I have been slowly transitioning from my homeland to Germany, with baby steps that started with holidays a couple of years ago and evolved every time I came back getting more and more permanent. This means I have had the chance to come to Germany and then go back to places and people for whom Germany is unknown, enigmatic and sometimes feared. These people, regardless of if they may want to come to Germany as well or not, are full of questions. In between very particular inquiries, there are some questions that pop up 90% of the times and here they are along with my answers to them:

In spite of the universalized stereotype, Germans are very nice and sweet, they like details and place value on recognition. They tend to be very emphatic as well. Foto: LauraV

1. Is it true that Germans are very rude? This is the top question – no contest. And I admit it irritates me a bit for no specific reason. I simply hate stereotypes. Anyways, no, they are most definitely not. There are rude people everywhere and that has to do with their education and not with their nationality. Germans are actually very polite, they mind their own business, they do not ask indiscreet questions, try hard not to waste your time and I find them to be trustworthy in their work and behavior. For more information about this, check  How to Tell when Germans are really being Rude versus just being German.

2. How can you even learn German? It is so hard! and it sounds so ugly! I always defend that every foreign language is hard to learn for a person with average capabilities. I am in no position to rate languages according to their difficulty and I am ready to bet money on the fact that no single one of the persons who have made this question/comment is. Normally I ask “hard” compared to which other foreign language they have learned and mastered or how long have they been trying to learn without results. I repeat that these questions are always asked when I am not in Germany and I find them to be somewhat sad. Languages are a fantastic thing we do not appreciate  and respect enough and there is something surreal in the ability to understand other people by learning their language. There is nothing ugly about the sound either, but I guess that’s a personal appreciation, after all nothing about taste is set on stone.

3. Is it really everything so expensive?  This one depends on both where you come from and your concept of “expensive”. Personally, I always sob dramatically a bit and say “yes” in all honesty. True that for someone that comes from a third world country like Mexico the answer seems absurdly obvious. Still, it is true for many other countries as well because prices are not equivalent, just as salaries, life standards and macroeconomics are also way different. One thing is for sure, it is not cheap for Germans either, among many other fine details, housing prices have exponentially rose in the last years, they must pay absolutely insane tax rates that can chop away as much as 50% of their salaries and pay a proportional part of their salary if they want to be members of the catholic church. Not to forget other mandatory expenses like health insurances. I rest my case.

Shoes and Clothes are among the things that have struck me the most as incredibly pricey. Second-hand stores are everywhere and they cater to all kinds of public. Foto: LauraV

4. Do they really drink all the time? / Do they drink beer all the time? The answer to this is more complicated than one would expect! Still, no, not even an alcoholic would drink beer all the time. However, in Germany is perfectly acceptable to drink at any time of the day or night, beer is cheaper than bottled water and other drinking liberties, like it being allowed within the public transportation in many places or the fact that drinking on the street is not illegal, make it look like Germans have a problem with alcohol. Nonetheless, how much they drink depends of every person just like in any other place of the planet, and there’s a lot of beer with low alcoholic volume as well as alcohol-free beer. Moreover and I kid you not, there are Germans who plain dislike beer. Beer is a cultural ambassador for Germany and Germans, but after mingling for a while I can tell you that the staple drink Germans are all about is the Schorle, which is a fancy word for the process of diluting any drink, alcoholic or not, with sparkling water.

5. Is it hard to get a job there? Again something that largely depends on your place of origin but also on the sector in which your skills, education and experience come as relevant. If you come from the other side of the ocean it is a little bit complicated to land a job in Germany, what with the distance and all. Not to forget that German companies must offer a justification to the government when they take someone that comes from outside Germany or the European Union and cover the bureaucratic costs from “importing” a worker. Or you can get yourself a temporary permission to come to Germany and look for a job in person with the possibility to stay if you find one. However, not everyone is a candidate for these permissions. You have better chances of landing a job in Germany if you are in fields related with engineering or health sciences – there’s a definite nationwide deficit of competent doctors, nurses and caretakers. But then again, you must check first if your preparation is reckoned in Germany. The other option is getting into university and graduating in Germany, then you are allowed to search for a job with your shiny German diploma. And yes, even when many big companies offer positions where English language is the “working language” and there will always be that someone or that someone who knows someone who does not speak a word of German and still landed a prime position in Germany, truth is the first step to cover if you want to land a job here is to learn German.

What are your questions or the questions you get asked back at your good ol’ homeland about Germany and German people? And most interesting: what are your answers?