Why is it that many Anglophones seriously consider going to Germany to work when they have zero German skills? A German would never for an instant think that he/she could go to Britain or the United States to work without knowing English well. So why would it be OK...
The GW Expat Blog
Category
Daily life
You Can Du Me: The Du/Sie Question
The question of du or Sie, informal versus formal "you," is a perennial one for expats in a place like Germany. Many European languages make a linguistic distinction based on interpersonal relationships. These distinctions have fallen out of use in modern English....
Airing Out a German Phobia: The Killer Draft
One definition of a split second: the time it takes between opening a window on a hot train and hearing a German say the two most dreaded words in the German language: "Es zieht!" ("There's a draft!") In the summer on German trains, in the days before most were air...
Homeschooling verboten
I recently wrote about the German School System, but a German court decision on homeschooling put that unique aspect of German education in the spotlight. A Bremen couple who have been trying to get permission to homeschool their two young sons had all their legal...
Blowing Hot and Cold?
One of my favorite topics of discussion with my German friends has to be the difference between perception of temperature and whether a person gets cold easily. I don’t know whether it is due to the fact that many Americans come from climates where there is extreme...
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