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?

Oh, those Russians

They’re some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.

I’m not in Magalluf

Arenal?

What would you prefer embarrassing British larger louts or abrupt/direct/rude Germans?

Personally I think I’d rather have Germans any day.

Maybe it's just the sort of people who holiday in Mallorca?

I come across lots of German tourists in motorhomes, and always find them friendly, chatty and interesting to talk to. It's a different type of tourist going round remote Scottish locations in campsites though, in their own motorhome.

The Germans I have met traveling around Asia have always been pleasant too, but again, I suppose it's a certain type of tourist going to those places too.

What kind of a cunt shows a German Allo Allo?

(Not because it might offend them, but because it's fucking shit.)

Saw this article yesterday and it made me laugh https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y72g09d7jo?app-referrer=deep-link.

My mum always hated the German tourists when we went to Spain. She used to wake up mega early to race the Germans to the sun loungers.

Have you tried talking to them? All the Germans I know are great fun! (And no - i cant speak their language - they are generally amazing english spekers).

To be brutally honest, if you, as a British person, are on holiday in a tourist resort in Mallorca, you will probably be encountering your German equivalents.
I am a dual national and would say that there are pleasant and unpleasant people in both nations. Interestingly, when my German husband and I were choosing holiday destinations we tried to go for places where we would meet fewer British or German people. No idea what that says about us!

Well, based on the election results, certainly more of us than you'd like to think 😞

I'm not sure you're suited to 'abroad' if you can't accept that other nationalities have different ways to you. It's quite possible some Germans abroad give some Brits abroad a run for their money, and they just exhibit different irritating behaviour. But you really can't extrapolate that behaviour to an entire nation.

It was my mum. She thought it’d be amusing.

The stereotypical Germans learning English at school. Well my cousins in Trier (30s to 40s) apparently don’t speak a word of English! Going to see them soon so will have to use duo lingo and my gcse German.

The (very) one-sided beef Brits have with America is genuinely hilarious. Like, you literally can’t get through a single page of a thread about GERMANS before some Brit crawls out of the woodwork to announce that Americans are worse. The lack of self-awareness is staggering—do you really think the rest of Europe isn’t constantly laughing at you? Half the continent has spent decades enduring sunburned people demanding 'proper English breakfasts' before getting blackout drunk by noon. The rest of Europe doesn't just complain about you; they’ve actively loathed you for years.

I live in Germany and it's true that people here (especially older people) often don't acknowledge small kindnesses. I just say "Bitte schön" (you're welcome) loudly and pointedly and that usually gives them a shock!

This is true. It's fine to stereotype the British but any other nation and you're being xenophobic. Stereotypes do exist, that's why they're stereotypes.

For the record, I travel all over Europe and all nationalities have their idiosyncrasies. Most of the people you come across a nice for the most part, even the British.

Germans certainly can come across as rude until you get to know them.

I was on a Norwegian fjords cruise last year on a small boat and at least 3/4 of the passengers were German. We found them really rude on the whole. Barging others out of the way at the meal buffets, often tutting at other people if they thought you were taking too long serving yourself, etc.

Generally very unfriendly and unsmiling, never even returned a polite smile if you sat near them. I was using the cross-trainer in the tiny gym one day and a German lady came and stood right next to me glaring, waiting for me to get off. So weird.

One particular family group - middle-aged parents, elderly mother, daughter in her 20s - were obnoxious. On one excursion, there were 4 English speakers and the other 14 people were German. So a tour guide said everything in German first and then translated into English. This German family continually talked and laughed loudly over the English translation, which was so rude. Another day, we went to an onboard lecture which had repeatedly been advertised as being in English only. This same family group turned up and the adult daughter continually translated everything that was being said into German really loudly. It was incredibly selfish and rude and lots of people were looking at them. Eventually, I stood up and told them in my best teacher’s voice to stop talking and stop being rude! Luckily another German lady intervened and also chastised them in German and they did shut up.

So on my experience of that 2 week holiday, I would completely concur that Germans deserve the reputation they have for rude, boorish and unfriendly behaviour.

So why did the Europeans want the UK to be part of 'their' Europe so badly then? Why did they get so upset about the UK voting to leave? Why do so many Americans want to be us so badly?

Nobody loves resort tourists. American, German, British, French, Russian, Israeli, Chinese...I've been massively pissed off with numbers of all of those, and more, but that's on them and often where we've coincided. Through sixty or so countries either travelling, working or living I've experienced people from most nations...never been pissed off by a Kiwi though 😁

Here’s what I think is going on: you are a typical middle class British person, you approach door, lift, end of queue a bit timorously, looking round, seeing if it’s all clear, etc. before going ahead (I am American by birth, but have lived in UK for decades & this, frankly, drives me crazy) Germans and many other nationalities in a similar situation see, queue, lift, door etc, and just know that right, that’s where I need to go. They see you,approaching rather uncertainly, looking around, etc, as someone who, in contrast to them, is NOT sure where you are going, maybe waiting for someone else, etc. So the step forward in front of you. Both nationalities are mis-reading the situation, but the German (or whoever) does not view you as a British person, but someone not quite sure of where you are going. To them, it’s not rude, but to you it is. You need to become aware of cultural norms, ESPECIALLY your own!
Queueing norms are very cultural-specific!