We Germans show our patriotism by watching all the reaction videos about Germany and seeing how people react to how great we are - its like a quiet version of patriotism :D

That is a good way of saying it!

so true! :-)

@drwarcloud36 Me neither 😂 I'm Austrian, but we are quite similar in culture and behavior.

I’m not German, but I’m completely in love with Germany and wish I was German. So I’m also watching videos of people reacting to how great Germany is. Also on top of all the other greatness you gave the world Rammstein. Greetings from 🇬🇧.

Yes, there are stereotypes about the school types. Since Hauptschule (which I'd translate as Main/Basic school) takes less years to get a degree and isn't as hard as the others, it's considered the lowest kind of school with the most worthless degree that won't get you hired for anything but blue collar work. Realschule is considered kind of a neutral in between kind of degree, but won't be enough for universities or most high level white collar work without upgrading your degree with additional schooling afterwards. A Gymnasium degree opens many doors for you, but takes more years and effort to get. So basically, Hauptschule kids are considered to be too stupid for better schools and Gymnasium kids are considered elitist snobs. Take this with a grain of salt of course, since it's just my personal regional experience (south west Germany).

Same in the Augsburg area. Even worse, we think that going to school in Baden-Württemberg is even easier than in Bavaria.

Yes yes yes still but it's not like you can't get a degree if you went to a hauptschule... i went to a hauptschule was always considered a stupid kid by others but i'm a civil engineer now... just to clarify

Same stereotypes here in Franconia. Had to deal with these back in the day after finishing Hauptschule (my circle of friends call it "Survival Training"), I wasn't even hired for Warehouse or Car Mechanics Vocation Training. Had to go back to school while working and get Abitur in evening classes, so someone would hire me.

Gymnasiasts are snobs. Lg berufskollegschüler😂

Let me add the stereotype that Gymnasium kids are considered autistic in manual trades. A person that has got his certificate to be allowed for studying at a university is usually considered to not be able to differ between a wrench and a screwdriver. Edit: I just need to add. I have been a gymnasium kid and I studied which makes me confirm that stereotype to a large degree in my friends circles back then. I was no exception until a certain point in life. I remember the loving call of those kind of people as "Zauberlehrlinge" - "Wizzard apprentices".

The video is so fast paced and packed with information I'm willing to forgive all the (painful) spelling mistakes. The one thing I cannot let slip though: Cuckoo clocks have been made in the Black Forest region of Baden-Wuerttemberg, the state with the strong ties to its neighbour Switzerland (also a famous clockmaking nation). Bavaria had nothing to do with it.

depends on if you talk about Bavaria the state or Bavaria the area. There is still a swabian minority in the state Bavaria. But sure. you're mostly correct.

@Muetze No, it doesn't depend on Bavaria as a state vs as the area. No part of the black forest - where cuckoo clocks are build - lies in bavaria. Cuckoo clocks are not a "swabian thing" but a "black forest thing".

I dunno, I can forgive his pronounciation, because you can't expect someone to perfectly pronounce languages they don't speak - especially not if they make videos on every country of the world.... but there's not that much written text in the video, so why not spell 'Wirtschaftswunder' instead of 'Wieschaftswunder'? They did it with the Netherlands too, where the 'Waddeneilanden' became the 'Waldeneilanden'.

too much stuff to investigate the facts ^^ Charlemagne is indeed from Frankia, which today is part of Bavaria. The name of the Country France has its root in this Area. Through Charlemagne and his "Frankenreich".

@Muetze the black forest is not in the swabian part of badenwürttemberg, but in the badisch part... swabians are württemberg.

as a german i feel i learned more in this video than i learned at school

Ich auch lol

Ging mir auch so:)

There are a few factual errors, typos and mistranslations tho

ich auch(obwohl wir das Thema grad in Geschichte haben).

Some missinformation were present.

Reinheitsgebot means you cannot add other stuff. BUT you can engineer the heck out of it nonetheless. You can change the type of yeast, which gives vastly different results. You can change the duration of any part of the process and get different results, mostly the processing of malt plays a huge role. OR change the type of other ingredients. There are varieties of hops available for beers, and the amount of one thing compared to the Rest can also be important. You see: lots of ways to tweek only 4 ingredients. Kinda like with flour, eggs and butter: you can make pancakes, cakes, cupcakes, Donuts and a whooe lot of other stuff and everything tastes different with different textures.

I mean, two guys in Germany managed to brew a beer with 56 volume percent alcohol in it while still keeping to the Reinheitsgebot. EDITED for 'volume percent'.

@Cay Reet I think you got the number twisted :D you get about 0,2 Promille from ONE Beer

@Choco jack Look up 'Schorschbock.' They had a competition with a Scottish brewery about who could put the most alcohol in a beer. 56 volume percent was the highest they could get. So, yes, no promille, but I'm German and didn't remember what the word was. It's volume percent.

@Cay Reet Ja, Volumenprozent und Promille sind nicht das gleiche :)

@Cay Reet yea, Schorschbräu from Middle Franconia. Schorsch himself said that he didn’t know it was possible and that every time he sets a new record he’s just as surprised himself .

I'm from the Brandeburg and there is actually an interesting school-concept called "Gesamtschule", where the best parts of gymnasium and realschule are combined. Some people leaving school after class 10 and starting their apprenticeships, some stay to make their Abitur, the grade you will need to study. They need 13 instead of 13 years to reach that. It's actually a great system, but much more expensive compares to others.

Here in Germany we have a saying: "If you have nothing to be proud of yourself, you still have your national pride". It kind of discribes how we feel towards fanatic nationalism and such...

damn, thats smart

@Toffi Kai Even long before WW2, one of our greatest philosophers Schopenhauer wrote: “The cheapest sort of pride is national pride; for if a man is proud of his own nation, it argues that he has no qualities of his own of which he can be proud; otherwise he would not have recourse to those which he shares with so many millions of his fellowmen. The man who is endowed with important personal qualities will be only too ready to see clearly in what respects his own nation falls short, since their failings will be constantly before his eyes. But every miserable fool who has nothing at all of which he can be proud adopts, as a last resource, pride in the nation to which he belongs; he is ready and glad to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail, thus reimbursing himself for his own inferiority.”

🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪💪💪💪💪

​@Asator yeah but who in germany has national pride? Regional pride is way more common.

its more sad honestly the national pride thing, like a depressed person that hates itself.

16:30 We Germans have learned the hard way that national pride goes hand in hand with national arrogance. Unfortunately, we've screwed up so much that it's harder to be proud of our history. It's a shame that other countries can't do the same. Great Britain, France, USA or Italy don't to have a clean record either. But they suppress this completely.

I mean, the French wouldn’t be French without being arrogant 😜 . And yes, Italy is kinda like Japan in that they don’t talk about the past , or if they do, they are quick to point out that fascism originated from a Roman tradition and has some positive sides.

@Mike8827 we are not arrogant 🧐

As a person who migrated to Germany and has been living here for some good 7 years. There is no country that is more careful about national pride than Germany. Arrogance can lead to people becoming blind of their own country's shortcomings. I have to be often careful here in Germany around other migrants because they have a strong national pride of their home country. Just me visiting Greece was a reason for some of my Turk friends to get angry with me. What I often find is that migrants living in Germany habe a stronger national pride than the ones in their own country. I've been to Turkey many times, for the most part they're a lot more accepting of criticisms directed at their country than the Turks here in Germany. Edit: I don't wanna give the Turks a bad name, they're genuinely some of the kindest people you will meet. The same applies for my home country migrants, Nepal and Indians as well.

@Mike8827 some of the most vocal anti-fascists I know are Italian 🙂 But the problem is... while fascism was and is horrible, it did indeed also bring some positive things, things most of Europe did retain, eventho nobody wants to know those originated with fascism and nazism. But not wanting to know about that is a problem, it makes it very easy to claim many political parties which are outright neo-fascists are not at all like the fascists from the past. To name one most people are totally unaware of.. payed time off for vacation as most European countries know this today was very much introduced by the nazis, and actually, the same for a couple related things. People seem to fear learning or hearing about this, but people really should know about this, as it helps a lot for understanding how those movements could garner such broad public support at the time, and may again be able to do so. Don't fear saying fascists and nazis also did some good things, things we kept around, but do fear people who want to suppress that knowledge, because they cause failure to learn from the past, and that is THE way to ensure the past will be repeated. If there is one thing to learn from that is that providing things like public healthcare, education, payed leave, etc, but also pride in where one comes from, will 'buy' support, and ensuring those are in place makes for a very good start to prevent both fascism and communism getting a strong foodhold in a country.

While the statement about tornadoes is technically true, they are nowhere close to America in terms of severeness. There are reportedly only around 40 tornadoes per year (America has around 1100). And those that do exist, are much weaker than their American counterparts.

What comes on top of it is that you don't really see the severeness in Germany because of how we build our houses as they don't fly away after a windblow

@Luke true. German houses are, on average, much sturdier built.

Yup. I apparently live literally right inside the "tornado alley" of Germany, yet I have never encountered a tornado in my life, and until this video I thought they didn't even exist in Germany. The word tornado must have a very loose definition. We might have some strong winds in some times in the year, but no full blown tonadoes

@HazeyBlazey Check the "Liste von Tornados in Europa" on Wikipedia for an extensive list of bigger tornadoes in Germany. There are quite a few and relatively strong ones. Though in the last few decades, F3 is the highest category (America has F5 on the regular).

@M. H. You are right. I actually remember some of these events near me, they just weren't really reported as Tornados, rather they were just called extremely strong winds.

What he forgot about the 3 different schools: If you go to the lowest or middel (Hauptschule / Realschule), you can still make it to the highest (Gymnasium) if you do good. And there is also a school called "Gesamtschule", which is a school that combines the Hauptschule and Realschule.

Gesamtschule can also include Gymnasium. I made my Zentralabitur at one.

Vergangenheitsbewältigung does _not_ translate to "a lingering sense of guilt". A more acurate translation would be "overcoming of the past". The generations of germans that are alive today have nothing to do with what happened in WW2 and the newer generations didn't even experience the post war germany anymore. So, for the vast majority of germans, there is no sense of guilt. However, there is a sense of responsibility. And that's pretty much what Vergangenheitsbewältigung means. It is also a term that is used for people who experienced a mental trauma. It is about coming back to your feet, to accept that it happened it is part of your history, but that it doesn't define you and that it's in your responsibility to not let it happen again. That's why there are so many memorials scattered throughout germany, why there are so many documentaries, why children learn about WW 2 _extensively_ in school and visit concentration camps. It's a part of history that we, for the most part, overcame, but have not forgotton.

Interestingly, holocaust deniers in Germany call it "Schuldkult" which translates to "shame culture". This word is often used by right-wing people to claim, that our lack of nationalism makes us "weak" and "unmanly", and well as spreading hate toward Israel. You see, Ryan, even though, most of us have "overcome"—as FeatherPaw put it quite accurately—our past (without forgetting or denying it), but there are still some people with that mindset. Unfortunately, these days that's somewhat of an upward curve, but that applies to many places worldwide.

@MeisterOghrin shame culture or guilt culture?

@Sound of Nellody Oh, yes, "guilt" is the right term here. Thanks for bringing that up! 👍🏻

@MetalGuitarManiac Yeah, guilt doesn't bring us anywhere. But forgetting isn't helpful either. By teaching about it, we can try to prevent something like that from happening again.

At 15:45 Yes, it exists, but its exactly the other way round. Hauptschule is the place, where you are forced to go if you don't show academic promise by age 10. Realschule is the middleground, and Gymnasium/Hochschule is the place for the smart kids. If you excel at the lower levels, you CAN switch schools however, and because Gymnasium is 3 years longer, people from Realschule with good grades tend to continue with Gymnasium; like I did. If I remember correctly, like 90% of my class from Realschule continued to Gymnasium, and kind of expected by now.

If you wanna learn more about Germany's history you should check out the animated history of germany part 2 and part 1, in that order

100% Deiner Meinung!

@FireFly ja 👍

I think Lower Saxony is called like this because it is next to the Netherlands (which means "low-laying country"). It has nothing to do with the North or the South, but with altitude.

You are completely right, it's the altitude. But the vicinity to the Netherlands (Niederlande in German) isn't the "reason" for Niedersachsen (Lower or "Nether" Saxony)'s name, in fact, both are named that way for the same reason.

Not the altitude (Breitengrad) but the elevation.

@Baccatube79  altitude = Höhe,  latitude = Breitengrad, longitude = Längengrad

@Hape true, but it's still the elevation

@Baccatube79 You are right. Altitude is for objects like air planes. Elevation is for places like cities. My bad. But altitude still isn't Breitengrad. 😉

There are stereotypes about Hauptschul pupils. This type of school is the lowest one of the three. If your child has always good grades (like A in your country) it will most likely attend the Gymnasium at age 10 and go to university afterwards. Hauptschule is for kids with lesser good grades. The education there focuses more on practical things. When you graduate from Hauptschule you will most likely do an apprenticeship in any kind of profession, which takes about 3 years of vocational apprenticeship at your company/employer and school. After that you are examined mechanic, craftsmen, nurse, office administrator whatever.... This form of education is also highly regarded here in Germany. When you are "ungelernt" (unlearned - without a completed appretice ship) you will always regarded as a unskilled worker and earn less money.

Yes, but I think the stereotypes have improved, at least in my time in the school and region. You can also catch up on a higher school-leaving certificate after completing Hauptschule or go to a secondary school (real-schule)/gynassium.

Yes and it is important to now that you always have the choice to go the other ways. With great grades you can study with a Hauptschule degree.

Yes there is a divide - something like a social divide between going to a Gymnasium or Hauptschule. Most people with money send their kids to the best school - and it's more difficult to fit in if you don't have much money. I didn't and met some people who were reluctant to send their kid to a gymnasium - not because she wasn't smart enough. But it's not impossible or that much of a stigma depending on where you live. If you're in a bigger city or not that rich region its better mixed - also with immigrants. The education in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg is regarded as better - they have the hardest degree of all regions. I changed the location - from Saxony to Baden-Württemberg - that's a completely different culture and language (dialect - they different ways pronouncing the same word and some words are completely different) But even if you only have the lowest possible degree, after doing an apprenticeship - you can get study at a FH (Fachhochschule) - a university that's more focused on the job training and less higher education.

right so far, but most apprenticeships now want taht you did realschule at least. But ther are may was to get a better graduation, wich training schools, technicall schools, Fachoberschule etc.

This is so far the best video on Germany I have seen on YouTube by far. It is giving a lot of context, history and details. It is also really refreshing to see a video being labeled "about Germany" that is actually about Germany and not Bavaria. It is even culturally aware enough to be pointing out that this is a stereotype image. 👍 Great seeing you reacting to this awesome video.

"Wow I didn't know that!" probably the most frequently used sentence when Americans react to other countries😂🙊

American?? You mean every country on earth?? You would be surprised how many people across th world are ignorant about other countries including all of europe, as a canadian who has travel alot ive seen that, most people just focus in themselves thats why europe is a very small continent and you got that union that basically makes your countries one big federal state in many ways, most european know nothing about latín america other than stereotypes africa asia etc...

​@François D'aurevilleThe education system in the US is pretty bad and self-centered. So... it makes sense.

11:18 It's because of the travel speed. This increased over the last 80 years by a tremendous amount. My great grandmother has been sent as a maid to a farmer at the age of 14 to a village less than 10 miles away. She was treated well but she finally tried to drown herself in the village pond due to homesickness, because this was further afar as everything she experienced before. After that incident she returned home. 😆 Close communities and slow travel speed facilitated that local languages. And of course our region had it's own dialect back than. I remember that sometimes I hardly understood what she said to me. That dialect already faded away when I grew up.

The German texts are full of spelling mistakes, so watch out (Saurbraten = Sauerbraten, Mehrdrutig = Mehrdeutig, Backfiefengesicht = Backpfeifengesicht, etc.). So don't order a "Saurbraten". 😉

Site there are spelling mistakes... But please keep in mind, that there are people trying top speak it correct, WHO are mit Germans... And we understand, what they were meaning.... Ist's mit so easy to speak German and we really have long and complicated words for anything. So let them order a Sauerbraten... The Missing "e" would be no problem. We shouldn't be too German with mit German people... In fact most Germans and (nearly all) Austrian people are makin grammer and wiring mistakes by using German. (I am an Austrian one). And although in English we are makinf mistakes. So calm down.

@Enjoy life - Meine Auszeit agreed. I just wanted to highlight that one needs to be cautious about the German in the video. Their videos are well made, which can lead to the impression that everything must be correct. Not sure what "mit Germans" means...

@H R "Not Germany" autocorrection often correct the word "Not" to "mit" sorry

@Enjoy life - Meine Auszeit got it. Couldn't have guessed that.

👍 also WirTschaftswunder

I live in northern Germany and I actually had to turn on German subtitles once because the person on TV had such deep Bavarian dialect that I didn't even get the sense of what that person was saying! 🫣

I feel the same way about all German dialects outside the Oberfelz. Been living here 7 years and I really only understand Oberfeltzer. I read it fine enough but hearing it leaves me very confused 😅

I mean, that's true for every part of Germany except bavaria. They are the only people on earth, who understand bavarian

Ich lebe in Bayern

Regarding the finger counting: We usually start to count with the thumb, but with the inside of the hand pointing to ourselves – like a thumbs-up. You can't miss the thumb like that. Then we continue with the index finger and so on.

Also it's a inglorious bastards reference

The German way is the same as American Sign Language ASL

When counting Four you don‘t use the thumb though 😅

@Riaxandra I definitely do! Maybe when I just show a four I might not use the thumb, but when I count to four I start with it, so it’s still there when I reach four.

@Alexander Sell Amazing! I do not such because my pinkie will move with the ringfinger XD So after three the thumb goes inwards :)

For people wondering how there are so many different dialects ... remember germany was seperated in many different principalitys not so long ago ~ 100 years ago ... also they blend into each other which is quite interesting

Cuckoo clocks are from The Black Forest in Baden-Württemberg, not from Bavaria. That’s what really irritated me about the Disney World depiction in Florida, where they had Oktoberfest and cuckoo clocks at the same place, and the woman selling the clocks wore Lederhosen, although these come from completely different cultures.

And Austrians..like in Tirol or so. Long time ago.

Actually, our modern depiction of Dirndls and Lederhosen goes back to the brothers Moritz and Julius Wallach from Bielefeld...

Exactly, cuckoo clocks are from the black forest in Baden-Württemberg. I came to the comments to look for this comment 🙈🤣

11:16 All villages in my region speak a similar dialect, but because of the long history of most of them (like every village is about 1000 years old) they kinda split into their own version of it. For example the town next to mine like a mile away has a dialect that is so different with some words that people refer to it as a different dialect "wallhäuser Plattdeutsch" The town of Wallhausen has a population of 1500 and I'm pretty sure that things like that happened all over Germany

About the different lighting in Berlin: The lamps in East Berlin will still exist in 2022, a total of 17,000 pieces. The East Berlin lamps, which have a rather yellowish glow, are sodium vapor lamps from the 1960s. Starting this year, the replacement for LED lamps will begin. 1. Because some of the old lamps are broken and 2. also consume more electricity.

But hopefully orange light? (And directed to the ground.) This blue light is bad for the environment, insects etc... "Lichtverschmutzung" They replaced the lighting in my street, I hate it, it's way to bright and blue. And too near to our house, nearly touches it... 🙄 I actually like some darkness... (It's a small village, but nowhere is darkness...)

@T A I think most new LED streetlights already are better than the old ones when it comes to light pollution since they're directed downwards. I think orange lights aren't actually "better" than white LED lights, they just used to be orange because those orange light bulbs were the cheapest to run. When itcomes to road safety the orange is actually worse

@T A Here in my Hometown (Hamburg) it´s not the bright and blue light. In Berlin i don´t know.

Some private facilities in my area have installed LEDs close to the street and it's a pain to drive, especially when it's raining I can't see anything. Our old Sodium gas streetlamps are way better. They are bright enough to see and dim enough to not blind the drivers. BTW, they are about as efficient as LED.... ~120lm/W. For decades they where the most efficient light source, that's why they where used so much.

Regarding being proud of our country and guilt on the other hand: in my opinion Rammstein did a great job to show this struggle in their Musik Video „Deutschland“ (visually and lyrics combined). Also in every single scene of this video you see a lot of German history. But it is also a very controversial song. 😉

Hah so true. It shows greatly how I feel about Germany and also the reason why I'm not living there anymore.

@Juvens wait what? Why?

Sauerbraten is originally made from horse meat (this is the ancient version of "recycling your old car"), good luck finding real sauerbraten in the US.

Sauerbraten means sour roast. Like mentioned it used to be horse meat for quite a time and you can find it in some areas in Germany but most of the time it is beef nowadays. It's a roast of meat pickled/marinated for several days or even a few weeks in vinegar and/or wine, herbs and spices. The taste and consistency is between beef steak and pulled beef with BBQ sauce. There are preferences to eat it in somewhat firm pieces or tender that it falls apart by looking at it. Here in Rhineland area we add sweetness to complement the sourness but the sour taste is king. It is a heavy meal with thick gravy, potato side dishes like boiled/steamed potatoes, potato dumplings or fritters/pancakes and vegetables like red cabbage or peas and carrots. Other regions prefer other side dishes like Spätzle (german noodles). That makes it a typical winter meal but can be eaten all year long. A classical sunday roast and holiday feast.

Actually Sauerbraten is only horse if it's from the Rheinland. Every other Sauerbraten isn't,

Regarding the hochdeutsch and the different "types of German" I always compare hochdeutsch to being like American English, like it's pretty easy to understand and you mostly pronounce the words how you write them (compared to other dialects), it kind of sounds easy and "clean". Other "types of German" are more like dialects, like English, Scottish, Irish, Australian, etc. accents. Usually you can still understand them, depending on where you're from, but it can get quite hard for some of them (like a heavy Irish accent compared to like the American accent that you speak, which is quite easy to understand). I don't know if that makes sense but that's always my way of explaining it...

Um 'English' is a dialect? AHAHAHA. Yeah, good one, Americans

​@Lýsa Nátt😂

i think that is a very good explanation!

Of course, there are stereotypes in schooling. That is also the most frequently voiced criticism. If the parents are academics, the child will also attend the Gymnasium. A child from a working-class family is more likely to go to the Hauptschule or Realschule. In the past, the recommendation of further education was obligatory. Social background often played a role here.

It's getting better and better with children from families with a lower "level" of education also getting into the Gymnasium. It's not like you won't get the chance getting your Abitur on the Gymnasium when your parents are foreigners working in housekeeping or a similar job (I don't want to categorize to be clear). It is a big problem with people coming from other countries, getting a well paid job because their education certificates might not be "accepted" in Germany (and I think that's true for the most countries). Back to the main point. A daughter of parents that are doctors or teachers is probably going to do work in a similar job and a son of a garbage collector and a production worker will probably end up in a job for that you don't have to go to university as well. It's mostly based on the education parents can provide. Kids from immigrants often are better at learning languages because they often learn 2-3 languages in their first 6 years of life through their parents while still attending kindergarten. The video said it very well: after 4-6 years of all kids going to the same school they are split up in "better or worse (at school)". But the most important part are these first 4-6 years of school because that's the foundation for their further education. Some parents can provide additional education in these years, others can't (and to say the least: this additional input outside of school is needed for most kids).

@Sebastian H Thank you for your addition!

@Sebastian H Sadly germanys education inequality is trough the roof and is that for ages, without any noteworthy improvement. You will find only arround 6% children on a gymnasium where the parents have the lowest educational level. We are reproducing inequality from one generation to the next. This problem is massive.

Ich musste auf die Hauptschule weil wir arm waren und meine Mutter Harz 4 bezogen hat. (Jetzt nicht mehr) uns geht es jetzt besser geld technisch aber meine Schulzeit und Noten haben wegen der diskimierung gelitten. Ich hätte easy auf die realschule gehen können und das hat mir meine Mutter leider erst vor kurzem gesagt und da war ich sehr traurig drüber weil ich in der realschule wahrscheinlich mehr Motivation gehabt hätte und meine Zukunft jetzt nicht so beschissen aussehen würde. Naja die Zeit kann man leider nicht zurück drehen.

I remember when (somewhere in the late 1990s) certain genres of music were called Gymnasiastenmusik. Like the indie rock stuff of "Hamburger Schule" bands like Die Sterne, Blumfeld etc.

11:13 Im living in that part of Germany where some people (included myself) are speaking the sorbian language. It´s really nice that they find out about us ´cause often we´re forgotten when it comes to other languages in between Germany. Sorbian sounds as well as Polish or Czech (accept of the writing there are very similar words in those languages). We have so much traditions additionally to all the other German stuff that is known. And we´re really trying to preserve the language and the traditions! (Kind of difficult ´cause the people who are fluently speaking the language are getting old and dying) Thanks Ryan for making this reactions. I really like your channel!!

There are no bears in Germany. There was one, a few years ago, his name was Bruno, he was in the news for weeks. But there are wolves in the wild, mainly in Eastgermany.

We had a few Wolf cases here in Westerwald lately.They attack sheeps.Althou it's rare,but we do have Wolfs around....

Dont forget Bruno!

I live in Niedersachsen (near Hannover) and we have a lots of wolfs hear .... in the lüneburger heide and the Harz

From the perspective of a teacher I should say that there are not only stereotypes about pupils – it’s the same about teachers. I worked at a “Gymnasium” and also at a combined “Hauptschule” and “Realschule”, which is called “RealschulePlus” with an expansion for medical specialisation (“Fachoberschule Gesundheit”). When I started working there about 10 years ago, I get the nickname “The Professor” because I was a teacher for the “Gymnasium”. The other teachers expected a less expertise in education but a high expertise in technical knowledge. Many parents also expected something like that. The time before at the “Gymnasium” the other teachers told me about the low level teaching in a “Realschule”. But today that are only stereotypes. The pupils are more mixed up every year, the level of difference drops every year. Many differences from the past got lost. But there is still an idea with the different types of school and it effects the teaching. At the “Gymnasium” the teaching is focused on theoretical things and abstract thinking – a preparing for university. At the “Hauptschule” the focus is on practical work with many practical exercises like constructing, cooking, nursing and so on. In the “Realschule” the focus is on themes like administration, advising or salesmanship. But it’s just a thing of focus. You do everything at every type of school, but with a focus more on this or that. Is there a real difference in level of performance today? Yes, it is. But is there is a real difference in behaviour as the stereotypes often say? No, not anymore. All classes have their own problems based on the background of your pupils. And that often means that the parents are the problems not the kids. Also you will see all type of backgrounds in every type of school but with typical appearance in this types. The parents with to high expectations and a to high workload for their children is a typical problem at a “Gymnasium”. Parents who don’t care about their children are more often at a “Hauptschule”. These stereotypes are not the whole truth. But this stereotypes give ideas to people, that pupils form the “Hauptschule” are retards and form “Gymnasium” are nerds. That’s all crap! I’m working for so many years with pupils from all schools. You have nerds and retards in every class, there are always good and bad people in all classes. And the only difference here is in the head of the people. That’s a truth of 2022. It might be different in memory of other times, but I’m speaking for today.

7:30 "How come different beers with the same ingredients?" Through different quantities, temperatures, filtration, processes and the origin and quality of the ingredients! Greetings from Portugal !

Yeah, basically the same way you get different kind of wines....

@swanpride the process is more variable like the wine. And beer have two stuffs, wine just only the grave! So the Production of Beer is more tech

i live in the very south part of germany. when it comes to dialects it´s actually so crazy around here that sometimes u drive to a city that is maybe 50 km away, and u end up having a hard time understanding what people say

I really apreciate your video starts where you show and comment on the comment that gave you the intent for the new video :) Stay like you are! If you are interested in the History in general. There are 2 possibilities which are quite conclusive on a fact AND feelings perspective. 1. The Music Video of Rammstein - Deutschland 2. The Analysis of the above Music Video in english by "Three Arrows". The fun part about both is the cast of the personification of Germany as a black woman(party because of the national colours B-R-G) And be aware: Dieser Kommentarbereich ist nun Eigentum der Bundesrepublik Deutschland! Greetings from Hannover! Edit: My 2 possibilites for you are not focussing on a particular epoch of the german history.

Yes or the music video German History 1 by DJ Happy Vibes (european sound award winner)😅

Grüsse aus den Niederlanden. G E K O L O N I S E E R D

I am a German and it’s funny to hear him try to pronounce German words 😂he is a true comedian And there are school stereotypes like gymnasium = clever students and stuff like that Oberschule=kinda dumb / unsympathetic Hauptschule/ how did you get here you are dumb And those are the stereotypes

In my opinion most Germans differentiate between nationalism and being proud of achievements by Germans or Germany. So showing everyday you love Germany for no reason is mostly not well established, but on the other hand when it comes to i.e classic music, literature, sports, especially during sporting competitions like the soccer world championship, you can see german flags everywhere. But you rarely see a German flag in a concert hall when the orchestra plays Beethoven‘s fifth. 😉

About schools: you need Hauptschule to start a vocational training to become a certified graftsman. But many people with Abitur (degree after Gymnnasium, needed for university) do a vocational training and become graftsmen too. Graftsmen have several degrees as well, first is "Geselle" which allows you to work as a graftsman, the highest beeing the "master" which allows you to start your own company and is highly respected in our society. Masters can earn more money than academics. That is the biggest difference. Graftsmen are not "failing school" and do "blue collar jobs" but are highly respected and highly trained. Same with workers. They get trained their whole life and the salary differes widely between untrained (Arbeiter) and skilled worker (Facharbeiter). And that is the real secret of german success. Highly skilled and respected workforce and the ability for everyone to get to the top. In America, that is a dream, in Germany it is reality for many.

Sauerbraten is a dish that is usually only served for special events or for example on Christmas. I eat it once a year and I love it. You have to marinade the meat for at least 3 days to get the best flavour and soft consistency. I personally like it most with „Spätzle“ (these would be sth like little noodles made of eggs and flour, you have to look it up I can’t explain it). So I Hope you can try it too one day😊. Other than that, I’ve watched all of your reaction videos so far. It’s very nice seeing someone react to things that are totally normal to me. It also makes me appreciate things here more (bc we Germans LOVE to get annoyed about everything in our country, you could rlly say it’s a love-hate relationship for most people) By the way, I come from the city you saw at the beginning with the highest church tower in the world. Little fun fact: we not only love to brag about our church tower in Ulm but also that Albert Einstein was born here and that we celebrate our constitution which restricted the powers of the upper classes (the „Patrizier“) every year since 1397 a.d. now.

In kölschen Kneipen gibt es das ganze Jahr rheinischen Sauerbraten

By the way, you sound so cool when you try to speak german. I think it’s so fascinating how the tone of your voice can change depending on wich language you speak. That’s a phenomenon I witnessed for a while now by different people.

Beethoven was born in Bonn. A City in Rhineland. Not in Belgium. You can also visit the house where he life as a child. Bonn is really proud of it and also called "die Beethoven Stadt" (Beethoven City). But I think one of his parents came from Belgium, but I'm not sure

Very interesting. My sister had a German friend in the 1970’s her mother came from a prominent family from the Isle of Silt. They had a catalogue from Germany that they would order from that we didn’t have in Australia. I love their fried noodles. 🐨

There is an amazing history series from German TV called "Die Deutschen", which is on Youtube, too. It covers the past 1000 years of our history and you should absolutely watch it (it's a documentary series though, so 40 minute videos). But only 4 of its 10 episodes have subtitles in English (on YT anyways). They cover the time from about 1800 to I think 1914. Anyways, here they are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f59SOxNmcyU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J28wQLd2lus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tyeu2Z_p9sM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geB2Uvkionc

Funny was on a car testing trip in southern Germany one of my Australian colleagues raised a hand showing five fingers in greeting to let the waiter know five of us had arrived for diner. In no time the waiter delivered 5x one liter glass of beer, and gave out the day menus. He had taken the gesture as ordering 5 beers, not as intended to signal 5 people for diner.

Oh, thats an interesting one. Never thought about it, but of cause. In Germany the hand-signals are used for the amounts of drinks you order. Especially at bars or very traditional restaurants. You don't really show the waiter how many people you are, because you search your table on your own. You just go in, look around if there is an empty table for enough people, sit down and waint until the waiter notices you. So there is not really a code for signalling "5 people for dinner". If the place is crowded, it is ecen socially accepted to ask people "ist hier noch frei" (is here still some space) and sit at their table together with them. I find all of it kinda awkward myself and much more prefer the model of other countries, where the waiter places you.

so...why you should show the waiter that there are 5 of you, when you already seated? that doesn't sounds logical to me!

@Leeta Roth DID NOT SAY SEATED! We had just walked in the door...

@Helmuth Schultes nobody in germany brings you drings while you not at a table or the bar!

@Leeta Roth AGAIN YOU MAKE ASSUMPTIONS. No way was it suggested that drinks were given to us standing in the doorway. The reference "no time" is not meaning no time instantly, it is a normal expression for only very short time, and neither were the day menues given while we were in the doorway. THE GESTURE FOR FIVE WAS MADE ENTERING AS A GROUP. WE PROCEEDED TO SIT AS A GROUP, AT AVAILABLE FREE/UNOCCUPIED TABLE. During a short time span while we were seated, the waiter poured the five beers, and delivered those to the table where we had sat down. Then handed us the 'day menues' to choose our meals. The whole issue was the misunderstanding that the gesture for five was intended to let the waiter know five were attending for dinner, NOT to order beers.

To confuse you even more, I went to something called Orientierungsstufe between Elementary school and Gymnasium. It was for the school years 5 and 6, and it was intended to help with the decision which school to pick. We were divided into different courses A, B, and C, according to our grades. We could switch between those courses every semester (if our grades rose or fell), and at the end of year six, the teachers would give recommendations to the parents to which school they should send their child. Last choice was with the parents, though.

Je nach Schule und Bundesland waren die Unterschiede teilweise marginal bis hin zu extrem. Ich erinnere mich noch an ein Ereignis, als ein Freund vom Gymnasium zu uns auf die Realschule kam und dann feststellen durfte, dass abgesehen von der Lernmenge die Anforderungen ähnlich hoch waren wie zuvor auf seinem Gymnasium. Nur eben weniger Lernstoff und Fächer insgesamt. Wohingegen zb. Freunde auf der Hauptschule teilweise jeden Tag nur 4 Schulstunden hatten ...

As a Thuringan, i can recommend you the thüringer bratwurst or the thürnger klöße as they are our speciality in our federal state. (They are one of the best things you can eat in Germany with the berliner Currywurst and the bayrische Weißwurst mit Brezeln, süßem Senf und Bier.)

It's just so funny that Neuwerk island would be (briefly) mentioned in any foreign language video, because it is so small. My family used to have a lot of vacantions on this small little island. And it was amazing!

Yeah, when I went to school, there were many stereotypes about the school forms. The ones who went to Gymnasium thought they were the best while we all thought people from Hauptschule were stupid. Things changed since then. My daughter went to Hauptschule, and they were actually very well educated.

Rheinischer Sauerbraten (there are also different recipes for this); I did this in America for my host family once. Was fun! - you need chuck tender, vinegar (the meat goes in there for a week/10 days and you also add a handfull of raisins, some (6-10) cloves; juniper berries - 10; 2/3 bay leaves. As said that needs to stay in the vinegar (I use 7 herbs vinegar - others use raspberry vinegar) for atleast 7 days (can up to 12) days - filled up with wtaer so the meat stay surfaced. You then take the meat out (keep the vinegar we need that for the sauce, later on) and then you need a BIG cooking pot. You roast the meat all around, take it out, throw in some small cut onions, small cut carrots as well. those are also roasted, then the meat goes back in. You then want some of the vinegar as a base for the sauce (try not to get any of the spices - but the raisins), let that cook a few minztes and then you add beet syrup (the sauce is supposed to be sweet/sour) and some what we call "Zuckercoleur) whic is actually a brown sugar color to gve the sauce a nice dark touch. Then just let it stew for 1/2 hours, take out the meat, cut it in slices and add them back in the sauce (depending on how thick you like your sauce you can thicken it up). It's the best to let the meat rest overnight and warm it up the next day. It usually goes with fermeented red cabbage ( cut and cooked - I use apple jiuce and cinnamon to make it tasty) and either potatoes or Knödel XD For me it's totally a winter dish. I use chuck tender, the original meatused was actually horse (when my daughters were small I had to stop using it, they did not want to eat "pony") and some people also use gingerbread in the sauce - I prefer mine uncooked, thank you so much! and yes, you should definetly try out our Rhineland"Karneval" and... people are problaby kill me, but try in Cologne XD (I am from Cologne - and I think we do it best!) Best be there between "Wieverdaach" (womens day - it's always a thursday, but it chnges yearly) to Veilchendienstag (violet tuesday). High points are Thursday, Sunday and "Rosenmontag"(rose monday) when there is a HUGE parade in Cologen (and also in Düsseldorf, Mainz and uncounted smaller towns) Karneval ends on "Aschermittwoch" (ashen wednesday) and then the lent before easter starts.

German history goes back to before Roman times. I have a book called " the shortest German history" and it's fairly concise and explains a lot.

"Hauptschule" seems to be the "lowest" school type but it gives the possibility to exit school at least one year before all others. So you can go for a job / job education before all others. This makes sense for those who already have a plan, like working in a family business etc. . Also there is always the possibility to "upgrade" your school-leaving qualification later. Even to get the "Abitur", which you need to visit a university.

This video was so interesting - and I'm German by the way 🙊Really fun video, had to laugh a few times cause your reactions to some of the things that were/are going on over here are just too cute. '"German at heart"? Yeah, we love to hear that ❤

For me as a german the only thing i can really proud of about my country is the things it achieved and went through in the last 100.

Hi, I'm from Bremen and I've also lived in Bremerhaven. Let me explain some things (actually I'm gonna make it even worse!): Bremen has a kind of special status as it was one of the big Hanse Cities (others including Hamburg, Lübeck, Bergen and Nowgorod). Because of it's economic weight, it never became a part of the surrounding Lower-Saxony or it's preceding principalities and kingdoms. In the first half of the 19th century, Bremen - located at the river Weser - bought some land down the stream at the coast from the kingdom of Hannover to build a harbour as ships got increasingly bigger and they couldn't sail on the Weser anymore. This also saves a lot of time. As you might have guessed, they gathered all their creativity to come up with a name for this new town. Bremerhaven basically just means "Harbour of Bremen". Now this is where it get's funny! The large majority of the town of Bremerhaven is just that - one of the two towns, that comprise the only divided German state. However, the area of the international terminal of the port is actually, legally, a part of the town of Bremen. A place that is ~60km away. This caused some funny side effects during the Covid pandemic as for some time there were different rules from town to town, depending on the number of cases in that place. Because of this, Covid rules that applied could change as you move throughout town, like in my case going from your appartment to your job at the docks. Also notably because of this, maintenance responsibilities can pose some form of problem, as just recently showcased by a pier collapsing under a rather famous historic lighthouse in Bremerhaven.

5:37 The Alpine foothills / Prealps begin from the river Danube (more south than shown). What he shows is rather the border between the "Deutschen Mittelgebirgsschwelle" and "Süddeutsche Schichtstufenland" (Southern German Scarplands). Both together are the "Deutsche Mittelgebirge". Unfortunately both, "Deutschen Mittelgebirgsschwelle" and "Deutsche Mittelgebirge" translated with Central Uplands. I think that's where the irritation comes from.

If you wanna learn about german pre ww2 history i recommend the bismarck series from simple history. Its a few videos but gives a very good overview up to the begin of ww1 I can also recommend the video "The rise and fall and rise and fall and rise of germany", it also showcases german history and is way shorter (cause it is just 1 video, not 7)

Since you wanted to know more about germany‘s history: I can only tell you about the local history (it varies a LOT for each „state“). Also I don‘t know the right order of events, it‘s just what I learned in museums, school and bc of local landmarks in my childhood. In Schleswig-Holstein (the part between North- and Baltic Sea) germany was mainly colonized by vikings! We still have museums and old viking towns that are still intact and can be visited! Also, we still celebrate „viking weeks“ where people can dress up (some even bring real, old swords an stuff) and visit very authentic markets. Handcrafters sell their rings, coins etc., you can buy shields ans swords and eat food freshly made on open fire, all out on a field at the coast! Often people sing old viking songs, play old instruments or act out a „fight“ with sword and shield. Later in history the people of Schleswig-Holstein mainly lived off of fishing. Most of the old fisher-towns are still up and people even live there! The houses are literally so small, a lot of people would have to duck to get in. Then, of course, there was the time of castles and nobility. But as far as I know, that was very common in all of germany. However, the big castles and their beautiful gardens are still kept in very good shape, a lot of them have been turned into museums to make good use of them and even allow children‘s birthday parties with dressing up in authentic clothing, trying a few old dances in the ballroom during the tour and learning about the history behind all of it. In general there are a lot of activities (often used by schools) to give children (and anybody else) the chance of actually stepping in the shoes of other generations. E.g. I remember visiting a very old farm and not only learning about the old farming devices but also pounding butter myself after learning how to milk a cow. So if you really want to know more, I would recommend you focusing on one „Bundesland“ (state) and by chance visit some landmarks! It can be very fascinating :)

Oh yeah, and at some point we weren‘t even part of germany but denmark. But I don‘t know a lot about that topic tbh.

5:09 we also have that sign in Spain! It means that all restrictions are gone but you still got to follow the "general" speed limit which changes regarding what type of road you are in. For example autopistas or autovias which are the equivalent of autobahn use 120 km/h, while other smaller ones go on 90km/h then smaller ones 70 or 50 and inside cities or in dirt paths it's around 30 or 40

in the fourth grade, the teachers give a recommendation for the next type of school. You can stick to it, but you don't have to. experience has shown that it is recommended. You can always change the type of school or catch up on a higher degree after school. I did the simple secondary school certificate and got the extended one through the subsequent training. In the meantime I have also made up my technical college entrance qualification and am studying mechanical engineering. It took me longer than others, but I also learned a lot more. Greetings from Germany

The recommendations were usually right. I entered Gymnasium when parents began to have the final word regarding which school their children would attend. In 5th grade there were 150 students in my year out of which around only 70 actually completed the Abitur at my school. Forcing your children into a school that is too hard for them just doesn't make sense since they made friends for a year and then had to leave those behind because they couldn't make it. Climbing up the ladder later on when you find the drive to complete the Abitur makes a lot more sense than being put into Gymnasium and then fail.

My parents actually wanted me to go to "Gymnasium" high school and, if possibly study at an university. As a child, however, I grumbled about it and instead wanted to go to secondary school together with my best-friend classmates i knew since Kindergarten and because I found the high school students to be arrogant, snooty jerks. It wasn't until after secondary school that I went on to a technical college and then a university of applied sciences. So yes, I had prejudices about different types of schools and educational paths. As a child I considered the more down-to-earth schools better, only later as an adult that changed and I realized that the higher levels of education would actually have been more beneficial.

Yes, there are definitely stereotypes, just not like you said it... 😂 Hauptschule (5 years) is a kind of base level education. With a Hauptschule Graduation you'll be able to get simple, low paying artisanal Jobs. Realschule (6 years) is geared towards getting a solid education with already some advanced information in maths and sciences. With a Realschule graduation you'll be able to get a higher-paying good apprenticeship and get a higher middle-class job. Gymnasium (8-9 years, depending on type) won't give you big muscles. It's the best education and geared towards higher linguistics, mathematics and sciences. You'll earn advanced levels of knowledge in all of those fields there. Students of Gymnasiums are able to study in universities and get high-paying middle- and upper-class jobs. It's also required to learn a 2nd foreign language (normally the 1st is English and the 2nd is French or Spanish), so that you are prepared for challenging jobs with international contacts. There are also special types of Gymnasiums with special branches for economy, maths, technology, psychology, music and more. Combined with the Grundschule (basically a primary school) of 4 years you'll normally be in school between 9 to 13 years. Once you're enrolled in one type of school, you can still change schools, so nothing is set in stones (obviously you'll have to be good or bad enough). To round everything up, there are also private schools that have really different approaches to learning, the most known example would be the Walldorfschule. However those students still have to do the normal Hauptschule, Realschule or Gymnasium graduation to prove that they're as good as everyone else and for having standardized degrees. There are also special Gymnasium-like schools that will further educate you in a specific field. Those will make it possible to attend university in this specific field, but not others (unlike Gymnasium). At last, there are also special needs schools for mentally and/or physically disabled children, geared towards teaching them basic life skills so that they can be as independent as possible. All of those schools listed here are completely free (apart from the privat one of course), and you'll also be able to study in universities for free as well (apart from a small once-a-year fee of 100-250€) So, I think our school system, if not the best, is still thought through pretty good.

You forgot the Gesamtschule. The School includes all three types of school (Hauptschule, Gymnasium and Realschule). In Germany, the income of the parents indirectly determines the school career. What is called for in every PISA test, but ignored by politicians. Help reduce the Gesamtschule. But that doesn't work.

In the German language you can add as mach words to one word to make a new word. We also made multiple new letters like ö, ü and ä. They were later also used by the Turkish.

Fun fact: in Berlin you have also different walking light at the crossovers. East and West uses different designs till now.

It’s funny how you said “Oh he went to the Gymnasium,that means he is dumb”, when these kids are technically the smartest 😅

Not the smartest, just the hardest working be smart and play dumb ;)

About the school stereotypes: Yes, they exist, and are partially even true. Although Hauptschule and Realschule got combined to a Gesamtschule, so it is technically only 2 types. On the other hand there are more options than just these two, but they are less common-

I would bet the most part of the views are german regarding to the comments 😂 absolutely love your videos. Generous voice, smooth accent. Very pleasant to listen to. Keep on going! Greetings from Frankfurt a.M.

15:33 yes is the short answer. though before i go into the longer answer, a bit more history. the three schools had different roots. the Hauptschule (main school) used to be Volksschule (peoples school). it was to be open for everyone and therefore was seen as mostly for the commoners. it's graduates would mostly go into simple jobs like farming or industry. the Realschule (real school) used to be Mittelschule (middle school). it used to be for the Mittelstand (middle class) of people that wanted to give their children a better education than the Volksschule offered or just to segregate their children from the "poor". their graduates would go into a bit more influential positions like economy, military and bureaucracy. the Gymnasium (same translated, but it's highschool) used to be Hochschule (high school). it was mostly for nobility and wealthy or influential families. it's graduates would often have easier access into high positions of most sectors like politics and economy. therefore the "new" system after ww2 was just an refurnished version of the old system. a lot of classist mistreatment still persists from this old system, and therefore especially the Hauptschule and its students sometimes get unjustly treated like everyone there is stupid and poor. there is a lot of interesting history behind this topic, but i shall stop here and thank you for reading. ^^

Realschule came around in the early 20th century when the need for white-collar workers rose. They needed more theoretical courses than the Volksschule normally offered, but wouldn't need all the Gymnasium could teach them. As most people in middle class do white-collar work rather than blue-collar work or the high-paying jobs you need to study for, most of them will go to Realschule.

In Germany we have different 'languages' based on the history of the land. For example in the north where I live we speak Plattdeutsch. That's influenced by the Dutch and the partly by other northern countries.

As a German I can say that this video is pretty accurate and well researched!

Away from the bears.

Some facts are a bit outdated by now but I love your videos

I love your videos, I am origanlly from the black forest living in Berlin right now and I am still experiencing culture shocks although it's the same country, and the german history and language are both equally confusing and a lot 😅 but yeah I could talk about this for hours, anyways like your videos, I like how humble you are and how interested you are, best wishes!!!

14:44 your german actually sounds pretty good. Its pretty accurate. Most people would have to try a few times to get it that good.

15:28 - Yeah those stereotypes do exist, Hauptschule students are considered dumber than students from realschule or gymnasium. And otherway around happens too, like Hauptschüler (students from Hauptschule are called that way) think that gymnasiasten (students from Gymnasium called like that) are snobs/smartasses and so on. Actually most of germans including me, dont think the schoolsystem is fair. The schoolsystem definatly isnt the best, even thought i think that its still better than the US. I guess there is always room for improvement in any system 16:30 - To be honest, watching your and other americans reaction videos of germany, my national pride is growing. I see germany different than i saw it a few years ago. I actually wanted to move to america, recent events got me re-thinking. I am Father of 2 Kids and a very sick wife, and germany offers me what america simply couldn't. Every day i feel more home than i ever did. Thank you for that, because you and other americans (some living here in germany like Nalf) helped me realize that. 18:30 - Namibia is a country in western part of Southafrica

about the school stereotype thing you asked, yes, it does exist and we make fun of each other. theres this one thing we call "Baumschule" its pretty much a word we throw at people we think are dumb Edit: The so called Baumschule actually exists and its a place where you breed trees so idk how that took off.

if you want to see more history of germany I suggest the series of Otto von Bismark von Easy History. It shows the mind of one of the few german statesman that actually knew what they were doing.

If you want German recipes or any hints how to cook a dish,pls just ask me! I'm a studied German Chef and learned the upperclass french Kitchen,but I cook nearly everything from everywhere! I'd bei glad to hear from you. Best wishes from Wild-West-Germany,NRW, City of Recklinghausen 🙏👍🍀😎

If you long for compact information about the german history before WW2, you may get a copy of "The shortest History of Germany" by James Hawes. It starts with the first Romans to reach the river Rhine and ends in the 2010s. Its pretty much the best summary of how Germany has become what it is now. With all its special features and wierd anomalities. And it really is quite short with shy of 250 pages.

Ah, very nice, the fact that we get Tornados is not one very commonly known. Actually got to see one of these myself in the town over where it demolished multiple farms in 2011.

There are some videos from history simplified and similar channels about German history. It's a huge thing. I suggest a look onto the "Rammstein - Deutschland" video, but this perhaps a bit later because there is a lot of history packaged into and maybe difficult to understand. On the other hand, you will find a lot of people who will explain everything of it. Nonetheless, it's great. There is a wall in the minds even today, not just in lights. We have our own stereotypes about people from different regions in the country, like the US will have as well. When he talks about "Tornados" - we have some "Windhosen" from time to time, but most of the time they are quite harmless in comparement with the american ones. Extreme weather was a total rarity in the past - one of the reasons why many people were not prepared when a flood hit some villages. At the moment we have a heavy draught. Means that many of the rivers are extreme low on level. You can find some fascinating videos when looking for: "rhine low water" or "Rhein Niedrigwasser" About bread: we like it, around 2 from three meals have to do with it. It differs from the American bread, less sugar and the types as well. Cheese is another great thing even if it's not mentioned. Beside of beer there is a large variety of whine, too. There is a quote from Arthur Schopenhauer (German Philosopher): The cheapest sort of pride is national pride; for if a man is proud of his own nation, it argues that he has no qualities of his own of which he can be proud; otherwise he would not have recourse to those which he shares with so many millions of his fellowmen. The man who is endowed with important personal qualities will be only too ready to see clearly in what respects his own nation falls short, since their failings will be constantly before his eyes. But every miserable fool who has nothing at all of which he can be proud adopts, as a last resource, pride in the nation to which he belongs; he is ready and glad to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail, thus reimbursing himself for his own inferiority.” ― Arthur Schopenhauer Don't get me wrong about it, it's not forbidden, and as long as you keep it somewhat low, most people have no great problem with patriotism or loving the country. But this is a thing, we learn a lot about history in classes and the Third Reich is a part of it (if you ask some, they seem to be sleeping when all the rest was told, because they only remember this). Flags are rare - unless on greater soccer championships, than many put them on there cars and you will find the fragments of it on the autobahn because it did not withstand the fast driving. I want to add: It is not forbidden to own some of the nazi stuff, but there are some laws around them. So it's more to collectors or people with questionable mindset. There is a Turkish-German Comedian "Serdar Somunco" who read from "Mein Kampf" public. He clears some of the misconceptions. For example it is forbidden to read all the book to an audition without making a break. As if this would be possible. But it's forbidden to show those symbols. Over all, its about "Meinungsfreiheit" so "freedom of opinion" not of speech. This is the 5th article in the Grundgesetz - the German constitution. And the first Article is "The dignity of man is inviolable. To respect and protect them is the obligation of all state power". So it's more important. And denying facts is nothing about opinions, so it's not secured by the 5th Article.

Ima just add right here that Gymnasium is the hardest and longest kind of school, so you get respected the most when you went to that kind of school.

hey ryan, if you want to know more about german history, a good start for you would be "the shortest history of germany" by james hawes. knowing very much about our history, it was still a pleasure tto me reading the whole thing with his perspectives and analyses. Für alle Deutschen hier: Lest es! Geiler Scheiß! Ist mittlerweile auch auf Deutsch erschienen.

Regarding the German flag thing: During the Fußball World Cup we once hung up the German flag (like many households do) but we forgot to immediately put it back inside when the World Cup was over. A few days later we got an anonymously written letter from a neighbour saying we should put our flag back inside because of the German history... Like wow we felt like we did something illegal and I guess I have never put my hand on a German flag ever since 😅

Yes there are stereotypes which are explained in some other comments here. Very interesting because nowadays you can study even when you started out in the Hauptschule. A friend of mine, who went to the same elementary school as me also first went to the Hauptschule and now is studying. It took him a little longer than me (went directly to a Gymnasium) but its possible to go through all schools and still get a Bachelors or Masters degree and other stuff.

i wish everybody would present history with that kind of humor. It was really funny to see the history of our coutry i that way

11:31 Plattdeusch has many similarities with the English language. A few examples: Appel - apple Plante - plant Schipp -ship dat -that de - the salten - salt sitten - sit

yes, the Low German dialect in northern Germany, especially in Lower Saxony, is the forerunner of Old English

I was born in Fort Lauderdale Florida in the USA and have lived in Germany since I was 12. I lived in Hamburg and now in Bochum. Bochum is in the Ruhr area and Cologne and Düsseldorf can be reached in less than 30 minutes. Bochum is such a beautiful city. Have a look at the short 3 Minutes video about Bochum my home pls. Video -> "Bochum aus neuen Blickwinkeln"

Your reaction to people speaking different dialects or even languages when they're basically near one another is a perfect example of the American culture shock with Europe. We usually get to hear Americans compare the differences between states to over 50 European countries and their traditions because each state can be the size of a country. Usually they say this whilst ignoring that all of those countries have their own "states" and those "states" have as much ( or even more) variety of accents, dialects, languages,traditional food, music, etc than any American state has between themselves. For instance, if you go to one of the smaller countries in Europe, like Switzerland, you may go from one village to just the other nearby and they'll be talking in Hochdeutsch ( standard German) to one another because they speak 2 completely different dialects... In my opinion the reason for this is that the US is a fairly new country when compared to most ( if not all) European ones. These cultures developed over hundreds of years whilst travelling was mostly done by foot or horse. News was a thing spread mouth to mouth and every single place got to evolve without really any outside interference. So people made their own food with stuff that was around them, prepared in their own way, developed their own dialects, had different historic events, etc... When the US became a country it had a lot less time to get to form a local independent identity and after a short while you were thrust into being a single country that had to basically have a common ground and follow the same base rules... Add to that the mass murder of most natives (and their traditions) and the settlers being mostly from the same few countries and it's expected to have far less cultural differences between big areas of land. Nowadays, with the internet, travelling, etc we're all becoming more close to people all around the globe... Which has it's good and it's bad side.

Gut gesagt :)

Regarding the stereotypes of the different schools: The smarter kids go to Gymnasium, they are the schools with the highest barrier to entry because when you graduate from a Gymnasium you get an "Abitur" which you need to enroll in University. The Dum Kids go to a "Hauptschule" (you can't get an Abitur there) and the kids in between go to "Gesamtschule". You can also get Abitur there, but most kids opt out of it because it is more difficult.

You definitely should check out the video about the Reinheitsgebot for brewing beer: 'German purity law for beer - The Reinheitsgebot' And please keep creating this great content :)

Fun fact about the „Eszett“ (ß): My last name features it, however in my passport and ID while it uses the „ß“ in the last name category, they have „internationalized“ it with „ss“ instead of „ß“ on the bottom where there is a scannable code thingy that is used when passing trough the automatic passport controls at the airport… Hooooowever, I have been accused of passport fraud and almost arrested on two separate occasions while traveling abroad because the border control didn’t believe me when I said „it’s a special German letter! It’s like a s but different!“ Went to the German officials to renew the passport a few years ago and asked them about it. They then noticed that my name is also misspelled (with „ss“ and not „ß“) in THEIR official record of my person and therefore refused to issue a new passport before I presented my birth certificate to prove my existence 👀 It certainly makes a lot of things much more complicated🙈

03:10 good point. And our history is long and rich with events. Probably should watch something about "the Varusschlacht"(varus's battle? Idk if that's the correct English translation but im lazy so here we go). 12:05 that's cologne, I was born here. Our carnival is well known and is also called the fifth season of the year. It is fun, most of the time

15:30 Sadly, yes. When I was young, the school decided what your further education would be. The school then sent you to either Gymnasium ("highest education" - focus on STEM subjects, other sciences, business, civil service career, law, medicine...), Realschule (middle education - focus on crafts and services) or Hauptschule ("lower education" - focus similar to Realschule - but the aim is to get the children to Realschule). Likewise, the schools run for different lengths of time. In the meantime, it is fortunately the case that in many federal states parents are now also allowed to (co-)decide which school their children go to and likewise the Hauptschule has been abolished in some federal states or a new form of improved Hauptschule has been created, the Werksrealschule. However, this school system is a systemic discrimination. The Gymnasium is increasingly attended by children of rich and very educated parents with a high social status, the Realschulen are often attended by children from the middle and lower classes, and the Hauptschulen by foreigners, people with a migration history and people from the lower classes. The model presented is of course very rough now, but one can detect tendencies. Likewise, the secondary school determines the possibilities of what comes after school. People with a secondary school diploma, the "Allgemeines Abitur", or those who want to leave school earlier, the "Fachhochschulreife", can do anything if they get good grades in the first diploma. Many then go on to university (there are also different categories). People with a "Mittlere Reife" (intermediate secondary school leaving certificate) are not allowed to study, but depending on their grades they can do an apprenticeship or change to a "Fachgymnasium", where they can take the "Fachabitur", which, however, only allows limited access to university. The Hauptschulen lead to the "Hauptschulabschluss", the minimum qualification for many professions. Afterwards, one can start limited apprenticeships, take up professions without training or, depending on one's grades, change to the Realschule. There is also a school system for children with learning difficulties, the so-called "special schools" or "Förderschulen". Apart from the state system, there are still many private schools where you can get higher degrees for money. However, not all people can afford these schools. Some grammar schools also have classes for the highly gifted. It has to be said that each federal state has its own school system, which makes it difficult to compare and contradicts my statements. In the vernacular, however, it is said that Bavaria provides the highest quality education and Berlin a weaker one. This leads to a lot of mobbing and discrimination within society, as the place of residence, social and societal status, school system and grades are an important basis of assessment for many people. So there is extremely strong and condescending prejudice. But there are also positive attributions.

Yeah there are stereotypes about the schools, because you have to have pretty good grades to get into a gymnasium so people who went to a gymnasium and did relatively good there have a way easier time trying to get into the university, while people who went to a Hauptschule often have it very hard getting into the university.

Love your content , keep on doing your stuff. Much Love from Germany.

Fun fact about the different way of signing "3". The allied soldiers actually used that to identify german spies within their ranks

I dont live in Germany, but Switzerland. There are not really stereotypes on what school you go. But i love to say: I rather think than study. Thinking and studying means basically the same in german.

If you want to know more about the absurdity surrounding the German-Belgium border, you should definitely watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEM_cp6hVeM The Vennbahn and the history surrounding it is (kind of) extraordinary. I lived there once and can confirm the absurd part...

The colors of the German flag came from the 1813/1814 "Lützowsches Freihkorps“ which were volunteers from all over Germany and fought against Napoleon. Their "Uniform" colors was a black coat with golden buttons and red piping. Black, because every coat could easyly tinted in black, and they could use their own coats.

Damn Ryan that Guy is talking so fast this actually is hard for a German to follow him.. wow Anyways, great content as usual :)

Rather than national pride, we find more in regional pride. Germany: Alright County: nice Local community circle: great City/village: AWESOME 😎 It’s not really to feel guilt for the past, but rather, not finding that much joy in getting more of being a German, just because it’s a country..