Kiez?!? What is it? ….  An area in Wuppertal? A special type of house? A boutique?

Nope – it is a word describing or rather replacing the word neighborhood. An area in a bigger city that might seem like a small little village. Your hood. The word has its origin in Berlin and here it is still used a lot.

What defines a Kiez is its people. It is not depending on city boundaries or officials announcing a new Kiez.

Hamburg has probably the most famous Kiez in Germany. The Reeperbahn – the red light and night life district. People mainly refer to it as “the Kiez”.

It is a positive word – I would say … at least when you live in the right Kiez.

There are even several songs praising the Kiez. Udo Lindenberg – a very famous German singer and artist – together with Jan Delay sing a little hymn to their Kiez – the Reeperbahn.

What is the best thing about your Kiez?

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Sometimes there are wise words people throw at you when you least need them. Sometimes they really cheer you up. “What goes around comes around” can always increase my mood.

Some sayings have just moved into our languages and one that is really famous in German is this one: “Something is 08/15 (nullachtfuffzehn or null eight fifteen)”.

Germans use it when they want to indicate that something is usual, nothing particularly special, average, or nothing to even mention.

It sounds quite negative and that´s the meaning it can have. But it can actually also be meant in a neutral way. Just a statement that something is standard.

Have you ever wondered where sayings in your culture and language come from? I have – and my ex-roommate has investigated even more on where those cool unecessary-but-always-good-for-bragging meanings come from.

So, let me share this one with you:

The root of this saying is not 100% clear – but all three explanations are connected to a machinegun from WWI with the label 08/15.

Explanation one: The soldiers in WWI had to complete a daily training with this machinegun which was really boring. Routine. 08/15.

Explanation two: Until the 08/15 machinegun was invented and introduced in the German army, every region had its own type of gun. So suddenly the weapons were standardized. 08/15.

Explanation three: WWI took four years – due to lack of resources the quality of the material decreased since 1915. The original model was MG 08 (created in 1908). It was further developed in 1915. All guns had the model and the year indicated on the weapon. o8/15. When the soldiers talked about the machinegun they talked about the 08/15 being standard – nothing special.

Surprised? I was when I heard it the first time. And pretty much everyone is, when I tell people.

Oh, one little hint – if you really want to confuse people, just throw information like this into a conversation. Just out of the blue. Unexpected. I guarantee you, they will not forget you – ever…. I heard. From people who have never forgotten me….

What are your little unnecessary-but-always-good-for-bragging information? Anything you would like to share with us? I need some new input! ….

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Germans are not known for their brilliant English language skills and and therefore are perceived as a bit ignorant if not even arrogant. I guess this problem is shared with a lot of countries where everything is translated or dubbed.

No need to understand English when going to the movies. George Clooney has  a very sexy voice in German. No need to read English in university. Most books have been translated into German. No need to speak English when travelling. There is always a native who speaks German around the corner that is happy to help.

Yes it is possible to live without English – even in a global world. But it is also quite limiting and can make you feel excluded in conversations. But it also excludes others who do not speak your native language.

I remember the first few days after I had moved to Canada. A British friend asked me to accompany her to the movies. I did. And I still remember what movie it was. GI Jane…. could I recall what the movie was all about – nope. Well… not exactly. It was about an american soldier called Jane. But that´s pretty much it. Details – no chance! I spent about 2 hours panicking and developing strategies on how to survive my first day in college learning about cultural psychology. I mean, i was not even able to follow a stupid movie! To make a long story short – I managed.

Times have probably changed … at least a bit – people feel much more comfortable with English today then they used to.

Specially meeting native English speakers is perceived as a great chance to brush up one´s language skills. Great when traveling. Not so great for those foreigners living in Germany.

My Scottish friend Andrew for example who lives in Germany.  He really would love to practice more of his German – but people don´t let him. I guess they want to be polite plus they want to improve their English. But what can he do? … he is British for god´s sake and therefore way too polite to upfront tell them that he really wants to speak German!  I am not so worried about him though. His German is quite good… and his Scottish/German kids will ensure that daddy will at one point be fluent. Otherwise his German wife will.

Is my assumption right? What is your experience with Germans and the English language?

By the way. In case you don´t really think that there is a need for English language skills … They sometimes might even save lives.

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Oom-pah music, beer tent, Dirndl and Lederhosn.

Unfortunately this is not representing Germany. All those things very well describe Bavaria. Some part of Bavaria. The southern part.

I hope during one month of introducing different cultural aspects of Germany you will get a different picture of this very diverse country. But up to now we are still quite in the beginning of the months – therefore some stereotypes are of course allowed.

So here we go:

All people in Germany are like Bavarians….. Tell that to a person from Hamburg and the chance to become friends will very fast go down to zero.

Germany has all the same traditions. North and South – East and West.There are some quite significant differences. Carnival is the biggest event in the Cologne area. Try to call a business partner on “Faschingsmontag” – the Monday of the festivities. I would assume the chances of reaching anybody are quite low. In most other parts of Germany people might dress up a bit, but honestly, it is not the biggest event in Hamburg.

Everyone in Germany speaks the same language. German ≠ German. I have a friend in Berlin who just loooooves when I role the “r” the way we do it in the northern part of Bavaria. Little side note – the rolling “r” is not even the same in north and south Bavaria. And some people in Aachen would not understand what a person from Saxony with a strong accent tells them.

Roasted pork with dumplings is Germany´s national dish. Ah, nope. The north eats a lot of fish dishes (logic, since they have the sea right in front of their doorstep.) The south eats a lot of roasted pork and dumplings. Berlin is known for its Currywurst while the cuisine in the southwest is very much influenced by the French kitchen (again they are quite close to France).

Fashion = Dirndl and Lederhosn. If you would like to out yourself as a tourist, wear a Dirndl in Hamburg. You better not wear a Dirndl or Lederhosn outside of southern Germany – around Carnival times it is ok though. And even in Bavaria – again north and south differs here as well – not everybody has a Dirndl in their wardrobe. Coming from north Bavaria I got my first Dirndl when I moved to south Bavaria – Munich. It might be different nowadays, but back in the days running around in Dirndl was a definite no-go and considered really conservative – even strange – when you were under 65. There is by the way some great and quite famous German designers out there that you probably already know. Karl Lagerfeld, Bogner, Guido Maria Kretschmer, Wolfgang Joop to just name a few…. and you probably don´t know them for their Dirndls.

German music = oompah music. Yes – also. But again – Bavaria – in beer tents – at the Octoberfest. And even with the oompah music there are hugh differences. If you are not particularly into oompah music – try this one. LaBrassBanda. They are really cool and almost made it to the Eurovision Song Contest for Germany … but that´s another story.

Eventhough you thought you understand German you have not understood what this song is all about? Don´t worry – even as a native Bavarian (to be very specific Frankonian – which means I speak a very different language myself) I could not fully translate this song to you.

There are many more stereotypes on Germany and we will touch upon some more in later posts.

What stereotypes do you have about Germany?

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It actually has a positive meaning. Somebody wants to make you aware of something. Somebody cares…. But it just sounds so harsh.

Hape Kerkeling is one of Germany´s – in my opinion – best serious comedians. He brings things to the point and is just hilarious. Watch the 2 minute video where he describes an announcement at the St. Peter´s Square in Rome in different languages.

Can you relate to this? Do you think that German sounds harsh!

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