Do Germans find TT insulting?

I am just wondering what the local's (if any) think about this forum.

Do you find it funny/annoying/amusing the way many people on here don't want to/can't integrate into german society ? That there is even such a popular website that is so active. Is Toytown well known outside the expat community ?

Sort of fish bowl feeling today.

thanks

It is simply not a valid argument that because people use this website they cannot or do not want to integrate into German society.

hello Brummie : Note the use of "many" not "all".

@ Brummie - Absolutely - even Don Riina has been known to do his bit for integration. The joking should all be taken in context - very few, if any, TT'ers moved to Germany under duress, and so all of 'em want to be there at least to a point. I wouldn't say it's 'many' either - perhaps 'a few' at most.

And the German TTers wouldn't be TTers if they felt annoyed by the forum

some of the Germans I work with have found this site, without my help, and have found it amusing.

I know one german guy in my office who reads it regularly (havent really quizzed him much about it though, I dont want to know who he is on here because I dont want him to know who I am on here), hes mentioned both positive and negative aspects of it, but hasnt extrapolated any of his negative observations to apply as a generalisation to the site as a whole.

This is by definition a non-thread 'cos you are preaching to the converted. Those that have been offended have long since voted with their mouse.

I find it quite annoying when a TTer begins ranting that they had a certain bad experience and then makes a huge generalization that 'all Germans' are like that.

I can't indentify with the whole obsessive-anti-German sentiment to be honest. I've been here a long time; Germany has always been 'good' to me, and while it's okay to have a moan about certain things, I do think that at the end of the day the most of us have chosen to live here and if it's so shit there's no need to stay here.

Crosslink by admin: Why live in Munich if you hate it

@6783: I think Johnny E is spot on but I understand the rational behind the question.

Most people on here LOVE Germany and Germans, and self included, use the outlet for moaning and groaning about aspects of every day life in a foreign country. Truthfully, I would do it in whatever country I was living in.

However, there have been some posts that I would be a bit embarrassed...not quite the right word but close...to have my German friends read. I think some things would be hard, (likely some of my own posts included), NOT to take it the wrong way out of context, i.e. if your not a regular - or at least a regular lurker- on the board.

Then again, I'm also aware that the embarrassment or whatever is likely misplaced as the Germans I know don't get bothered easily, couldn't give a fcuk, and/or have also lived in a foreign place long enough to have done their fair share of expat bitching and moaning as well.

edit: ps: agree though with spudgun, the whole generalization of any country and noationality...germans, americans, british etc...sucks.

I think making generalizations about generalizations is horrible as well.

I thought Germans should NOT be on this site. Oder?

I despise it when people generalise a whole nation...

Well except for Germans of course...

...or Belgians

Bloody Germans

Ah! another "germans this, germans that" thread. All these german threads today are warping my mind.

if they can speak/write fluent English, i think they are most welcome. I think the rules were ammended to include fluent but non-native English speakers.

@BM i agree, in general that is, though making generalizations about generalizing generalizations is also generally in bad form, again, generally speaking that is.

xoxxo,
L-Town Proppa

Does anyone really care what Germans think of TT? It is a collection of honest opinions of people lucky enough to be connected to Munich. Some rants along the lines of 'why isn't it the same here as it is in [wherever I came from]' and even the odd 'all praise to the Germans for their wonderful country' thread. As such if the Germans don't like what they hear they'd better make the place more welcoming for us, shouldn't they?

Fair'nuff I'd say.

don't you hear Germans bitching about other nationalities?
I do. In other countries as well. Even in my company which belongs to Americans Germans always bitch about the "Amis" that's how they call them.

I've got a friday night in alone with my Krout niece, I'll ask her if she finds TT insulting. She'll probably just yabber on about fucking hedgehogs or some other equally random topic though. I'll report back.


Yeah, bloody Germans.

If you work for a foreign owned company I'd say bitching about the parent company is always fair enough.

I didn't think there were any German TTers? I thought from the "rules" it was a strictly ex-pats forum?

as i posted earlier, zer rules vere changed. Non-native speakers are welcome if they are fluent and not using TT to practice their english but to really mix it like we do.

Personally, I'd absolutely love to find a forum like TT about my home country. I luurrve to hear all the complaints and observations from travellers going through there - good and bad, moronic or clever.
So many of them are things I would never notice or even think about, and that's the beauty of listening to a bunch of whingers pick on your home place where it seen as an alien experience and not just everyday observations from people who grew up there.
I try to get honest takes about NZ from foreign friends there but I know they sweeten up their experiences a little for me - an anonymous forum would be so fascinating.

However, some people just can not handle people poking fun at their home country in any way and become instantly defensive and rightous. The trick is to be able to read this stuff and know it's just opinions and chin-wagging, and everyone is entitled to do it. Every person has their own generalisations large or small about everything they experience, I think they're all interesting and valid.

Some Germans will hate this site and discard it, others will get lots of glee from reading honest little snippets about their way of life. Same with any other country.

The Germ's I've met who know of TT think it's great - entertaining, illuminating and they even get to form their own opinions about what a bunch of jabbering, bizarre, little wacko's the expats who have invaded Munich are.

Well...I am a German TTer and I am really happy to have found this side coz allthough I am German that does not automatically mean I fit totally into German society (its not all about speaking a language fluently).

Besides...once in a while I'd like to bitch about Germans myself without getting mean stares

What 'Piper said - who cares what they think.

If a German joins in TT, there’s good reason and that’s surely not because they find TT insulting, daft, annoying, whatever.
There’s Germans with a huge connection to Britain, Ireland, America, Australia…….
I am German, my English is not perfect at all, there’s a kind of magnetism between me and Britain by birth, my Mom was English and my lover is, too.
And to be honest, I do find it hard myself to integrate into German society sometimes.
But I don’t generalize as there’s not the Germans, not the Brits and not the any other nation.

As asked to fill out in the profile: Mother Tongue: I wrote Germglish, because I talk mostly German, English with just one native regularly, at night I dream in German, I think in both languages, I make love only in English and a spontaneous swear…well, always English…

I don’t think, that TT is insulting.
There definitely has to be a place, belonging just to expats (and friends), where they can say whatever they want and think, share experiences and meet. It’s a piece of home.
That’s that.

@Nara

You say your English isn't perfect at all, but I certainly wouldn't have picked you out as a non native speaker based on your post.

I think you undercut your English skills.

Personally I find some of the posts made on this board rather offensive - some members are clearly out to exploit every nook and cranny to their financial advantage and still after all that they put the place and the folks down.

I laughed my tits off at the thread about how left wing/right wing people were economically/socially on this site - so many so called left wingers having off shore taxation positions to avoid paying for the social constructs they so lovingly cling to.

Germany is a grand place and they put up with our bullshit - we're lousy guests in general (IMHO) . Of course to be fair Germans don't have to come to this site - I sure wouldnt recommend it to German friends even though I've met quite a few through it. That being said it dissappoints me that such negative opinions about our hosts exist and propogate to such an extent.

I only know one german friend that knows this site and he likes it, he finds it quite informative

@Frito

Ta...
I think, there's just a difference in writing and speaking...when writing I can "think longer"...even with lover I still get lost in translation, though I am quite familiar with his English. So when talking to native speakers, I often find myself asking wot ...?/pardon/sorriiee..? until I got the "sound" of slang etc "embedded" in my ears...but with my Mom I talked much English. Now, that's long time ago...
Sorry - getting out of subject here !!!

I dunno about most people being guests. All good friends under the banner of the EU and all that. Besides, I never expect any of my guests to give me 50% of their earnings.

N.B. Though Don Riina has been known to put on a Dutch accent and 'Ashk for a blowjob, yesh, as it all feelsh the shame in the dark'. You have been warned.

@ Don
I'm cool with that and all - just that I know personally that quite a few TTers have offshore taxation positions. If one is resident in this (or any other) country and takes advantage of what it has to offer then one should be prepared/forced to pay for those same services - particularly when they champion those services.

Some examples from recent weeks have been :

1. Someone who left their home country , defaulted on debts in their home country , subsequently came to this one , champions their payments to their family etc. , is earning a good deal of money and wishes to enquire how they can claim benefits in their original country on top of those acquired in their new host country.

2. Someone who lives in this country , wishes to raise their children here (because of the services offered) and yet sees nothing wrong with "taxation shopping" - paying tax in another country.

All those here came for one specific reason or another - we chose to be here - for whatever reason Germany is a desirable home for us at the present - that alone is sufficient for me not to insult the place or the people.

My German is not good enuff but what do the Hermans say about us on their London based version of the same thing? Cant remember the URL but it has cropped up before.

Crosslink by admin.

I let my gf vote...she's german.

She thinks its great...and useful for her as well. She's lived in Munich her whole life...but Toytown always has information that she claims she'd never find as easily as on TT

Tis an English trait to insult the place and the people wherever they are, even in England. Actually, especially in England. Chavscum, anyone who supports a different football team, the northeners, the southerners etc etc.

What is "insulting the place or the people"? Making an arse of oneself in public? Hopefully none of us do that.

Moaning and airing our views (remember, many of us are new, and are in culture shock) on an EXPAT SITE FOR EXPATS is perfectly acceptable. This site is for expats. Expats moan and suffer culture shock.

ps. even when I have a tease at Fritz IN FRONT of Fritz bird and Fritz mates they kinda smile and look sheepish. Why? Because nothing we are saying is particularly new or novel. Germans know how they are perceived. We are not breaking any particularly funny or insightful ground here.

Haha my gf started talking about hedgehogs the other night for no reason at all. whats up with hedgehogs...shes is gonna freak when she goes to nz and sees them all over the road flat as a pancake.

@ MTV
Somehow I knew you'd post antagonistically MTV...

Insulting the place or the people - I've read so many posts from you etc. that the Germans are/have been/will be Nazis again that it just gets my goat... that's a pretty big insult IMHO. It seems it colours so many of your posts - thats all fair enough from the point of view of an individual but the fact that you reside here means that you are a beneficiary of those you lambast ... more than a little bit rude.

The site is for expats --- addressed that point earlier - poor excuse for propogation of sterotypes - thankfully most of the longer serving members of the site disagree with those.

Why are they sheepish when you dump shit on their doorstep ? Maybe it's because they've been eating shit since before they were born from non-nationals , if I was nearly as insulting in person as some of the views posted on this site in the UK for example , I'd reasonably expect not to have any teeth left at this stage.

And our guests do not? In the field of tax reclamation, Germans have turned the tax declaration into a national pastime. My best tips and tricks come from my German colleagues.

I pay my tax, I pay for Solidarity and I obey German law. Its not against German law to moan about e.g. rudeness on the U-Bahn periodicall on this site, so I will exercise my German civic freedom to do so.

parnell do grow up - you really do sound like a moaning little girl. I'm not antagonistic if I argue with you. Stop breaking my heart.

The argument about Dachau and Nazism was before Easter and you can trawl my posts since then to prove me wrong. Please do.

What you need to accept is that a view was expressed then which is COMMON.

I stronlgy belive that TT posters should say what they feel. The "old timers" here like you and gideon have basically gone native which is fine, but they can't have it both ways.

You want to partake in this site, you accept that new expats here have valid views. New expats have neither married Germans or intend to marry Germans. They may not want to stay longer than they have to for work reasons.

As such, their views are not to be derided by people who have made a choice to stay here, and stop flipping patronising us with your head boy attitude.

Whichever way you wanna put it mate, the fact is that whilst typing that, you were sitting at your keyboard thinking about homosexual oral activites, in Dutch. All that london pollution is rotting your swede.

I'm German and there are some topics now and then that I find insulting.
But I don't care much, I love this site as it conveys so much useful (and useless) information about living in Munich.
And compared to what I've experienced on other boards the insults here (all about stereotypes) are rather harmless. Just go and watch a topic about working mums explode on any mums' board

Sweetheart anytime you'd like proof as to my girlish qualities you only need to send your sister/wife/gf around...

And I don't need to trawl your posts - they all beat on about the same shit - for example I think it was last week ...ah yes .. May 4th...on the new holocaust memorial:


As to my going native ??? Uh what the fuck are you talking about - you start lambasting my land to my face and you'll not be wearing any sheepish smiles for a long while bub. You're not here on pain of death so "have to" does not come into it. Who's the girl now Milli ?

Thanks to everyone who voted! Gave me an insight anyway.

its called being a deep cover sleeper.

i'm still awaiting orders from london.

Why should they??

Random restarting of thread without reason or valid contribution.

Where's the "I should damn well hope so" option?