What's it really like to drive on the Autobahn in Germany? Are Americans loud and annoying
and why I think that Americans should be less polite sometimes.
I'm answering those Questions and more now.
Hallo, Servus and welcome back to my YouTube channel.
My Name is Felicia, I'm originally from Munich Germany,
but have been living in Cincinnati, Ohio off and on since 2016.
So before I start I'd like to say welcome to all new Subscribers and Viewers on my Channel,
because YouTube featured me as ‚Creator on the Rise‘ yesterday, which was a huge Honor for me, so thank you YouTube,
and a lot of new People found my Channel that way. So welcome to all of you!
And we also cracked the 30k subscribers Mark yesterday, which is crazy, especially since I just celebrated 20k Subscribers a couple of Weeks ago.
So a big thank you for that as well, especially to all of my longtime Subscribers, for all of your Support.
So for my 20,000 subscribers Special, I did a Q&A, where I answered a few more personal Questions,
but I actually haven't done just a normal #askagerman Q&A in a while
So I thought it's about time to do one of those again where I just answer your Questions,
that you've always wanted to ask a German,
Like anything about cultural Differences or about the german People
or Germany as a Country or whatever you want to know.
So I've picked some Questions from the YouTube comments and from Instagram,
and I actually ended up picking way too many, because there were just so many interesting Questions,
so I kind of organized them thematically and some of them I just put aside for now,
I'm going to answer them in another Q&A Video next Week instead,
and if you have a Question to that you'd like for me to answer,
make sure to leave a Comment below,
and add #askagerman, so that I can also find the Question,
Maybe I'll answer it in the next Q&A video. So let's get started:
Okay, that's a nice and light Question with which to start;
So I think my favorite Season in Cincinnati is Fall,
because there's always a lot going on here in the Fall with Football season and Halloween and so on,
and also the Weather is usually really nice until like October.
It's sometimes still in the 90s in October, which is something that I really love coming from Germany.
Um to me, I'd say no,
I mean, there's always annoying People, but for me
that's not really connected a Person's Country of Origin,
but I'm assuming, that this Question was supposed to be about what Germans think about this in general,
and I have to admit, that it's actually a Thing, that Americans, when they visit Germany
and let's say there is a Group of american Tourists on the Metro,
they're likely going to be the loudest People in the whole Carriage.
I've experienced that a few Times in Germany, and it's mostly because Americans do tend to talk more loudly than Germans.
Germans are usually pretty unobtrusive and subtle, when they're out in Public. We don't really like to attract a lot of Attention,
and german Parents too often tell their Children to talk
more quietly, when they're on public Transportation or in a Restaurant or something like that.
So because Germans tend to be rather quiet in everyday Life,
Americans do sometimes come off as loud when they're in Germany,
and yes, there's also a Cliché, that Americans can be annoying,
but not all Germans think that, it really depends on the Person;
Some Germans just can't stand Small talk, for Example,
so they'll find it really annoying when an American tries to make Small talk with them,
and since Germans overall are pretty straightforward and value Honesty a lot,
some Germans may think, that Americans, when they're trying to be nice
maybe overly nice giving a lot of Compliments, etc,
they're being fake and superficial and
they may be annoyed by that so that definitely can happen
but again, it definitely depends on the Person you're to whom talking,
and for me personally, I think that there are just as many annoying Americans as there are annoying Germans.
So there are pretty big Differences between the Education systems,
but I think I'm just going to make a separate Video about that sometime,
because it's definitely interesting, but it's also a lot to explain and too much to do in this Q&A Video,
but one of the main Differences is, that, in Germany after fourth Grade,
Students are being separated and attend one of 3 different Types of schools one of 3 different levels:
The lowest one, Mittelschule, ends after 9th Grade,
the middle one, Realschule, ends after 10th Grade,
and the highest one, Gymnasium
ends after 12th or 13th Grade depending on the State within Germany.
So there's a lot of pressure for Children, at a young Age
perform well at School, for after they're being divided
it's not very easy to switch between the 3 different Types of Schools.
It's possible but definitely challenging, and only with a Diploma from the highest School, and the Diploma is called...
are you eligible to enroll at a University later.
Regarding the Question about the respect for Teachers,
that's really hard to say, especially because I never attended an american High school,
but what I can say about the german School system, is that unfortunately
there are a lot of Teachers who aren't very good at their Jobs for different Reasons,
but one of those Reasons is that
most of them have the Status of a civil Servant,
which means that they can't be fired,
and I feel like if you're not a very good Teacher, Students often don't respect you as much,
but I can just talk about that more, when I make the Video on Education differences.
In a lot of cases, yes;
In high-quality Movies, they're usually pretty accurate, I would say
I mean whenever it's a Nazi movie, they're
going to do the Nazi accent, which is not what modern Germans would sound like, but it's still accurate for the time,
but especially with Comedy and TV shows
there are a lot of german Accents that just sound super weird to me, not just overdone,
but actually wrong like you can tell that the actors aren't German
[SHOW] It's something that happens instantaneously
[SHOW] It courses through you like the water of river after a storm
[SHOW] filling you and emptying you all at once
[OTHER SHOW] ross brother Herman
[OTHER SHOW] Herman the German
[OTHER SHOW] You must get that all the time
[OTHER SHOW] No, first time let's hope it catches on
[definite accent]A real german Accent would sound like this, if you overdo it a lot
[definite accent] or like this if you take it down a notch.
Okay, a lot of Questions, so I'll answer them one after another:
Yes, I've been exposed to different american english Accents, of course. For one, I've traveled a lot within the U.S
but there's also just a lot of People here in Cincinnati, that grew up in different Places, and therefore have different Accents.
I have to say though, that it is, as a non-native Speaker, often a lot harder to recognize those Differences,
for in a lot of cases, they're really subtle.
I am familiar with the Cleveland A, because I had two Roommates from Cleveland, when I first moved here,
but other than that I'd say, that the southern Accent and the african-american vernacular English Dialect
are probably the ones, that I've experienced the Most, and depending on how strongly those are spoken
it can be really difficult for me to understand everything.
Overall though I'd say that I'm pretty used to being exposed to different Dialects and Accents,
for in Germany we actually have a lot of those, we actually have more Dialects and Accents in Germany,
then you guys have here in the U.S, even though Germany is a much smaller Country, but
it also has a lot more History, so it makes sense. Regarding the foreign Languages around Germany,
that's actually pretty normal for Europeans to be surrounded by other Languages and Cultures.
I mean you really only need to drive for a few Hours,
and then you're in a completely different Country with a whole different Language where you don't understand a Word maybe, if you don't speak it,
and it also looks different and yes Germans travel a lot actually,
full-time Employees have a Minimum of 24 days of paid Time off,
and more than one-third of all Germans travels at least once a Year.
In 2019 it was even two-thirds of all Germans who went on at least one Trip, and someone else had a related Question to this.
So I looked it up, and the most popular Travel destination for Germans is actually Germany,
and within Germany, People like to do City trips like to Hamburg, Munich, Berlin, Cologne, etc,
but then also going to the Alps is popular and two other Mountains,
and going to the german Coasts, to the North and the Baltic Seas.
Outside of Germany, the most popular Travel destination is Spain,
and within Spain the most popular spot is...
and if you've never heard about Germans on Malloca, you should definitely look it up.
There is a Part of the island called...
and during Summer you'll actually hear more German there than you'll hear Spanish,
and there are some german Singers who have their own Clubs there,
where they perform every single Night during Summer. So
it's pretty crazy. After Spain popular Travel destinations are, and I wrote this down:
...and many more of course
So from that list it's pretty obvious that Germans like to travel to warm Places,
because our Summers are not very reliable,
and a lot of us really crave that Beach vacation. We just want Beach and the Ocean and just relaxing and tanning.
So we have to go somewhere else for that, because we don't really get that in Germany a lot,
but also it seems like Germans prefer to travel further away,
because only two of our neighboring Countries were on that List that I just read to you.
You're not overreacting at all - Germans really do that a lot, and it drives me crazy, too.
I personally love how relaxed Driving in the U.S is compared to Germany.
I don't really know what it is with the Germans, but we always seem to be in a hurry,
not only when driving, you can also observe this by,
the Speed at which People walk, and how impatient we are when we have to wait in line at the Store,
but Germans just like to use their Time very efficiently,
and we're definitely not known for being very relaxed People.
Now back to driving, I usually compare driving in Germany to driving in big U.S cities like New York City or Chicago or something like that,
because it can be really stressful
and on top of that, there's some weird Pride thing going on, when it comes to Germans and driving,
and I'm saying weird, because I personally don't have that,
but a lot of Germans do I think this partly has to do with how proud we are of our german Cars,
that's even still understandable to a certain Extent
but a lot of Germans also seem to think, that the faster you drive,
the bigger your Balls are and yes, I'm probably provoking a lot of People by saying that
but I mean it doesn't really take a Genius to see, that feeling superior
just because you're driving extremely fast is pretty short-sighted,
and yes Germans usually do love their Rules,
but for some reason, when it comes to Cars and Driving,
a lot of them suddenly seem to have a totally different Mindset.
I mean, it's not like all Germans strive over the Speed limit all the Time. I would even say most Germans don't do that,
most Germans do comply to the Rules and drive the Speed limit or a little bit over the Speed limit,
but we definitely do tend to drive more aggressively than what you would see on the Streets in the Midwest, for Example,
and on that note regarding the whole pride thing;
As many of you probably know, Germany is the only Country in the World with
Highways with no Speed limit, which means that you can drive as fast as you want,
recently there have been attempts to get rid of that,
and a lot of Germans are strongly against that, because they feel like it's part of their Freedom, and it's their Right,
to drive as fast as they want and this leads me to the next Question:
Okay, so let's back up a little bit here and let me explain the Basics first;
The Autobahn is not just one Road somewhere in Germany, that doesn't have a Speed limit,
which seems to be a common Misconception, Autobahn is what the german Highway system is called.
So Autobahn translates to ‚Highway‘ or  ‚Interstate‘,
and for the most part there are speed limits of 120km/h, which is about 75mph.
Most of them have two to four lanes
and unlike on U.S Highways and Interstates it's illegal to pass on the right Side on the Autobahn.
So if you drive on a 3 lane Autobahn this is what its going to be like;
The right Lane is going to be full of Trucks, except for Sunday,
because they're banned on that day, so that's always a nice day to do longer drives.
The Middle lane is going to be full of people going the Speed limit or a little bit over the Speed limit,
and if there is none, they're going to go 130-140 km/h
and the left Lane is the Passing lane, where People literally go anywhere from 130km/h
to like 220 km/h,
which is about 137mph or even faster, some People go up to about 300km/h
which is about a 186mph, so
pretty insane. So it depends on how much Traffic there is, of course
but driving on the Autobahn in my Experience
often means switching Lanes a lot, and always looking out for people coming up behind you
just like it was mentioned in the previous Comment. So let's say you're on the Autobahn.
There's no Speed limit right now, you're driving in the Middle lane,
but you want to go faster than 130km/h.
So you switch to the left Lane, which means you really have to Speed up
and before you know it, you see like a little Point in the rear Mirror
like an Audi driving up with 220 km/h, and boom one second later he's right behind you,
pressuring you to find a Spot in the Middle lane,
to let him pass, and once you do switch over to the Middle lane again
he speeds up as fast as he can, and whoosh, he's gone,
and then you can do the whole Spiel all over again,
because the Middle lane is still too slow for you and you don't want to go that Speed.
Oh and sometimes People are even so rude, that they flash you from behind to let you know, that they want to pass.
Of course, this was a little exaggerated, it's not always that bad, especially when there is no Traffic, it can be really fun,
and of course, it's not always Audi drivers, but overall
I just personally find driving on the German Autobahn a lot more stressful than driving in the U.S
and it definitely requires a lot of concentration.
Now there was another question about Driving loss in Germany and getting a driver's license,
but I saved that one for the next Q&A, so we can get back to that Topic next Week.
I'm not even sure if this is a serious Question, but no, we don't it's hard to find reliable Numbers on this,
but it seems like only about 10-20% of all Germans
are naturally blonde nowadays. A Region, where it's actually the majority of People who have blonde Hair,
is Scandinavia, and even within Germany the more you go up north
the more blonde People you'll see,
but most Germans actually
have brown Hair, from what I found, and the majority of Germans have brown Eyes.
Again I couldn't find any reliable Numbers on this but I did find that Brown is the most common Color of Eyes in Germany,
and I would say that from my personal Experience out of like ten Germans that I know I would say, that like
maybe three or four of them have blue Eyes,
but I'm from the South of Germany, so I'm assuming, that if I were from the North
it would probably be more People. Blue eyes are definitely more common in Germany than they are in the World overall,
but if you thought, that I didn't look like a typical German, because I don't have blonde Hair and blue Eyes,
I have to disappoint you; I actually do look like a typical German, because
most Germans have brown hair and don't have blue eyes, so sorry.
I think the biggest thing is that I would love for Americans to be a little less afraid of confrontation sometimes.
I've talked about this before in my Video on Small talk,
but Americans tend to be very polite people
which is awesome for the most part and something that I wish Germans would adopt,
but in a lot of Cases, Politeness seems to be even more important than Honesty
and that's something that I don't always appreciate all that much,
like a lot of Americans are raised with the Idea, that the most important thing in social Interactions
making the other Person feel good,
and they'll exaggerate, make polite Excuses, use little white Lies and those kinds of things
to accomplish that. Germans are sometimes almost the Opposite of that,
we're not overly Friendly in most situations
and usually I would say, that Honesty is more important to us than Politeness.
So Germans overall aren't really afraid of Confrontation,
and we have a pretty strong culture of discussion too,
and I think that's sometimes something, that I wish Americans could adopt a little,
for in certain situations,
I personally think that being Honest would be better for all People involved,
and I'd even consider it more polite sometimes
helpful in the long run
than making the other Person feel good for that brief Moment but leaving them in the Dark about what you really think.
This can apply to work Situations, but also with Friends, or when it comes to Dating.
I'm actually pretty sure that this Fear of Confrontation
is one of the Reasons, why Ghosting without an Explanation,
is much more common in the U.S than it is in Germany. Okay, so that was kind of a serious note on which to end, but overall
I love how friendly Americans are,
and if you've watched my Videos before you've probably picked up on that.
So that was it for today but again, I'll answer more #askagerman questions next week.
I really hope you guys enjoyed this Video.
If you did, don't forget to give it a Thumbs-up,
subscribe to my Channel for free, if you like what I do on here,
activate the Bell, to get new upload Notifications,
follow me on Instagram, and of course, stay safe and healthy everyone,
and I hope I'll see you next time. [In German - Bye!
