Hello, welcome to Easy English. So today, me and Isi are gonna discuss the cultural differences
between Britain and Germany. - let's go. so Isi, you've been spending some time in the UK
and over this time you've been collecting small points
about culture differences you’ve found between Britain and Germany. Yes I did, should we
start? - Yeah, let’s do it. Number one. It's actually… the first two ones are my favourites.
so number one is the friendliness. - Oh yeah? - Oh yeah?
Of the British people. I think it's… everyone here is so friendly
and so polite and that doesn't mean, wanna say that,
that Germans are not friendly. But I think it's just more...
firm in the mentality and the culture to be always very friendly
and always very polite and always very welcoming.
And I love this here in Britain,
I think it's so great that you can go to a supermarket
and everybody’s like ''hello, how are you? Erm… Do you…
did you have a good day? Or, the weather's nice and so on''.
And you could think this is kind of superficial,
a bit small talkish and why would you do that.
But isn't it in general just nicer; to have a good feeling,
go through your day, everyone is… not everyone by the way,
obviously this doesn't speak for everyone,
but the majority of people smile at you, say nice things to you,
are accommodating and welcoming
and I just love this. Point two. - So point number two is erm… yeah,
also one of my favourites.
So, friendliness point one but then number two is the pub culture.
Mmm…. - Mmm… and it doesn't mean that this is only about partying
and drinking. The opposite a little bit, because in…
pubs here are there for the community.
And it's something like, our local pub here;
people of all ages meet, there are kids, there are grandparents,
there are um… sport clubs meeting, associations meeting up,
doing their weekly or monthly meeting,
there are people playing board games, um… there’re people…
obviously it's a lot connected to alcohol but it's also not.
People also go for coffee to a pub and this meeting point
of the community of your local: Neighbours, friends, residents;
I… I love this. It's such an… obviously you have so many pubs.
It's just a lot more than we have in Germany and it's…
it's so nice that you can always… especially in winter,
you can always go into a nice cosy little pub
where mostly friendly people, point one... sit.
Everyone is just having a generally good time. - Yep.
Um… being together and it's such… it brings people together
and I love that. Point number three, Isi what is it?
Point number three is y’alright! - Yeah, y’alright! - Yea, y’alright!
Yeah, yeah, y’alright! - So it is that if you approach somebody,
erm… people often say, at least down here in the south,
''y’alright!'' And… which is coming from ''are you alright?''
and first of all, as a German, I do think people ask me how I am,
so what do I tell them now?
Well usually in a small talk you just say like,
yeah, I’m fine, how are you?
Or do you want to tell your life storey or the…
how what a bad week you had.
But, nobody wants to know that and especially its not even to ask,
how you are, it is, hello basically, - yeah. - It is hi. Yeah, yeah.
And you don't… you basically respond with the same.
Yeah, it's not a question. You actually almost, when you would write it,
you probably wouldn't put a question mark at the end.
Yeah, exclamation mark. - Yeah. - Y’alright! - Y’alright! Yeah,
that's how you return; y’alright! With another y’alright!
And do you remember, how in the supermarket for the first time, - yeah.
I was like, Hiya! No, no.
The lady working there was like ''hiya y‘alright!'' And I was like,
er… yeah! Bleh, bleh. And she was already going on, doing her thing.
Yeah, she turned her head instantly.
She turned her head and I was like, Um… yeah, yep, yes. And how are you?
And then she, she sometimes gave me a bit of a weird look and went away.
And so I wanted to get better at this,
because I thought it's about having a little small talk.
So erm… I really like, was like,
okay next time I go there I will do it right.
So I tried to be the first. I was like, hi y’alright!
And she was just like, ''alright!'' And went on. - Perfect.
But yeah, but then I thought like, weird,
she doesn't want to tell me how she is.
Yeah, it kind of goes back to your first point that everyone…
is friendly or has the intention to be friendly right? - Yeah.
So this is a way of greeting someone and making it seem like
you're interested in how they are,
but don't get confused and think that you actually have to give him
your entire life story. - No, don't.
And, even if you're having the worst day in your life.
Like say, yeah, everything's gone completely wrong, you lost your job.
Unfortunately you can’t go into that. You have to say y’alright back.
Or, yeah, y’alright! Yeah, and at least not in the supermarket
but maybe with a neighbour you could. - Maybe.
You could complain about life on the… in the streets,
people love that a bit as well. Okay Isi, point number four. - Point number four.
A very short one and quite an obvious one because
everybody knows British people love tea.
I never completely understood this, erm… because I… I do drink tea,
I did drink tea before, not that often.
But that you can really enjoy these so much,
because coffee is also nice, why would you do a big thing about it?
Well I… I actually cannot explain it myself now what it is,
but I love tea now. And I drink tea every day. - What kind of tea?
Well I do have my er… morning ginger, lemon tea.
But, for me this is not a new thing,
the new thing is that I actually now like
the four o’clock ''Yorkshire Tea''.
It is enjoyable and I don't know why that is.
I… I haven't found out yet. - There's a big thing,
a cultural thing with making… if you're working in an office or yeah,
have like, colleagues, there’s a big sort, of social dynamics thing
about doing a round of teas for everyone, in the office.
And this is like a good way to have chit-chats,
small talk or just for people to know that you're like,
a considerate person, ‘cos you’ll be like, who wants a tea?
And this is like, quite a… you know, - You make a tea for everyone?
Yeah, yeah. I mean you... you… you purely hope that only like,
one person says yes, because in theory like,
twenty people could say yes and your there with like,
having to manage how much milk, no milk what tea.
But it's… it's a… it's… - tea break.
Yeah, it’s a really big part of our culture having like,
a fifteen minutes tea break.
Yeah, but we we do have a coffee break then,
that's… that's more like having a coffee break.
But would you make it… would you like, take everyone’s orders;
milk, No milk, sugars, no sugars.
Definitely not. -Everyone gets the same? - Get your coffee.
No, we don't… we don't make coffee for others in a company or so?
Yeah, yeah. - You would go to the, maybe if you have like,
a community team kitchen you would go there together,
and then make your own coffee after each other. - I see.
Or, nice colleagues would obviously bring your coffee
and I've also done that.
But I wouldn't go to twenty people and say do you all want a coffee?
It really happens, in England. - No sorry, I don’t have time for that.
Yeah yeah, Honestly, it's really difficult.
Like, you need a pen and paper because people will be like,
''oh just one sugar'', ''two sugars please'', ''no milk''.
Yeah, and you have to remember everything and sometimes
you're doing like ten teas in one go. Okay, half way point, number five.
Number five, I already mentioned it at the beginning.
Erm… Germans are more direct than Brits.
Just saying that it's very direct, we would go around it another way;
you’re hmm… you know… Point six. - Point six is to apologise for something you haven't done.
Which is a point that is quite nice, but don't really understand it.
I think it's better how the Germans. We Germans do it.
I'm sorry. - Just apologise when you have to apologise.
it's nice like, because it is quite nice. But it has really no point.
Like, if I run into someone, that person will be like,
''I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry''.
And then you forget yourself to apologise. - Yeah, yeah.
And then the other person should also say it again but it's my fault.
I want to apologise, I wanna say,
I'm really sorry and the person already apologised.
So it's kind of like, it's obviously
also a point of being friendly always.
But I want to apologise when I want to apologise.
Okay point number seven. - Number seven;
a very confusing one to me. Is how people call other people,
especially strangers. Like, what names they give others. - Yeah.
Because I have been called, by people that I don't know:
darlin’, love, maybe honey. - Sweetie maybe?
Sweetie, sweetheart and I find… - Lovely?
Lovely, I find this very confusing and it's…yeah,
it's very, very dependent on the situation
but it's just a big part of British culture I would say.
Uh huh… - and very, very normal. In Germany, you could not do that.
Oh my God! If somebody, especially, obviously it’s especially a thing
if like, a guy would do that to me, if a guy would say like,
like, something like that in Germany I'd be like What. The.
Beep! - Beep! Er… I would probably respond in a very direct
and not nice way. - Yeah, yeah. - Because um… yeah,
it's just not normal and in British culture is very normal it's…
I don't know how you would say it's…
it’s a form of friendliness as well as a form of connecting to someone.
Yep. - But it's also situation-wise.
Yep, context is really key with this one.
Because, yeah, those words are terms of endearment
and kind of pet names. - It can be a bit patronising.
A bit degrading. - Yeah. - But on the other hand, it is kind of…
‘cos yeah, compared to Germany,
we are really not a very formal nation anymore, we used to be,
like, sirs and madams and this… kind of thing.
But, this is almost like a shortcut some people take, in in a way,
to give you something or offer you something maybe.
Everyone has to be very careful in this,
I would really try not to do it, to be honest,
unless you really… either know this person well or you're
very comfortable with the person you're speaking to now.
okay coming to the end with point number eight.
So, a point that I like and I'm not even that sure if this is so true.
But my feeling is that in Britain, people, especially in the educational
system give a lot more value to arts and culture, and I love that.
Because in Germany, it’s very like,
the school education system is very, very good I would say.
And you learn a lot of history, languages,
old languages like Latin and it's… it’s a good school system,
but I… did miss and in my own school upbringing the…
the value of… of arts because here if…
if somebody here is good at guitar playing and painting or whatever or…
yeah, all of those, you get pushed to be better.
Two of our most, biggest bands ever are all art schools kids.
Oh yeah? ''Beatles''. - Yep. - And ''The Rolling Stones''.
Yep, all from art school. so maybe this is why…
maybe they saw that there's actually some value
to letting your kids express themselves. - Yes. Okay, point number nine,
Isi. - Is about forenames and surnames.
Okay. - You know, some of you might know in German
we have a formal form and inform of form.
And it's like younger people you approach with ''Du'',
which is like you and all the people are like people
that you don't know or people at work you approach with another form,
which is the formal form. And you don't have this here obviously,
that's only you in English, which is anyway great,
makes it so much easier.
but what I found a bit confusing is that you never use…
or not never but, rarely use the last name, or the surname.
Um… because even if you would talk to a neighbour
that you have met in a big building, write an email around or so,
you would use their first name. - Uh huh, yes.
You just see the name, you've never met the person,
I would always like, even here I would probably approach this person
with Mrs. Mmm… - Yeah. - Er… but that's a bit weird isn't it?
You would say like, hi… - Michael. - Michael, hi Ruth.
Yeah, it's very weird. I mean, I'm sure you know,
many decades ago, everyone was Mr. and Mrs. Blah, blah, blah.
But yeah, these… these… this formality again is dropping,
probably for the sense of… yeah,
feeling more welcoming and you know, casual.
But erm… bizarrely there’s still some weird leftovers,
such as, when you’re at your primary school and secondary school,
it's Mrs. Dean or Mrs. Whatever and then as soon as you go to college,
the whole formality is dropped and so you know your college teachers
by their first names and your university teachers by the first names.
Final point. - Number ten. - Number ten. - Is not a cultural one.
Okay. - It’s partially cultural. But it's about living situations.
So erm… it's two points. First, something that really annoys me.
Yeah. - At a tap cold and hot water are usually separated. - Yeah.
So, you go there, brush your teeth, you know.
And you like, open the tap. - Yeah. - And it’s either super hot water,
because it goes super hot, very quickly. - Yeah, yeah.
Er… or it’s super cold water and if you try like, oh yes,
I try to mix them, I try to find like, also for the future,
the perfect little… - Yeah, this is a test. - Yeah, you can’t really.
It's always… one is always ruling, so yeah you…
you have to deal with it. It’s hot or cold.
And the second thing is; carpets everywhere. - Mmm… carpets.
Everywhere carpets and I'm not really used to that.
I am used to that, because we also do have it in Germany.
But, erm… I'm also used to like,
wooden floor or non-wooden floor but not carpet.
Because it's just, I think it's a lot more… like,
you have to care for it a lot more, for carpets. - Yeah true,
there's a hygiene level inside having a material floor as well.
An even grosser thing which combines your two points,
is er… lots of people including… - An even grosser… that was you,
that wasn’t me, I didn’t say that.
Something that combines this, is a lot of people,
including my grandparents, have carpet in their bathroom area. - Oh!
Around the toilet… yeah. Thanks for watching this week's video.
And let us know in the comments below;
have you been to the UK and maybe you agree
on some points with me or have something to add.
Let us know what other cultural differences to your country.
Yeah, and we'll see you next week,
bye! Curveball, well partially culturally. maybe cultural.
partially cultural, partially cultural. Yawn,
yawn, done. Wet eyes, blink, blink, blink. Blink, blink, blink. Yawning completed.