Product Description

For All Students Ideal for a variety of courses, this completely up-to-date, alphabetically organized handbook helps students understand how people from German-speaking nations think, do business, and act in their daily lives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #349725 in Books
• Published on: 1996-05-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780844225135
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
The German Way is a handy guide to understanding how people from every corner of the German-speaking world think, do business, and act in their daily lives.

Organized alphabetically for ease of use, The German Way is an indispensable reference to the common as well as the divergent cultural traits of German-speaking people. Included are 77 key traits, representing German-speaking people from all walks of life and from the following countries where German is spoken: Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Familiarity with the varied ways in which these people celebrate holidays, interact with one another, eat, dress, and so on will increase your ability to communicate with German-speaking men and women everywhere.

Complete with a bibliography and index, The German Way provides keen insights into the rich variety of customs and attitudes found in German-speaking countries. Whether you are a student, tourist, or business traveler, this book will help you break the cultural barrier - and appreciate the way things are done in the German-speaking world.

The following are selected topics taken from the A-to-Z format in The German Way. The 77 cultural topics in the book include:

Abbreviations and acronyms, Advertising and marketing, American influences, Angst, Arrival, The Autobahn, Beer and wine, Business (Wirtschaft) in the German-speaking world, Cinema: German-language film production, Crime and punishment: the law, Dialects, Dining, Ecology and the environment, Education (Bildung), Family, Fashion and design, The German Past, Greetings and common courtesies, Holidays and celebrations, House and home, The identity card (der Ausweis) and other red tape, Money, banks, and credit, Patriotism and nationalism, Police, Privacy, Radio and television, Shopping, Sports, Switzerland (die Schweiz), Trains, The Wall, The WC (die Toilette), Women in society. -- From the Publisher

About the Author
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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
4. ANGST

The German word Angst, fear, came into the English language in the early 1940s. In its English, psychiatric sense, "angst" signifies a feeling of insecurity, anxiety, or apprehension. So it is only appropriate that the word comes to us from German, a language spoken by people who are constantly wracked by angst, and who almost seem to enjoy it.

Germans like to worry. They worry about politics. They worry about the environment. They worry about their national identity and their image abroad. They worry about the economy. They worry about worrying. It's not that Germans don't like to have a good time. It's just that they seem to be able to have a good time worrying. They enjoy discussing their worries. Criticism is a national pastime. Journalists do this on the editorial pages of newspapers and magazines. The average German does so in letters to the editor or over a beer at the local Gastwirtschaft. This Germanic trait is also carried on, to a lesser degree, by the Austrians and the German-speaking Swiss.

Opinion polls conducted in the German-speaking world tend to show a more pessimistic view of things than might generally be the case in many other countries. But, if challenged, the Germans, Austrians, and Swiss would tend to respond that they are merely being more realistic than the overly optimistic Pollyannas in other countries.

Customer Reviews

A must-have for travelers and business people
I lived in Germany for over three years. My German acquaintances in general liked Americans; but they greatly disliked our cultural ignorance. I also did part-time work as a tour guide and a portion of "tour guiding" is to educate people on the culture, and saw the extent of this ignorance first-hand. While German/Austrian/Swiss society is in a "big picture" sense similar to American, (guilt vs shame-based culture, individuality vs collectivism) there are major differences in personal and business relationships. Anyone who really wants to know Germany or succeed in business dealings with Germans ignores these differences at their peril. This book does an outstanding job of clearly explaining all aspects of German society from Government through economy, consumerism, to social relationships. It also spells out the contrasts between German and American ways of thinking, and between German and Austrian/Swiss world-views. Bottom line is if you want a better vacation experience in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, a better business trip, or are just interested in other cultures, get this book.

Insights into the German-speaking World
"The German Way"
Hyde Flippo
ISBN 0-8442-2513-4

"The German Way" is quite an interesting little book. Having lived in Germany and traveled in Austria, and, to a lesser extent, Switzerland, there were numerous items of information in this book that were unknown to me. For example, although I have visited almost every province in Austria from the shore of the Bodensee in the west to Vienna in the east, I did not know that Austria was eighty-five percent Catholic.

I was vaguely aware that Germans use eating implements differently than Americans do. I have occasionally eaten a sandwich with a knife and fork in a "Gasthaus". However, I did not realize the extent to which handling table implements is a differentiator between Germans and Americans. For example, my wife pointed out to me in discussing this part of the book that one of our German friends, who has lived in the U.S. for seven or eight years, uses a modified German style of handling silverware.

It was also surprising to read that only fifteen percent of the movies Germans watch are from Germany. This may explain why many of the German movies available to be rented in the U.S., even from specialty houses, are usually older ones.

It was a total surprise to me that the local office of vital statistics has to review the names given to babies in Germany to ensure that the name must not endanger the child and that it reflects the child's sex. The latter rule, maybe the first, would have made short shrift of "A Boy Named Sue".

One point about the German language that Hyde Flippo appears to oversimplify somewhat is the idea that "Hoch Deutsch" originated from the way the language was spoken in the northern part of Germany. A recent article in a German language magazine I read stated that German, Austria, and Switzerland each has its own "Hoch Deutsch".

One shortcoming I found in this book is that some of the information seems a little dated. For example, although Europeans have been transitioning to the euro for several years, marks and schillings are discussed as though they will be used indefinitely when, in fact, they have already gone out of circulation. Another example relates to a discussion of the Austrian Freedom Party of Jorg Haider being unable to form a coalition with another party at the national level. Well, unfortunately, the "Freiheit Partei Oesterreich" did form such a coalition some time ago. It led to international sanctions against Austria.

On the whole, I found this book interesting and acquired some new insights about the German-speaking world from it. Business people or tourists planning to go to Germany, Austria, or Switzerland could well benefit from reading this book.

Shallow and brief, but better than nothing
I suppose that someone who knew absolutely NOTHING about German culture would find this book interesting and useful. But, if you already know a little bit and want to learn more (like me) you will likely be disappointed. Others have pointed out that each topic is covered briefly, and in my opinion, that's usually EXTREMELY briefly. I find the alphabetical organization of topics unhelpful, and would prefer to have similar subjects located together. I often had to guess several times to see which word the author would use to alphabetize a given topic. If you're looking for more than a quick-and-dirty introduction to German culture, skip this book and read "Culture Shock! Germany" instead.