If you are going to work in Germany, get ready to shake the hand of every colleague you have every day. In America, we generally shake hands when first meeting someone, or if we haven’t seen each other in a very long time. Germans on the other hand want to shake hands one time per day.
Sometimes you will forget with which colleagues you have already shaken hands, and you may try to reshake and your colleague will begin to extend his or her hand until the moment of realization that that would be two shakes in one day, and one or both of you must jerk your hand away and exclaim “wir hatten schon!,” because shaking hands twice in one day is just as unacceptable as eating two warm meals in one day.
On occasion the German you greet may be unable to offer you his hand because he has them both full, has dirty hands, or is sick (you can tell because they will wear a scarf around their neck, without exception), at which point you will be offered a wrist or an elbow, which you are obliged to awkwardly shake.
If one arrives a little late and it would cause an interruption to make way through the room shaking with each individual, it will suffice to knock on a table. It is understood that you have in this way greeted everyone in the room. You will get bonus points as a German insider if you yell out, “Es gilt”, so that everyone knows they have been greeted.
On the subject of greetings, you must always check your watch before offering a greeting, because the standard greeting changes throughout out the day. Of course in the morning you say guten Morgen, but at about 11 a.m. Germans switch it over to mahlzeit or literally translated “meal time”. This can extend well into the afternoon until it becomes a more natural guten Tag.
Telling people it is meal time for like 3 hours at midday weird. It should be stopped.
deutsche Übersetzung für Astrid ein/ausblenden
Hallöchen Astrid,
hier die Übersetzung:
Komm, gib mir deine Hand
Sollten Sie zum Arbeiten nach Deutschland gehen, bereiten sie sich schon einmal darauf vor, dass Sie an jedem Tag die Hand von jedem Ihrer Kollegen schütteln müssen. In Amerika geben wir uns normalerweise nur einmal die Hand, beim ersten Kennenlernen oder wenn wir jemanden sehr lange nicht gesehen haben.
Die Deutschen hingegen wollen Ihre Hand einmal am Tag schütteln.
Manchmal werden Sie vergessen, welchem Kollegen Sie schon die Hand gegeben haben und werden eventuell versuchen, dies ein zweites Mal zu tun und ihr Kollege wird Ihnen die Hand auch entgegenstrecken, bis er realisiert, dass das 2 Mal Schütteln an einem Tag bedeuten würde und so muss der Kollege oder Sie beide die Hand wegziehen und rufen: “Wir hatten schon!”, weil zweimaliges Händeschütteln an nur einem einzigen Tag genauso inakzeptabel wäre wie zwei warme Mahlzeiten an einem Tag zu essen.
Sollte der Deutsche, den Sie grüßen möchten, Ihnen seine Hand nicht geben können, weil er beide Hände voll hat, schmutzige Hände hat oder krank ist (das erkennt man daran, dass er einen Schal um den Hals trägt, ausnahmslos), wird er Ihnen das Handgelenk oder den Ellbogen anbieten, den Sie dann unbeholfen schütteln müssen.
Sollte jemand zu spät kommen und eine Unterbrechung verursachen, indem er jeden Kollegen einzeln per Händeschütteln begrüssen würde, reicht es aus, auf den Tisch zu klopfen. Dies wird so verstanden, dass Sie jeden Kollegen im Raum gegrüsst haben. Sie verdienen Bonuspunkte als Deutschlandkenner, wenn Sie einem Kollegen die Hand schütteln und dann laut in die Runde “Es gilt” rufen.
Zum Thema Grüßen sollten Sie ausserdem wissen, dass Sie vor jedem Treffen auf die Uhr schauen sollten, weil die Standardbegrüßung während des ganzen Tages wechselt. Natürlich sagen Sie morgens “Guten Morgen”, aber so gegen 11 Uhr wechseln die Deutschen über zu “Mahlzeit” oder wörtlich übersetzt Essenszeit. Dies kann bis in den Nachmittag hinein benutzt werden, bis es zum natürlicheren “Guten Tag” wird.
Den Leuten 3 Stunden lang mitten am Tag zu erzählen, es sei Essenszeit, ist merkwürdig und sollte verboten werden.
Tschüßle,
John
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May 1st, 2008 at 9:31 am
ridiculous - what about good morning, good afternoon and good evening?
May 5th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
you actually have to say “guten Abend” starting between 6 or 7 pm
May 5th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Fascinating post.
And I agree. “Mahlzeit” ought to be stopped. Whenever you hear it, you are firmly in employee-land. People at universities or schools wouldn’t even consider using it.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
“Es gilt”? Who said that?
May 5th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
In Northern Germany, we say ‘Moin’ all day long.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
In southern Germany, we say “Grüß Gott”. And “Mahlzeit” really is not common.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Supplementing cookie’s remark: An English friend was firmly convinced all the people in Bavaria were calling him a “Scot” - until it was explained to him that this is what a lazy pronunciation made of “Grüß Gott”.
I do not agree, however, with the claim in the original post that handshakes are obligatory. Where I work (ca. 70 people) we only shake hands after returning from a looong holiday. On all other days, purely verbal greetings are the rule.
May 5th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
When it comes to handshakes you will find an east-west divide along the former border.
While East-Germans will shake hands a lot (i.e. every time they meet, like described in your post) West-Germans normally don’t do that all that often. (Which may, in turn, have led to the stereotype of the arrogant “Wessi”.)
Why? Simple: in the years after the war West-Germany became more American (a lot of military bases, NATO, etc.), while East-Germany stayed mostly the same. That eroded the tradition of shaking the hands all that often in the West. West-Germans presumably still shake hands a lot more than Americans, but less than they did some decades ago.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:02 am
This is really fascinating. As a German myself, I usually don’t reflect on the greetings. I have never heard something saying “Es gilt” while knocking on the table, though. Maybe that’s a regional thing.
And I think the way you greet someone strongly depends on where you live and work. I am from the East and yes, we do shake hands a lot. At college, at work … you name it. But while I was in Bavaria or whenever I have dealt with people from other formerly West-German states … shaking hands seems awkward and is not used too often.
I have to watch myself more closely for that in the future
May 6th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Hhhhm, I’m ‘East’ German but I don’t shake hands with my colleagues. Never worked in a company where they did that. It would just take too much time. When I first met my colleagues we shook hands but now we just peek in each others room to say Hi and Goodbye… In general I only shake hands with people I don’t know well or only met for the first time
May 7th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Another interesting thing is that germans make a little bow while shaking hands, I never noticed until one of my american friends told me.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
I have never noticed the slight bow either, but I read that in USA Erklärt. I wonder if I started doing it too subconsciously…
May 9th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Ah, I think that’s one of the cultural diversities each country has. It’s like the rules for using “Buenos dias”, “Buenas tardes” and “Buenas noches” in Latin America. I can’t name any American, well, Eigenart because I haven’t been there yet but I’m pretty sure there are as well.
The bow I practice myself as well but only if I introduce myself to people I have a formal relation to, e.g. people I talk to about an internship. If I’m shaking hands with people I know (which I do occasionally), I would never do so.
May 17th, 2008 at 10:48 am
I’m from Germany and nobody offered me an elbow or a wrist to shake, yet and i’d advise you not to knock on the table and say “Es gilt!” during a meeting. You can do that in a bar but not at work.
And one last thing: “Mahlzeit” is common in the northern parts of Germany but not at all in the south. You say “Guten Morgen” , “Guten Tag” and “Guten Abend/Nacht” or in Bavaria “Grüß Gott”.
May 17th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
@Herman:
Better say: “Nobody says ‘Mahlzeit!’ at all, unless he’s working at construction.”
Funny, though, that you think Mahlzeit is from northern Germany whereas in the North we’re thinking of it as a expression from the southern parts.
May 17th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I live in the middle of the western part of Germany and the only time I was confronted with “Mahlzeit” as a greeting at lunchtime was when I had a student job at a bank. It felt really awkward to me and I never got to like it. I believe it is only used in some work environments.
May 18th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
This Mahlzeit thing indeed is a strange one. In work environments we say that from abbreviated “gesegnete Mahlzeit” - blessed meal. Ususally only the employees used to say that when they interrupt their work to have lunch. But often everybody says “Mahlzeit” to anybody between 11:30 to 14:30. It shows that German days are organized around the Mittagessen. I remember my english lessons in school many years ago. The book told us that British have breakfast as their most important meal, Germans have lunch, French have dinner.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Would you have called them “colleagues” before spending time in Germany? I would’ve called them “co-workers” (or however you spell it), but now I think the German is rubbing off on me and sometimes I say “colleagues”.
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:21 pm
well, “Mahlzeit” is not sooo uncommon, but I agree that it is quite annoying. And don’t forget the “Kleines Arschloch”- T-Shirts with “Mahlzeit” on them, the treasure of every non-conformist in Mahlzeit-heavy work-environments !!!
(Ha, and who said that Germans have no sense of humour? =) )
As for the hand-shaking … well, that really depends on your colleagues … it is, of course, common with clients/customers.
Amongst colleagues, it really does depend on the type of relationship you have. If it is very formal (”per Sie”), than yes, a firm (! and I mean firm, not a handshake in that disgusting french way) handshake is common practice.
On a “per Du”-level, a handshake is rather uncommen (you know the man/the woman well enough to not reduce your wonderful relationship by insisting on such petty rituals as shaking hands and being overly polite to each other =) ), really depends on the colleague. In some cultures a handshake is more common amongst friends than in others (youth culture, the French …), So generally: no, but there are exceptions.
And whoever told you the “Es gilt” thingy deserves to be yelled at/spanked/whatever-he-dislikes-most.
Nice blog btw., I really like it =)
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:15 pm
[quote]Manchmal werden Sie vergessen, welchem Kollegen Sie schon die Hand gegeben haben und werden eventuell versuchen, dies ein zweites Mal zu tun und ihr Kollege wird Ihnen die Hand auch entgegenstrecken, bis er –>>realisiert<<–, dass das 2 Mal Schütteln an einem Tag bedeuten würde und so muss der Kollege oder Sie beide die Hand wegziehen und rufen: “Wir hatten schon!”, weil zweimaliges Händeschütteln an nur einem einzigen Tag genauso inakzeptabel wäre wie zwei warme Mahlzeiten an einem Tag zu essen.[/quote]
Das realisiert ist an dieser Stelle in seiner Bedeutung im deutschen Sprachgebrauch falsch!
Im Deutschen bedeutet „etwas realisieren“, daß etwas von der Theorie in die Praxis umgesetzt wird. Die aus dem Englischen kommende, und auch falsche Bedeutung, etwas bisher unbekanntes akut wahrzunehmen, festzustellen, zu erkennen usw. hat sich zwar, zum Leidwesen der guten deutschen Sprache, recht stark eingebürgert, ist aber nichtsdestotrotz ein Fehler und könnte von entsprechend wissenden Personen für peinlich befunden werden.
Zumindest sollte es hier im Text ausgebessert werden.
October 25th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Mahlzeit? Mahlzeit?!
Das ist nervtötend. Man hört es wirklich nur bei Arbeitern und ähnlichen, wo man andere wirklich nur vor der Mahlzeit trifft.
Hi (nicht zu verwechseln mit Hai) ist da schon wesentlich verbreiteter.
October 29th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
For years and years I’ve hated the Mahlzeit greeting — thought it was something petty bourgeois. I’ve worked in several different companies in different regions of Germany (Insureance, Editoring, Banking, Engineering). Annoying Mahlzeit occured almost everywhere and by anybody.
Some years ago, I found out that Mahlzeit is nothing else then a shortcut for Gesegnete Mahlzeit (blessed meal). So I came up that Mahlzeit is not such a bad thing at all. I mean, there’ve been defintely more evil things in the history of our culture. So why not which to people you pass along around the mid day hour (gesegnete) Mahlzeit as well as at different time of day you say/which (guten) Tag.
But saying ‘Hi’ instead — bah — how profane. If foreigners laugh about our funny but _real_ cultural characteristics, that fine.
November 24th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
It depends on the group of people or the setting whether shaking hands is common for greeting someone. In some cases I do shake hands, in others I don’t.
When you have a daffy day, try lifting your hand quickly just before your counterpart grabs it. Then you can point your thumb over your shoulder and say: “Da hinten bau’n’se!”
Interestingly there is a way to shake hands more than once a day for greeting! Some people also shake hands for saying good bye. If you remeet somebody you already signed off from by a second hand shaking, you may (or should) reshake his hand! Try it!! Unfortunately there is no such thing for a additional warm meals…
I also never heard of “Es gilt!”. I will check it out next time someone knocks on the table! Oh, I’m so excited!!!
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:17 pm
you can’t take the term “Mahlzeit” too literally. nobody actually expects you to be hungry and urging for food all mid-day.
chances are, the person you encounter midday is on his/her way to lunch, so just in case you wish them a quick and uncomplicated Mahlzeit, to cover all you bases.
I’ve lived in the States for five years now and i miss shaking everyone’s hand, it lets people know you have arrived and makes for less social awkwardness, in fact i don’t think there’s a term for awkward in german…
January 18th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
I’m working as a programmer (also kein Handwerker) in the far west of germany, near the netherlands, and we do say “Mahlzeit” every day during launch time - and not only in the cafeteria.
Here, you shake hands only the very first time you meet someone. After that it’s “Guten Morgen” or “Mahzeit”.
January 19th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
@Peter
“launch time”?
“..three, two, one - lift-off, we have a lift-off!”
Nichts für ungut, aber dieser kleine Verschreiber bot sich halt einfach dafür an!
March 5th, 2009 at 9:06 am
It annoys me so much that I have posted a facebook group called
Ich grüsse nicht mit “Mahlzeit”. Schon gar nicht im WC.
I hope you dont mind me posting a link to your site. I really like it.
February 21st, 2010 at 12:53 am
Shaking hands every Day is very common in France but not in Germany
February 27th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
I hate people who say “Mahlzeit”.
It really depends on the region.
I never heard about “Es gilt” or knocking on the table.
The cultural differences between South Central and Northern Germany are so serious, as are the recipes.
Let me know where you were exact in Germany
June 7th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
I am an intern at a steel company in west germany and EVERYONE wants to shake hands with EVERYBODY all the time! and yes, I have witnessed both the elbow and the wrist shake. As an American, I was totally unprepared. And they all follow the greeting rules you laid out, lots of Mahlzeit…lots of it.