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We, in the tourism industry, have this stereotype about Germans: The best compliment you can get from a German tourist is no complaints.

Every non-German I know: "The trains in Germany are so efficient!" Every single German I know: "DEUTSCHE BAHN!!!!!!!!!!"

This "staring" one is actually really interesting. Different cultures have different durations of staring normalised. I think there were some with up to 12 second-stares and it is completely normal. The other person does not want something from you.

8:26 As a German who is interested in railways, let me explain briefly: So, the German railway used to be very good, and comparing it internationally, it's still pretty decent, but punctuality and reliability have dropped over the last decades. This is mostly because passenger numbers (not entirely sure about cargo) have risen drastically since then and the network is at (or rather above) capacity on many routes. Furthermore, since freight, regional and long distance trains share the same tracks, there are a lot of conflicts between trains going different speeds, and a single delayed train can affect dozens of trains in a domino effect. The reason the network (and in many cases the fleet) hasn't caught up with the demand comes down to how the railway is handled fundamentally. After privatising (it is still 100% state-owned), the government wanted to turn the DB into a publicly traded corporation, but to do this successfully, it had to be profitable and all kinds of cost saving measures were taken. After that failed, savings have been less drastic, but there still isn't a general willingness to invest. Up to 2019, Germany invested less than half as much money per person into the railway as other European countries with a good railway, and with now recently drastically increased investments we're still just up to right about the European average, which simply isn't enough to overhaul the network in the way that is needed, especially in a short amount of time. The government still wants the railway to be profitable or at least cost neutral, while for example the road network doesn't need to be. Add to that that every new railway project immediately hits a wave of political opposition, and you can see why the situation isn't really improving.

10:44 I'm not German, but I still appreciate how you're honest about how modern-day Germans feel about WW2. I really don't like it when people associate an ethnicity or nationality with war. There were wars in practically almost every country on the planet. It's a fact of humanity, not just a nationality.

When I visited Berlin last summer for a month, I would pass someone on the street, and me being from the US, I would look at them and smile, because that is what we do in the US. But the German person would stare back at me completely devoid of expression or emotion. It's like they were trying to bore a hole through me with their stare.

Well, when I went to school, my teachers didn't tell me to feel guilty. It was more something we would discuss from time to time, like "Do you think we should feel a certain guilt?" I personally think guilt is just not the correct term, it should be more responsibility to do everything to prevent something similar in the future. Although, when I really read certain things about the time back and it really gets me, I kinda feel guilty, but more in a "why are humans like this" kind of way.

When I was stationed in Germany, the trains were always on time and I thought that was remarkable. I absolutely loved my stay in Germany and I can't wait to go back.

- How do Germans write date? The question should be: "How does most of the world write date and why Americans don't do this that way?"

What school did you go to? Our teacher told us what horrible things happened in that time period and we even visted a KZ in Poland. But nevery anybody said that any of that was the fault of the people living today. We also learned how the third reich raised and why people supported them. I think we get really good educated about the NS-years

I never was taught guilt. It's not about feeling guilty. Its about taking responsibility for the future.

Well as a slavic person I can smile As a person living in Germany for 15 years I stare. No imagine me smiling and staring simultaneously. I guess pple think sometimes I'm a bit crazy

On the Doctors things I totally disagree: An "old" doctor can be an asset due to the accumulated knowledge, wisdom and perhaps empathy with patients. Regarding old methods of diagnosing and auscultate, many a times age old methods are the best and it doesn't matter how much technology is available certain things never get old.

Oh, you're so right about German TV. My son just showed me a video...America, you get so much, Japan has animals, S. Korea has Squid Game and Germany has depressed bread.

This is very accurate. Noone tips more than 10%. In Swabia it is 0.1% usually.

the "staring" part. as an Indian we get that a lot. didn't know you would answer same thing as why we Indian stare. it might be a uncomfortable experience for foreigners, but we are too curious about others. like for example you are white and your hair is red you will get a lot of stares, from child to old people, from male to female everyone will stare at you which might makes you uncomfortable. cause we will be curious why this guy has red hair.

Side note about warm beer: There actually are some seasonal warm beers, e.g. "Glühbier" (mulled beer) for Christmas. It's a regional Christmas treat that we (mostly in eastern Germany) probably got from an old Polish recipe.

I thought the German obsession with privacy partly originated from the terrible experience of the Gestapo and the Stasi?

simple trick: if you feel stared at by a german, just stare back. it makes at least enough people stop, cuz they realize they were staring too much. (plus, you win the staring contest lmao)

I love seeing those videos as a german,its very satisfying what people wonder about here.

In Germany, most of them can speak English so well because we usually have English lessons at school for at least 10 years. (I had English lessons from the 2nd grade to the 12th grade)

Are Germans Vikings? Yes and no. The State of Schleswig-Holstein for example belonged to Denmark and the biggest Vikingcity was located there (Hedeby or Haithabu as you would call it in german). That is the reason why so much guys from Schlewsig Holstein have danish surenames and also speak danish. Why No? Because the percentage of Germans with viking heritage is about 2% of the population wich is pretty irrelevant.

The shutters actually have a pretty amazing history starting in ww2, Where in Britain they took heavy smelly thick blankets and put them over the windows to hide lights that bombers could use to orient themselves at night, in Germany they engineer a solution: Roll laden, which perfectly blocked the light while looking very neat and probably cheaper then the oiled blankets. The original ones by the way were made out of wood and weighted a ton but could be lifted by hand so they weren't very strong against break ins. Later versions included a pin to hold them down from the inside making them superior to todays versions in the home security aspect. Now just imagine connecting them to a motor and your alarm so that when you want to wake up your room fills with light: perfection!

Awesome as usual. I love this stuff. Also very cool how more channels mostly German have a breakdown of the activity in the comment section and a scene selector or chapters below that. this is definitely an improvement and a helpful tool for learning.

As a German I was once in Seattle on vacation, and I was walking around and looking around and suddenly some guy starts following me and kept shouting at me at the top of his lungs about how disrespectful I was for looking at him.

I was born and raised in America but my family originally came to the America's from Germany. I have been watching your videos and I find it interesting how some things actually stayed in my family. In America it's normal to wear shoes inside especially if your visiting. You said in Germany their are no shoes in the house and my family as always had that rule of no shoes. The no ice in beer, the cool it in the fridge but better to drink hot than have ice cubes we have too. All these little details I guess stayed in my family a little. It is very interesting.

As a latina living in Germany I have to argue that beer with ice cubes is much better than lukewarm beer. Just drink it fast! Second problem will be then finding ice cubes xD

I never questioned the knocking on wood, my teacher in 11th class just said, that this is how it's done, because it's less annoying than clapping and we all did it and it never changed xD

There was a story about German POWs in the US during WW2 who taught Americans how to drink beer. The prisoners generally had a good relationship with the guards who ran the camps. In one instance the guards wanted to show the Germans some gratitude for working so hard in the camp by treating them with bottles of beer in a large tub full of ice. The POWs promptly removed the chilled beer and placed them on the porch in the sun. It was unknown to the Americans that Germans liked their beer warm. Also, Never ever state at people in the USA. At best it is highly rude at worst in some neighborhoods it can get you killed. You heard that right. There is a gang culture here and staring at someone affiliated with a gang is flat out dangerous. Even if that person isn't a gang member you can almost expect violence. If you ever are confronted by someone who you are staring at, just say. "sorry, I thought you were someone else".

German doctors aren't "bad" but very very unfriendly. That said I love living here in Rheinland-Pfalz.

I never have been teached "guilt" in school for WWII nor do I know someone who experienced that. I also dont know anyone who feel guilty about it... Its just some realy horrible event that could happen everywhere at any time again and therefore all of us should keep care that populism, Fake news and racism doesnt get a foothold (like they do now in the US and other countries).

Funny, as far as people being unfriendly, especially in Berlin, I think that I have been lucky enough to come across people who were, maybe not overtly nice, but kind, in Berlin, the only person who was a little … weird was a security guard at Potsdamer Platz who very bluntly told me that he didn’t speak any English … but security guards are rude everywhere, even here in Portugal, so … nice job, another great video 🙌

Actually many Germans prefer the dubbed versions of movies and german dubbing is fantastic. Sometimes I do watch a movie I've seen many times in english to get a new experience tho

"Who doesn't like bubbles?" And that, children, is the greatest quote in German history

I grew up in a German dominant area of Texas, many of these things are relevant to me. Weird. My grandparents were the first people born in America. So I guess it takes a few generations to water down the traits. 🤪 I knew Prost before Cheers!

Love your channel and love this video. Thx for always making me smile. Keep it up!

Jeeez , i am czech and i can relate our nation to pretty much everything said in video...oh god

U know how to warm ur way to people's hearts !!! Dude you are awesome 😂❤

Also shutter's help keeping the house cool in summer (by not letting the sun in) and in winter they help keeping it warm (a lot of heat get's out trough your window's) and of course you can prevent people from looking inside (i only open them in summer after the sun is down and outside temp is cooler than inside... but people say i'm wired so idk...) We drink warm beer... if there is no other beer, but sometime's even water is better than warm beer. If you want that a German hate's you give him a bottle of beer that was a few hour's in the sun... but you might regret it if he execute's you later then... I don't now square/rectangular pillows but i recommend you some body pillow's 150x50cm in size... i don't now much about pillow's but that japanes have the best pillows i ever tryed so far, also you get them with different filling (Sand/rice/cotton and so on), no advertising but if you search a pillow try it out ;D WW2 yeah we got teached a lot of guilt and that being proud to be a german or being proud of germany is wrong. And if i compare Germany to other states i visited so far every one else has a lot more flag's of they're country hanging around... i would even say you see more turkish flag's in germany than german one's xD Nothing against Turkish people but i think it's everywhere else more accepted to being proud of your country than in germany. If you say something like that you should be ready for people looking at you for what you said (my expirience)

So glad you write the dates logically. Love from Australia.

May I just say something nice about German doctors. I live in UK fir the last 17 years and the best doctors I met here came from Germany and had a German education. Just my personal observation from abroad :) And, by the way, I ve noticed that German people do not value themselves high when comparing to others. Although they are great at many things. Not sure if that is psychological moment or comes from education

Liebe dieses Format!

Do you make eye contact when you say "prost"? I've noticed before that you are good at looking directly into the camera and that feels like eye contact from this side of the screen. So I wonder if thats a thing in Germany or just a cool technique for filming? 😊

I always get in a good mood when I am watching your videos! Thank you!

As a half-German this made me laugh.. always lived in the UK but been to Germany a lot.. I never understood the square pillows either! 😹😹😹

I think I’m blind or, probably, too head in the clouds because after 2 years in Germany I still haven’t noticed the stare thing! 😂 NOW, Germans can REALLY well tell you off randomly in the streets! 🤪

Insightful. Thanks for these answers.

Some vikings did live in some parts of northern Germany on the coast.

@4:40 That's how my parents raised me in the United States they even said don't give your social security number in a job application. Before interviewing maybe last 4 digits, but no company needs your full social security until your hired and they are trying to do tax with holding. Must of been because my Oma was Dutch. When in high school they had a "vocational program" that just showed you going through the process of applying for a job and helped you get setup with a part time after school job. One of the instructors in that program thought it was weird I didn't want to apply for target, because they only had an online application and demanded you give your full social over the internet. I ended up applying at one of those corner standalone CVS stores stocking the cereals, the 1/2 gallon milks no one ever bought and would always be spoiled, and some of the vitamins.

Excellent answers. Now we just need to know about the 2 single mattresses

Hey thanks for making this video, it was fun and informative with how you presented it. Looking forward for more content. 👍👍👍

every german seeing this: ´´i can smile :( ´´

Good video! Tipping: We round it up, If it‘s 27 Euro, we give them 30. Unless you are from Schwabenland. If the bill is 27,75 Euro, my husband rounds it up to 28. Smiling/friendly: When I visited Berlin, I was floored by how nice the people were compared to where we live in BW. People working at stores smiled! I loved it! Staring: Ah, yes. The German stare…

Thanks for your conversation about your People. It was 👍😃.

Super! You so rock, man. I just love your videos. Prost.

About 10:28 When I (a Brit) was visiting my German girlfriend's grandparents back in April, her grandfather and I were on the topic of military service and so I mentioned that my Grandfather and Great Grandfathers served in the First and Second World War.. all of a sudden the conversation went silent and my gf's grandfather looked at my gf's grandmother and yeahhhh.. that's when I realised I shouldn't have mentioned that little fact 😂

Hi Radical living, your answer are very honest .

splash protection had me rolling 😆😆

It's so clever how you managed to also address the age-old question "Do Germans lack humor?" by showcasing it throughout the entire video. Props for the cinematic ingenuity!

As a person visiting Germany very often (being polish myself), i see the staring thing as more of an old people thing. But said so, I am most of the time in Berlin which is I think the least "german" city in Germany ;)

I love the shutters. They also keep it quiet.

Porsche is one of my favorite car brands and I’m thankful you guys made it!

As a German living in the US and as a cancer surviver (at that time I was living in Germany) I have to say that the average doctor in Germany is way better than an average doctor or a even cancer clinic in the US. Yes, the US does more research and I was treated according to the newest research results from the US, because my doctor happened to just had returned from a cancer congress in the US, but here I learned that the newest research results are not available to everybody. Yes the US has some of the best hospitals and doctors, but there is not even one in every single state. To laugh out loud my stool sample was even sent across country by mail, because they could not do it in Virginia. I could not believe it. The chemo of a friend also came out of state. I seriously and strongly believe that I would not have survived my cancer if I already would have lived in the US. I had stage 3, grade 3 and here where I live they simply do not know what they are doing. Even at Virginia Oncology. And I also stopped watching American movies. New German movies and series I find way better. Also Skandinavian or movies from other countries. I also dislike all the cussing in US films. American film industry is overrated in my opinion. Yes...there are good American movies and those one definitely has to watch in the original language, but nowadays everybody can keep up with Hollywood. This is my opinion and experience. Too bad one hardly can find any foreign productions on regular American TV.

upload more often man you are hilarious 😁

shutters are also pretty good at insulating your house to keep it cool in the summer.

I really enjoy this vid good job man

Very Funny! and informative. Keep it up! great job.

"We'll do it better next time." I love his sense of humor. No one should feel guilty about anything they didn't do themselves.

In Italy most of the houses has shutters too

That starting look at the end really got laughed out loud😂

The 2 reasons for the shelf toilet :D Finally someone who understands it! I thought I'm alone with this...

I'd like to help out on a video about how WWII is taught in Germany. I study history and this school year also helped students for their final history exam in grammar school ( Abitur) and I still have all my notes and worksheet from Realschule and Gymnasium ;D

Brilliant, as usual!!!)

on point :D

Love this! Found you from NALF’s videos.

we have outstanding voiceactors to dub shows and movies and even some good translation-writers to make englisch puns und wordplay work in a way. this was straight up a lie.

The shelf in the toilet 🤭🙈🤮 NOOOOO! No please. And German TV is not boring. I used to watch Inspector Derrick and the music chart show B.I.G.

10:57, pure classic, i thought it would be like, never repeat but do it better next time 😂

Joke about "doing it better next time " is awesome :) Espessially when it's obvious that the next time could be this year

Glad to see so many people like learning about Germany.

haha fantastic video! laughed hard at few questions.

I like this, great video, you did a fantastic job 👏

These are all good points!

I feel like I have found quite a few german movies and TV shows I like!! It's what got me interested in learning some of the language

The painting that is on your back is it a real one or is it a print? Looks awesome

I liked your video and laughed out loud a couple of times. 😂

thanks so much for your honest commentary

Most important question: when will you finally upload your 100K subscriber special?

I'm Dutch and I'm pretty interested in Germany & in learning the language :) I love your videos because they're very educational and I think you're humor is brilliant ~ maybe because we're neighbours, eh? 😉

square is the most comfortable figure for european mentality) So as love for active vacations, flat shoes, small portions, old stuff

I really liked this video it answered some of my curious questions I had about German behavior, found you very entertaining/funny and you looked rather handsome here as well, thank you. I do love the German no bs straight forwardness, maybe one day I might go visit. Thanks again 😌

Polite but not friendly, I live in a state called Idaho in the US, that might as well be our state motto.

10:58 laughed out loud for real XD greetings from Poland

Recht hast du!

Warmes Bier (und Schnaps) sind gut für Erkältung, Durchfall, Schnupfen, Magenverstimmung,…. Meine Großmutter hat es als Haushaltsmittel genutzt. Bisschen wie die Italiener mit Olivenöl

Viking thing: my theory is that all the warrior Vikings went to the South and - stayed there, and back home they got southern slaves and the people who were not so adventures. all over Europe you find people looking like Vikings, but they also were kinda everywhere

Have you ever been to / lived in Vienna? Vienna is definitely the most "progressive" city in Austria, so if yes, could you maybe compare Vienna and Berlin? It would be really interesting to me, since I know Vienna quite well, but have never been to Berlin.

This goes beyond candid or honesty is seriously like sitting in the room with my friend explaining things to me

The knocking thing is very real and I was told that it was so they could continue to hold their coffee when a presenter finishes their talk.