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Differences between German and British manners

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Differences between German and British manners

#51

Post by sp_ »

jdietrich wrote: post #48
sp_ wrote: post #3

Being German, I find it fascinating that so many people on both sides of the Channel are so fascinated with the differences between the Brits and the Germans. Coming from a German perspective, I don't think there is any other country whose manners the German media is so obsessed with. Similar feelings seem to exist in Britain with big Sun front pages about German misbehavings once in a while covering all aspects of l…

Hypothesis: German and British cultures are so similar as to create an 'uncanny valley' situation. British and Italian or Spanish habits are so obviously different that individual differences are quite unremarkable. British and German habits are so similar that any differences are unsettling. Faux pas are much more painful when the situation feels very familiar.

Hm, this uncanny valley idea is actually really interesting. Thank you very much for bringing it up. I'll think about this for a while.

Re: Differences between German and British manners

#53

Post by bane »

killedbydeath wrote: post #20
stcredzero wrote: post #2

For their part, the British have what House calls the "etiquette of simulation". The British feign an interest in someone... From a German perspective, this is uncomfortably close to deceit. IMO, this is one of the reasons the Germans lost the war. The English speakers are by nature sneakier. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_(flying_bomb)#Deception http://www.suite101.com/content/allied-misdirection-fooled-g...

Why do people forget about the Soviet Union when talking about "the war"?

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Re: Differences between German and British manners

#56

Post by Vivtek »

swombat wrote: post #18
gloob wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much the same thing that it says about English-speakers when they have to borrow the word "entrepreneur".

And for anyone who knows how entrepreneur-friendly France is, the fact that it's borrowed from there of all places is particularly ironic.

Well, they didn't mind lending it out, since they weren't using it anyway.

Re: Differences between German and British manners

#57

Post by Vivtek »

Typhon wrote: post #14

« The German language doesn't even have an expression for "small talk", she says. » When will this idea that because Language X doesn't have Y, the idea Y represents is alien to X speakers finally disappear ? Although language does have an influence on one's thinking habit, this idea is a gross misrepresentation of very complex phenomena. There's no word in French for the verb "to need". There's no future tense in Fi…

Strictly speaking, there's no future tense in English, either; somehow, we manage to conceptualize the future despite this grammatical lacuna.

Hungarian has no word for "to have". No, really! The equivalent circumlocution for "he has X" is more or less "there is X for him".

Languages are weirder than most people give them credit for.

Re: Differences between German and British manners

#58

Post by mdda »

ChrisMac wrote: post #17

"For their part, the British have what House calls the "etiquette of simulation". The British feign an interest in someone..." Or sometimes you're making small talk with someone because you actually are interested in them, and just want to keep the first minute or two of the conversation light for whatever reason. Maybe you haven't seen them in a while and do want to catch up on really general things, or the weather…

There's also the aspect of accents. Which is less applicable in America (IMHO). More small-talk = more exact understanding of where someone is coming from (in all senses).

And that's why I prefer NYC : I prefer people to listen to what I have to say, rather than rate me based on my cultural baggage...

Re: Differences between German and British manners

#59

Post by Vivtek »

nhaehnle wrote: post #8
BasDirks wrote: post #6

"The German language doesn't even have an expression for "small talk", she says. It is so alien that in the German translation of A Bear called Paddington - Paddington unser kleiner Baer - it was omitted." Klatsch? Gerede? I'm pretty sure Heidegger's Gerede comes pretty close to what we call "small talk".

Native speaker of German here. "Klatsch" is not "small talk", it's "gossip". "Gerede" is a word that I've only heard in debates to suggest that something is not to be taken seriously, i.e. it has serious negative connotations. Perhaps it used to mean "small talk" in the past when Germans did such things, and then changed to have the negative meaning when small talk fell out of favour? Of course, the German word "Smal…

If you start getting into negative/positive connotations and meditate on them enough, you'll find that nothing at all can ever be translated between any two languages - then if you continue to meditate, you'll find that no actual communication ever takes place at all.

Speaking as a professional translator.

The actual difference between "small talk" and "gossip" is slight enough that they easily overlap depending on the situation. Certainly they show that the German language is capable of conceptualizing the various rituals that we refer to as small talk.

Just because English has no precise translation for "Gemütlichkeit" doesn't mean that English speakers never feel comfortable among a small circle of friends at a restaurant.

I'd also like to say that after many years of living in Germany, I'd say that the notion that no small talk ever takes place within the borders of the country is ridiculous. It might not be taken to the extreme art form that the Brits do it, but H. sapiens talks. Incessantly. Whether there's something to talk about or not.

Re: Differences between German and British manners

#60

Post by jdminhbg »

killedbydeath wrote: post #20
stcredzero wrote: post #2

For their part, the British have what House calls the "etiquette of simulation". The British feign an interest in someone... From a German perspective, this is uncomfortably close to deceit. IMO, this is one of the reasons the Germans lost the war. The English speakers are by nature sneakier. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_(flying_bomb)#Deception http://www.suite101.com/content/allied-misdirection-fooled-g...

Why do people forget about the Soviet Union when talking about "the war"?

His post didn't mention the US or Italy either. I'm not sure what on earth that has to do with a discussion about British and German etiquette.
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