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More German than many Germans

mertbulan.com

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Re: More German than many Germans

#421

Post by rglullis »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #407
rglullis wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) I am certified C1 German - studied in high school for 6 years. Granted, I don't like speaking German and will use English when possible, but it's not a matter of not being able to connect with them. 2) Shortly after moving in, I started dating a German woman. Lasted close to a whole year. That was more than enough time to meet a lot of her friends, I got to meet her family, etc. That was more than enough time and…

> Granted, I don't like speaking German and will use English when possible, but it's not a matter of not being able to connect with them. Why do you live in Germany? Why not somewhere else?

Because I have not been able to convince my wife to move to Greece.

Also, the fact that I am not integrated does not mean that I am unhappy here.

Re: More German than many Germans

#422

Post by pjmlp »

mr_mitm wrote: post #137
ovb39 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of the complaining comes from high taxes, remembering the "good old times" and just from being German. Germans love to complain. I left Germany for a few years and came back. There are very few other places I could imagine to live in. Maybe Norway, Canada or Switzerland. I hope Germany gets its things together, the recent uprise of xenophobia and social polarization is concerning. I grew up in a Germany…

I, a German, went to Switzerland for vacation once. I talked to a Swiss guy about how I like Switzerland and all that. I told him how impressed I was with how organized everything is and how well everything works. The train system and public transport in general is wonderful compared to the one we have in Germany, for example. To my surprise, he said something along the line of "yeah well, it only looks like that fro…

As southern European that has lived a couple of years in Switzerland and eventually moved into Germany, I always mention that from flexibility and rules point of view, being in Germany versus Switzerland, feels so much better in Germany.

Sorry for the stereotypes, it was just how it felt dealing with everything, which is how everything gets to be so organised in first place, and the difference on similar matters in Germany, still I go back into Switzerland with some regularity.

Re: More German than many Germans

#423

Post by rglullis »

scotty79 wrote: post #402
rglullis wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Rules are made so not everybody needs to judge every situation correctly themselves. Rules are not the problem. Trying to apply one set of rules to every context is. > People might overlook consequences or are not informed enough to make good decisions. That happens regardless , so much so that "I was just following orders" defense has been tried many times before and never became morally acceptable.

> Rules are not the problem. Trying to apply one set of rules to every context is. Ah, so basically you want more rules. Granular and detailed rules. Maybe you are more German than Germans too?

> Ah, so basically you want more rules.

Cathy Newman, is that you?

Re: More German than many Germans

#424

Post by pjmlp »

holgerschurig wrote: post #333
zelphirkalt wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, if one compares in the downward direction of living standards, there are many countries doing worse, no doubt. It is also a fact however, that we massively neglect our education system, and have good grades inflation in many places. Record numbers of 1.0 (best grade) students, while secondary schools ("Gymnasiums") and universities complain about the quality of students, despite their grades, with the gap wideni…

> And the education system is not the only thing that is down in the drain and worsening. Which is simply wrong --- or at least only true if you look at only part of the education system. But in Germany, there is also an education system to become Geselle, Meister, Techniker, Fachwirt --- things that many other countries don't have. And somehow people always ignore that. And the Deutsche Bahn ... perhaps not the shin…

We have a similar system in Portugal for Ausbildung (Técnico Professional), I wished more folks would pay attention to it, as it also suffers from the same problem that everyone just wants to go to the university instead.

Trains are great and the network covers most of the country, not like in Portugal that is only the costal cities and a few lucky ones on the countryside, however in the 20+ years I lived here, they have certainly been through better times.

Re: More German than many Germans

#425

Post by throwaway2037 »

vw_bulli wrote: post #177
pelasaco wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As much as I adore Hamburg, I can't imagine growing old here. Why not? > Like many Germans, I see my future somewhere further north. Is it similar to people moving from Berlin to Brandenburg... What's driving that trend? And how do people who already live in those regions generally feel about the migration from big cities into more "rural" areas? From their perspective, it probably isn't entirely positive. It can p…

> Why not? By no means did I mean Hamburg. If Hamburg was a country of its own I would love to live here to my last day, enduring the social-skills situation. The reason why I do would not like to settle here permanently is more about German politics, which makes one vomit. Additionally, the recent reforms to the pension system here pissed many young people off, and the trajectory says it will only get worse. > Like…

    > Additionally, the recent reforms to the pension system here pissed many young people off
The tax rates are already so high in Germany, it is probably impossible to raise taxes enough to sustain the system. What realistic alternative was there to fixing the (fiscally) unsustainable pension system? And if you think Germany has it bad, then look at France. That place is a ticking (fiscal) time bomb with their massive pension system.

Re: More German than many Germans

#426

Post by rglullis »

scotty79 wrote: post #400
rglullis wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it would set an example No, it wouldn't. This type of logic only holds if we consider that drivers are automatons who can not analyze risks by themselves. Give the drivers autonomy to judge whether it's safe or not to deviate from the scheduled route. I rather have a driver signaling me "No, I will not open the door now because I don't think it is safe" over "No, I will not open the door now because I can't break t…

> Give the drivers autonomy to judge whether it's safe or not to deviate from the scheduled route. But they are judging it. And deciding it's not safe. You may not agree but it's their evaluation of their safety. The rules are good for them because they can ensure their safety by obeying the rules.

There is no "decision" being made if your flowchart always says "only stop at designed bus stops". "Judging" something presupposes the ability to override established rules and even reaching different conclusions despite similar precedents.

Re: More German than many Germans

#427

Post by throwaway2037 »

Yasuraka wrote: post #395
kioleanu wrote: post #39

There is one rule of thumb that I’ve noticed: if you are a reasonable person and integrate you will be treated as one of their own. Otherwise not. Your article mirrors my own experience 1:1, it’s like I’ve written it myself. Apart from the citizenship process. Even though it was also 14 months long (eerie lol), I had to do a lot of noise about it, because they are processing applications out of order (some people got…

> if you are a reasonable person and integrate you will be treated as one of their own. You won't, even if you were born and raised here - 3rd generation Turks get treated worse after 60 years than Ukranians after 4, let alone someone with an arab name, all else being equal[1]. This is natural in almost all nations for its humans in all of them, but the rampant arrogance and hypocrisy is exceptional and one does no g…

My hot take about Turks struggling to integrate: The didn't try hard enough. They held on to too much of their Islamic religion and culture. It didn't mix well with the primarily Christian religion and culture of Germany. The Ukranians have much more culturally in common with Germans which is why they have integrated so much faster.

Re: More German than many Germans

#428

Post by throwaway2037 »

gyulai wrote: post #364

What percentage of your productive capacity is used for proper recycling and garbage disposal? ...that's the real metric to measure Germanness by, and yet it never got mentioned once!

I don't know why people make such a big deal out of this. When I travelled to Germany on holiday, it was a good sign to me that there were so many different bins. It tells me that they are doing a lot of recycling and very little dumping into landfills. If you look at other similarly rich countries that care a lot about the environment, it is similar.

Re: More German than many Germans

#429

Post by gejkd »

I am neither muslim nor Jewish or German.

The recent comment in Instagram, YouTube, reddit, twitterinternet pretty much any comment section i see Muslims unequivocally oppose Israel in comment sections that has bottom do with politics.

This post makes me skeptical to think the entire idea of making Germans look good is to indirectly oppose jews. I hope people understand what I mean before down voting

Re: More German than many Germans

#430

Post by throwaway2037 »

taulien wrote: post #354

I am german. That was such a nice story to read :) It made me feel more warm about my own country - Especially that everyone was and is so nice to you! That's how everyone should get invited here. Not with suspicion but with open arms.

I am not a German, but I agree: This was a solid and heart-warming blog entry. What fascinates me the most, he is born and raise in Turkey, then moved to Germany. It is not hard to find stories of multi-generational Turks struggling to be accepted, but this fellow made it work. My guess: He tried very hard to integrate (language, culture, etc.), Germans recognized it, and accepted him.
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