I live in Bavaria, and Bavaria is in Germany, but not everything that's done in Bavaria
is done that way in the rest of the Germany.
And that goes for other regions of Germany too!
There are many things in Germany that are region specific.
Hey everyone! I’m Dana and you’re watching Wanted Adventure Living Abroad.
I’ve learned that saying that something that's actually only done in one part of Germany
is "done in Germany" or "that's how Germans do it" is sometimes a little like traveling
to Florida and then saying "Americans go everywhere in flip-flops."
I'm pretty sure that people in Connecticut would be like, huh?
No, no, I don't.
Now of course if you've only spent most of your time in one part of a country, it would
be hard to know which things are region specific and which things are more general to the whole country.
So today I’m taking what I learned from your comments below my videos -- so thanks
so much for that information -- what I've learned from Mr. German Man, who is from
Nordrhein-Westfalen, and what I’ve learned just kind of living in Germany and traveling
around a little bit, and I’m going to be mentioning a few things that are apparently
unique to Bavaria, and you can please let me know in the comments if I’ve got it right.
I think I’m going to have to make a video just on beer drinking styles around Germany,
because I’ve learned that even the glasses in which beer is consumed really differs from
region to region.
In Bavaria beer is often consumed one liter at a time.
But in Cologne, for example, beer is often drunk from tiny little glasses with only about
six or seven Dana sips or just two to three Mr. German Man sips per glass.
Side note, yeah, Mr. German Man takes really big sips.
He asks if he can have a sip of my drink and I’ve learned that I have to specify if he
wants a Mr. German Man sip or a Dana sip, because a Mr. German Man sip is usually, like,
half or more of my entire drink.
And I've learned that in Bavaria, you always, always hold your big ol’ liter of beer with
just one, single hand. Never two. Never two hands. Just, just the one hand.
I recently made a whole video on this subject.
But basically, Lederhosen and Dirndls are still worn sometimes in Bavaria.
And for the most part, you won't see really too much Tracht being worn anywhere else in Germany.
In Bavaria stores close by law at 8 p.m. every single day.
Oh no wait, not on Sunday, because on Sunday they’re not allowed to open at all.
When I first moved here, I thought that's how it was all over Germany.
But I’ve since learned that while it is the case that all over Germany shops are generally
closed on Sunday, Bavaria is one of the few German states that still has the mandate in
place that shops must close by 8 p.m.
The other state in Germany holding onto this rule is Saarland, over in the west.
Bavaria has its very own political party that doesn’t actually exist anywhere else in Germany.
While the rest of the German states have the CDU, the Christian Democratic Union, Bavaria
has the CSU, the Christian Social Union.
And while the two parties do work together at a national level, they don’t always agree.
The CSU in Bavaria is largely Catholic and, from what I’ve learned, also more conservative
on many of the issues.
There are many foods that come from Bavaria.
And that’s not to say that you won’t ever see these foods in other parts of Germany,
but just that they are known for being from Bavaria.
For example Obatzda, a cheese spread often eaten with soft pretzels.
Hm, yum yum, I love it.
Or the Weisswurst, which are white sausages.
And, yeah, I don't like those so much.
When I asked on Twitter about some things that are unique to Bavaria, I was told about
Schuhplattler, which after doing a quick search, I learned is a popular folk dance here, and
also in Tyrol, in Austria.
Schuh means shoe and plattler refers to the hands being held flat.
Together, dancers dressed in Tracht stomp their feet and slap the bottom of their shoes
and their legs with flat hands.
Another Bavaria-specific thing is...oh please let me say this at least somewhat correctly.
Goaßlschnalzen?!
Mr. German Man wasn't really too much help with the pronunciation, he's shaking his head,
he has no idea because it’s a Bavarian word for whip cracking.
Like "whpch," yeah.
Which is apparently a sport here in Bavaria.
There are even whip cracking championships.
How cool is that? I had no idea that that existed.
And in Bavaria, Bavarian is spoken.
So how different is Bavarian from High or Standard German?
Well if someone has a Bavarian accent, so just the accent, depending on how strong it is,
I might have to listen really, really hard to understand what they’re saying.
And if it's a really strong accent, I do often miss things in the conversation.
So then, if someone is actually speaking full-on Bavarian, then forget it.
I’m lost. No idea.
And for the most part, same goes for Mr. German Man.
He cannot understand Bavarian almost at all.
So how different is it?
It’s really quite different.
So my question for you is: What other regional differences should I know about around Germany?
Please let me know in the comments below.
Thanks so much for watching.
I really hope that you enjoyed this video.
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And above my head, there's another video up there that maybe you want to check out.
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Until next time, auf Wiedersehen!
I didn't know that. - Now you do.
I want to say Obatzda.
But I think it's Obatzda. Obatzda or Obatzda?
I always, I can't remember.
Is the I, will the I be on that side or the I on that...this side. Yeah?
The I is on this side.
Because I pointed the wrong way in my other video.
I was like, the I! The I.
And only two or three Mr. German sips.
Mr. German Man sips rraawwww.
What I...Mr. German Man!