15 Things Germans Don't Understand About Americans

Every time I hear the "Americans wear shoes in the house" thing, a piece of my soul dies as a Minnesotan. We don't do that here. Shoes are removed at the door, and most living spaces will have a shoe rack right at the entrance.

I was stationed in Würzburg and Stuttgart and was in Germany for most of the 80’s. I accidentally found your channel because I’m planning a trip back soon and I wanted to see what has changed in the 20 years since I was last there. When I was over there I totally got into the culture. All my years back in the states I’ve never felt at home. Germany became my home in my heart.

When I was in western Ireland I could recognize and differentiate between Germans, Americans and Irish people very easy: - in the moist weather Germans and Americans wear functional jackets, the americans wore predominantly HH, the Germans JW and GT - Americans tend to grab more space, the ellbows are more outwards - Americans drive on the right side, when the correct side in Ireland is the left lane, especially after left turns. - all Americans seem to have visited the orthodontist often - if someone walks calmly through the rain without jacket but with cigarette, he is Irish

For number twelve: "Bei Risiken und Nebenwirkungen lesen sie die Packungsbeilage und fragen sie ihren Arzt oder Apotheker"

I remember going on a vacation in Miami .When I ordered two beers , i had to show ID, and they refused to serve me . I was so confused, and kept saying 'wait, wait..There must be some mistake i'm 20 !' 😅

We lived one year in Switzerland with my husbands work. My son was 5 years old. My son and I discovered a McDonalds in Basel and we went in and sat down for a meal. Of course even though there were many people, it was very quiet. Suddenly a group came in talking very loudly while ordering their food. My son asked, "Mommy, who are those really loud people?" I answered, "They are Americans." He looked shocked and then confused and asked me, "Mom, aren't we Americans?"

I grew up in the eighties in Germany and the only automatic car I knew of was that of our nextdoor neighbour because he lost a leg in WWII. For those who do not know: To drive a manual, you need two functioning legs.

In the Netherlands it's not only that you as an employee can claim a minimum of a certain number of days off a year, you are obliged to take up at least a single consecutive period of two weeks each year. As you can also save up part of the time, a colleague of mine this year was away for a mont and a half to the walk through northern Spain of the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostella.

Having a German mom because of my former GI dad, I grew up with German family visiting us in rural Missouri. (One of mom's brothers came over, stayed, and lived the American Dream.) They're amazed at how isolated we are with neighbors a mile away and nearest town being 10 miles away. We always take them out target shooting which they always seem to enjoy as it's something they cannot do in Germany. They in turn once bought out the entire supply of Budweiser and Bud Light from my small town after going through about 40 cases in 2 weeks. Our diet beer simply has no effect on them as they would point to the 'Rice' ingredient and laugh. My Dad and his old Army buddy said that they had to take a break after about a week of drinking beer with them. They play hard, but they also work hard. When you find yourself with a group of them in full party mode it's some of the most fun you'll ever have.

Now it's the complete Video! I did like the 18 second version too ;-) As a German living in Seattle, my wife is making fun of me when I change from sweat pants to Jeans just to walk down the street to pick up the mail.

Just discovered your channel, and happy to have. One comment to shoes at home: Grown up as a Turkish guy in Germany in the 70s/80s, I experienced that Germans wore more often shoes at home than you stated, but maybe I perceived this as such a significant habit, because in Turkish households street shoes are absolutely forbidden, just like in Japan!

I think the thing with the personal bubble depends on where you are in Germany. I'm from northern Germany and we need more personal space here. We don't like when people get so close. I think it also depends on whether you are in a crowded city or in the countryside.

I always thought the Hausschuh-Issue is due to the driving-everywhere thing.. If I only walked on my 3m concrete way to my car and then on your 4m of concrete, I probably wouldn´t take off my shoes sometimes either.. but after walking 20min thru Berlin streets? hell no, thank you, i´ll be on my socks in your flat

I remember learning a short poem when I was younger to help when thinking about temperatures in Celsius. "30° is hot, 20° is nice. 10° is cool, 0° is ice" While 20° being a 'nice' temperature is debatable (I'd prefer 23-24° myself) it was a good rhyme to use.

I really enjoyed watching this video! Buillding a bridge over different cultures is (for me) an always welcomed icebreaker! Being myself a „naive“ Englisch/American (speaker), but native German, the basic message for me is: Openly talk to each other! And both nationals will. I‘m sure! If you do, both sides will learn a lot about each other and each other‘s culture! …and, most likely, will have a lot to lough about. …I missed the prejudice of wearing a Jeans trousers only once ;-) Great job! Cheers

As a German living in the US currently I found myself nodding along and I loved how you described everything without making either side sound or seem weird. Fun too that you are with the Unicorns, I myself am a Frankfurt Galaxy Gal, where people do tailgate btw. But that could be a thing people do at American sports played in Germany to somewhat honor the process and live the entire experience which I respect. German football / soccer fans usually find a bar or kiosk to pregame and / or drink on their way to the game, since thats legal.

I think the "loud" aspect of being an American can greatly depend on where you were brought up. I was raised right off of the Navajo reservation in New Mexico and have been accused of being VERY quiet after I moved to California. That was until I took my husband home for the first time. He tried to order at a Burger King and was like "It's not just you...It seems like everyone around here whispers".

This theory with larger personal bubble of Americans is a bit weird. When I was working in the US, a lot of Americans wanted to hug me (mostly female coworkers) and not the polite, lean in, air kisses kind of way found in Germany, but a real hug. That was way too much physical contact for this German girl. Okay, I also hate hand-shakes and air kisses, unless it's really close friends. Drinking age is also an interesting thing. Because the high age kind of hypes up being legal to drink? I found that so odd when I was watching another youtuber and she really went on and on about turning twenty-one soon and being able to drink. And on the day of her birthday, she went out to party and got really drunk with a bunch of cocktails. And cocktails are dangerous because they often contain a lot of hard alcohol but taste like fruit drinks. Even if you're used to harder stuff it's easy to misjudge them. And of course at twenty-one all of them already have a driver's license so drinking and driving is an issue, while Germans at sixteen don't. When my friends and I wanted to get drunk we met for a party with sleep-over. And often our parents bought the alcohol and laughed at us when we came home with a hang-over. Public transport with a hang-over is also fun.

I like the Celsius scale, because you can categorize them more or less roughly in steps of 10. 0°C = Water freezes, 0-10°C = cold, 10-19°C = ok, 20-29°C = warm, 30-39°C = very warm, >40°C = hot

Thanks for the video and thank you for being so gentle with us!