In Germany everything is impossible

In the US, the most common phrase spoken is the rhetorical question in its various forms, “How are you?”. Germans don’t often greet each other with “wie geht’s“, unless they actually really want to know how you are doing.

In German, the most common phrase spoken is “Das geht nicht!“, or essentially you can’t get what you want. Germans must be trained in school to turn down every initial request for anything outright.

If you move to Germany, one thing that will require some getting used to is that any request you make to a German is always responded to with a small diatribe about how your request is impossible. You must learn to never accept this, but rather get over your emotional shock that someone would be so inconsiderate of your needs, and factually explain your case. The majority of the time the answer will change from impossible to agreement, but usually only after some arguing.

In the US of course people will always tell you “no problem” to just about any request. One refreshing thing about Germany is that once people agree to your request, you can rely on it actually being completed.

Unless of course, you are dealing with the German Telekom, they will never do anything for you.

deutsche Übersetzung für Astrid ein/ausblenden

15 Responses to “In Germany everything is impossible”

  1. NichtWahr Says:

    Geht doch !

  2. flipflop Says:

    It makes completely sense to me. “One refreshing thing about Germany is that once people agree to your request, you can rely on it actually being completed.” -> Replying with “yeah, it will work, lets do it!” would mean “i will do it!” as well. Imagine real problems coming up, it would let me become a liar. “I will do it!” and later… i cannot do it. Unacceptable.

    Try to hear “Das geht doch nicht!” as “I am sure problems will be met!”. This statement could be founded on experience, so you have to argue :)

    my 0,02EUR

  3. bunki Says:

    Good observing. And you better also think of the outstanding : “Das haben wir schon immer so gemacht” (That is the way we have done it forever). An Answer you always get whenver you want to change ways of working progress oder intodruce something new.

  4. Starstuff Says:

    I have to agree with flipflop: we do often times turn down a request or say it’s not possible, but once convinced and we commit to the cause, you WILL get a result for sure and most time the result you wanted.

    In my experience (I spent one year in the US and now work on a daily basis with colleagues in the States) it can be very frustrating when I am being told “No problem, we’ll handle this” only to find out weeks later that nothing has happened.

    I think we Germans take pragmatism over politeness. The latter is of no use to me when things don’t get done ;)

  5. Kirsten Says:

    @bunki: And never forget “Das haben wir schon immer so gemacht!”’s [grouchy] little sister: “Das haben wir noch nie so gemacht!” ;-)

  6. Bob the All-American-Guy Says:

    I don’t know what anti-social drug you’re on, saying “Hi, wie geht’s?” is quite common in Germany.

  7. John Says:

    Hey Bob, normally I don’t really defend what I write, because I don’t really care whether what I’m writing is accurate or not, these are just my perceptions. But I think you are a little off-base here.

    First of all, “Wie geht’s?” is of course a phrase used in Germany, but the difference to the American version is that it is a sincere question. To me “Hi, wie geht’s” would be an invitation to start a longer conversation, whereas in America, we would ask “hi, how are ya?” and walk on by without waiting for the response.

    I don’t know where you are in Germany, but I can’t think of a region where adding on “wie, geht’s” to the standard greeting sounds natural. i.e.

    Servus, wie geht’s?

    Grüss Gott, wie geht’s?

    Moin moin, wie geht’s?

    Mahlzeit, wie geht’s?

    It all sounds pretty unnatural. The best I can come up with is “Na, wie geht’s” but that’s a legitimate question, not a greeting.

    I notice my American friends, when they speak German asking everyone “wie geht’s” all the time and it sounds pretty goofy to me.

    But hey, I could be wrong…

  8. flipflop Says:

    It _is_ goofy :D At least I agree it is uncommon.

  9. Tanja Says:

    I love your blog. When I first got to the States people asked me over and over again “How are you.” and I really thought they would like to hear how I am feeling, so I started to tell them that the weather sucks or that I would have a migrane. They were totally confused about it. But I am living here in the dschungel of the US as a German and lots of things are so different. Really nice to read about your experience on the other side.

    I really miss the honesty of what people say. Like you said at the end of your post. It’s really confusing for Germans who are newbies here to figure out that “Talk to you later” doesn’t mean, “later” but in a few days or months or maybe never again.

    Gruesse aus Oregon!

  10. Klaue Says:

    Well, I’m not sure about the “wie geht’s?”. If it is expressed in germany, the asker expects an answer, that is true, but the only answer he expects is “good”. When people ask you this, they don’t actually want to hear that you only slept four hours or that your cat died or anything like that, they just want to be reaffirmed that everything’s good - even if it isn’t. The whole phrase is just something like an ice breaker for everyday life, quite like the “It’s a nice weather outside, isn’t it?”

  11. Matt Says:

    He’s completely right about Deutsche Telekom.

  12. Till Says:

    The matter, as many others in germany, is really more complex. It depends largely on the situation and who you are talking to. For example, if something really important is to be discussed you wouldn’t start the conversation with a personal how are you question, no matter who you are talking to. If you are talking to a close friend and the question is asked, than yes you want to hear how he is doing and what is going on in his life, head, heart.

    You would not consider asking that a superior at work or a person of higher standing you just met. You are of lower standing and if he wants to know he will ask you. A short reply of ‘Danke sehr, es geht mir gut’ will do.

    Now, on the other hand meeting your neighbors will almost always entail that question and can be answered with more than the standard answer.

    I also found that here in America people sometimes give you a short glimpse of how they are really doing, which I like to hear.

  13. Olli Says:

    Der schwäbische Dreisatz:
    1. So geht das nicht.
    2. So haben wir das noch nie gemacht.
    3. Da könnte ja jeder kommen!

    Three golden rules of the Schwaben (south-west germans):
    1. That won’t work.
    2. We never did it that way.
    3. Anyone could come in here… (you’re a nobody)

  14. jan Says:

    just wrong and full of prejudice. maybe youre just bad at dealing with people that dont submit to your ego and behave like slaves upon your every request. and not everyone in the us is always courteous either

  15. Amerikanische Mentalität | D-Evil.net Says:

    […] http://nothingforungood.com/2008/05/05/in-germany-everything-is-impossible/ […]

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