Teen life in Germany

Hi everyone I'm new here, and I live in the USA. I'm writing a paper in school for my German language class. And the criteria for the paper is:

Teens-

*General Lifestyle

*Education

*Ties With Traditions

*Western Influence

*Social Realations (lesbian/gay)

*What Worldwide Issues?

(German autos, music, fashion, and what do they do?)

Can everyone please help me out, because I'm not finding anything off the internet search engines. DANKE!

well I have a son,not quite into the tenage years but can tell you what i have observed in the 2 years I have been in Europe

more teens smoke as it is more exceptable here
they can drink at a younger age but have yet to see one abuse it but sure that it happens
more respectful of adults
more knowledgable on geography
dress better, not as slutty looking
listen to western music but also listen to german music

i'll try to think of more...

15 year old girl:
General Lifestyle - Living into the day and sleeping as much as possible
Education - Important depending on her mood
Ties with traditions - Half-German, half-American. 2 Christmas celebrations, observes 4th of July, insists on the half thing
Western influence - D'uh, western culture. Interested in Japan, though
Social relations - straight, as far as we know
Worldwide issues - Considers Bush an a**hole and would like to tell guys who oppress women to take a long walk on a short pier
I hope that helps

Teens? Well, they've definitely got them here. I have a German nephew who is 14 and a niece and a step-daughter just about to enter teendom. I'll tell you what I know.

*General Lifestyle - They are quite liberated here. On the whole they seem to be a couple of years behind British kids in terms of being 'streetwise', but maybe that is because I am a Londoner, and I will always feel that we are a couple of years ahead of anybody.

*Education - Falls into 3 levels: Gymnasium for the brightest kids, Realschule for the medium kids (my step-daughter is in one), and Hauptschule for the kids who didn't quite make the cut after 4 years of junior school. The system is decided by exams and coursework in the junior school phase, and nothing else. Money, religion, colour or creed don't come into it. Obviously there will always be populations with lesser chances, some made by circumstances, sometimes made by themselves (I'm thinking directly of a junior school friend of my step-daughter's who is an Albanian immigrant, and whose parents don't think that it is really worth her being educated... presumably because she'll be married off at the earliest convenience).

*Ties With Traditions - Interesting area completely, and one I will explain with by a part of every German's teenage education. At 14 German kids suddenly have this lesson where they get the details of the full horror of what happened here during the 1930's and 40s. I don't know if it still goes on, but friends of mine educated in the early 90s say it was still going on then. It causes a lot of problems which are diminishing a little now because the generations are moving on. Basically, kids would come home from these lessonswhen they started in the late 60s/early 70s and point their fingers at their grand-parents, asking, "Were you part of this shit?". This has made for a few estrangements, and goes a long way to explaining the overriding pacifism of the German psyche. The USA and the UK have never been totally beaten. Until they are, they will never understand what the Germans do.

*Western Influence - Erm... Germany is part of The West. Musicwise they are very switched on. They have their own internal German culture (popular music, film and literature), plus they follow the international scene at the same time. I'm English, and often caught out because German's know so much about our cultural arts, whilst we know so little about theirs. Hey, you're from Detroit. So is Iggy Pop. He decided in the late 70's to join Lou Reed and David Bowie in Berlin, rather than waste their lives in LA (Berlin has changed a bit since then).

*Social Relations (lesbian/gay) - They seem very liberated and don't really treat it like the (us) British... with an embarrassed joke attitude. My step-daughter gets magazines aimed at her age-group (10-13) with agony aunt pieces on subjects which we wouldn't have discussed until we were 16-18 in my day. I have also been shocked to see pictures of penises with explanations in her magazines... but I am told that this part of sex education is very normal in modern German society.

*What Worldwide Issues? - Best I don't say too much, but suffice to say, your 'President' ain't really Flavour of the Month amongst German teenagers. They are well informed and bright. Even my 14 year old nephew tells me that the US Government are just a bunch of pirates (his words, not mine).

(German autos, music, fashion, and what do they do?) - Yep, the German kids are suckered into consumerism just as bad as everybody else.

But, wait for a few more responses to get a more balanced view than just my tuppenny's worth, OK?

Teens are teens...german teens seem to do things a bit earlier than what i remembered but then again i was fairly square. The ones i've *seen* in social settings, i.e. at the pub or the bier garten seem to be chain smoking and social drinking - i.e. they enjoy the alcohol but don't seem to put an emphasis on getting fcuked up drunk.

The educational system is very different and worth mentioning. Sex ed for one, I believe is mandatory...here's some data for your report:


source is planned parenthood

my experience is from my daughter, almost 13, German, me also German and single parent. I compare it more to "how it was at my time" as i don't know too much about what's going on with teenagers in other countries.

General Lifestyle

- consuming consuming consuming- hightech with computer, cell-phones, internet, mp3s, dvds, (just had a big thread here about my daughters phone bill).
- they expect to get everything, mummy drives them everywhere.
- on one side, fun-oriented above all. on the other side, social worries (like will I get a job, will I earn enough money) gets a bigger place.
- they seem to have a much bigger self esteem, specially the girls. even the overweight ones run around belly free and with tight clothes, lots of make-up ... the way they present and show themseves ... I wouldn't have dared at their age!

All begins earlier: being interested in fashion and popmusic, shaving the legs, getting menstruation, having sex. ... it scares me!
- whereas culturally, and concerning history, I have the impression that they are less interested/know less than we used to.

*Education

german school system sucks. three levels, and kids get seperated at the age of 10 into 3 levels of school "Gymnasium" (best) "Realschule" (intermediate) and "low" (lower) and your professional future depends on what kind of degree you got. and it's difficult to move up in the system, but easy to get kicked down if you don't perform well .
to me it seems, that kids have a much harder time to cope with school issues, be it cause they're more distracted, or cause schools is more difficult than before. to cope with the highschools (Gymnasium), most kids need extra lessons and help from the parents, this is why mostly the rich ones end up in Gymnasium. (PISA study has shown that financial background is crucial if you wanna succed in Gymnasium!)

*Ties With Traditions
...none for us. but that was me who broke with them ;-) ... with my atheist hippy past!

*Western Influence
thought we are western here? anyhow USA is still idealized, at least by my daughter.

*Social Realations (lesbian/gay)
- at her age, still a matter of jokes and giggling. but as society is very open here, guess they gonna be more open also later on. church doesn't really play a role for us.

*What Worldwide Issues?
personally: not much. but I guess this is going to change within the next years. though my friends are mostly international, she is not interested, in chat she only talks to her friends from school.

(German autos, music, fashion, and what do they do?)

Music and Fashion is of course internationalized, Auto is still too far away.

that was a rather personal approach, so curious about the others opinions.

Good luck for your project,

Zee

Hi Asia, I'm working as an assistant english teacher in a high school here. I have a few discussion groups and if you write me with a few more specific questions that you'd like to ask some german teens I would gladly take them to class and discuss and take some notes for you... I'm always looking for things to talk about!

I want to thank everyone who posted a reply. Your comments really helped me finish my project. I have one more question.

Who are the famous singers and rap artists in Germany?

Description of Germany's fashion...

xaviar nadoo (or whatever) and the sons of mannheim. Don't really like the music, but to each his own.
can't forget DJ BoBo for the pre-pubescent crowd.
And this is the country where david hasselhof had a top twenty hit (*gag*)
The Toten Hosen and Die Aerzte - definately worth a mention, and Rammstein... not really rap.
Oh - "Rap" music - die fantastischen vier (*gag*) good luck

Shouldn`t these questions be being asked in German if it`s for a German language class or am I just being picky?

You're kidding here, right?

@ sin...

Start smoking again... please!

Some favourites:

• Die Ärzte
• Seeed
• Die Toten Hosen
• Xavier Naidoo
• Wir Sind Helden
• Ich und Ich
• Rammstein
  
  oh, and a bigtime favourite amongst the teenie brigade at the moment.
  
• Tokio Hotel

Who is that guy also that waers the mask ziso, sido or whatever...horrible rap artis but seems quite popular.

German rap artists:

Sido
Raptile

Don't know of anymore but Rap is very popular amoung the teenage contingent.

No I think since English is her native tounge it is more important to get the facts correct then translate over into german for her report. I have done the oral history of my family. It was easier for some of the older generations to answer questions in Spanish, but at times I would have to ask in English if I did not quite understand their answer.

As for more rap artist there is that whole group that calls attention to themselves and others New German Wave(Sido being one of them).

I have a 16 year old nephew who lives in a small German city (approx. 60,00 people) His life seems to be a lot more sheltered than the teens living in big cities.

He basically spends his time playing soccer, attending social dance classes (apparently this is a very popular way to meet girls), playing computer games, and listening to music (Rammstein, System of a Down and Die Toten Hosen are favourites). He drives a moped as you can only get a drivers license at 18 here. Drugs have no part of his life and while it is legal for him to drink beer at 16 I think he’s only gotten drunk on 2 occasions. Promiscuous sex doesn’t seem to go on either although I doubt he’d tell me if it did.

All in all I was shocked at what good kids he and his friends were in comparison to what I experienced in North America. Although admittedly I think the small town atmosphere has a lot to do with it.

That's a global thing ER. Village kids in England are pretty backwards compared to us kids from The Smoke, innit?

Yeah but where I come from the small town kids have nothing better to do than drink, do drugs and have sex. Must be the dance classes

We have a winner! Yes indeedy, reading the above comments seemed to suggest comparing "city" life to "country" life. Most of Germany has a "country" life feel to it and it is very similar to "country" life in the southern US. Kids that grow up on a farm in Tennessee know more about sex at an earlier age than those in the cities do and in a more realistic context. If you are going to make a comparison, then you have to do as Sin and ER did and qualify it with city versus country.

I do not know who to blame my life on...

Searching for "German teens" on google did not turn up much then?

I met my sister in law just before she was 13, and she's now 24 or 25 I think. Anyhoo, I saw her and her little friends all going through the teen years here.
Like in many countries, her main passtime whilst a 'teen' was sleeping. Her vocal skills dropped to the international puberty language of grunts and sighs, although amongst her friends, some words were occasionally used - although I can only actually remember "geil, oder" and "krass" being said. Said alot.

Her and all her mates all smoked fags, and all drank booze. No, there is not such a binge culture here like the UK, no way, but its ridiculously naive to say "here they seem to drink sensibly, its not just to get drunk". Thats utter, utter bollox. They also smoke dope, take ecstacy, and snort speed and coke just like in every other european country. I agree massively with Sin on the "streetwise" thang, and for the very same reasons.

Musicwise, they like music. Not a clue if its the same or different to other teens across the globe, don't know 'em, but it seems to always be popular music, whatever that may be at the time. Liking the more traditional music is more a case of enjoying the spectacle of whatever-fest it is, but I do not know one teen who owns and listens to any oompah oompah CDs here. (I think only expat jerks buy them in a misguided effort to appear more cultured or more integrated. Bit like Krouts pretending to actually like classical music, because it makes them feel clever. Just like wearing glasses that have no lenses. Twats)

Whats very very very funny here, is the mix and match approach to clothing. When I was a teen, there was quite strong dividing lines between chuncks of the teenage populous, mostly based on music and clothing, and there was not much overlap between the 'casuals', 'goths' and 'rockers' or what have ya.
Here though, you'll see many 'normal' looking smart but casual teenage boys wearing VERY 'normal' shoes, jeans, sensible warm jackets etc...with a massive fuck off 4 ply studded belt hanging from one hip. Just hilarious. Like some librarian deciding for an image change, but can only afford the belt this month. A few years back, it was the same sort of shit - but not with belts, but hair dye. Soooooo many normal looking people...with a massive coloured splodge across their barnet. Looked utterly stupid, but thats what being a teen is all about maybe.

Twat.

May be I'm a bit late in responding ... some rap artists have already been mentioned but Deutscher Hip-Hop is BIG...

Fettes Brot
Sido
Massive Toene
Raptile
Die Fantastischen Vier
Samy Deluxe
Die Firma
Curse
Bushido
Absolute Beginner
Blumentopf
Seeed
DJ Tomekk (one of Germany's biggest Hip-hop producers)
Fler (caused controversy with his nationalistic sentiments last year)

R&B also ...both commonly referred to here as Black Music.

Germany has plenty of homegrown talent for other scenes be they Pop , Metal, Rock, Indie, Electronica ...if you google there's some sites worth checking out:

Germany Info Music

German Sounds

I know a foreign excahange student from Germany, he said his friend that was a National Socialists and he found out that he smoked weed a couple of times and his National Socialists friend never talked to him again.