Germans

[Goldengirl123]

I don’t mean to be rude as I know it’s different cultures but I am on holiday in Mallorca in a predominately German area. The German people seem to have no manners and they are very unfriendly. They are coming across as very, very rude. Slate me if you have to but I’m just wondering why?

See, this is what you should've started the thread about.

Lots of people are far more comfortable Brit bashing! 🤣

Tbh, both German and British tourists are contributing to the same issue on the Balearic Islands (particularly Mallorca), so they’re as bad as each other. Go ask a local resident on which is which. We don’t care if you’re a super polite Brit or a blunt German, you likely fit the standard Mallorca tourist type who isn’t there for cultural enlightenment or to contribute to sustainable and respectful tourism…

“I don’t mean to be rude , but I’m going to make a sweeping generalisation about a whole nation, based on a handful of people I met on holiday.”

i wonder what they thought about you as a Brit!

I think Germans are pretty nice on the whole. A whole group of people speaking another language and outnumbering you can feel intimidating though. You do realise that's how anglophones come across most of the time, though? We just aren't used to being outnumbered.

My best female friends are German! They're very direct, no-nonsense types with a dry sense of humour. I'm autistic and I find a lot of British women can be a bit fickle (not sure if that's entirely the right word) but they do often seem to say one thing and mean other, and appear friendly to someone's face and then bitch about them behind their back. They'll also tell someone that they look good in a dress, for example, whilst silently thinking it looks awful. My German friends are not like this.

I know plenty of Germans. With a couple of exceptions yes, they are very direct and focused and often come across as rude. Very rigourous and correct too. They are also very generous, outgoing and, once you get their humour, hilarious in their own, different way.

I can be often be direct, focused and abrupt and often considered rude.

Nb Bavarians are just plain strange. Was in Munich not so long ago and loads of them were striding around in lederhosen and dirndls. NOT for Oktoberfest or anything either.

I'm with them on Allo Allo!

About 45 years ago when we were living in Germany there had been a lot on the news about some ex Nazi being sought in South America and one of our group commented when we were out for the evening that it was time to let it drop, they'd be very old men now. A German friend with us went mad, they should never stop finding them and he told us about how in the '50s the children like him had been made to learn all the gruesome details and to feel very ashamed.

Germans are direct and don't do verbal flannel. I'm Dutch, and we are also direct. Brits tend to perceive the lack of waffle as rude. That's on them - all cultures have their own ways.

I don't find Germans rude at all, but then I speak their language and that helps.

I've heard it say plenty of times if your staying anywhere, look at the German language reviews (Google translate automatically on trip advisor) as they pick at everything 🤣 jokes aside I think the Germans also have plenty to say about the Brits too

Ps I’ve lived in both England and Germany. Both countries have lovely, kind and warm people. They also have some rude people. The Brits are incredibly evasive and fake-polite, the Germans are really blunt.

Both wonderful nations and people. Both pretty terrible once they get to Spanish coastal areas and start complaining about either 1) the other nation’s presence / 2) local meal times and local food / 3) availability of sun loungers.

Whatever they thought of her I'm sure she didn't refer to them as a Germ! I find the use of Brit as offensive as other nationalities object to being abbreviated.

I’ve never found any problem with Germans on holiday, tbh. They probably are more direct but I don’t mind that.

Fellow Brits - sometimes I have cringed
Russians - yes, very rude in general
Americans - often rude in their bafflement that not everywhere is the same as America

Well in their eyes they probably view you with equal disdain. 'Scruffy, slovenly Brits'

They are more direct than Brits, they have a very different way of talking and socialising which to exasperatingly polite Brits comes off as rude.

That's normal Germans. The Germans, Brits, and Dutch (and many other nationalities) tourists that go to particular resorts (especially all inc) in Spain and Mallorca are a different breed. Something about the all you can eat 24/7 sends the masses into some horrible frenzy and everyone turns into an arsehole

Avoiding mass tourism resorts is the answer to this from all irksome nationalities including our own! Has anyone witnessed Russians abroad?

I can't be bothered with big hotels and other resorts in tourist areas anymore. But I don't have kids so it's easier for me to stay in a local town/city and just go to the beach areas if I want to.

The Germans bankroll half of Europe so some probably feel the odd sunbed hogging or queue pushing in is fair game as they have more than paid for it through their taxes.

I am a Brit who’s worked abroad in holiday destinations, the Germans were lovely.

Also visited Germany many times and the hospitality was fantastic and strangers were kind to me and my family. I love the German culture, in my opinion, their values are closest to the British.

They are also soooo lovely to children.

Swap German (or American) for another nationality and watch a thread like this get deleted in 3-2-1.

Xenophobia is fine for some nationalities.

They have a reputation for bluntness, which depending on the setting can be seen as cutting to the chase, getting to the point and not floundering around at the edges.
They probably would not be offended if you are as direct back in conversation.
I don’t think there is an intention to be rude.

Oddly you tend not to meet the type of Germs mentioned in this piece in Germany, the wife of a German friend used to say that he totally morphed into a different person once he got on a plane south!

Pushing in front of queues and waiting for the lifts. No thank you

Oh God, I can’t stand Americans abroad (weirdly I like them in America!) . Soooo loud! As soon as I see lots reviewing a hotel, I cross it off my list.

As we Britons are only too aware, especially on this site!

Why?