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Hello fellow nerds 
My group and I have to do a litte presentation about what's characteristic of germans and what kind of experience people from other countries have had with german people.
Its not a big thing, just a litte fun excercise we have to do for our university class.
Since TL is highly international I thought this would be the perfect place to get some interesting and funny answers!
Its all about stereotypes and (funny) facts, so please speak your mind!
We came up with a small question sheet (is that how you say it?) and it would really help me if some of you would be so kind to fill it out.
As I said, feel free to write what you really think! I won't be offended if it's insulting or funny, thats actually kind of the point of the survey.
If you decide to answer the questions, please tell me your name (no family name, first name is sufficent), your age, gender and from what country you are (if you are from the US then naming the state you live in is good too).
It doesnt matter where you come frome, I'll take everyones answers!!
Thanks in advance!!!!!
1. What do you think is characteristic of germans and what stereotypes do you know about germans?
2. What kind of experience did You have with germans? (first experience?)
3. Which stereotypes have proven to be right, what where you suprised about? (positiv and negative possible)
 
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Fabiano, male, 23, Brazil
- German stereotypes: calculist, not very patient, precise timing, well educated (both behaviour and knowledgable), and many others I learnt from South Park haha
- Lecture from 2 professors from the University of Gelsenskirchen (hopefully wrote right). They came to my university to give a lecture on HCI. They were lookalikes of Adams and James from mythbusters, even the mustache :D
- Calculist is proven wrong. The presentation slides were half in english, half in german (I remember some german words took half of the screen xD). Not very patient is proven wrong too. Precise timing (lecture started right on time) and well educated are proven right.
Very small experience with germans, so cant really make a correct judgement on the matter
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Blagovest, male, 19, Bulgaria
1. German stereotypes:
From personal experience: hard-working; relatively friendly; desire to combine 2 words into one even if they're in English (I know it's common in German, but that's English...); the majority are able to speak English
From what I've heard: parents discriminate marriage between a foreigner and a native German (their son) in Germany; the child must be catholic christian not orthodox; (please don't take this as my opinion, you can stick with my experience if you wish)
2. Experience with Germans:
Not much apart from online, but I have a personal tutor who is also a lecturer and German. He is always friendly, willing to help and smiling.
3. Pretty much everything from above except what I've heard as I haven't confirmed it myself.
P.S. It's wrong to generalise a whole nation with such small sample.
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Some German exchange student randomly came to my Birthday party and drank 15+ beers, he was surprisingly sober. Germans are pretty cool people from what I can tell.
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Luke, male, 21, Canada
Stereotype: Well educated, efficient, beer loving, blonde haired and blue eyed.
Experience: University students in Canada for the year.
Experience with stereotypes: Only Germans I've met were university students, so the fact that they were educated wasn't too surprising. They weren't big drinkers, though. Loved theatre. Also, incredibly attractive.
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TheGiz, Male, 23, Canada
- Stereotypes: There is a big distinction between "old" Germans and "new" Germans. "New" Germans are almost ashamed to be German. They still fucking love forests like old Germans do, but they're more hippie-ish and love modern crap instead of Neo-Classicism and Nuclear Power. They're still good engineers, but they're less serious and less disciplined than "old" Germans. I know better than to believe the blonde-haired blue-eyed stereotype. The love of beer one stays. "new" Germans are also super-carefree parents to the detriment of their children's upbringing.
- Experience: I'm a third generation half-German. My opa fought in the German army on the Eastern Front in WW2 and was captured and in a Russian prison until 1948. That part of my family consists of the nicest "old" Germans you'll ever meet living on a farm in Niagara-On-The-Lake, actively participating in the German community there. Germans in Canada came just after the war, so they're all "old" Germans. I read up a lot on German history and fully embrace my culture and past, although I do not like the direction Germany has taken in the last 10 years, but I'm old-fashioned. I've dealt a lot with exchange students at school who are mostly "new" Germans. My neighbours are also German. They're all pretty nice.
- Stereotype Proof: The German exchange students all went to Algonquin park while they were here. I wouldn't put camping as a priority when visiting a foreign country, but all Germans do it when they visit Canada, because they fucking love forests. My neighbours are also mega-hippie campers with a VW bus. All the German exchange students I've met are also engineers, and they also drank a lot, but they're university students so I can't call that one. My neighbour is also an engineer and a major carefree parent. My aunts are also mega-carefree parents and as a result I do not envy any of my cousins' lives. My grandparents and elder family all fit every "old" German stereotype perfectly, and I love them for it. There is just something so homely about the culture that they exposed me to as a child.
Oh, and horses, holy fuck do Germans love horses. My grandparents owned a pair and my grandmother got a new one after the other two died. My great-aunt and uncle also own a stable and go to horse shows, and my aunt had a horse (because she was the favorite and eldest daughter).
There is this image of my grandfather during the war in his army uniform having tea and looking out into a quaint forest, but still standing up straight and looking damn sharp in his uniform. It wraps everything "German" into one, I find. I wish I had a copy of it.
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thanks guys.
i totally understand what you mean by "homely culture", giz. I get the excact same feeling when I'm at my grandmothers or my parents
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EPT
