A Field Guide to Cultural Differences Between Germany and the USA

We have written a lot about daily life and cultural comparisons between Germany and other places here at The German Way, but it’s a vast topic. Just when you think you’ve covered it all or experienced it all, another aspect suddenly pops up to surprise you.

My latest aha-moment arose when I was reading an account of American culture from a German perspective. It never hurts to look at things from a different angle, and I was reading comments by a German living in the United States. Suddenly I saw his words about the fact that the US dollar has banknotes that are all the same size! Yes, I knew that, but I had never made the connection to the euro, which like almost every other currency in the world has bills that vary in size and color, depending on the denomination. Although I have often had euros, kronor, pesos, pounds, and other foreign money in my hands over the years, I had never thought to write about this American (and Canadian!) dollar oddity.

Note: We intentionally did not entitle this post “…from A to Z.” It’s a random selection, and this is only Part 1. Also see Part 2.

A is for Ampel (and Ampelmännchen).

The Ampelmännchen (“little traffic light man”), the iconic German walk/don’t walk figure, is so much more than just an everyday part of life in Germany today. First-time visitors to Germany soon discover how taboo it is to venture into a crosswalk when the walk signal (Fußgängersignal) is red, even if there’s no traffic. Bystanders will scold anyone doing so, often pointing out that the jaywalker is setting a horrible example for children. Anglophone expats accustomed to defying don’t-walk signals back home if there are no vehicles in sight, soon learn that Germans take a dim view of such behavior.

Don’t ignore the red man! Ampelmann souvenirs from the Ampelmann Store in Berlin. PHOTO: Hyde Flippo

After German reunification in 1990, the old-fashioned Peglau-Ampelmännchen figures, named after designer Karl Peglau, used for pedestrian signals in eastern Germany began to be replaced with the standard western German figures. But soon the Easterners began to protest the move, saying they wanted their own familiar hat-wearing Ampelmännchen back. (He had first appeared in East Berlin in 1969.) Soon the practice was halted, and by 2005 some Berlin districts in the West also began using the eastern German Peglau-Ampelmann, as sort of a symbol of solidarity.

The East German Ampelmann soon became a symbol of Ostalgie, the longing for the “good old days” of the DDR/GDR (“I want my Wall back.”). Many German cities have since been inspired to use their own, iconic figures for the Ampelmännchen. Examples include a Karl Marx figure in Trier (his birthplace), an Elvis figure in Friedberg and Bad Nauheim (where he was stationed as a G.I.), and a female “Ampelfrau” to counter the sexist Ampelmann in various places.

Before we move on, two more traffic light (Ampel) comments:

1. I have never understood why German and most European traffic signals turn yellow before the green “go” light comes on. Do motorists really need a warning that the light is about to turn green? In the US drivers are warned to look out for cross-traffic before stepping on the gas immediately after the light turns green. In Germany, it’s more like a drag race countdown.
2. German and European traffic signals are placed on the wrong side of the intersection, on the near side! Cars at the front can’t see the traffic light because it’s directly above them. This insanity creates the need for those miniature light signals seen below every traffic light in Germany. Just put the signals on the opposite side of the road, as in the US, and you don’t need the miniature signals – which aren’t that easy to see anyway. What ever happened to highly vaunted German logic in this case?

Also see my related comments about traffic lights and other things in this blog post: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

B is for Bett

Most people take beds for granted… until they move to Germany or Austria. Even in France, you’ll find a typical bed with sheets and a blanket. Not in Germany, the home of the Federbett. The “feather bed” or Federdecke (duvet) is of course a down-filled comforter, plus slip cover, that does away with the top sheet and blanket. During the cold time of the year (i.e., most of the year in northern Europe), the Federbett is ideal – snug, warm, and comfy. If you’ve ever stayed in a German hotel or pension, you have probably experienced a Federdecke.

I like them a lot. Another advantage is how easy it is to make the bed in the morning. Just fluff up the duvet and lay it out on the bed (folded or not). The German practice of using a duvet cover that can easily be washed also has the benefit of allowing you to switch out the cover design for variety when you feel like it.

On the negative side, a duvet is impossible in the summer, especially in places without air conditioning (95 percent of Germany). A sheet or light cover can fill in for warm nights. But there is one particular aspect of German beds that drives me nuts: the crack down the middle of so-called “double beds” in Germany. For some reason the Germans think placing two single beds next to each other equals a double bed. Weit gefehlt! (Not even close!)

A genuine double bed (standard, queen or king) is rare in Germany. In German a double bed is ein französisches Bett, a French bed! That tells you how foreign and strange a double bed is in Deutschland. (No wonder the birth rate in Germany is so low.) IKEA in Germany actually sells “French beds,” but one has to wonder if anyone in Germany buys them. I’m not the only expat who has encountered this German oddity. See Ruth’s post Good Night, Sleep Tight, Watch out for the Crack!.

G is for Geld.

Euro banknotes increase in size from 5 to 200 euros. PHOTO: Wikimedia Commmons

That’s German for money. Coins and paper money. How does the American “greenback” differ from the euro or most other paper currency in the world? Germany and Austria use the euro (EUR). Switzerland has its own Swiss franc (CHF). When you hold euro or Swiss franc paper money in your hand, the first thing you notice is how much more colorful the bills are than the dull, monochrome US dollar. Another thing that’s immediately obvious is that, unlike one-size-fits-all dollar bills, each denomination of the euro or franc bills is a different size and a different color! The five-euro bill, the lowest paper denomination, is the smallest size, with each additional denomination (10, 20, 50, 100, 200; the 500-euro note is no longer in circulation) increasing in size. The higher the value, the bigger the note. And the color theme for each amount is also different. (See the illustration above.)

The US dollar currency has been criticized for the fact that all the bills are the same size, making it difficult for a blind person to tell the difference between, for example, a one-dollar versus a 100-dollar bill. Varying the size by denomination is also a counterfeiting deterrent, something the US dollar lacks. In a 2006 court ruling, U.S. District Judge James Robertson ruled that the American bills impose an undue burden on the blind and seeing-impaired, and denied them “meaningful access” to the US currency system.

Mostly for cost reasons, the U.S. Treasury Department appealed the ruling, but in 2008 a U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with Judge Robertson. But it was not until 2015 that a federal law was passed to require tactile features and color differences for US bills other than the one-dollar bill, starting with the 100-dollar banknote. But there are still no plans for the United States to join the rest of the world by varying the dimensions of dollar banknote denominations. The European approach to the euro’s design was quite different, with several considerations for the blind or seeing-impaired, including size, tactile features, and large numerals. Canada also has same-size banknotes for their dollar, but they have tactile features that help the blind tell the bill’s denomination.

The dollar sign ($) always goes in front of the amount: $7.95 each. Germans can’t make up their minds about where to put the euro symbol (€) in prices. In Germany the € often comes after the amount: 8,99€ (with the usual comma instead of a decimal point). But sometimes you’ll also see €8,99 for a price. At least the price you see in Germany is the true price, including tax! No nasty surprise at checkout, an experience many foreigners have had when visiting the United States, discovering that the dollar price does not include the sales tax. (But it is far lower than the 19% VAT in Germany.)

TRIVIA: The euro Series 1 banknotes were designed by the Austrian graphic artist and engraver Robert Kalina. His designs were selected in a 1996 competition, meeting strict design and security-feature requirements for the seven denominations.

Coins (Münzen)
Another weird thing about American money has to do with the coins. (I only realized this after a German friend visiting in the US pointed it out to me.) Unlike most coins around the world, there is no numeral on a nickel, dime, quarter, or half-dollar coin! (And no dollar coin at all in circulation! The euro features both a one-euro and a two-euro coin.) If you can’t read English, you don’t know whether you have ten cents (a dime) or twenty-five cents (a quarter) in your hand. Look at a US coin. There is no number 5, 10, 25 (odd amount!), or 50 engraved on any US coin! Sure, if you’ve grown up with pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, it’s not a problem. But foreigners who have never seen a dime or a quarter before, have no numerals to make things simple. When Americans go to Europe, the coins have Arabic numerals on them: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 (not 25), and 50 euro cents.

Why do US-Americans call a quarter a “quarter”? Because it has the words “quarter dollar” on it. There’s no 25 or twenty-five. The only number you’ll see on a quarter is the year it was minted. How about a dime? Like the quarter, the only number on that US coin is the mint year. The dime is smaller than a nickel (“five cents”) and a penny (“one cent”), but it has the words “one dime” on its face, not 10/ten cents.

The only thing more confusing was British currency before it went decimal. Before Decimal Day, 15 February 1971, there were 12 pence to the shilling, and 20 shillings to the pound! At least the British now have a £1 and a £2 coin (like the €1 and €2 coins). When will the US ever give up the $1 bill for a coin? The Canadians already have their “loonie” (C$1) and “toonie” (C$2) coins. They eliminated the penny in 2012. (The US penny also costs more to mint than it is worth, but we still have them.) Most people never see US two-dollar bills unless they ask for them at a bank. Someday the US might be more logical about its coins and bills, but don’t hold your breath. I can’t even remember the last time I saw a fifty-cent piece!

How well do you know your euro currency history? See: Euro Timeline

H is for Handy.

In German, a cell or mobile phone is das Handy. Unlike in North America, in Germany you can tell a Handy number from a landline (Festnetz) number. Cell phone numbers in Germany always have a distinct prefix that starts with 1 (e.g., 151, 164 or 177) rather than a normal area code (Vorwahlnummer) for a typical city or area (30 for Berlin or 421 for Bremen). To dial a cell number, you dial a zero (or +) before the area code: 0164 plus the subscriber number. German cell phone number prefixes are assigned to a particular carrier. Deutsche Telekom has 151, 160, and 175, among others; while Vodafone has 152, 162, and 173, among others.

The fact that Germans (and other Europeans) could tell they were calling a mobile number and not a landline made it easy for providers to charge the caller for calls to a cell phone, usually at a higher rate than for a landline. Today, with flat-rate phone plans more common, that is less of a factor, but who pays for cell calls is still done differently in Europe versus North America.

No “800” Toll-Free Calls
In Germany it is very rare for businesses to offer a toll-free customer service number. Even though 800-numbers are possible in Germany, it is almost unheard of. German consumers somehow have accepted the fact that they, the customers, should pay 14 eurocents per minute to call about a problem with a product or service! I call that the 14-cents-per-minute ripoff. But it reflects two aspects of doing business in Germany: (1) The customer is NOT king, and (2) never offer anything for free. No free ketchup at McDonald’s, and no free calls for customers.

Something Odd
Until May 2010, German landline numbers had variable lengths of three to 11 digits, not counting the zero long distance prefix. (Shorter existing numbers were grandfathered in.) Now 11 digits is the standard except for Berlin (30), Frankfurt (69), Hamburg (40), and Munich (89), the only cities with two-digit area codes, which require only 10 digits. For example, to call a number in Berlin from another city in Germany, you dial 030 plus the 8-digit subscriber number. Calling within Berlin, you don’t need the 30, and just dial the 8-digit subscriber number. From outside Germany, you dial the country code (49) and the area code (30, without the first zero) and the 8-digit subscriber number. Other Vorwahl examples: Augsburg (0)821, Dresden (0)351, Düsseldorf (0)211, Hannover (0)511, Kiel (0)431, and Stuttgart (0)711.

Also see: Cell Phones in Europe

I is for Immobilien.

That’s German for real estate. North Americans are used to seeing signs in front of houses or apartment buildings that say “For Sale” or “For Rent” – with a phone number for a real estate agency. In Germany that is rare. If you want to find a house or condo to buy or rent, you’ll have to find it online or in newspaper ads. German real estate agents (Makler) apparently have not learned that it pays to advertise – with signs that say “zu verkaufen” (for sale) or “zu vermieten” (for rent) in front of the property.

But if you do rent or lease a place through an agent, you’ll usually pay a commission that amounts to a percentage of a full year’s rent. Whether you buy or rent, make sure you have someone who knows the ins and outs of German sales or rental contracts look over your contract and explain it in English.

K is for Kompass

Finding Directions: No, you don’t necessarily need to have a compass with you in Germany, but here we want to talk about a difference in the way North Americans and Germans use east (Ost), west (West), north (Nord), and south (Süd), the four points of the compass, called die vier Himmelsrichtungen in German.

A direction sign on the A3 autobahn in the Frankfurt area. PHOTO: www.kostenlosebilder.biz

Basically, when it comes to giving directions, North Americans use points of the compass, and Germans don’t – at least on the Autobahn (photo above). Americans are used to seeing interstate highway signs that say “I-80 West” or “I-15 North.” German highway signs never mention points of the compass, but give the autobahn number (5, 6, 8) and the name of the next several cities, in order, on that route: “6 > Frankfurt, Mannheim, Saarbrücken.” Although the signs never say it, German autobahns use the same numbering system as the US, with even-numbered autobahn routes running east-west, and odd-numbered routes running north-south. Motorists in Germany are expected to know some geography and the name of the towns and cities they will pass through on their journey. You’ll never see the terms north or west, east or south. Of course you can always just use your GPS (Navi) to find your way.

M is for more/mehr.

See Part 2 and watch for more German versus US-American cultural comparisons coming soon. Do you know of a daily culture aspect we haven’t mentioned yet? Please let us know in the comments below.

– HF