American reacts to 8 Things That Happen Only in Germany 

Ok, i'm german and I'm confused by the salad thing. If I'm invited to a party and asked to bring a salad, I'd never even think of buying one these disgusting mayo flooded cups from a store. To me it's implicit to bring a self made salad and I think that's quite common here in rural northern germany

As a German, I would be ashamed to bring a store-bought salad to a party

They should've added that you use Mahlzeit as a greeting only during the time people are usually having their lunch breaks, so from about 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Potato salad is different in every area in germany, in the north with mayonnaise and in the south with vinegar and oil. Here in Austria 🇦🇹 potato salad is made with vinegar and oil, in vienna the taste is more sweet. In my area i made it warm with pumpkin seed oil 👍🏻

Even kindergarten kids bring muffins or a cake for the whole group in Germany. Same in school. The birthday person is the host, the others are the guests.

The birthday thing also extends to the Party itself. You invite people, you Plan Out everything, you buy and decorate most of the things. You will get presents, but don't expect anyone to throw a Party for you unless its your parents when you're a kid^^

My €0,02 from Southern Germany... Stoßlüften: After the 1970s "oil crisis" houses and apartments were built with hermetically closing windows and doors, which lead to increased humidity inside, causing moldy walls, if not aired out regularly. I unfortunately, had my own experience with that. Mayo: Popular in Northern Germany, especially in salads. Not so popular in the South. My Swabian mom never bought mayo, and Swabian potato salad (as well as Wurtsalat) doesn't contain mayo. "Nicht schlecht": There is an even ruder version in Swabia: "Dr Honger treibt's nei!" Literally "the hunger forces it down".

What "Mahlzeit" is work related? I use it all the time around midday. =D It's rather time related here where i live. From 11am to 1pm you can say "Mahlzeit!".

"There's nothing to complain about." is by far the greatest compliment that can come from a German, because he really tries with all his might to find something to complain about.

imagine eating a cake you dont like on your birthday

Potato salad in Germany: There is not _the_ potato salad. Yes, there are a couple of varieties that are more or less standard in the different areas in Germany. But then, when you meet at a potluck dinner, you might -- depending of then number of people attending -- encounter 15 or more varieties of potato salad. Here each and everybody has his/her own four or five standard recipes for it -- depending on the occasion or dish it has to be served with..

I'm a wheelchair user and this is the perfect tool for opening beer bottles at least ten different ways 😀 Greetings from Hamburg

Yes, Lüften (airing) is a sience here. I guess 95% of our windows are completely sealed when closed to prevent the loss of heat and save energy costs. That not only results in a lack of oxygen in the rooms, much more important is the fact that together with moisture and not optimal temperatures, massiv and dangerous mold infestation is a result.

"It's wonderful, it's amazing!" No, it means you're American.

I guess you had a southern potato salad 😅 they prefer vinegar and Northern germans prefer to mayo

i like that the person who celebrates birthday brings the cake, in this way everyone actually has to bring a cake only once a year. which is pretty great! if you had to bring one everytime someone else celebrates a birthday, it would be every week one cake.

NOT to let in fresh air blows my German mind.😂 Even staying long years in countries with A/C, never even have I left my windows constantly closed, that feels like in prison. In the South we put rarely mayo in salads! Most Germans I know seldom eat it! Keeping a normal noise level is kind of respect towards others. Tell your neighbours that you will have a party in advane and most of them will be completely fine. And yes, I hate it to be run over on pedestrian streets when there is a special bike lane.

"Feeling bothered by noise because we all have the windows open...." I had to lough real hard, so accurate

The idea of impact ventilation is to quickly replace the air in the room to improve air quality and remove excess humidity while not losing too much heat. The recommended time depends on the season and ranges from 5 (winter) to 15 minutes (summer). By replacing the air but not allowing enough time for the walls and furniture to cool down, only the heat stored in the air is lost while the the heat stored in the walls and furniture is preserved. As air only stores little heat that is way more efficient than having the window open for longer periods at once. The same applies in summer, but in reverse. You only allow some amount of heat in by replacing the air, but do not allow a constant stream of warm air that will in turn heat up the walls and furniture. The 4 times a day only applies if someone is actually there, of course.

We had someone in our company, an older engineer, who had a list with the birthdays of all people in the office and he showed up on those dates to get a piece of the cake. He normally wasn't even working close to the office but in production, but he walked all the way over the company grounds for that piece of cake. He sadly is retired right now, but people at the office still talk about that. We even made a cake last year and delivered it to his home. Never saw an old guy that happy.

there ist a Book in Germany called 99 Arten eine Flasche Bier zu öffnen (99 ways to open a bottle of beer).

I think the birthday cake issue has two sources: 1) It's just practical, because how are the others at a work place to know when your birthday is? Same goes for students or e.g. members of a choir or something similar. So it's up to the Geburtstagskind to tell (and also it is their decision whether they want everybody to know or not). 2) It's an extension of the way you would celebrate your birthday at home, i.e. you would provide cake or drinks or whatever for your guests.

Mahlzeit is not only used in the Workplace, it is mostly only used around Lunchtime 👍

In franconia we would say "Passt scho." which means "It's ok." but this is actually the highest compliment you can receive.

Ryan in Germany there is a North German potato salad that has mayo and a South German potato salad that has more herb vinegar.

Birthday: You bring the cake on or shortly after your birthday. This comes from the custom that you invite your friends to your birthday at home and they get something to eat. When you bring the cake, you just extend your birthday party to the workplace or sportsclub or... -- and you don't have the mess at home. Generally, it is not expected to have an all you can eat cake-pie-tart buffet, a box of chocolate candies, a simple cake (large enough so everyone can get a slice) is o.k. In short, nobody is offended if not invited to you party when you treat them a little at the workplace.

Think about the birthday cake this way: if you bring the cake on your birthday, you have to do that only once a year. If you bring stuff on the birthdays of your colleagues, you have to do that a dozen times per year, and you have to remember all the birthdays!

The creativity with opening bottles is endless. The 3 ways shown are amongst the most common, but I've seen people open bottles with next to everything. The most impressive one I saw was, when a friend of mine opened a bottle with a tightly folded tissue. I had no idea this was possible, but he pulled it off somehow.

Ich mag deine Videos. Aber: "Kann man essen" ist doch kein Kompliment. Deutsche werden oft seltsam dargestellt! Wir machen Salate selbst wenn wir etwas zu einer Feier mitbringen!!!

11:30 running gag in my family: "I have eaten worse" - quote from my uncle. 14:30 your facial expression opening a bottle with a bottle - superb

Warmer Kartoffelsalat: 1,5 kg 3ib Kartoffeln kochen, pellen, in Scheiben schneiden. In einem großen Topf 1 kleine Zwiebel in Würfeln andünsten, 1 Hand voll Würfelspeck dazugeben und etwas braten. Mit 500 ml 2 cups Brühe aufgießen. Die Kartoffeln dazugeben, mit Salz,Pfeffer, Essig und Muskat abschmecken. Kann man warm und kalt genießen.

In the US people ask ´how you are´, even though no one cares. In Germany they say ´mealtime (Mahlzeit)´, even though nobody goes to lunch ;-)

The plus side of the birthday thing is that you have full control over how much fuss you want around your birthday. If you want, you can be completely stealth and not tell anyone it's your birthday. Or you can get a lot of attention by bringing a cake and telling all your coworkers "there's cake because it is my birthday". But if it's up to other people to organize something, you might experience negative surprises. People might forget about it and you could feel left out and neglected. Or people might get you a cake but you don't actually want all the attention.

The important thing when opening a bottle cap with another bottle cap is to not use the underside of the other cap, but the side. Otherwise, like in the video, you might open the wrong bottle.

I would say "Mahlzeit" means when you are at work "enjoy your lunch break". When you are invited to a party people will never bring salads from a store. They would ask for the one that is desired or made a proposal and make it for themselves. Some years ago I played Tennis in a team and afterwards each hometeam made a meal for their guests. Approx. half of the hometeam had to bring a salad and it was really interesting which salads were made. Often we had a barbecue. The costs were shared of cause.

Everything is the same in the Netherlands, except for the Mahlzeit-thing.

I was just flabbergasted. I was so used to looking up English words in a dictionary (and even German words) back when there was no internet. It's just alphabetical

So many of these are the same in Switzerland (at least in the German speaking part). We also bring a cake to work for our birthday, lüften is very important, we also say "en guete" (swiss German for "Mahlzeit") when someone leaves for lunch...

I hate "Mahlzeit" and refused to ever use it. About the bicycle: generally they have to use the road except for kids up to a certain age. They may have designated lanes either on the road or pedestrian walk, or they even may share the pedestrian walk, but all of this depends on the situation as specifid by traffic signs. Also generally bikes are to drive in the SAME direction as the road traffic, even when there are designated lanes on or next to the pedestrian walk - which again may be different when a traffic sign allows them to go both directions. So there may be several rules broken, or none.

I was "stoßlüften", while watching the video xD

In Europe we don't have bugs that will kill you !!

Where I lived before there was a woman... she did complain from time to time that we were banging the house door too much. Now, first thing, there is an automatic closing mechanism, so she complained we didn't wait for that slow thing to nearly close the door and then grabbed the handle again to close the door slowly and smoothly. Second that "Klatschtante" generally had her apartment door open a tiny bit during the day - I can only imagine to see when and who is coming and going. Needless to say I didn't care at all about her complaint.

Airing the rooms: In the USA you don't know the concept because of your heating/AC system "forced air". We don't force 🙂 our air, we let it flow freely. In closed rooms it may get humid and de-oxygenized over time. So you open the window the let fresh air in, dry the air in the room and prevent mold.

1 hour every day?! No! Blasphemy. 5 minutes at a time. Turn off the radiators during these 5 minutes. Do this 2-3 times a day. 5 minutes are just about enough to ventilate the whole room and won't let your furniture, floors and walls cool out. The original temperature will be restored in no time. Many of us have Hygrometers to monitor the humidity & temperature in our apartments. By the way, I watched another American RU-vidr recently, who was visiting Germany. And he tried the most basic Mayonnaise at the canteen of Miniaturwunderland. He was so shaken by how different it was to US Mayonnaise and loved it. P. S. I suspect the 1.5 pages within her contract have large depictions/illustrations of what you're meant to do. You're not going to have two A4 pages full of text.

Great video. Opening a bottle with a piece of paper is the most impressive method

3:11 „Mahlzeit“ ~ mealtime … greeting around noon meal time… In MY PAST, we also used that as a private greeting , day and night… Also used Mahlzeit sarcastic at work between breakfast and lunch, if someone come WAY to late to work.. like it was really Mahlzeit.

I live in the south of Germany, in Munich. Munich is at the same latitude as Seattle. The other large German cities are at the same latitude as Canada. Here it is more cold than too hot. That's why we only have a few air conditioning systems, but always heaters. For reasons of environmental protection and to save energy, many houses are very well insulated and sealed. To prevent mold from forming, the moist air must be removed from the houses through ventilation. The newest houses no longer need heating because they are so well insulated. These houses have a ventilation system so that there is always enough oxygen in the house to breathe.

i remember being invited to a farm for thanksgiving and the first dishes they served were all sweet so i asked if dessert normally came first but they said no it's all salads (jello salad, fruit salad) but using salad for eggs is a strange thing we do in american english too "egg salad sandwich" might not have any lettuce in it at all. likewise we say "tuna salad" for a similar mixture. i guess i'm just used to ignoring the normal associations of veggies and salad with these exceptions

Love how he seemed genuinely upset about the birthday cake thing haha

Oh and regarding potato salad: there's the North German variant with a mayo dressing and the South German variant with vinegar dressing. Both may also contain chopped up bacon (or chopped up bits of ham), and the North German potato salad often also contains bits of pickles.

If someone tells me to get off the sidewalk with my bike/scooter ill tell them to shut the fu up... (and yes, german and living here in Hessen). Sidewalks are wide enough, no matter the law Not all germans follow every (stupid) rule, Especially 30 year old and younger people dont give a sh..oot about stupid laws without common sense

Why is "blessed lunchtime" so weird? In my opinion it isn"t worse than wishing someone a blessing when they vacate mucus from their nostrils via a sneeze.

I work in a tutoring school, and I air out the room between every lesson. I found it makes it easier for the students to concentrate, and that the lesson seems shorter for them, if they come into a cool room that keeps heating up the longer they're there. Many of my students have now started to take up this habit on their own. If I ever forget to air out the room between lessons, my students will open the window as soon as they come in 😂

6:17 if one shows up with any salad that was bought in shop, they get thrown out immediately😂- rather bring nothing! And if it is a non salad required, one actually talks about Nudelsalat or Kartoffelsalat. I hate this Mahlzeit nonsense, I usually reply "Mealtime" 😅

„Oh is that how a dictionary works?“ Thought provoking. 😳😏 But ok. If you have studied a second language, you are young enough to never have used a dictionary nonetheless. But google translate.

There isn't one German potato salad. Every family has a different recipe.

What did SHE did with the salad? NO one would bring this Salads. You would do a salad by your own. If I don't like someone, I buy self-made salads and bring them with me. Bringing store-bought salads to a party is a no-go.

No not only in business - also when you are beginning to eat. It’s not only a greeting it’s also a saying - it is time to eat - I am going to have some meal. It also says I am coming back to work 😂 Love from Austria 🇦🇹

If someone in Germany said to me "It's wonderful, it tastes amazing", I would not think it's good but rather that 1) it tasted so mediocre/baf that they a) felt they had to hype themselves up to eat it and be overly polite or b) were mocking me or that 2) they were probably from another country, most likely the US 😀

Wait English dictionaries work on the same principles as German ones?!?

That hand gesture she was making means that someone's crazy or off their rocker. Only Germans use this gesture though

I use “Mahlzeit“ only ironically as we do not have fixed times to eat at my workplace and we do not have a cafeteria nearby to have meals. Most just bring a lunch and eat it in the office whenever. I feel like this is a thing mostly in blue collar jobs when they take official breaks or in large corporations with a cafeteria in the building when people between 12 and 1 p.m. take their break and they come by someone who already took hi/hers or is going to go to the cafeteria later…

The thing about the rules is really the most German thing ever. I like to do archery in my free time, but I like to go into the nature, shoot on some empty fields or in clearings in the woods, where I have a good view and can shoot into a slope. So savety is not an issue here. Many Germans think it must be against the law, because Archery is like shooting a weapon, and the weapon law is very strict, but actually, bows are not considerate a weapon at all in Germany, so it's completely legal. But nevertheless, people start complain and argue about it, when I do it. And they also call the police on a regular basis, most often dog owners, because they think I could shoot their dogs. So I printed out all the important laws regarding archery and marked all important passages with yellow ink, in case the police comes over. And as a bonus, I also printed out a map of the rule, that you have to have your dog on a leash in the forest, which is my Uno-reverse card against the dog owners, who call the police on me. And of course, they never have their dog on a leash. :)

I'm German and would think about someone criticizing me also for the whole day lol

you can make Potatosalad, Meatsalad, NudelSalad you also can make witout a lot of mayo and they will be amazing to 😁

In my experience people are not upset that you don't bring something to your birthday but rather that if everyone else does it and you don't you kinda just leech of everyone without giving back

There are many different kinds of potato salad in Germany. Hard to say if yours is authentic but probably yes (selfmade would be a lot better and it's not that hard).

In Hungary we have a saying "everything is a beer opener". Maybe it has german origins?

These epic glass bowls with the look of leaves! Everybody owns them or knows someone, who does. 😂 PS: I know them only for dessert - not for potato salad.

A salad is a mix of things cut together in a bowl, usually with a dressing. You don't need lettuce to call something salad. There is fruit salad, noodle salad, tomato salad, cucumber salad, potato salad, meat salad, sausage salad, cabbage salad, fish salad, egg salad... whatever you want.

OK, on the subject of Germans loving their peace and quiet, you need to know the following. In Germany there are quiet times during which you are not allowed to make any noise. Noise is allowed from 7 a.m. in the morning until 1 p.m then there is a general lunchtime rest Children are not allowed to play in the playground either. this lasts until 3 p.m. From 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. you can make noise again After 8 p.m., no drilling, hammer sawing, etc. is permitted From 10 p.m. onwards, the night is quiet and then music and TV can only be played at room volume.

If you are invited to a German party, don't bring those shitty salads from the supermarkets. Make one at home. It's not that difficult.

"If someone would complain to me like that, I would think about that for the redt of the day." Welcome to life in Germany 😂

We Germans call pretty much everything that is served cold in a bowl with some sort of 'dressing' a salad 😅

The word Salat used in non green terms origins in salt. To salt (corn) something was the way to cure food. The term is used that way in other languages e.g. French (salade) or Italian (insalata) as well.

So if Mayo is "typically German"... Then I'm probably not German after all... I hate Mayo...🤢🤮 And potato salad should be made with broth and a little vinegar and oil, not with Mayo!!!! 😱🤢

I use "Mahlzeit" all the Time - It is not only work related.

6:00 those "salads" are mayo-based mainly in the northern regions or if bought in some supermarket. Mayo is generally not as much a "staple food" in the South as in some northern regions. Potato salad dressing in southern Germany is mostly based on broth (bouillon), a bit of vinegar and a bit of mustard; noodle salad and "Fleischsalat" (actually made with slices of so called "Fleischwurst", a "scalded" mortadella-like sausage, actually a variant of what is in German known as "Lyoner" = "sausage Lyonese") are often rather made with yoghurt than with factory-made mayo. Instead of "Fleischsalat" often "Wurstsalat" is the preferred variant, made from the same sausage, but "dressed" with onions, vinegar and oil (there are also variants "Schweizer Wurstsalat" = Swiss sausage salad with about half of the sausage replaced with Swiss cheese, and "Swabian" Wurstsalat with about half of the sausage being slices of "Schwarzwurst" = black sausage, which is a kind of scalded and then dried blood sausage containing some bacon). The northern regions also introduced the herring salad in different variations; in supermarkets you'll find often "white" (mostly mayo-based) herring salad as well as "red" herring salad (containing red bedroot). Classic recipes for herring salad however contain mostly at least 4 times as much cream and yoghurt as (self-made) mayonnaise (if there is any mayo at all) and also at least one apple; the herring used is either Matjes or Bismarck herring. 8:20 Nobody will be upset if you don't bring some cake into the office at your birthday - they will simply assume that you are not interested in celebrating your birthday and be quiet about it. 10:35 The gesture with waving your hand before your face is also called "Mattscheibe" (ground glass or diffusing screen) and relates to the other's world view. 11:50 Germans love understatements. "Nicht schlecht" (= not bad) or "nicht übel" (not evil) means "better than good", "kann man essen" (is edible) is a hidden plead for "give me more". Different regions have even different variants of the (ironically used) saying "Nicht geschimpft ist gelobt genug" - not complained is praise enough. 13:30 Only (smaller) kids are allowed to bike on the sidewalk, except if there are traffic signs explicitly allowing it. Generally cyclists are expected to use the street if there is no dedicated bike path. Electric scooters are also not allowed to use the sidewalk.

The best salad is sausage cut up with mayo and vinegar. Even better with some pickles and potatoes

Quote: "Rachel Stewart, a GER YT Superstar"...... Actually, she's a Brit born lady who got married to a GER lad some years back and happens to be perfectly speaking GER at a native, C2 level. I'm a native GER local with some decent knowledge of the English language, but Rachel's German speaking skills are 12/10....

For your birthday it is kind of the same here in Switzerland. You bring either a cake or something to your office. If you have the "breakfast-break" (Znüni) in your company you also might bring some sandwiches or whatever.

And you forgot the fabulous Wurstsalat. Swiss, normal and Lumpen oder Schwäbischen. By the way. Real good potatoesalade from Schwaben contains : Warm Potatoes in Sclices, Vinagre, Oil, Pepper, Salt and vegetable broth. That tastes good, Not that strange mixture with mayonnaise

The CAKE on your own BIRTHDAY thing is that: 🎂 If you have birthday then _you_ throw the party and invite & host!.. 🎂🍰🥳 That's the sense behind it. Also you obviously don't _have to_ do it! It's just a nice gesture. 😊

If you have good friends or colleagues they'll still bake for you, even in Germany. But mostly it's in addition to your own cake. I appreciate this tradition for three major reasons: 1. There will always be your favorite cake! As a picky eater, I was often gifted cakes I wouldn't eat (whole fruit pieces, ughh!) and then felt bad because ppl put in so much effort (first year at uni: 5 fruit cakes by 5 people!) but never rly asked what I liked. 2. Even if people don't know your birthday, they'll be reminded when they see the cake. 100% chance for best wishes and hugs if you bring a cake. 3. If there's someone you HATE at work, just bring something they're allergic to or dislike. Fuck off Bertha from first floor, fuck the boss, I'll have a nice almond cake here and you can continue clipping your nails and chit-chatting in your offices.

Deutsche Welle is a international Tv Station for all over the world. Its in English and German with English subtitles. In germany we don’t watch it. It has a mixture of all federal TV program. Potato-salad has many different recipes all over Europe. In south Germany we eat it sauer with oil and vinegar. Open Bottles most German know 3 ways to open it. Best is with a lighter, table or the other bottle. But the last one can cause a overflow of beer. The hand thing…means you are insane or crazy. Also called Scheibenwischer. Screen-wiper! Thanks was funny watching!

"it goes from something healthy to something totally full of calories and fat .... I love that! 👍" 🤣

I love Kartoffelsalet and Nudelsalat but never with Mayo. Kartoffelsalat allways with Oil,vinegar and mustard, Nudelsalatz with sour cream.

I don‘t understand your complaint about the german dictionary. The English has compound nouns as well (though considerably less than German, admittedly) and, since you do not have the advantage as compounding as many words as we do i Germany, often you find words and then many different variant of how to use them in collocations or idioms etc.. You will find in an English dictionary entries like: drain (explanation), blocked drain (explanation), a drain on sth. (explanation), down the drain (explanation), etc….

These hosts are some very weird Germans. They always leave out half of the story and make a big thing out of minor issues. Absolutely nobody in Germany would say that these "mayo salads" are not tasty looking. It's part of your upbringing and they can be decorated nicely. Also they are seldom eaten without bread. The Lüften thing could be explained much better, because of mold and other health issues because most of our houses don't have ventilation systems. Mahlzeit left out that it's kinda slang and only said when sobody is eating or during lunch times. Or when people are using it as slang (like if you join your sports club in the evening, or some other colloqial meeting).

That Rachel girl isn't German I think she's British but she speaks German damn good ! And yes if it's your birthday YOU bring the cake since YOU are the birthday girl/man I'm the guest get it ?

Bringing a cake to work on your birthday is more loke throwing a little party at the office and colleagues are invited to join. of course they can also bring little presents or a birthday card or collect tips for you. But people here only do that if you really have a good relationship. people come visit you on your birthday at the office and have a piece of cake and a chat with you. mostly around lunchtime. but it does not have to be cake it could also be snacks or if you are very important (e.g. a boss) you sometimes order some catering food.

But in germany evreything is stronger so you can SLAM THE DOOR

Germans will hardly spring a huge compliment onto you. There will not be "This tastes awesome" or "This is the best I ever have eaten", not a German way ... better count onto "backhanded compliments" ;)

You're usually fine if you don't say "Mahlzeit" at all. It's regarded sub-standard by many people. Also room ventilation comes close to science with german ultra airtight windows. They're constructed to not be a heat gap in wall isolation, so they don't let out energy but also won't let in any air at all. Without proper ventilation body heat and sweating can cause serious mould problems.

I don't now. The things here are also a bit of exceptional. Never had the cake thing, compliments are not that dry mostly, and there are some angry germans but jaywalking and not obeying the rules mostly will be done and ignored by others. Except opening the beer - some people will look with disgust at you if you use a bottle opener.

it HAS to do with lunch. "mahlzeit" is ONLY being said around lunchtime and mostly in offices.

In Germany the windows are very airtight. To avoid mould and let out bad smell and CO2 you must air out. Additional, most houses have no air condition, and in summer it keeps the house cool, if you air out in the early morning hours before sunrise, and then close the windows and the shutters for the day. If we have more than 40°C/100°F (I live in a wine-growing area in southwest Germany) I keep the shutters almost closed and the windows tilted to get a little draft all the time.

7:46 Bring the following to your own birthday. Cake, or you buy drinks, or you buy breakfast for your colleagues. All of this is done because a lot of people don't invite their colleagues home for their birthday or to party.

I'm LOL cuz Ryan came to the same conclusion as I did, Germans take wonderful healthy foods and turn them into something unhealthy. (Sugar on white asparagus?) I love tuna salad, chicken salad, and egg salad, but only when I make them myself.

This was fun...Original Video and reaction. Thanks