Part Two: Cultural Differences

I hate to admit it, but the honeymoon stage with the German language is over. Now, I’m at the more difficult stage of the language, the commitment stage where I sit at the books and beg my brain to absorb the grammar. There are moments, glimpses of hope, but they feel few and far between. Throughout it all, I’m trying to remember the key concepts about what it takes to achieve mastery. As I’m going deeper into German, I’m also diving deeper into the culture, which is proving to be both frustrating and rewarding. I’m sure this is true for any person encountering a new culture. Here are some differences that really have proved to be both challenging and comical. 

The sound of silence

Unlike Americans, Austrians are okay with silence in conversations. The verbal exchange does not have to go on at all costs, and, to be completely honest, I am not sure how I feel about this. Part of me loves it. There is no pressure to find something to say or continue discussing something I don’t find interesting. The other part of me finds it incredibly painful to sit in silence because I’ve been trained against it for so long. I think the latter part is growing smaller, however. Silence is such a normal occurrence in conversations for everyone here that no one comments on it or makes it awkward.

Introverted/Extroverted

Perhaps I have written a little about this before, but I find their perspective on introverts versus extroverts very different. In Austria, I’m considered to be an extrovert. Not just a normal extrovert either, but social butterfly status. It is rather strange, because by U.S. standards I’m fairly introverted. I think this goes hand in hand with what I mentioned in the paragraph above about silence and how conversations flow. In America small talk, greetings and general politeness with strangers is all very common. It is basically the opposite here. Small talk is detested and greetings are not all that common. 

Communication

This part of German/Austrian culture really frustrates me, as it has caused multiple misunderstandings and always leaves me feeling stupid. Communicating clearly is difficult. I can’t determine if this is still due to the language barrier, (which I doubt because many people know English), or the language’s structure itself, or just the culture as a whole. I told my American/German friends some stories about my frustrations; they just laughed sympathetically at my struggles. One of them told me a story about a camping trip a youth group invited him on, but no one informed him he would need to bring his own camping gear, so he showed up with nothing. This seems to happen to me all the time. People just assume we are thinking along the same lines, but of course we aren’t. My American/German friends explained that Germans/Austrians are not good at looking at a situation from someone else’s perspective. I still haven't found a way around this issue, besides trying to ask a lot of questions, but sometimes even that fails to help.

I hope that these differences were as interesting to you as they have been for me. Sometimes it is frustrating, but mostly these differences are just interesting curiosities. I’m looking forward to exploring more and more of the culture and language in the next few months.

By Sierra Lastine