8 Terrible Mistakes I Still Make as a Foreigner in Germany 😫 

Just wanted to mention that your "2 Kinder hier " quip really cracked me up, especially since it sounded so genuine and (foreign) accent free. It really sounded like Düsseldorf :D

I fully get the date thing. As a German it has confused me more than once when in English trailers for movies or video games they chose the American order. It's easy when one of the numbers is higher than 13, but in all other cases I'm usually not 100% sure. 😅

The thumb rule with the Sie and du is anyone you owe respect to is addressed with "Sie"(including all strangers) anyone you don't owe respect to (friends, family, all children) are addressed with "du". The one higher up in the hierarchy (seniority or position e.g. at your job) is the one that can offer the "du" by reintroducing themselves with their first name. If someone introduces themselves with first name to begin with they offer you to address them with "du", you can agree to it by introducing yourself with your first name or decline by introducing yourself with your family name (though that of course is creating distance and pushing the other away). Addressing an adult, especially someone older than you, by default with "du" is extremely impolite as it implies that you see them as beneath you and deny them the respect they are owed.

Jenna, as for the "mumblers", I once had a room mate during my ski holidays who was from the Oberpfalz (eastern Bavaria), and I had to ask him to repeat what we said for almost every second sentence. I'm curious about your grammar issues, but I can well imagine that it won't take long until you can give advice to native Germans concerning the grammar - judging from what I see in their texts and speech.

“It’s like a BIG DEAL 😠😠 here” 😂😂😂 made me laugh. White tulips are the best, I also started buying them in Germany 🌷💐😊

ab 1 Uhr einfach 12 Stunden draufrechnen....einfach. Übrigens, der 'opener' war Hammer!

The German phrases you speak in your videos are always nearly accent free. I have a huge respect for that! I know many native German speakers whose German is worse than yours. And that means, if you don't understand a person, because they're mumbling, I would assume, that a native speaker would also have to guess half the time. That is rude and not your fault.

Hi Jenna, I need to say that you are just adorable! I love your videos and I am so glad that you have found your way to Germany. I feel sorry for Canada, but their loss is our gain. Germany needs more people like you! Keep up your great work and stay as you are: just perfect;-)!

I have huuuuge respect for you for adapting so well. You speak german almost with no accent at times, from what i can tell. You adapted to habits that i (as a german) i struggle to adapt, like the sumermarket line thing - i hate it!!! I personally experioenced that foreign people are way more polite while many germans can be very grumpy. Dont get me wrong, i enjoy my country for many things but what i try to say is, that no country is perfect and you gave up your routine in canada for a copmpletly new "world" and i admire that.

I myself can also understand English better than various German dialects. And I was born here.😁

I love that you keep wishing people a happy birthday before their actual birthday 😁I can picture the look on your German friends' faces when you do it😁To be honest, for a long time I had a hard time wishing someone an early birthday in the US, but here I am ... a few months later and I'm truly thinking about celebrating my sons' birthday early this year, because it would just work better with our schedule 🤣. That would be such a NO-GO in Germany!

I rarely use the "Warentrenner" to separat the goods. As you mentioned I just leave an gap that 's quite obvious. To me it's not efficient, to put it there and the employee needs to put it back. And in the last 3 years it doesn't make sense, because hundreds of people grab them every day. Doesn't sound very hygenic.

You often buy at Aldi, they are fast and there is often no gap. You have to use the Warentrenner or the people behind you must be faster as they have to be.

Little hint: if you want to smalltalk in Germany with someone you are not close to - like the clerk in the bakery - you can try that, but use the formal form ("Sie"). To start a smalltalk might be unlikely in Germany, but if there is no relationship the informal form ("Du") can be seen as irritating, encroaching and rude.

But using the Sie form is easier as you don't have to think about any verb endings or stem changes, as you do with 'du' and that plural 'ihr'? Keep it simple! Schwäbisch is a great dialect as they add -le (and umlaut where needed) to any noun so it becomes neuter, ie 'das' and they skip lots of endings too, so much easier. Brill channel, love it.

Good small talk in Germany is possible. Just not so much with young or middle-aged people. Having small talk with our elderly people can lead to some really nice conversations and moments and one can really learn a lot from them. So to anyone who wants to get a break from the endless loop of small-talks like "the weather today is really...", "did you watch yesterday's football match...", "what car do you drive?" etc., be open to the elderly in our society. Many of them even don't mind if you to talk about real stuff. It's great fun for everyone.

Take comfort in the fact that everyone who doesn't speak Bavarian will hear something similar. 🤭 As a North German it is then "Damn Saupreiss" I was once at a wedding in a village in Franconia. Although I actually understand the dialect, because I have relatives there, there were some people where I understood almost nothing and had to constantly ask. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Easy hack for the 24hr format: Above 12, you just take the last digit of the hour and subtract two. I´m german and I´ve done that since learning the clock.

Its pretty simple. Think about Sie und Du like the first name basis. And you can call children or like people below like 30 by their first name - they usually even prefer it if they are like 25 or something. They are not used to being called Sie. Im in my 40s and still prefer Du because it lifts this formal barrier. But at work or older persons this has to be established first even for younger people. In most companies i would say they tell you right from the start that everyone talks on a first name base and only like the boss is called Sie. Sometimes even the boss wants to be called Du. Sure if you work at like a Bank this is most likely not the case. But they will tell you anyway. You wouldnt go to your president and call him by his first name, its usually Mr. something. Also people you dont know are always Sie unless its kids. Or just ask "kann ich Du sagen?" which is the polite way. But dont ask everyone, like people on the street or something. It can be a bit wierd. Just ask people with which you interact more than just a couple of times.

As a German your videos always make me smile. There are some things you described, we germans don't know why we do them the way we do :)

Excellent video! Master at work here!

I’m American but my job uses a 24 hour clock so my entire life uses a 24 hour clock-car, microwave, phone-everything!

Thank you Jenna, the Warentrenner was always here, but most oft the people would not have an name for that tiny little plastic thing...😉. Your German ist quite perfekt; when can we expact the first video complete in german lenguage? 😉

Honestly, you put a smile on MY face when you said, why do we need small talk in Germany 😂 Small talk for the win! I need jt for the human connection still, even if everyone feels a bit weird about it! 🤣 Big hug xxx

European, technically German, living in Canada here. I guess I always make mistakes, but Canadians are such polite so they don't point them out to me. But Canadian friends and fellow students like to mock that I don't apologize enough, hardly ever say sorry or forget to put the classic "eh" at the end of certain sentences during small talks or broader conversations. They try to make me the best Canadian I can become. Sorry to say, I think I'm more successful at making them Canadian Europeans instead.

Not leaving a gap and not using the Warentrennstab does not work. I had a few items and put them without it on the belt, there was a really a 1m gap. The cashier just let the belt run until my stuff was at the scanning device and scanned it. "Öhm, das ist mein Zeug" "Dann müssen sie den Stab hinpacken. *knarks* Einmal Storno bitte" Now I will put the the Warentrennstab every time. It does not matter if someone is behind me or not. I will not rely on him to put it there and I don't have to wait for the shift manager to get the keys for doing a reversal.

learning a language together with your child kinda is actually a great idea ^^ many people that speak like I dont know how many languages say that its best to start with easy stuff.. like.. when you start a new language your skill is basically the skill of a newborn.. and how do they learn language? simple school books.. short stories with pictures and easy grammar.. listening to people talk and gradually getting more and more into the complicated stuff.. to a point where even natives dont care anymore cause youre still able to speak the language without knowing all the grammar-rules, they are just infused at some point ^^ with the mumble... you know, youre in germany now, we are direct, if you dont understand someone just ask if they can speak a bit clearer cause you cant understand them since its not your native language :D most people (unless its a stubborn elderly maybe) will understand and try their best if its not in a "pissed off"-setting :D also the "Warentrenner" thing its rly mostly the middle aged and old people too xD I think theres a big shift in how people .. you know.. ARE :D when theres a big enough space between the stuff so the cashier sees clearly that my stuff stops there I also dont always put it.. especially now since covid hit.. I rly like to not breathe into someones neck, squishing together etc.. im pretty good with the cashiers too, even the grumpy ones like me by now.. I dont do smalltalk like "hey, was machst du so am wochenende" or such.. but just casually talking about whats happening around, making a funny statement/joke about something or being overly direct and "informal" - you get closer to people by being informal :D for example I just went to the store, unsure what to cook (i love cooking) and casually asked the employee if she got any idea what I could cook and that already started a little conversation about this topic.. kind of smalltalk but also not... I think this is the smalltalk thats being accepted here but not like "damn, the weather is nice today, innit?" :D guess the difference is really "does it make sense to talk about something or not.. if its just the weather, nah.. is it a serious question I can answer and talk about? yes? okay" :D sorry for wall of text :D

OMG ... I'm still so fresh I don't know if I am or not ... LOL .. I do just about all of those .. I too like the small talk

The intro was mindblowing, Y german is fantastic.

Herrlich sympathisch, originell und vor allem authentisch - so wirkst du. Grüße aus der Nachbarstadt

The date thing was so confusing to me when I first moved to the US LOL. And the worst part is when we moved to Germany and I worked in a US military base, and I had to deal with both American and German medical records... Was that vaccine administered on May 1st or January 5th?? 🙈 As far as the du/sie, we have the formal form in Italian as well, but if people can't appreciate you are speaking their language so well and instead chose to focus on your mistakes, well, screw them 😅

Russian is my first language, and frankly we use "thee" as in - Sie, a lot. It is just to respect the distance and the age. Every stranger is Sie with Russian, and somehow it seems to work out just fine. If you think of everyone as Sie, it is easier. Then we usually ask, can we switch to "du". As for the cash register, haven't seen people do that in Berlin. Usually say thank you when I put the thingie, or put it themselves. Maybe is's a Dusseldorf thing? As for the 24hr clock. Is Canada really teaching just the am pm method? That is interesting, wonder why though.

A little tip. If you are unsure whether 'Du'or 'Sie' is appropriate. Just always use the 'Sie'. If you meet someone for the first time, you are on the safe side with that rule. Depending on the situation, the other person will then be happy to offer you the 'Du'. When you meet someone in a private setting and they introduce themselves by their first name. It's usually 'Du' too. If it's still not entirely clear, just ask politely if 'Du' would be ok.

I'm used to almost always put two "separators" onto the conveyor, one before my stuff and one behind. Most people do not really care and I couldn't care less. For me it's kinda normal that most people forget it. I want my suff separated, so I seperate it, done. I don't get it why some people make a fuzz about it.

We are a free country too. You are allowed to do small talk with Germans (or to try it at least). ;) In places that you frequent regularly it's not even that unusual. Regarding the birthday presents.. Don't forget to bring the "Kassenbon" and say: Wenn's dir nicht gefällt, kannst du es ja umtauschen. ;)

Some other people told me they can remember the Du/Sie part when they think of hey dude is like Du and hey Sir is like Sie, so they could remember not to use Du on the elderly, unknown, or people you should show respect (like your boss or the mayor).

Except some practical things like the dates, these "mistakes" are really amiable. We should all ditch the "Sie" sooner than later!

* tut mir leid ich bin nich so schnell * …😂😂😂😂😂😂 Wie du das sagst , typisch deutsch. Ich liebe es . Sarkasmus /Ironie is der beste Humor haha 😂

Hi Jena. I like your videos. As I mentiont before in other comrnents your German is very good. Don t worry about little things like saying Du or Sie or dialects. As you know even German native speakers have problems to understand other German dialects so why should you worry.

I think your german is so perfect, that I'd have difficulties identifying you as an immigrant. Clock: It is ok to say Vier Uhr instead of 16 Uhr. Just don't add am or pm. It's self explaining by the story you add. You won't go shopping at 4am. And won't stay up until 1 pm

The Du/Sie issue is quite simple to resolve: Du is for anyone you call by first name. For Frau/Herr "family name" it is Sie. If somebody who serves you and you don't know has a name plate with her/his first name without the family name then you can say Du. For 24h time conversion substract 12 in two easy steps: 16-10=6-2=4. Buy an analog watch with 13 to 24 on the dial and you will soon not calculate but just know.

I'm also living in Düsseldorf while trying to learn German and the culture hahaha sometimes I still make some mistakes.

I have same problems with calendar and time.

In this internet day and age, the birthday thing is ... is it a thing. Been living in Switzerland since 1977, never heard this one. The "Du" thing is flexible. Some are strict, others not so much. And because of that, I've found, if I slip up, we just stay at "Du". If you have problems with "mumblers", have fun in Switzerland with the various forms of Schwiizerdüütsch.

Super, dass du so ehrlich bist. Mit deinem Sohn wird das Lernen ja dann kinderleicht. 😀 Ich wollte eigentlich mit lingoda französisch lernen. Weil du immer so begeistert bist. Aber da bleibe ich bei Duolingo (488 Tage Streak). Denn wenn du nach 9 Jahren in Deutschland mit deutschem Mann und Familie noch Grammatik Probleme hast und auf dem Spielplatz mit den anderen Müttern nicht du selbst sein kannst ....spare ich mir den Sprachkurs für ein paar Frankreich Aufenthalte. Gespräche klappen jetzt schon gut genug. Ist nicht böse gemeint ❣️ Wenn einer vor mir das Trennding nicht hinlegt bedanke ich mich dafür, dass er / sie meinen Einkauf mit bezahlen möchte 😂 Großzügiges Trinkgeld gebe ich auch. Weil ich selber in der Gastronomie arbeite und weiß wie man sich darüber freut. Smalltalk in Läden halte ich gerne. Ansonsten finde ich das Zeitverschwendung. 😎 Das mit der 24 Stundenuhr kannst du ruckzuck lernen indem du es auf deinem Handy einstellst. Schreibe dir jeden Morgen zum Üben das Datum auf. Dann sitzt das bald. Mich stört übrigens nur der immer selbe Hintergrund in Videos wenn der Inhalt lahm ist. Das ist bei dir nicht so. 💝 Ich möchte auch keine Besserwisserin sein. Ich habe das selber alles so gemacht als ich im Ausland gelebt habe . Ach ja.... eigentlich duzt man jeden Erwachsenen erst nachdem er es angeboten hat. Ansonsten bleibt man beim Sie.Eine einfache Regel. Alles Liebe

Don't worry to much about tiny little mistakes. You can't make everybody happy at the same time. If there is light, there always will be shadows. Nobody is perfect. Tiny edges are sweet, a lovely unique item.

I live in Berlin, and here people in front of you rarely put the separating bars between the groceries. You do it yourself, or you leave a gap. Having spent my childhood in South Germany, I had quite a culture shock when I started living in Berlin. Now I have reverse culture shock when I visit South Germany. It may sound strange as Germany is not a big country compared to Canada or the US, but each region has its own habits and way of doing things, even when they are next to each other. I live in Berlin, but I work in the surrounding region of Brandenburg and found surprising differences between the two. By the way, Brandenburg's people are very famous for mumbling. I have worked there for almost 20 years and still often have difficulties understanding them, even as a German. Must be way harder for you. About tips: it seems to me tipping generously is less and less common these days. It used to be 20%, but now it is down to an average of 10% or less. I still tip 20% or slightly more to round up the sum. The faces of the waiters always light up when I do.

"Crazy Canadian", but very smart! ☺

Early birthday congratulations are taboo in many cultures. Even saying that you are turning certain age in future may sound like you pushing your luck 😂 😂😂

Jenna, I would love to make a funny video with you about German and North American misadventures, mistakes and prejudices. Meiner einer in Deutsch und du in Canadian English . You are welcome to create a script for it, which we will then show together in front of the camera. Was hälst du von der Idee ?😇🤔

The problem with the Warentrenner is that the cashier will automatically assume you use it (since everyone usually does) and therefore will skip the gap between your and the next person's items. If you then daydream for just 2 seconds the cashier will have skipped the gap and scanned at least two of the other person's items. Which create a state of chaos, confusion and time delay. 😂 Germans hate those three

Ich (Bio Alman) pack dieses Warentrenndings auch nie aufs Band. Bin jetzt schon zweimal, von offensichtlich türkischstämmigen Frauen, angepflaumt worden. 😅 Immer diese Deutschen.

Hi dear ...please when you refer to Canada ..be more precise Ontario...because in Québec ...there are more European style...from how you say the date day/ month/ year ...and time ..for ex..my day work start at 9, 30 and finish at 18.😉 ..

Don't you worry, Jenna! I never use the "Warentrenner". If you leave a big enough gap, the cashier will know. And if you still think you need one, you're (kind of) offending the cashier by assuming he will not notice otherwise. At least that's my logic. And I'm going to stick with it! :D We moved to Düsseldorf last year and I have yet to be scolded :D

here's an easy way to tell time on 24 hour clock: subtract the number by twelve if its larger than twelve. 16 - 12 is 4, if you have potato brain just ignore the 10, so 6 - 2 = 4, no more 13 , 14 , 15 ,16 Oh 4!

Just write down a date simply using then names of the month instead of Numbers. 01. März/March 2023 instead of 01.03.2023 leaves no room for errors. Most computers and smartphones let you choose the way dates are presented.

What you said "Germans think too much into" you could not be 10000% more right about that, and over the smallest of things too. Just remember, its not you, its them.

time only looks different after noon, so it's always minus 12, which is much easier. 13 - 12, it's 1. You can do it!!! LOL

It is not a mistake, it is just personal style ;-)

It was counting on the 24 hour clock ... until a customer told me to just add 2. 4PM? 4+2 = 6. So 16:00. Life saver. Sadly I'm well aware once you're set in the mindset to count or visa versa, you can never do it the other way easily. CX

4:27 not sure if that works, i grew up german and i never approached german as people do who learn it as 2nd language. they ask questions, i have troubble to answer because it comes intuitively to me .. i learned it trough immitation, not trough grammar rules

American dates are ok, when they use it there. Last year wanted to go to a concert. European Tour 8/12 Hamburg. Great. Mid august i was at the lake when suddenly my phone told me that my saved event starts in an hour. What? So the concert was on 12/8.

The USA is the only country to insist on using mm-dd-yyyy. Many people here in Canada do it too but it is NOT the "Canadian way"!

If you're unhappy with the 24 hour clock, don't count. Simply if the hour is greater than 12, subtract 12. So in your example, instead of counting back from 16..15...14...13...12, simply do 16-12=4, so 16:20 is the same as 4:20 PM. Easy... Then again, I cannot remember if 12:00AM is midnight or noon... ;-)

3:50 German here: Best just default to Sie, you're usually on the save side with that.

1:47 the german way makes more sense and the most sense makes YYYY/MM/DD because you can order by that the best and if you add the time HH:mm:ss it is still going from highest to lowest

I live in the US for 23 years now. My clocks are all set to 24 hours still.

Well I seem to to ignorant towards weird looks and sounds. Forgetting the "Warentrenner" is something I, as well as my bf who normally goes shopping for groceries with me, are doing as well. And it happens far more often then I'd like to admit. Maybe it is something more specific to some areas since I lived most of my live in Lower Saxony. At least from time where i went to get groceries for my family and later on for myself. So I would say just ignore those people especially if you have your kids with ya. As for "Mumblers" I tend to just tell them that they are mumbling. But since it is in an official setting I would try to make it sound like the connection could be at fault if it is a phone or a video call. If it is not just asking nicely goes along way even in a business setting. Also mumbling could occur when the person talking to you is talking like he is talking with someone who is really familiar with himself. Since most of the time even if you mumble or even shorten half of your words in German the other person could be able to still understand you as long as that person knows your habits and way speaking. I just ran into that happing last week with my CEO. He was walking by with a new customer and told us to keep everything as short as possible. He did that due to confidentiality issues, but I had to update him about our biggest client asap. So I just went to them and after the normal customer interactions told my CEO "v13ndbs mit 75v". Afterwards i just excused myself and could hear the customer say "excuse me but what did he just say?". Meanwhile my CEO got everything and just answered "just a short update about our client base". Keep in mind we are working together for around 6 years by now and never used short forms or even informal speech before that.

Urzeit - ich benutze beides - ist egal - Umrechnung ist automatisch.

These are all just very small sins... but miss an appointment?! Evil Jenna 🤣

the 24hr clock.....argh!

Btw....in Québec you have to stressed to some one avec vous ..not tu...

Ich gratuliere erst, wenn das Ereignis eingetreten ist, nicht vorher. Früher war es gang und gäbe "So Gott will" zu sagen, wenn man sich treffen will, oder morgen seinen Geburtstag zu feiern. Ich danke auch nicht für ein Geschenk, was ich noch gar nicht bekommen habe. Wenn ich es dann habe, ist es viel ehrlicher und die Freude dann groß. Gratuliert jemand für einen Geburtstag 2025 jetzt schon? Dann ist es nur logisch es auch heute nicht zu tun, wenn es erst morgen so weit ist. Aber, weiter so. Ich mag Deinen Humor und Deine Grimassen 🤣

Don't feel bad for not putting the Warentrenner onto the belt. Even between Germans, it's still an open debate whether you are responsible for putting the one before or behind your goods. So if someone scolds you for not putting a Warentrenner behind, you can just pretend you are a member of team "Warentrenner before", and scold them back by spitting out all the arguments that it's their responsibility 😆

saying you can count something on both hands is a way of saying it's a small quantity, not a large one - so saying you can count on both hands how many people you know who mumble makes it sound like it's not that many people at all, comparatively - just so you know! LOL

7:30 German here again: That thing is called Warentrenner? You learn something new every day, I had legitimately no idea what it's called... XD

Getting used to 24h is simple. Add or subtract 12. 16-12=4 2+12=14

Referring to the birthday wishes - it is superstition. And nothing sticks quite like superstition. Bear with us. You do not have to entertain us on that one. But bear with us that we are that kind of superstitious.

Regarding the mumbling: I guess, this is truly a foreign language thing. I can confidently say that especially Americans are terrible mumblers, at least a great share of them, and it is also a trademark of a certain subset of the British upper class. It is a fact that we humans only clearly understand (acoustically) a certain part of the words we hear, but we are fantastic at guessing from context in connection with sounds. When I lived in Britain (I did so for four years), in the beginning, phone conferences were a nightmare: Bad sound quality, many people, lots of dialects and rather unknown subjects - it was a constant guessing game. After a year or two, it wasn't a major issue any more (in the end, corporate talk is basically always the same phrases), but I'm still far better at understanding spoken language in German or Spanish than in English.

Please, do not feel to bothered about the ppls that give you grieve when you mixe up "du und Sie". It is not that important AND ppls should just chill about it. You are learning this language and hey, mistakes are so normal. And, as you will see here, I do my fair share of mistakes.

Lol. I know how I am with German guy..he is talking so fast and I'm just pretending because I can't be bothered. But in my case. I had German in my childhood. I did tell someone I wasn't ready to use Du with them and they were older ppl. It's hard sometimes. You walk into minefields. Plus if someone is telling a joke, I'm laughing 5 mins later. 😂

Ich wäre froh, ich könnte so gut Englisch, wie Du Deutsch kannst. Wann hast Du angefangen Deutsch zu lernen?

I suck at German grammar as well - as a native speaker...

if you meet a mumbler, tell him/her to get their lips apart... " mach den Mund auf wenn du mit mir sprichst" ... you can say it nice or with anger... the sound makes the music!

Forgetting the cashier stopper? Oh dear.😵 Jenna, we understand you still have some customs to adjust to. But common, you can't just blatantly behave like a feral. One does NOT forget the cashier stopper. 😂

Never pretend to understand someone ☝🏻 Just tell them and they will speak more clearly.

ich glaube dass du eine italienerin bist wie sophia loren wunderbar

And in Québec we are speaking French...and English...but French must be 10x bigger than Englush😂

Can't imagine any foreigner gets du/sie right. It's so weird and then there are even regional differences 🙈

If you don't put that plastic thing on the band and I'm the next in line... Dankeschön, I like that you want to put my groceries on your bill, be aware you are only allowed to pay for me, don't try flee with my stuff😂

Sometimes it seems to me that Germans are too mean, aren´t they? Maybe when they realize that you are a foreigner they are a bit ashamed of their behavior.😔 It´s very important for you and your respondent to pay attention to a good pronunciation! It´s not possible for you to learn German if your dialogue partner isn´t able to speak in a right way. The separating is a thing - but when I put it behind the goods of the one before me, it looks as if I don´t want them to buy more than the goods which are on the line. That´s the reason for me to wait and let a larger distance. 🕳 The other things are in our minds since birth ( 24 h; d.m.y not d/m/y; small talk), these are all things you´ll get with the time. That will be more intensiv when your kid goes to Kindergarten or to school. 😎

I don't really think that you have to adapt to everything that Germans do. Keep on smiling! I get so sad just looking at people's faces here, they simply lack emotions, as if they were machines.

if that's comforting to you: the way you "defended" yourself in he beginning was very German. In all details.

I will never ever learn this damned AM/PM thing. I mean AM could be "at morning" but also "after midday" .. and i know in the end its something strange in latin like "pappa ante portas" or whatever, but i also don't speak latin 🙄 Mumblers .. the main reason i only watch movies in german, whenever i try to watch something in english there are some evil mumblers where i just don't understand anything. For the thing at the grocery shop, here in Bremen i never ever had any problems with that, some people put it on, other not, some also are fine with just the gap, but never have i seen anyone complaining about that. Tipping .. does your service personal in Canada also get only poverty wages, so that they need tips to survive ? I thought thats just an US thing 🤔

Don't worry. I am a native German and regularly "trete ins Fettnäpfchen" because of such little mistakes.

I have never made all my life the experience in Germany, that people get upset if I don't use the Warentrenner at the checkout. By the way, this thing is a thing, that has no real word, but Warentrenner ist eine gute Worterfindung von dir, passt gut. Ich hasse es übrigens auch, wenn ich in UK bin und manche Leute nuscheln dort in ihrem Englisch und ich verstehe nichts, genauso in movies. And, as a German I do also a lot other things wrong, like crossing street when the pedestrian lights are red but no car coming. I have maybe made once the experience that someone moaned then at my, so what...

This fake "ja", "genau", "richtig" is annoying af! I have no problem at all when someone tells me they didn't understand me. Then i repeat it and speak slower, more clearly.. choose other words.. whatever. Especially if they're no natives. But when someone responds with "ja", "richtig", "genau", "das stimmt" ... they are signaling to me that they understood what i've just said. And i hate it to find out later they didnt and just lied to me. Because i then don't know.. was everything useless... was it only a specific part or everything i've said. Especially in a business context you then make decisions based on these answers and are forced to do everything from the beginning again. I hate this! Just tell them you wasn't able to understand this or that. What do you expect? As long as they think you were able to understand them they won't speak any different. How should they be able to know u didnt?

The french people too have "tu" for "du" and "vous" for "sie" So this is not only a German Problem. Maybe you should have raised up in Quebec?

Just regard "Sie" as the normal thing and use "Du" to people you are on a firstname basis never have been scolded about the Warentrenner, you must live at the unfriendliest part of Germany. Here its handled like what you described in Canada

no worries, most germans "german" wrong too ;)