Correcting your own facts mid-conversation

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that when you correct yourself in the middle of a conversation, you lost respect from your German listener?

I'm not talking about a correction that has to do with the content of what you are saying (as opposed to grammar or vocabulary).

An example would be if you said something like, "I think there are 2 million inhabitants in this city," and then said, "Or, wait I'm sure it was 2,5 million."

Does anyone know what I mean? And have a good explanation for why it's so important to be accurate when talking?

Perhaps culterally different to the US, I've no idea on that score. However, I'm Irish and I am the same in the sense that I lose respect for people who are not clear, concise and accurate in what they say. Others can correct you when you are wrong and that's perfectly fine, but especially in business if you are not together enough to know your own mind then it's hardly a good reflection on you. I would much rather someone paused before each sentence whilst they gather their thoughts than to just start blurting things out and then correcting themselves mid-sentence.

I guess you do mean a correction that has to do with the content?

*loses respect immediately*

Yes, the content.

I realize it's going to be relative to how air-headed a person normally is. But it seems to me that Germans are far less tolerant than many other cultures.
I've found Irish to be a lot more tolerant.

To me, it would be very dependent on the context in which you were saying it. As Keydeck said, if you were telling me about a big business proposition and couldn't get your facts straight, I would probably be less likely to take you seriously. If however, you were telling me a story in an informal situation and you said something like "I saw X on Monday... or was it Tuesday?", then I wouldn't think anything of it.

Yeah, depends on the context. In a discussion where you are presenting your arguments it is not very convincing if you can't even get your facts straight. It does take away from your credibility.
If it is in a casual conversation it hardly matters. (Like kathie said.)

The only thing that really pisses me off is when people try too feckin hard to get facts right that are absolutely meaningless to whatever it is they're talking about, like: "You know who I met at Aldi? ...Or wait, was it Lidl? ...Nah, might have been Aldi, I guess...or Lidl? Well, I met them yesterday, cause I was out shopping for bread...or was it Rewe? Come to think of it, it would have been Aldi cause they got that nice smoked cheese..."

But then I'm probably not the most patient person to begin with.

I agree with Kathie.

I was once really surprised by an otherwise easy-going German colleague (in her 30s), who showed irritation at a phone call from a prospective trainee who was going to join the department from another country. The trainee, who was travelling abroad for the first time, had said she was slightly nervous at the prospect of her stay. When my colleague got off the phone, she said she was shocked that the trainee should be so silly as to admit to a personal weakness.

"Never apologise and never explain" seems to hold true in Germany.

"Never apologize and never explain." definitely holds true to some extent in Germany.

I have found the most successful technique in conversation has been to use very clear concise statements stripped of any "verbal cushioning" that most English speakers tend to put in (eg "It would be great if you could..." "Couldn't we try..."). Using alot of these types of cushioning phrases (and especially the tendency to translate them directly from English) tends to confuse some German listeners, since they aren't as profusely dropped into German conversation as is the case in most English (especially American English, I'm told).

Be clear and direct. It may make you feel uncomfortable at first, as if you were giving orders or being grouchy, but I soon overcame that when I immediately noticed it got better results. I have often noticed that German listeners don't seem to make connections between statements well in conversation that seem natural and normal to me, which leads to a lot of confusion.

Stupid Example:
Looking at wedding rings with my fiance in a shop. The rings were made of titanium and I asked if a jeweller could still remove the ring without a problem in case of a bee sting.
This got a blank stare reaction from the saleswoman and she blatantly ignored me with the kind of look that said, "I think you're a little off in the head, and I don't really have patience for it today."

What I should have said is something like: "Titanium is one of the hardest metals, correct? Some medical emergencies, such as being stung by a bee or a similar allergic reaction could cause the extremities to swell rapidly, right? Would a jeweller with standard equipment still be able to remove a titanium ring in that case without a problem?"

I later learned that it was mainly a cultural thing. Googled "bee sting" and "wedding ring" in both languages and got a bunch of hits in English and practically none in German. Unfortunately, you just can't avoid running into stuff like that often, but the best way to get around it is by using the kind of conversation style I mentioned above.

And above all, speak up and with very very distinct enunciation if you are speaking German. Just listen to how they speak with one another. Imagine the person you are speaking to has no mental concept of "subtlety" and you can't go very wrong.

I couldn't agree more - I had a similar problem a couple of years ago, when I tried to convince a cashier in London that I didn't need a plastic carrier bag for the single bottle of shampoo I had just bought. She just didn't seem to be able to grasp the concept of putting shoppings in your own handbag and ignored everything I said on the topic.

Must be a typical UK thing.