German expat chat forums in the UK

London's native German speaking crowd: www.deutsche-in-london.net

An almost identical concept to TT, but the other way around, i.e. a forum and news site by Germans, for Germans, but in London.

See also what claims to be London's best German-language blog, London Leben.

Surprise surprise.

It looks totally ordered and Teutonic.

"Crazy crazy guys"

I'm a bit concerned about the thread entitled The Towel Club.

Anyone else have the feeling there can be a bit of winding up done here?

no I think you should let them have their board in peace

Expats are the same the world over, it seems: http://www.deutsche-in-london.net/forum/

Is it just me or is everything shit???
What Germans bring from Germany
The British and their non-usage of tissues (and Tempo is besser!)
Typisch Engländer...
A supermarket debate (mainly about Tesco)

etc. etc.

All in German of course.

Topics merged by admin

The thing that always strikes me about about that forum is the high standard of German that people write in. It seems that laziness and illiteracy are problems that affect mostly English speakers.

lol wut?

I found myself getting all defensive when I read those DIL topics. Who the hell do they think they are!!!

especially the bit about Engländers always listening to Michael Jackson. FUCK OFF!!!

Whilst I agree with you, what struck me most was how many of them stick English words in their German sentences. Very komisch, oder?

I have to laugh at the ones who find it necessary to bring spices, of all things, from Germany. Maybe they don't like the non-iodised British salt

mmm, and how do the Germans feel when we post about them all listening to the Hoff and Celine Dion?

zackerly

I thought that it was interesting on the Tesco thread that many of them claim not to buy their veggies there, buy buy them from markets instead. Old habits die hard I guess! Either that or the impression we have of British supermarkets is maybe a bit rose tinted!

To quote one of the first posts I just read: "nack mit ner Tescotuete" - Germans write in slang/shortform too.

yes, a pain the a*se.


In London you get fabulous markets - still miss 'my' market from London - and you're downright stupid if you buy everything in the supermarkets.

I think people need to be a little more accepting of differences. One person prefers groceries from the market, one from the grocery store, one likes German grocery stores, the other doesn't. One likes their food spicy, the other doesn't. Different does not equal worse or better, and in the end it all comes down to personal preference and taste which is a subjective thing, and just because someone does not like their food the way you do, does not mean they have bad taste, it just means they have different taste. People need to stop putting each other down and feeling superior to each other because they are individuals and as such do not all agree with each other on everything.

[Sort of a reaction to this, the 1,000 grocery store topics and the one on spices.]

This is bizarre, but since moving from Munich to London, even though I'm a UK citizen, I've taken to posting on the Deutsche in London forum for my weird questions, such as 'Where can I buy Dinkelmehl/brot in London?' and 'Should the landlord provide a wheelie bin or do I really have to buy one myself and then move houses with it too?' Questions that I've never had to deal with in England before, and friends don't know the answer. Pretty useful for me, but I have to try and write German which is getting harder by the minute! Their answers have been v useful and nice though, not making me feel like an idiot. It certainly makes me sympathise with those first time posters on TT.

Here's where Germans living in Ireland do their venting. This German blogger in Ireland often posts some interesting articles.

It looks completely genuine to me. Unlike us Brits Germans dont go in for windups!

I notice they say bring along business cards, but no mention of bringing along a (large) towel...

I think my favourite observations were:

- everyone has an i-pod
- everyone is friendly
- you always get offered a cup a tea wherever you go
- everyone always wants to know how you are or "how you've been???" (followed by speculation of whether zees crazy eenglish people actually want an answer to this question...)
- 99% of cash machines are free to use. Why?

The one that made me laugh the most was one person's comment about how complicated the ticket system is for public transport. After 7 months of living in Munich I still "verstehe es nicht"

why?, boxheads are everywhere on this forum

Does anyone know of a forum like that for germans in New Zealand? I know it's a long shot but TT hasn't failed me yet.

yes but unless you actually live in Borough or one of the other uberexpensive neighbourhoods with these gastro markets, its a fuck of a schlep to get to them. When I used to live in Bow the Germans I knew were buying the special offers from Iceland or Soerfield so either that means DIL posters are an ubersnobby bunch who all live om the Borough High Street or a good few of them are telling porkies.

Don't know about other people, but the market I used to go to was Church Street Market - and that's certainly NOT upmarket. But i loved it. They had the best fish stall ever and loads of brilliant fruit & veg stalls and an Arabic shop where I always bought the best ever feta cheese...oh happy days...

In Bow we had the godawful Chrisp Street Market and the Roman Road Market as well as the stuff in Stratford. The veg was cheap but unpleasant so most people went to Tescos out of preference.

@BelltheCat

You forgot to mention the god awful streetmarket on Whitechapel Road. 'Fresh Fruit and Veg' with added pollution. Tasty

My all time favourite thread on 'Deutsche in London' is the one about importing German Asprin because it is just better than the British stuff.

Not sure about forums, but I know there's a Weisswürst-Club via the uni in Dunedin. They meet once a month for sausage, beers and a natter. The guys from Elm Wildlife Tours are involved, I think.
Mind you, you won't actually have to go and look for Germans on the Mainland, the place is rammed with them.

As for Welly info, and I might as well park it here for completeness, there's a chain of German bakers called Prezelmania, Arobake Swiss bakery as well, there's a Dutch shop in Petone too which actually stocks more German stuff to be honest and of course the Goethe-Institut.
Meat on Tory will have any meat product your man desires or via post from this place in Nelson.
Cafe Munich in the Lower Hutt does do Hax'n et al.
TT-equivalent for Auckland might be GC?

My brother found all this stuff for me thinking he was doing me a favour. He realised pretty quickly that German stuff was the last thing I wanted to see on a holiday away from Germany ha ha

I like this quote from "when you know you've been on the island too long.."


Man that pisses me off in London. So much for the extended hours in the pubs.

Tht is indeed odd. I have always brought aspirin etc from here back to Germany for all frieds and relatives because it's soooooo cheap here. And nobody ever noticed that it was better or worse.

So I need some info on German expats in Britain and was wondering: Is there an on-line forum for Germans auf der Insel? Hellhole London, perhaps? Other weak joke answers welcome, just as long as someone comes up with the goods.

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they're pretty damn right on this thread
(and the Hexxa looks very tastey )she can use my bad steckdoser anytime

This is an issue that I have become more aware of: British fixation with the war and the Nazis since watching many recent British tv comedies, or frequently when reading just about any British newspaper. I thought it was amusing until recently, but my girlfriend is German, and, well the war ended over 60 years ago. It now just seems like an unhealthy obsession, and the joke, as Morrissey said, isn't funny any more.

KofferInBerlin's link is classic. They're grumbling about the same stuff we do in reverse, even people who stand to piss! Why are the Brits so undisciplined and cross the street when the man's red? Even a German has trouble explaining the Also nochma kurz: Keine Autos = gehen, Autos = stehen. logic to his fellow Germans. Mind you they're not very insightful, and only seem to have noticed the blindingly obvious like Brits like queuing politely and the supermarkets are better (if you like that sort of thing), but the bile level is nothing compared to TT.

Oh, and those who've posted their photos look so stereotypical Deutsche it's almost like they've done it deliberately as a parody. Pharao is my favourite.

My god, there's even a company that delivers German food.

White asparagus and hollandaise sauce out of a packet, anyone?

Pure gold! Who says Germans don't have a sense of humour. Typical Chav..

Translation:
Nothing shocks me anymore. I was in Liverpool St Station this evening, and I saw a (max) 12 year old boy standing next to his mother, both enjoying a cigarette (in a smoke free station, but that is another matter). And she was DEFINITELY English - you can tell by the tracksuit she was wearing.

Er, no ... a girl actually.

She was probably pregnant too.

Interesting site - nice distraction from sitting at PC and working! It strikes me though how much "schleichwerbung" there is on the German site.
Like ads for Haribo, Nutella, Spreewaldgurken.
My favourite: Condomi Apfelaroma. Thanks, but I don't think I'll be trying that one.

I was with my in-laws in a pub in Wales and we sat down and had a natter. After 10 minutes or so my father-in-law says something like "bloody awful service in here" and I only then remembered that you have to get the drinks yourself...

Oh this "Germans in Britain" forum is so good!!!

I love this... "typisches englisches hobby - schlange stehen."

Too right! Proud of it, too!

I love Germany by my goodness - what's with the lack of queues?

Love that website. Going to be a regular.

Hi all,

I was given a link to this website by a German friend from Hemsbach in Baden-Wuerttemberg. I'm English and learning German at the moment! I intend to go and stay in Heidelberg for a month next summer and attend the German language school out there (apparently it's quite famous). I've just returned from a week's holiday in the area and having never been to Germany before, I loved the culture, the people and the big hills of the Odenwald! (I am a mountain biker).

So I wonder, does anyone know a good website aimed at England's German-speaking crowd? I want to practice my German. Everywhere I went in Heidelberg, the Germans wanted to practice their English! I had to tell them to speak German for me!

Best Regards to all,
Mike.

Topics merged by admin

Maybe they got that from the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy

I read through a bunch of the the UK german expat site, and, I swear, I was rooting for them to be as witty and incisive as TT ... but they weren't

I felt exactly the same way I did when I watched the recent Top Gear vs. DMAX Motor show: I may have winced at the gratuitious cheap shots the whole way through ... but toward the end I was secretly rooting for the lads.