More German than many Germans • Hacker News Board

Re: More German than many Germans

#491

Post by 100percentjake » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 6:51 PM UTC

ashtonshears wrote: post #463

100percentjake wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious to get some perspective: How viable would starting a career in IT/Technology in Germany be as a mildly autistic American with an inability to learn foreign languages? I hear many opinions about this ranging from "English is commonly spoke, you'll be fine" to "You can visit but you will be unable to settle down due to xenophobia". The EU is incredibly appealing as someone highly dissatisfied with the trajector…

It seems unwise to go to a country without a plan to learn the language. If you are as unable to learn languages as you stated, then I suggest living in English speaking countries for life

Unwise, sure, but there are precious few options for English native countries, particularly when my partner has a skin condition that makes persistent cold temperatures untenable.

Re: More German than many Germans

#492

Post by ivell » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 7:44 PM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #422

mr_mitm wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 G…

Swiss voted against tax reduction in the past. I do not know of that many countries, where people would have done that. So the way they think is a bit different.

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/poison-withholding-tax...

Re: More German than many Germans

#493

Post by qlte » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 7:47 PM UTC

Anamon wrote: post #332

suslik wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you think you know what is or isn't other peoples problem. I don’t think that at all. All I said was that if I absolve the driver of whatever responsibility he believes he has for me, then if something happens as I step out, it is indeed should not be his problem, legally speaking. He might not like it, of course - which is not my problem, to be honest. edit: this is all linguistics, however. The initial issue was…

It's also related to having a social healthcare system. People who keep stepping into traffic and get run over really rack up the hospital bills which, ultimately, are paid by everyone. So the country decided that they need to adopt some measures to keep stupid people from getting hurt.

Unless I’m misunderstanding it’s no different with private insurance in the US.

If you are injured and the circumstances vaguely resemble any kind of accident (broken bones, concussion, lacerations, etc) a few weeks to months after receiving medical care, you’ll usually receive a letter from the insurer asking for the specific circumstances of the accident including the owner of the property it occurred on and any parties who may have contributed to the accident.

That way they can make a claim against someone else’s insurance/sue them/etc to pass along their costs to someone else if possible.

So telling someone “no worries man if anything happens it’ll be my fault not yours” before getting hurt isn’t going to stop the insurer from pursuing subrogation/lawsuit if they decide it’s cost effective.

Re: More German than many Germans

#494

Post by qlte » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 7:53 PM UTC

suslik wrote: post #79

lqet wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you get run over by a car or bicycle while trying to board a bus outside an official station, or if you trip, the bus company is liable, and the driver will be in very big trouble. Also, wehret den Anfängen! If they started doing this, it would set an example: it would make it very difficult to keep the schedule, and would invite people to just walk into traffic to busses stopping at a red light.

I see it like this: Me: I'd like to get out here please. Driver: But it can be dangerous... Me: Noted. Good thing that is not your problem. And when I am hit by a camel while departing the bus, that is my problem also. But of course, most cultures do not support this line of reasoning - you need to be taken care of weather you like it or not. This approach is well tolerated by most people, but saddens and irritates p…

It’s not “needing to be taken care of”, in your scenario when you go the hospital for your camel injuries and use insurance for medical care (even if it’s fully private paying your own premiums), suddenly another party is involved who doesn’t give a shit about what you think and are singularly interested in passing along their expenses to anyone else it will stick.

The world is more interconnected and complex then one or two parties engaged in an agreement in complete isolation from everyone else so black and white thinking like that just doesn’t work.

Re: More German than many Germans

#495

Post by DANmode » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 8:12 PM UTC

poisonborz wrote: post #353

stephenhuey wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you Swiss? I'm no expert but from talking to Swiss people, their mortgage system is very different from the American one, and people are in no hurry to pay off their mortgages, and often they're never really paid off. Americans might find that appalling but the Swiss people I've spoken to find it normal. Tax incentives also help with this.

It is the UK/Nordic system which I find morbidly bad. It already assumes you will never pay off the property and you pass it down to family and children, possibly multiple generations. It allows for property prices to go to the moon instead of incentivising for affordability. Makes for a system giving up owning property. How did we humans come to this.

Allowing financial system abstraction on one end, and allowing our brains to rot on the other.

Re: More German than many Germans

#496

Post by alberto-m » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 8:15 PM UTC

moezd wrote: post #346

nbr42 wrote: post #220

What struck me most is how the author seems to confuse a very protected version of Germany with Germany itself. He landed in a relatively rare bubble: an international tech company, an English-speaking workplace, and a professional profile the system values. That experience is valid, but it is hardly representative. Even this bubble is shrinking as companies cut local roles and move more work to lower-cost locations.…

This. The landing story is uncharacteristically soft, surrounded by English speaking colleagues in an international company. On average, you'd find that Germans tend to grow weary speaking in English sooner and almost press you to speak German the first time you blurt a reply that sounds vaguely correct German. It almost becomes a matter of protecting your personal space if you don't want to feel embarrassed for maki…

> but the chat absolutely needs to happen in German. Why? Work culture.

It's absolutely normal that people speak their mother tongue when they have the possibility. One can be kind and speak English to make a guest feel more comfortable, but if a permanent resident refuses to learn the local language fluently he should not demand that everyone else bends over backwards to accommodate him.

Re: More German than many Germans

#497

Post by mkrd » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 8:15 PM UTC

wuschel wrote: post #65

rockyj wrote: post #32

A very nice read and pretty much my experience. I have been here for a quarter of my life now, I do not think I can live anywhere else now. People may not like me being here because of my skin color or whatever but I do not mind. I keep to myself and follow all the "rules" I can. In fact, I like most of the rules, rules are good because they ensure order, fairness and equality. Will a little bit of empathy be nicer,…

> Speaking of which, a lot of German natives complain and some are even leaving the country (around 100k left last year), but honestly I have visited / lived in nine countries, and people have no idea how good they have it here. The grass is always greener on the other side ... until you actually dare to find out. Having lived and worked in many a country, I second your opinion that it is often about trade offs. Prob…

I am one of those who left. Very happy where I am now. As some say, if you want to see all German stereotypes fulfilled, go to Switzerland!

Re: More German than many Germans

#498

Post by Gud » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 8:27 PM UTC

4ggr0 wrote: post #377

Gud wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved from Sweden to Switzerland, and I don't know what that guy was talking about. Switzerland is an extremely well run country.

I mean it helps that there's around 9M people living there, 1/10th of Germany or about the same amount as London or New York. Also helps to accumulate wealth by taking care of global blood-money and being a diplomatic hub :) and let's not forget the tons of gold we got gifted about a hundred years ago, sadly can't quite remember where we got that from.

It also helps that Switzerland has a decentralized and direct democratic system of governance.

The rest is just noise.

Re: More German than many Germans

#499

Post by moezd » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 9:26 PM UTC

alberto-m wrote: post #496

moezd wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. The landing story is uncharacteristically soft, surrounded by English speaking colleagues in an international company. On average, you'd find that Germans tend to grow weary speaking in English sooner and almost press you to speak German the first time you blurt a reply that sounds vaguely correct German. It almost becomes a matter of protecting your personal space if you don't want to feel embarrassed for maki…

> but the chat absolutely needs to happen in German. Why? Work culture. It's absolutely normal that people speak their mother tongue when they have the possibility. One can be kind and speak English to make a guest feel more comfortable, but if a permanent resident refuses to learn the local language fluently he should not demand that everyone else bends over backwards to accommodate him.

Comfort of native language is undeniable, that's not even close to my point. Of course you would be kind and use appropriate local language whenever you can. It is that native fluency cannot be matched really as someone who learns the language at a much later stage in their life, and Germans usually have unreasonable expectations from immigrants to speak perfect German, especially when that said immigrant is also aiming for career advancement. Therefore everyone is being measured on their ability to climb a tree and while Germans are like monkeys, some immigrants are like fish. Speaking English in the work setting would level that playing field (many immigrants are not native English speakers, too), and it's one thing the German companies just wouldn't give up. Why? Work culture. Riddle me that.

Re: More German than many Germans

#500

Post by moezd » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 9:32 PM UTC

aleph_minus_one wrote: post #477

moezd wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. The landing story is uncharacteristically soft, surrounded by English speaking colleagues in an international company. On average, you'd find that Germans tend to grow weary speaking in English sooner and almost press you to speak German the first time you blurt a reply that sounds vaguely correct German. It almost becomes a matter of protecting your personal space if you don't want to feel embarrassed for maki…

> but the chat absolutely needs to happen in German. Why? Work culture. Rather: because a lot of less formal thoughts (including jokes) are difficult to express in English since they often rely on structures that the English language does not have. > if you speak German, you risk sounding like a child I can ensure you that you don't sound like a child (nursery language is typically not taught in language courses for…

I miss speaking my native language, too, but English is what I take as common ground. As an adult, I can never hope to compete on native German fluency with someone who's born and raised in Germany to educated German parents. That's just biased.

You missed the point. Just take an immigrant in front of you next time and see him make two mistakes in a row in one sentence while casually talking to him (maybe he's tired, maybe he's lazy but who's to judge). You'd inherently think less of him, deep down, wouldn't you?