German

Such kitsch!

Some things are best said in German. Take, for example, the Audi slogan. For years, the company used a German one in England: Vorsprung durch Technik. It didn’t matter that very few people understood the Vorsprung — we all understood Technik.

"Do you have to 'have balls' to head the IMF?"

What balls!

I was admiring a display of ostrich eggs when a German friend asked me what they were. I told him “Strauss-Eier”, which caused the German-speakers to burst out laughing. We’d just been talking about the Strauss-Kahn scandal and it seemed fitting that anything called Strauss would have such huge Eier.

Straußeneier

laut loslachen

Spanish waiters

To have a positive experience, you may need to "reframe" the situation and see it from a different perspective.

einen anderen Rahmen schaffen für

Coping with culture

Here is a practical definition of intercultural competence that an international team developed. It was originally designed to help a client who wanted to identify Chinese workers who would be able to work effectively with German and US colleagues.

Pathetic Britain!

Who says Britain is a country that is not interested in foreign languages and where many people simply shout louder in English if their interlocuters don't understand them? Quite a lot of people actually — and they are right.

Gesprächspartner(innen)

Regions of interest

When people talk about intercultural communication the focus is often on national cultures. I’ve tried to redress the balance in this blog by looking into the role of gender and age as well as professional culture. Another factor can be just as, if not more important, than national differences: regional ones.

das Gleichgewicht wiederherstellen

Geschlecht

Nonsense on the page

Three reasons are often put forward for not using English terms in German: they are ugly; they are unnecessary; and they are often incomprehensible. But now English is guilty of a much more serious offence: causing the economic crisis.

vorbringen

unverständlich

Vergehen

The limits of tolerance

Many people have a very emotional reaction to English words in German. Me, too — but that doesn’t mean I’m right .

Dr Eckart von Hirschhausen: "The French have sex, the Brits have hot-water bottles!"

Germans are funny, too

Dr Eckart von Hirschhausen, 40, has worked as a medical doctor and business journalist. For the past 15 years, he has been a comedian, television presenter and humour consultant and is the founder of Rote Nasen Deutschland.

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