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German content

posted on 13. December 2005 at 04:54 PM

Want to publish content to a German audience? Make sure you take a lesson in German culture. Or read weblogs published by Germans to tap into the collective soul.

Germans like to complain. Even during the best of times, Germans will nag about... pretty much everything. That's why, for example, German tourists have such a bad reputation. Instead of enjoying a nice vacation (and most Germans still have plenty) we like to fuzz about the weather, quality of service, cleanliness, noise, fellow tourists, children, too much sand, too little sand, etc. Why is this important? As a publisher, you gain instant credibility if you join the crowd and support those who complain by feeding them reasons to feel bad. This will cause more general complaints which makes us Germans feel good. I know, this does indeed sound silly, I can't help it.

Germans like to read about failures. It helps us ignore that others are more successful. If you write something too positive, you will be regarded as biased or partisan. If you write something negative, your readers will assume you have done thorough research.

Germans are fond of their educational system which often results in us thinking we are smarter than others. We take special pride in the fact that we can name the capital of Australia and all major rivers in the former Soviet Union. We call this "Allgemeinbildung" and it is commonly used a weapon against those that simply don't care where Iran is located on a map or why that is important (as long as Iranians don't launch transcontinental nuclear weapons). We take pride in our educational background even despite evidence that other countries somehow became a lot smarter over the past years. So don't mention PISA and just treat your German audience with the respect it deserves for being so damn smart.

Being smart doesn't mean we speak foreign languages. Or to put it differently: We think German is such an important language that we can expect all foreign language aired on TV or radio to be dubbed. Technically, a lot of Germans do speak rather decent English (and French, Russian or even Spanish). Often enough though we don't speak it perfectly well so instead of being prone to make mistakes we rather pretend German is the only language we know. As a publisher, you want to make sure then to use German consistently and, please, explain and translate everything that's not in German.

This list is far from being complete. But sticking to those rules should get you started. Good luck!

Comments to this weblog entry:

never forget the right grammar and spelling. it's very very important to check the spelling of your text, cause the only comments yol'll get is something like "es heisst DAS blog nicht DER blog"

posted by ralf on December 13, 2005 6:21 PM

What you've forgot to mention is, that there are two major categories of germans: over-adapted internationalists and cultural ignorants. While the former are eagerly trying to hide, that they are germans and are tending to disguise every aspect of "german" behaviour, thinking, culture, the later are proud of beeing german, and are thinking that every place on earth should be like home and are assuming, that every person must behave like themself. So, I think, that's pretty german, no sense for grey-shades, only black and white (quite different from our actual political decision-makers...).

posted by Jens Hoffmann on December 14, 2005 3:48 PM

i think in the younger medias it is common to use english words and phrases.
ciao :)

posted by marchahn.de on December 14, 2005 4:53 PM

It's definitly German to complain about Germans complaining all the time. You are one of us :-)

posted by Merlix on December 14, 2005 5:02 PM

es soll sogar welche geben, die benutzen fuer ihr weblog eine fremde sprache. und wieder andere, die erdreisten sich sogar, in einem 90% englischen weblog in deutsch beiträge zu beantworten. aber so sind sie halt die deutschen. auch du bist deutschland :)

posted by Gerald Steffens on December 15, 2005 12:48 AM

oh dear... I read this just as i posted something SO similar about Quebecers... I (complained) in a very long post (probably the longest ever written on my blog) about how i felt bad about quebecers and their bad behaviors toward other quebecer's success.

--- Germans like to read about failures. It helps us ignore that others are more successful ---

people start commenting on my blog saying that its not a quebec thing (because we are a small and isolated nation) but a worldwide thing. I read your post and start to think they are right...

and i thougth germans where cool... puh.

--- We think German is such an important language that we can expect all foreign language aired on TV or radio to be dubbed ----

that i SO agree - and it sucks.

--- Often enough though we don't speak it perfectly well so instead of being prone to make mistakes we rather pretend German is the only language we know. ----

that is also true - and actually scary.

we should start a new movement for this: Against complaining on a worlwide scale, people of Earth get together... (oh dear did i just wrote that?).

end.

posted by m-c on December 15, 2005 4:02 AM

Merlix: I didn't even complain. I was just saying we like to complain. And Gerald: Yes, that includes me.

posted by heiko on December 15, 2005 9:21 AM

Remember (as Gerald Steffens already mentioned): "Du bist Deutschland" ;).

posted by gate8 on December 15, 2005 10:22 AM

Hei, I am a German living in Canada and just checking out the Internet to find something that I can give to a Korean student who lived with us for over a year and is now leaving as he feels uncomfortable here, since I told him that I do not like lies and refuse to be considered stupid to make him understand what germans are like. I like Germans a whole lot. They are straightforward and dependable and great friends.
Yes, we may complain, but we don't carry a grudge.

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