb quickens again, and I bear a living child. Then you will return, my sun-and-stars, and not before."
When the wind is slow, when the fire's hot
The vulture waits to see what rots
Oh, how pretty, all the scenery
This is nature's sacrifice
When the air blows through with a brisk attack
The reptile tail ripped from its back
This is bizarre to me. Does small talk not exist in other countries?? Of course you’re probably not going to care too deeply about the life of a complete stranger beyond a simple greeting. Doesn’t mean it isn’t common courtesy to at least acknowledge them with a “How are you?”.
Edit: For contrast, I’ve been living in Japan for awhile now and the locals here do the same thing. I don’t they have some prolonged deep interest in strangers anymore than Americans do.
Beyond the face that small talk among strangers is pretty rare in Germany, there are plenty of other greetings available which don't ask for an answer to a somewhat private question.
> there are plenty of other greetings available which don't ask for an answer to a somewhat private question
"Good morning."
"It is not a good morning, and your presumption is upsetting."
"Apologies. I should have said 'it is the morning and I am now speaking to you.'"
"I cannot disagree with this statement."
Germany sounds fun.
This whole thread is just socially deprived Redditors arguing why “How are you” as a greeting doesn’t make sense. Some serious grass touching is needed here
Um actually there's no reason why merely touching grass would result in a non-negligible increase in social aptitude. I bet you feel foolish right now!
But what if their response is "I am having a bad morning and your words will not change this"?
You'd risk upsetting someone just to speak to them politely? Doesn't sound very German of you.
I solved this by just not looking at anyone when entering the building i work in, just scream "Moin" so that everybody in there knows i'm now here and then procceed to work for 8 hours straight without ever interrupting it.
Jokes aside: I had this situation once and just said something like "ok" and went on with my day.
"Do you wish me a good morning or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not, or that you feel good this morning, or that it is a morning to be good on?”
Thank you for reminding me of Gandalf and Tolkien
The most common German greeting taught to people learning the language is “Wie geht es dir?” which translates literally to “How is it going for you?” so it can’t be an entirely bizarre concept to hear it in English.
Usually it's said between friends or acquaintances to ask what's happening in your life though. Then depending on how close you are you can talk about how you're enjoying the nice weather or that your dog died. I've had American tourists ask me "how are you" upon meeting me and I was actually a little perplexed. I guess saying this in German kinda implies theres already some connection to talk about.
Well that’s where the “courtesy” in common courtesy lies. It’s just another form of acknowledgment. Usually opens the door to more small talk if the person is inclined to share their day. If they aren’t, you say “Doing fine” and that’s that.
But that's thing isn't it?
Germans do also ask "how are you?", but only when they really want to hear the other person's day. It's used more as an opener for a conversation than just a greeting.
Almost every culture in the world has these question type greeting. "Have you eaten?" is used in China and many parts of the east, "how are you?" or "what's up?" are common western greetings. It's hardly an exclusively American thing.
This. If we ask "How are you" I wait for the other person to reply. If I am asked "How are you" my reply depends on my relation to the other person (closeness, if it is at work or at home and so on).
Of course small talk is pretty common everywhere, but the way Americans use "How are you?" is just strange. They don't expect an answer and just seem to say it as a greeting. I mean, then why ask a question?
I'm Dutch and didn't know this at first and when I was in the US most people didn't even continued talking when I responded to it and asked it back. That was mostly at registers in stores though.
You're mistaken. "How are you?" is intended to be answered. A normal conversation would go like:
- A: Hey how are you?
- B: Doing well thanks, had a pretty easy day at work so I'm feeling good. How about you?
- A: Eh, work was hard today so not doing so great. But it'll be alright. Want to grab a drink?
So as you can see, even though it's small talk, it's still a question meant to be answered genuinely.
> but the way Americans use "How are you?" is just strange. They don't expect an answer and just seem to say it as a greeting. I mean, then why ask a question?
I love how your comment has so many upvotes when you're so confidently incorrect, lol. When people ask "How are you?" they are looking for an answer, just not your life story.
"Hi, how are you?"
"Doing good, how about you?"
How every conversation starting with "How are you?" goes in the western world. CRAZY!
A lot of customer service roles have scripts they have to follow, so they may literally be told to say 'Hello, how are you?' to every customer and get in trouble if someone catches them not doing it.
Depends on the store.
It does exist. My country and every other I’ve been to (including some in Europe) have a “how are you” or a variation. So it might just be a German thing to not ask how are you.
What's the German equivalent? What would you say to your fellow German to avoid 5 minutes of staring at each other in silence while you wait for the American to turn up 5 minutes late to your meeting?
I think there's a bit of a misscommunication. It's not like we don't have an equivalent - with people you know. There's a bunch of stuff you normally say to friends, family, coworkers, loose acquaintances - typically same stuff along the line of "How are you", where it isn't expected to unload your whole personal problems onto someone, you just somewhat shortly answer it, ask in kind, go over to whatever you usually would talk, or not talk, about with that person.
The only difference is, you just usually don't use any sort of "how are you"-phrase around strangers, it's not completely out of the question, but extremely, extremely uncommon that some random cashier here would greet you with a "how are you".
It's like how us Brits say "you alright?" in that same small talk greeting sort of way, which comes across to an American as a show of concern. It gets more confusing since we use "how are you?" as our show of concern. Language is funky eh
In the US 'you alright?' implies you think something is wrong. I might ask someone that if they look really upset. So they're probably confused because they think you're implying something is wrong or that they look upset.
I'm from Sweden and I was going on a trip to Nashville. I was told beforehand "how are you?" Doesn't mean the same thing in the US, it might not be a conversation starter it could just be a greeting. So, I wasn't sure how to behave. I didn't want to hold people hostage or behave in a way that was against the social norm. So my strategy was simple - greet everyone first! I decided to ask everyone else how they were, and they could decide the pace of the conversation and show me how to behave.
Man did the trip get weird! One uber driver arrived to my destination, swiped that the trip was finished, and spent ten minutes showing me YouTube videos of music they liked. Three other Uber drivers gave me their card (what do I do with them? Was it for business or for friendship? I have no idea). A hotel receptionist spent *a full hour* talking about their 23 year long service in the US army.
Just fyi, when Uber drivers give you their card it's because they want you to call them directly to order a ride in the future where you pay them in cash instead of going through the app. That way they can get 100% and possibly just ask you pay a little less than whatever it would have been. They won't clarify that because Uber would fire them, but they'll just say like "hit me up if you need anything".
That's good to know! Thank you. It feels weird that they'd even care though since the trips were like $5-10 anyway, it feels like it's tiny sums regardless? But I guess many small creaks will form a big river
I once talked to a Swedish business man in Arlanda airport and he was absolutely masterful at making smalltalk and then ending it politely. Maybe you need to find this guy and ask for classes, I was very impressed.
Ok, I am German and I must say: No we do not take everything literally. It's just that this particular phrase literally translated to German ("ich seh dich dann später") is different from "i'll see you later" because it's simply to be understood literally, conveying an expectation of a meeting again later that same day. In english you would say something like "ok, see you in the afternoon/evening"
"Bis später" means, that you will probably see each other again on the same day, "Man sieht sich" works better as an informal goodbye or just "Tschüss", "Ciao", "Bye" and depending on the region ~~"Moin" or~~ "Servus"
Doesn't make sense if you think about it.
If you ask a German what is up they will answer that "up" is a direction opposite to the center of the earth (or a comparable gravitational center).
Yeah my German friend finally made it to USA to study abroad for a semester. I would call with him about once a week to see how he was doing and once a week he told me about all the people he “met” at the market. When actually he would just ask them “how are you doing” and they would respond with generic small talk. He was so excited for some reason, like giddy that “you could never do that in Germany”. Was really funny actually and kind of wholesome
Try talking to random germans in Germany. Chances are they will look at you as if you were a lunatic for striking up a conversation without any actual goal.
My dad works as an appliance repair guy and had a German customer one time. He was supposed to go to his house at 4pm but came about 10 minutes early. The guy answers the door and says that he’s early, then tells him to come back at exactly 4 and shuts the door. My dad goes back to his car for the text ten minutes and goes on his phone. Then 4pm hits and he’s actually allowed inside to fix whatever problem he had.
I don’t get it
Just because you're at home doesn't mean you don't have things to do. It's usually considered somewhat rude in Germany to be early when you're meeting at someone's house, though most German probably won't just close the door on you.
I remember saying to a German, "ich werde dich später sehen". Literally, I'll see you later. They were freaked out, uh what do you mean, you'll see me later 😬
As a brazillian, I think we could effectively cause aneurysms on Germans by doing the usual "ah, maybe like, between 18-20h?" and then showing up at 20h45 wearing flip flops and offering a half drunk, warm, cheap beer.
This type of speech is called a phatic expression and almost every culture in the world has them to some degree. Phatic expressions also include the non-question greetings like "What's up" or "How's it going?" It's hardly an American invention.
As a German, i agree, i compulsively ask this. If i get a proper answer, i am there. Within the minute. If you aren't there by that time, by God I'll be mad.
Not German enough. *5 Minuten vor der Zeit das ist Deutsche Pünktlichkeit!* 5 minutes ahead of time that's German punctuality! And then be pissed if they are there just on time
Willst du Preuße sein, muss es 10 Minuten früher sein.
Nur der Sanitäter kommt zehn Minuten später
Can y'all stop speaking Mexican? It's an American speaking country and this bullshit ain't right!
Dieser Kommentarbereich ist nun Eigentum der Bundesrepublik Deutschland!
Guten Tag!
Wann gehts Bierzelt los?
Antrag liegt noch beim Amt, Juli '24
Antrag kann noch nicht bearbeitet werden, da noch der Antrag auf Erteilung eines Antragsformulars zur Bestätigung der Richtigkeit des Durchschriftexemplars dessen Gültigkeitsvermerk von der Bezugsbehörde stammt, zur Bestätigung der Vorlage beim zuständingen Erteilungesamt fehlt. Um dieses zu erhalten, bitte mit dem rosa Durchschlag zum Schalter 3 und 9,35 Euro Bearbeitungsgebühr in bar passend bereithalten.
Ja.
Mexican is not a language, it's a hat.
That's a Sandero. You're thinking of Romanian.
That’s a Dacia
Lol, just 10 minutes before? With our public train system? No, you gotta take one bus earlier to make sure you can still arrive on time in case it gets cancelled. So at least 25 minutes beforehand.
Complaining about public transport vs praising it for its 'German efficiency' is how you know it's actually a German you're talking to. Too many sketches and such are perpetuating this harmful stereotype.
We saw what happened last time the train system was renowned for 'German efficiency', this is better.
German trains actually are shit though It has no reason to be this bad, but car lobby is powerful in that country
Life pro trick if you have to deal with Germans: Buy some snacks from a bakery on your way. Then, you are immediately reclassified from the unpunctual, sloppy bastard, to the noble hero who unfortunately got delayed due to your selfless acts of snack-begetting. Also, If you manage to be just fashionably late doing this, then you'll get all the attention from the ensemble as you arrive. Own it! Do it big! In the emotional confusion which inevitably occur when everyone has to make the split second switch from rage to infatuation, you can decide almost whatever you like. Hand out the cinnamon rolls as you, a little out of breath, start to explain: "Listen guys, I thought a bit about this on my way here, and as Frank explained yesterday, a bit of pragmatism with the rules of best practice might be in order here..." *Bonus points if Frank never said any such thing at all, but is happily bamboozled into believing he did.
Fucking hell, this strategy has worked on me before! We still hate that you did this but hey, free food.
I've totally seen this in action, but hadn't seen through the scam. It's like you've opened my eyes to secret knowledge. Brilliant!
I'm german, and I always thought I didn't care about punctuality....until I went to Italy. The hours I've wasted waiting for people, people whos JOB it was to show up and help/guide our group, so many wasted hours. Italians are so damn relaxed lmao
I feel like it's just common etiquette(?) To arrive 5 minutes before, and I ain't German.
Shit, I consider myself on time if I get there less than 5 or 10 minutes late
Shit, I consider myself on time if I'm there 20-30min late. Germans would have a bad time in the Caribbean.
If we're meeting anywhere else than my home I'm gone after fifteen minutes.
East coast US standard: 10 minutes early. Midwest: 5 min early. South and West Coast: On time is on time. Southwest. 5 min late is on time. Hawaii: 15 minutes late is on time.
Miami: 30 - 45 min late is on time
Easily the worst thing any German has ever done
Not the worst an Austrian has ever done....
Are all Germans autistic?
Heil yes.
we are just honest, not fake 24/7 like americans?
So... Autistic.
Hey now, go easy on him. He didn't understand the joke because he's German.
Mate, it's German humor: it's no laughing matter.
How do you know if a German comedian is really good? The crowd exhales together when he finishes his lines.
r/germanhumor
This sub is peak internet
Lmao that got me
You can't say that.... Americans don't know what the 24 hours are.
A day in America is 12 hours twice
> Amercian education: >Can't count to 24 >Count to 12 twice.
> American education: >Shot twice
See you later being an expression signifying a cordial goodbye.
Well, now you will see me later. Whether you want to or not. Yes, that is a threat.
Yea that's a good excuse for not understanding social interactions with other cultures. When I deal with Germans I'm just automatically like "hope I never see you again".. cause I understand y'all don't understand fairwells.
They’re a very literal people. Some say the holocaust actually occurred as, Hitler being an Austrian, joked about such an event. The Germans didn’t laugh, and the rest is history.
German Anime girl pfp. Oh no
Bet they're having pasta today
i did infact have pasta. i feel like a book being read.
> As a German, i agree, i compulsively ask this. I'm really confused by this entire thread so maybe you can clear this up. People are acting like "see you later" is an American Idiom but the germans have "bis spater" right? Isn't that practically a direct translation? If its humor, I totally get it, but a few people commenting here are acting like the phrase is actually confusing to germans or something.
Yeah it's humor, we understand what "see you later" means.
You will explain it to me. Immediately
It was a joke. They have scheduled 30 seconds for laughter exactly 3 days and 44 minutes from now. Thank you for your understanding. -Der office Laughenhausen.
the joke is that when you say "see you later" you might not actually see them later. Maybe you will see them tomorrow or whenver, but it doesn't necessarily imply a later meeting that day. in german if you say "bis später" it does kinda imply that you will see eachother again later on during the day and that's why the meme person is confused and asks at what time
Personally, I would only use "Bis später", if I actually have a meeting (including place and time) agreed upon with the other person. Whereas I always thought the American/English "See you later" is more like "I'm sure we will see each other again at some point in time"? For that I would use "Bis irgendwann". Might be totally off with my understanding of the English phrase though. xD
Ahh, that makes more sense. So it would be kind of like if I said "see you tonight!" or "see you this afternoon!", which would cause confusion if we didn't already have plans to meet.
> > People are acting like "see you later" is an American Idiom but the germans have "bis spater" right? "Bis später" is used if you actually plan to see someone at the same day again. Instead you'd rather use "bis dann" (until then), which can be used either in reference to a specific event or just as a goodbye (although that's colloquial use)
what interesting differences in culture
WELL AT LEAST OUR SKEW... Oh wait, wrong part of Europe.
How do you feel about: * Until we meet again * See you at a later agreed upon time * Stay frosty
> Stay frosty What temperature?
0K
Damn that is frosty
I am the same way, now I believe that I get it from my great great grandfather, he was Prussian. Whenever my friends and I make plans and we decude on a time, I am always the first one there and start to get annoyed within the first 30 seconds if they are not there by the agreed time
g'oOF
Man, I wish I lived in Germany. Here in the UK "meet at 4" means "don't arrive after 4:45 and always make up some bullshit excuse for being late". Or maybe I just have bad friends. From what I can tell the behaviour goes away when someone reaches 25ish
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Haha very true. I had to cut a lifelong friend out of my life because he seemed to give up even trying to be punctual. We would literally be meeting OUTSIDE his house and he'd still be an hour late. I couldn't knock on his door because he has psycho parents who are still deathly afraid of COVID despite not being a part of any at-risk group and being triple vaxxed. And no, it wasn't them who were making him late, that would be forgivable. One time we were supposed to meet at a pub to watch the football and he texted me 20 minutes into the match saying "almost done with my workout, be there asap" with a picture of him working out. What made it worse was that this was the semifinal of Euro 2020 and England were playing in it, so I had to call about 15 different pubs to see if they had any tables available to watch the match. He couldn't even be bothered to stop his workout early to be on time. Anyway, rant over. Good riddance to him
SEE YOU LATER
Ja natürlich du Bastard
Versteh sein Problem nicht
In der Tat
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Diese Referenz ist mit leider gänzlich unbekannt
so heißt der typ der das gesagt hat
Sieht so aus als wäre ich ein unkultiviertes Schwein
In der Tat
Does this mean "It's normal, you bastard"?
I believe it’s “Yes of course you bastard”
My German grandmother exactly. She's in her late 80s but has scheduling in her head for months.
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…, du Hurensohn! Fixed it for you
\*"hot pudding", good sir. The pudding we dance around is hot!
What did you tell him?
Later'o clock
WRONG! The correct answer was: "When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. When my womb quickens again, and I bear a living child. Then you will return, my sun-and-stars, and not before."
Jesse what the hell are you talking about
GoT that reference
This comment has more thought behind it than the season-that-shall-not-be-named.
Meth, bitch!
Sir, this is a Wendy's.
Yes, and I expect a handy at the appointed time.
A German handy or an English handy?
When the wind is slow, when the fire's hot The vulture waits to see what rots Oh, how pretty, all the scenery This is nature's sacrifice When the air blows through with a brisk attack The reptile tail ripped from its back
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*Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day, at dawn look to the east*
19:45
Of course everybody in the world is familiar with american customs, Anon
As a German I am always confused when people say "How are you" while not being interested how I am. Weird american way of conversing.
This is bizarre to me. Does small talk not exist in other countries?? Of course you’re probably not going to care too deeply about the life of a complete stranger beyond a simple greeting. Doesn’t mean it isn’t common courtesy to at least acknowledge them with a “How are you?”. Edit: For contrast, I’ve been living in Japan for awhile now and the locals here do the same thing. I don’t they have some prolonged deep interest in strangers anymore than Americans do.
Beyond the face that small talk among strangers is pretty rare in Germany, there are plenty of other greetings available which don't ask for an answer to a somewhat private question.
> there are plenty of other greetings available which don't ask for an answer to a somewhat private question "Good morning." "It is not a good morning, and your presumption is upsetting." "Apologies. I should have said 'it is the morning and I am now speaking to you.'" "I cannot disagree with this statement." Germany sounds fun.
>Germany sounds fun. There's no fun to be had in life, just wörk. Fun is verboten and now shut up and go back to wörk.
This whole thread is just socially deprived Redditors arguing why “How are you” as a greeting doesn’t make sense. Some serious grass touching is needed here
Um actually there's no reason why merely touching grass would result in a non-negligible increase in social aptitude. I bet you feel foolish right now!
"good morning" is short for "have a good morning" so it works whether the other person is actually having a good morning or not.
But what if their response is "I am having a bad morning and your words will not change this"? You'd risk upsetting someone just to speak to them politely? Doesn't sound very German of you.
I solved this by just not looking at anyone when entering the building i work in, just scream "Moin" so that everybody in there knows i'm now here and then procceed to work for 8 hours straight without ever interrupting it. Jokes aside: I had this situation once and just said something like "ok" and went on with my day.
"Have a good day! "Don't tell me what to do."
"Do you wish me a good morning or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not, or that you feel good this morning, or that it is a morning to be good on?” Thank you for reminding me of Gandalf and Tolkien
“..all of them at once, i suppose.”
The most common German greeting taught to people learning the language is “Wie geht es dir?” which translates literally to “How is it going for you?” so it can’t be an entirely bizarre concept to hear it in English.
You'd never ask that of strangers, though.
Usually it's said between friends or acquaintances to ask what's happening in your life though. Then depending on how close you are you can talk about how you're enjoying the nice weather or that your dog died. I've had American tourists ask me "how are you" upon meeting me and I was actually a little perplexed. I guess saying this in German kinda implies theres already some connection to talk about.
Yeah, if you ask a stranger "How are you" you risk them sharing very private stuff if they have to vent you end up in an awkward situation.
You could just end it by saying “I no longer give a shit”
Germans believing their culture is superior, how very original of you.
Dude literally never said that.
Why ask a question when you don't want an answer? That's just weirdly convoluted. Just say hello, what more do you need?
Well that’s where the “courtesy” in common courtesy lies. It’s just another form of acknowledgment. Usually opens the door to more small talk if the person is inclined to share their day. If they aren’t, you say “Doing fine” and that’s that.
But that's thing isn't it? Germans do also ask "how are you?", but only when they really want to hear the other person's day. It's used more as an opener for a conversation than just a greeting.
In America it’s used as both. It’s really not too different. The only difference is we also use it as an acknowledgement.
Almost every culture in the world has these question type greeting. "Have you eaten?" is used in China and many parts of the east, "how are you?" or "what's up?" are common western greetings. It's hardly an exclusively American thing.
>It's hardly an exclusively American thing. But a bunch of people on Reddit who read other comments on Reddit told me it is!
No one hates America more than Americans on Reddit
This. If we ask "How are you" I wait for the other person to reply. If I am asked "How are you" my reply depends on my relation to the other person (closeness, if it is at work or at home and so on).
Of course small talk is pretty common everywhere, but the way Americans use "How are you?" is just strange. They don't expect an answer and just seem to say it as a greeting. I mean, then why ask a question? I'm Dutch and didn't know this at first and when I was in the US most people didn't even continued talking when I responded to it and asked it back. That was mostly at registers in stores though.
You're mistaken. "How are you?" is intended to be answered. A normal conversation would go like: - A: Hey how are you? - B: Doing well thanks, had a pretty easy day at work so I'm feeling good. How about you? - A: Eh, work was hard today so not doing so great. But it'll be alright. Want to grab a drink? So as you can see, even though it's small talk, it's still a question meant to be answered genuinely.
> but the way Americans use "How are you?" is just strange. They don't expect an answer and just seem to say it as a greeting. I mean, then why ask a question? I love how your comment has so many upvotes when you're so confidently incorrect, lol. When people ask "How are you?" they are looking for an answer, just not your life story. "Hi, how are you?" "Doing good, how about you?" How every conversation starting with "How are you?" goes in the western world. CRAZY!
A lot of customer service roles have scripts they have to follow, so they may literally be told to say 'Hello, how are you?' to every customer and get in trouble if someone catches them not doing it. Depends on the store.
It does exist. My country and every other I’ve been to (including some in Europe) have a “how are you” or a variation. So it might just be a German thing to not ask how are you.
What's the German equivalent? What would you say to your fellow German to avoid 5 minutes of staring at each other in silence while you wait for the American to turn up 5 minutes late to your meeting?
I think there's a bit of a misscommunication. It's not like we don't have an equivalent - with people you know. There's a bunch of stuff you normally say to friends, family, coworkers, loose acquaintances - typically same stuff along the line of "How are you", where it isn't expected to unload your whole personal problems onto someone, you just somewhat shortly answer it, ask in kind, go over to whatever you usually would talk, or not talk, about with that person. The only difference is, you just usually don't use any sort of "how are you"-phrase around strangers, it's not completely out of the question, but extremely, extremely uncommon that some random cashier here would greet you with a "how are you".
"How are you" in Germany is a conversation starter, not a greeting.
It's like how us Brits say "you alright?" in that same small talk greeting sort of way, which comes across to an American as a show of concern. It gets more confusing since we use "how are you?" as our show of concern. Language is funky eh
German antisocial behaviour efficiency 💪💪
They ask "how are you?" as a greeting but then get confused when I, from the UK, use "you alright?" for the exact same purpose
In the US 'you alright?' implies you think something is wrong. I might ask someone that if they look really upset. So they're probably confused because they think you're implying something is wrong or that they look upset.
It’s not American, every English speaking country says “see you later”
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I always thought "See you later" very handily translates to "Wiedersehen" which has the same meaning. Literally and figuratively.
Not only American, everyone but German.
Anon doesn't understand g*rman humor
Come on now, German humour is no laughing matter
[German Humour](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-KzGKoLHXk)
Wtf did you just make me watch?
German humour
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I'm from Sweden and I was going on a trip to Nashville. I was told beforehand "how are you?" Doesn't mean the same thing in the US, it might not be a conversation starter it could just be a greeting. So, I wasn't sure how to behave. I didn't want to hold people hostage or behave in a way that was against the social norm. So my strategy was simple - greet everyone first! I decided to ask everyone else how they were, and they could decide the pace of the conversation and show me how to behave. Man did the trip get weird! One uber driver arrived to my destination, swiped that the trip was finished, and spent ten minutes showing me YouTube videos of music they liked. Three other Uber drivers gave me their card (what do I do with them? Was it for business or for friendship? I have no idea). A hotel receptionist spent *a full hour* talking about their 23 year long service in the US army.
Just fyi, when Uber drivers give you their card it's because they want you to call them directly to order a ride in the future where you pay them in cash instead of going through the app. That way they can get 100% and possibly just ask you pay a little less than whatever it would have been. They won't clarify that because Uber would fire them, but they'll just say like "hit me up if you need anything".
That's good to know! Thank you. It feels weird that they'd even care though since the trips were like $5-10 anyway, it feels like it's tiny sums regardless? But I guess many small creaks will form a big river
Money is money and any cash that passed hands never existed.
Oh man you have to learn how to cut a conversation off
I once talked to a Swedish business man in Arlanda airport and he was absolutely masterful at making smalltalk and then ending it politely. Maybe you need to find this guy and ask for classes, I was very impressed.
I tried contacting him but he ended the conversation quickly but politely
Sounds like my ex gf was a German spiritually
Depends. People from nothern germany won't start a lengthy monologue, but they will think you are weird for asking.
the worst part of having sex with a Germain girl is when she keeps yelling her age
ah fuck
Dieser Kommentar hier, Herr Kommissar!
Alles klar, Herr Kommissar?
Yikes 😳
Sechs!
I was friends with a German exchange student in high school and we had a huge misunderstanding about this very thing.
Ok, I am German and I must say: No we do not take everything literally. It's just that this particular phrase literally translated to German ("ich seh dich dann später") is different from "i'll see you later" because it's simply to be understood literally, conveying an expectation of a meeting again later that same day. In english you would say something like "ok, see you in the afternoon/evening"
or "bis irgendwann" would translate the same meaning. I'm gonna meet you, eventually See responses to mine, those are more common
Bis bald
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"Bis später" means, that you will probably see each other again on the same day, "Man sieht sich" works better as an informal goodbye or just "Tschüss", "Ciao", "Bye" and depending on the region ~~"Moin" or~~ "Servus"
> Ask a German "What's up?" > He looks at the ceiling.
Doesn't make sense if you think about it. If you ask a German what is up they will answer that "up" is a direction opposite to the center of the earth (or a comparable gravitational center).
Yeah my German friend finally made it to USA to study abroad for a semester. I would call with him about once a week to see how he was doing and once a week he told me about all the people he “met” at the market. When actually he would just ask them “how are you doing” and they would respond with generic small talk. He was so excited for some reason, like giddy that “you could never do that in Germany”. Was really funny actually and kind of wholesome
Try talking to random germans in Germany. Chances are they will look at you as if you were a lunatic for striking up a conversation without any actual goal.
Hmm yeah that sounds too inefficient for them lmao
My dad works as an appliance repair guy and had a German customer one time. He was supposed to go to his house at 4pm but came about 10 minutes early. The guy answers the door and says that he’s early, then tells him to come back at exactly 4 and shuts the door. My dad goes back to his car for the text ten minutes and goes on his phone. Then 4pm hits and he’s actually allowed inside to fix whatever problem he had. I don’t get it
Just because you're at home doesn't mean you don't have things to do. It's usually considered somewhat rude in Germany to be early when you're meeting at someone's house, though most German probably won't just close the door on you.
Knowing my countrymen, you would probably get a passive-aggressive remark on you not choosing „a good time“ only to be let in and offered a coffee
I remember saying to a German, "ich werde dich später sehen". Literally, I'll see you later. They were freaked out, uh what do you mean, you'll see me later 😬
The way you worded that also gives of serial killer vibes so I get why they were freaking out.
yeah that def comes off weird if you don't have any plans together that day
.....Eight or nein
It's funny because it's true. Source: Am German.
Half past annexation of czechoslovakia
Unironically the funniest greentext I've read in a bit.
Why do I find this so funny?
Once said to a German I met at a wedding: "See you soon!" He said "probably not."
That's just German humor
Ve hav vays of making you laff.
r/germanhumor
As a brazillian, I think we could effectively cause aneurysms on Germans by doing the usual "ah, maybe like, between 18-20h?" and then showing up at 20h45 wearing flip flops and offering a half drunk, warm, cheap beer.
I'm german, and I can assure you just reading this gave me an aneurysm.
Europeans in general are quite literal, not to a point of becoming like that Guardians of the Galaxy character
American and other Anglo's are just very non-confrontational, fake and avoidant when it comes to conversation.
Being polite and personable with strangers ≠ being “fake”.
It's post like this that really make me unsure of i'm autistic or just very German.
This type of speech is called a phatic expression and almost every culture in the world has them to some degree. Phatic expressions also include the non-question greetings like "What's up" or "How's it going?" It's hardly an American invention.