German Stereotypes

German Stereotypes?

There are many stereotypes about us Germans.

Germany = beer, leather trousers and fried sausage?

German men are fat, love beer, wear leather trousers, eat only sauerkraut and fried sausage?! Women are icy beauties with long blond hair and blue eyes?!

Germans are never too late, diligent and disciplined...

these are stereotypes and we want to show you how true they are.

 

Tracht (Leather Trousers and Dirndl)

 

Leather Trousers and Dirndl are a part of the Bavarian Tracht (Tracht = traditional clothes).

A (Bavarian) men’s Tracht mostly consists of the brown trousers (usually 3/4 length), a shirt, white long sox, and a brogue (and sometimes a traditional cap). Trachts for women are Dirndls.

Not every German has a Bavarian Tracht. In northern Germany they are very seldom.

But especially in the south of Germany they are very popular, and the people wear them for special events. For example at weddings, to go to the church on Sunday or traditionally at the Octoberfest. Compared with workaday clothes, Trachts are very expensive. All in all, the Tracht for men costs at least 200-300 Euro (for shirt, leather trousers, jacket, and shoes). Dirndls are not as expensive as the men’s tracht, you can get one for approximately 150 Euro.

 

The German, a beer drinking nation?

 

 

Yes, German people like to drink beer. Every year on the 23 April we celebrate the „Tag des Bieres“ („Beer-Day“). 86% of the German men and 42% of the women drink beer. The diagram above shows the per capita consumption of beer (litre) in one year.

Suprisingly the Germans arent in the first place.

An average German drinks 120 litres of beer per year, but the average Czech drinks 40litres more than the Germans (160litres every year). The beer consumption in Germany is decreasing, 30 years ago the per capita consumption of beer was 145 litres.

Many people think that the Germans invented the beer but that is wrong.

The Egyptians were the first who produced a kind of beer. They put half-baked bread in water and then after the fermentation, they had beer.

Germany has lots of different kinds of beer and more than 1400 breweries.

In Germany you have to follow special regulations to brew beer. [we have many regulations in Germany;-)].

The „German Beer Purity law“ says that you have to use hops, malt, barley and water to brew a beer, it’s not allowed to use other ingredients!

Sauerkraut and fried sausage

The Germans like hearty food. For example marinated beef with dumplings or roulades with potatos and red cabbage . Many Germans (especially kids) don´t like Sauerkraut and prefer pizza or pasta.

But we Germans really like sausages, for example „Weisswurst“ with pretzel (a traditional Bavarian dish) or Currywurst. But you can also find restaurants of all countries in Germany.

But it depends where you are in Germany.

The Germans only listen to folk music?

 

Only 26% of the Germans listen to folk music. It are primarily older people and the number of listeners is sinking steadily.

In contrast 44% like international pop music.

Here we have a video for you, enjoy it ;)

Rather 30 minutes too early than 5 minutes too late?!

 

Yes, most Germans are punctual. We are rather some minutes early than too late.

Already as a child we learn to be on time. For us it is impolite to be unpunctual.

So if you have a date with a German, think of being punctual ;-)

 

We hope you enjoyed the blog and we have made our country more interesting for you.

Come and convince yourself :-)