Did I misunderstand something culturally in Germany? I’ve…
0 reactions
Did I misunderstand something culturally in Germany?
I’ve been traveling around Europe lately in a camper van and did a route through France, Italy, Switzerland, and finally Germany. Overall it’s been great, but honestly Germany was by far the hardest experience for me socially, and I’m wondering if I’m missing some cultural thing or if I just got unlucky.
The biggest issue was communication. I dreaded going into shops or ordering food because so many times people would just continue speaking German to me even after I clearly said I didn’t understand. And to be clear, I’m not expecting perfect English at all, my English is broken too. I’m just looking for some way to communicate.
In Italy for instance, where many people also didn’t speak English, everyone still tried really hard to make it work. We used hand gestures, simple words, pointing at things, whatever worked. And honestly, when you’re ordering coffee or food, communication usually doesn’t need to be that advanced anyway.
But in Germany I repeatedly had experiences where people would just keep talking in German like I was supposed to understand it. It happened so often that by the end I started avoiding interactions altogether.
I’m genuinely not trying to insult Germany or Germans here. I’m just confused because I’ve traveled to a lot of countries and never experienced this kind of communication barrier so consistently. Is there some cultural expectation I should know about? Did I maybe unknowingly do something rude? Or was this just bad luck?
#local
source
I’ve been traveling around Europe lately in a camper van and did a route through France, Italy, Switzerland, and finally Germany. Overall it’s been great, but honestly Germany was by far the hardest experience for me socially, and I’m wondering if I’m missing some cultural thing or if I just got unlucky.
The biggest issue was communication. I dreaded going into shops or ordering food because so many times people would just continue speaking German to me even after I clearly said I didn’t understand. And to be clear, I’m not expecting perfect English at all, my English is broken too. I’m just looking for some way to communicate.
In Italy for instance, where many people also didn’t speak English, everyone still tried really hard to make it work. We used hand gestures, simple words, pointing at things, whatever worked. And honestly, when you’re ordering coffee or food, communication usually doesn’t need to be that advanced anyway.
But in Germany I repeatedly had experiences where people would just keep talking in German like I was supposed to understand it. It happened so often that by the end I started avoiding interactions altogether.
I’m genuinely not trying to insult Germany or Germans here. I’m just confused because I’ve traveled to a lot of countries and never experienced this kind of communication barrier so consistently. Is there some cultural expectation I should know about? Did I maybe unknowingly do something rude? Or was this just bad luck?
#local
source
| 2,000 mlx | |
| 2 | |
| 0 |