Posted in Germany forum
I just read a story on Spiegel online which shocked me: According to a new study, more than 14% of German teenagers can be considered as "anti-foreigners", while more than 5% fall into the category of the righ extreme with Nazi-tendencies.
Surprisingly, the bad reputation of foreigners seems to be higher in those regions with little foreigners (so those regions where people don't even know what they talk about!!!).
The original article is here: http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,613844,00.h
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To me - this is just another example of human ignorance, but for a foreigners living in Germany, these numbers are pretty scary!
What are your opinions and personal experiences with the way Germans see foreigners?
Hmm
posted by Deleted user in Germany forum
I don´t think that´s the reason. I am sure Germans have seen black people either on TV or in other countries. There are a handful of reasons to distrust foreigners, though, and I blame it on bad immigrants. If having mediterranean looks is bad, it´s because of southern criminals. If you happen to be mistaken for one of them, then you may have problems.
But I agree with you on Turks being more racist towards Germans than the other way around. Sadly, politicians only request tolerance from one party.
Alright
posted by Deleted user in Germany forum
I didn´t know that. Thanks, Carsten.
By the way, I feel very lucky and almost proud that I lived more than a year in East Germany and lived to tell :D
Hi
posted by Carsten Pfau in Germany forum
Hi Miguel, I used to have problems understanding that as well. Basically, if you are over-qualified, people expect you to immediately start looking for a better job that suits your qualifications better, as soon as you start in the lesser qualified job. A company usually spends time, money and maybe other resources to hire somebody, train somebody, etc. - if a person leaves shortly after being hired, the company will have to go through the entire process again - post a job offer, interview people, select someone, train that person and so on. Furthermore, if it is a position that somehow is important in the context of the organization, it is also important to have somebody at this position for a considerable amount of time. For example, if you applied for the position of Executive Assistant, you would probably quit after a few weeks, because you (considering your degree and language skills) can easily get a better job. However, for an executive, his/her Exec Assitant is a very important person, trust and a sense of routine are an issue here. If you feel that you are over-qualified for a certain job but still want to get hired, you need to seriously make an effort and explain why that is. E.g., a good friend of mine used to be a "Abteilungsleiter" (i.e., middle to upper management) and wanted to change into a position with much less responsibility. She had to explain that in detail to a headhunter and later, that point was extensively discussed during the interview (by the way, she got the job later on).
Hausmeister
posted by Carsten Pfau in Germany forum
Hi Wincy,
I am a German national and on top of that, you can say that my German skills are way above average. I just moved into an apartment building in Germany and guess what - the super (i.e., the Hausmeister) treats me like sh... He treats his handyman better than me, and I am paying his salary (or at least, parts of it). I suspect that the job itself basically attracts grumpy people. I wouldn´t take that personal, if I were you. Probably, your Hausmeister is just jealous of your success.
If you don´t understand East German dialects - well, welcome to the club. Howver, it is much worse in the state of Bavaria or my native state Baden-Württemberg.
Concerning the Ossis - well, remember they had to live behind a curtain (and partially, a wall) until 1989 and whatever (or whoever) came from outside was supposed to be a threat. Check out the movie "Das Leben der Anderen" (i.e. The life of Others), it will probably help you to understand where the Ossis come from. Unemployment and poverty is still an important issue in East Germany, and those severe social problems are sometimes the breeding ground for racism, crime or simply strange behaviour. In my opinion, if somebody treats you with disrespect over there, the very same person will most likely treat somebody from Bavaria or Hamburg as disrespectful.
At carsten
posted by Deleted user in Germany forum
Why is that? That if you are over-qualified, you won´t get the job?!?!?
Hi
posted by Carsten Pfau in Germany forum
Hi Cel, I belive that the request of seeing your picture before inviting you to a job interview is almost as old as photography itself. From an employer´s point of view, it does make sense, doesn´t it? I believe that the request of attaching your picture to a cv was outlawed later in certain countries when anti-discrimination laws were re-inforced. Currently, German lawmakers are discussing to forbid this practice in Germany, too. A side note - attaching your picture to your cv when applying for a job is quite common in most countries of the world, e.g. Latin America or the Middle East. Not attaching your foto is the exception, not the rule (if you take the entire world as a reference).
In my opinion, if you are properly qualified and you are also fluent in German, then you´ll find a decent job in Germany (note - if you are over-qualified, people won´t hire you).
Hi
posted by Carsten Pfau in Germany forum
Hi Gary, when you talk about a woman being ridiculed on tv for her wrong pronounciation - I hope you are not refering to Verona, because she´s by no means a foreigner, rather she´s as German as it gets and her wrong pronounciation is simply the way she talks (and, by the way, I believe she does it on purpose to increase the level of attention, and I believe she has actually copyrighted some of her weirdest expressions).
Concerning the requirements of the German language in the business world - well, of course you need to speak the language of a certain country if you want to find employment there. Do you really see that as a German thing? If so, try to get a decent job in the US or the UK without speaking English, or try to find even an average job in Brazil without speaking Portuguese or at least Spanish. The list goes on and on... I believe that an average employer has every right not to hire you if you are not able to understand clients, co-workers or suppliers. It just won´t work out if you don´t master the local language, no matter where in the world you want to work. There might be a few exceptions, e.g. a German company that operates internationally, or the German branch of an american company (that would probably overlook the lack of language skills of an american applicant), however, if you are applying to national companies, expect them to be very concerned about your language skills. When I was younger, I interviewed for jobs abroad, and the interview language was always the language of the country the company was in.
On the other hand - if people change back to English after hearing you out in German - maybe your German isn´t that good, or your German skills aren´t that important for the job after all.
I sincerely doubt that anybody would seriously make fun of you if you spoke German with an accent or mispronounced a few words. I have never observed that, not in Germany, not anywhere else in the world. People in Germany may make fun of German nationals who speak a poor German, but in my opinion, not of foreigners trying to master this difficult language. Somebody may try to pull your leg a little every now and then, but I would suspect that to be a friendly way of reaching out to you, rather than downgrading or disrespecting you.
My advice - approach things a little more relaxed and respond to a joke with another joke, rather than feeling offended. There are actually Germans out there that have a sense of humor (don´t call Ripley, he already knows...).
Who cares?
posted by Deleted user in Germany forum
I myself am struggling to lose my accent, for I think it would improve my communication skills, but I don´t think it´s necessary as long as your grammar is good.