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The Differences Between Germany and the United States

math-www.uni-paderborn.de

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Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States

#71

Post by 38leinad »

gegenschall wrote: post #39
subpixel wrote: post #25

I've lived in Germany for 5+ years and believe humor to be one of the widest cultural gaps between Germany and the US. To wit: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/what-makes-germ...

Disclaimer: I am German and I actually saw and liked 30 Rock (in English) ;-) As for 30 Rock: The problem with English shows on German television is that they are all dubbed. I won't say that they are doing a bad job (c.f. eastern european countries) but sometimes they are missing out puns and jokes which "can't be translated" without losing meaning. In the end this can make a funny TV show unwatchable. On the other…

seinfeld is a really good example for this. a hilarious show; someone watching the dubbed german version would never understand what's funny about it...

Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States

#73

Post by tjoff »

DirtyCalvinist wrote: post #66
tseabrooks wrote: post #63

The article is interesting even if bits and pieces are out of date. It's nice to see other's viewpoints. My one complaint about this article, and a lot of articles of the same ilk, is the part where Americans get criticized for not "traveling abroad" and not "seeing foreign countries". I suspect most american's will travel more MILES than the average european without ever seeing another country. It's far far more exp…

I once had a conversation with a Frenchman (in France) about how he had berated some poor American girl (also in France) for not knowing that Zurich was in Switzerland. I promptly quizzed him on which states 5 American cities were in, all larger than Zurich. He failed miserably. The United States is geographically almost as large as the whole of Europe. The closest foreign border to me is Niagara Falls just over 400m…

I promptly quizzed him on which states 5 American cities were in, all larger than Zurich.

Who cares about states in a foreign country? In this context the size of the city or state is not of any interest.

Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States

#74

Post by mshron »

I'd like to suggest another reason for large military expenditures that have nothing to do with corruption. The US has the only two-ocean navy, and a very extensive one at that. A lot of the burden of protecting shipping lanes for members of the "global system" is covered by the States. That's really, really expensive.

Of course, that means that countries that don't want to play by US rules (North Korea, Iran, Cuba) get shafted, but it's still a better explanation of the crazy military costs than either fear or corruption.

Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States

#75

Post by rogerbinns »

DirtyCalvinist wrote: post #66
tseabrooks wrote: post #63

The article is interesting even if bits and pieces are out of date. It's nice to see other's viewpoints. My one complaint about this article, and a lot of articles of the same ilk, is the part where Americans get criticized for not "traveling abroad" and not "seeing foreign countries". I suspect most american's will travel more MILES than the average european without ever seeing another country. It's far far more exp…

I once had a conversation with a Frenchman (in France) about how he had berated some poor American girl (also in France) for not knowing that Zurich was in Switzerland. I promptly quizzed him on which states 5 American cities were in, all larger than Zurich. He failed miserably. The United States is geographically almost as large as the whole of Europe. The closest foreign border to me is Niagara Falls just over 400m…

The US state of Montana is slightly larger than Germany. I can't name more than one city there and many airlines don't even fly to the state. The US is really big!

Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States

#76

Post by chimi »

mshron wrote: post #74

I'd like to suggest another reason for large military expenditures that have nothing to do with corruption. The US has the only two-ocean navy, and a very extensive one at that. A lot of the burden of protecting shipping lanes for members of the "global system" is covered by the States. That's really, really expensive. Of course, that means that countries that don't want to play by US rules (North Korea, Iran, Cuba)…

For the record, there are other multi-ocean navies: russia, south africa, australia, canada, and argentina among them. I think that's a pretty small factor compared to the influence of the military industrial complex.

The size of the US navy dwarfs every other country considerably, even when factoring in oceanic boundaries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_warships_in_service_w...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_bordering_on_...

Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States

#77

Post by sanderjd »

tjoff wrote: post #73
DirtyCalvinist wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once had a conversation with a Frenchman (in France) about how he had berated some poor American girl (also in France) for not knowing that Zurich was in Switzerland. I promptly quizzed him on which states 5 American cities were in, all larger than Zurich. He failed miserably. The United States is geographically almost as large as the whole of Europe. The closest foreign border to me is Niagara Falls just over 400m…

I promptly quizzed him on which states 5 American cities were in, all larger than Zurich. Who cares about states in a foreign country? In this context the size of the city or state is not of any interest.

The point is that knowing that Zurich is in Switzerland is more similar to knowing that Denver is in Colorado than it is to knowing that Denver is in the United States. Presumably the size of the city is interesting because the implicit assumption is that knowing where Zurich is important because Zurich is a big city.

Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States

#78

Post by soperj »

maratd wrote: post #64
tseabrooks wrote: post #63

The article is interesting even if bits and pieces are out of date. It's nice to see other's viewpoints. My one complaint about this article, and a lot of articles of the same ilk, is the part where Americans get criticized for not "traveling abroad" and not "seeing foreign countries". I suspect most american's will travel more MILES than the average european without ever seeing another country. It's far far more exp…

> It's far far more expensive for an American to visit other western countries than it is for the average European. Well, yes. Then there's the enjoyment factor. Personally, I've been to Europe multiple times. Hell, I was born there. And frankly, I enjoy going to the Caribbean, Bermuda, and Mexico much more. > I know visiting different states isn't the same as visiting countries but I think people living outside of t…

really... just india and china? what about australia? canada? Russia?

Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States

#79

Post by kbolino »

tjoff wrote: post #73
DirtyCalvinist wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once had a conversation with a Frenchman (in France) about how he had berated some poor American girl (also in France) for not knowing that Zurich was in Switzerland. I promptly quizzed him on which states 5 American cities were in, all larger than Zurich. He failed miserably. The United States is geographically almost as large as the whole of Europe. The closest foreign border to me is Niagara Falls just over 400m…

I promptly quizzed him on which states 5 American cities were in, all larger than Zurich. Who cares about states in a foreign country? In this context the size of the city or state is not of any interest.

So, in other words, if it interests you, it's fair to quiz someone else about it, but if it doesn't interest you, it's not fair to quiz you about it.

Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States

#80

Post by Argorak »

derleth wrote: post #68
Argorak wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I din't compare anything. Also, it looks a lot like you never travelled through Germany from north to south. Every piece of Germany has different traditions, dialects and food. I am from a place where I cannot understand people from the next village. Also, all those parts are pretty vocal: I think Germany is the only country that has developed regional Wikipedias (at least Bavaria, Palatinate and Northern Germany).

> I think Germany is the only country that has developed regional Wikipedias (at least Bavaria, Palatinate and Northern Germany). Different varieties of English could do that, but English tends to center on an American/Commonwealth divide with only the two prestige dialects everyone else sees as the only 'valid' ones.

They _could_. But in Germany, those things are reality, which shows that those groups take these matters seriously. My point wasn't that US culture is not diverse, it was that german culture is very diverse _as well_.
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