How integrated are you?

[fraufruit 41,623]

On 9/28/2022, 7:19:12, Gambatte said:

When you pass away, a paid-off house goes to your heirs.

 

1 hour ago, Fietsrad said:

There are firms that offer to buy your home and let you live in it until you die

 

Yes, there are many scenarios. I think my son in the U.S. would prefer cash instead of faffing around with cleaning out/selling a property in Germany. That's what he will get. My German stepson will get the property and either continue to rent it or sell it.

[LeonG 14,707]

23 hours ago, fraufruit said:

Yes, there are many scenarios. I think my son in the U.S. would prefer cash instead of faffing around with cleaning out/selling a property in Germany. That's what he will get. My German stepson will get the property and either continue to rent it or sell it.

 

Whatever you do, the kids will do what they want once you are gone.  It's not ideal to rent out a property if you don't live nearby.  In that case it would be better to sell.  As for siblings owning something together, it can work out or not.  It'll probably fall on the one who is closest to take care of the property and tenants and can cause stress between the siblings.

[Guest]

On 30/09/2022, 13:41:02, LeonG said:

 

Whatever you do, the kids will do what they want once you are gone.  It's not ideal to rent out a property if you don't live nearby.  In that case it would be better to sell.  As for siblings owning something together, it can work out or not.  It'll probably fall on the one who is closest to take care of the property and tenants and can cause stress between the siblings.

 

Perhaps you can stipulate in the testament that any assets must be sold and the proceeds distributed accordingly. This prevents any disagreements between benefactor.

[LeonG 14,707]

10 hours ago, jamiegw said:

 

Perhaps you can stipulate in the testament that any assets must be sold and the proceeds distributed accordingly. This prevents any disagreements between benefactor.

 

That's not a bad idea.  Inheritance matters can get really ugly.  My great grandma contracted someone to burn her things after she died.  All the children whined about the lost heirlooms but at least they couldn't fight over them.

[mako1 858]

How integrated are you?

More than I would like to admit. When relatives/friends come from the US, I am constantly after them to follow 'the rules'. Don't walk in the bike lane, don't put pfand flaschen in the recycling (Pfand gehört daneben!), don't try to order an IPA at the Augustiner. blah blah blah.

Yesterday I measured the profile on my winter tires to see if I meet the required 1.6mm Deutsche requirement.

[toBnruG 1,140]

I recently learnt that the cerebral cortex frontal lobes (responsible for decision making) aren't fully developed until age 25. I decided to move to Germany shortly after my 25th birthday. Best decision I ever made.

The frontal lobes are also supposed to be essential for language production... well in that function they failed me somewhat, but I'm getting there slowly.

[optimista 5,783]

On 16/10/2022, 02:57:56, LeonG said:

My great grandma contracted someone to burn her things after she died.  

 

This is, or was, the method used by gypsies. Ok if assets are minimal or worthless. Can t see the royals going that route.

[SpongeOver 320]

2 hours ago, toBnruG said:

I recently learnt that the cerebral cortex frontal lobes (responsible for decision making) aren't fully developed until age 25. I decided to move to Germany shortly after my 25th birthday. Best decision I ever made.

The frontal lobes are also supposed to be essential for language production... well in that function they failed me somewhat, but I'm getting there slowly.

 

If it helps, I was 27 when I moved to Germany and I learnt German quite quickly. Best advice is: do something every day, even if it's just 5 minutes.

[Dembo 483]

2 hours ago, SpongeOver said:

 

If it helps, I was 27 when I moved to Germany and I learnt German quite quickly. Best advice is: do something every day, even if it's just 5 minutes.

I've been doing that for years.

 

I'm not very integrated, although to be fair I wasn't very integrated in the last place I lived in the UK either. I can blame circumstance a bit having arrived in 2020 in time for lockdown and have continued to work with a remote English speaking team. From next year I'll be working with a German team so hopefully speaking the language every day will help me. I can do B2-C1 level on a good day, but it does still feel like an obstacle. 

[kiplette 8,603]

18 minutes ago, Dembo said:

I can do B2-C1 level on a good day, but it does still feel like an obstacle. 

 

That's a good description.

 

Theoretically I am B2 - C1 but it doesn't stop each conversation feeling like climbing the north face of the Eiger.

[HEM 10,982]

Quote

How integrated are you?

 

Good question - really its for others to judge.

I lived for my first 30 years in the UK (the last few years of that with frequent travels to the Hamburg area).

Then I moved out "for one year" - (as a member of the JADE collaboration at DESY) - that was 40 years ago.

 

Unlike some I found the language difficult to learn - only really got there due to being introduced to the sport of gliding & thus learnt to fly and the language at the same time.

Flying was easier to learn (although one never ceases to learn that either).

The "warm dictionary" came along a few years later.

 

I guess I am between levels C1 & C2: I can read texts, take active (even leading) part in discussions and deliver a lecture.

My written text (presentations, documents, important e-mails) need to be corrected by my wife as my grammer is non-existant (I just cannot remember the genders).

 

 

 

[Fietsrad 379]

I got 95+% for B1. Would I pass C1?

 

I worked in German mostly for many years, explaining complex matters etc usw, and I have read hundreds of books in German.

[kiplette 8,603]

Well mebbe. I also got almost full marks for my B1 and found the C1 course really difficult, but unlike you I don't have much German input to my day except when teaching my oldies, the supermarket and the breaks during choir practice, which is obviously a bit limited. I have never read an actual book - its gotta have pictures - Landlust is fine - great German, lots of pictures, kids books ditto (German not so good ) but once it's a wall of text, my brain fries. Reading is supposed to be fun.

 

Most Germans are not C1 German, most Brits are not C1 English. It is a cut (humungous sword slash) above your average language ability and is not about 'native' language situations at all - but about an ability to express and discuss complex subjects fluently. If you can write those things as well as speak them, perhaps you'd be in with a shout. Also you need to be good at doing the actual tests, but that's a learned skill. There were 3 of us with further education of some kind on my course and we were way better at doing the tests than the other 5 who were much more fluent in their German than us.

[Fietsrad 379]

I worked with the Zoll, customs. I can explain the difference between "verarbeiten" and "bearbeiten" but the Zollbeamtin was talking about "endgueltige Einfuhr/Ausfuhr"/irrevocable import/export. I got a bit confused when she mentioned "degrees of Endgueltigkeit/irrevocablility"😉

[Tammodar 99]

I have no idea how other people perceive me, but I feel quite
well integrated. Back in 1983 when I first came to
Germany as a student in order to learn a bit of the
language, I had no intention of staying for more than 10 months.
In the end I must have liked the experience because I decided to
stay on another year. And then another. After my studies, the
student job magically drifted into full time employment. In 1987
I married a German woman and thought I was happy - at least for
the time being.  In the early 90s I had a bit of an early mid-life
crisis and felt I was loosing touch with my roots, my culture,
my heritage and language. I reached out to other ex-pats, mostly
from the UK, and we debated for hours on end about all the pros
and cons of living in Germany, about separating rubbish and red
lights and impolite behaviour, and we all drank far too much
beer in the process. Most of the other ex-pats have left Germany
over the years. After my divorce in 1992 and almost ten years in
Germany I seriously considered moving on to some other country,
to see something else and learn a new language as long as I was
still young and energetic enough.  France was on the top of the
list at the time, but today I cannot understand why.  Somehow
I managed to come to terms with Germany, or was simply too lazy
to sell off everything, pack my bags, and move on.  In 1995 I
did the C2 German language test, not because I needed it, but
just as a sort of challenge. I've always enjoyed learning
languages and still do today.  My German will never be perfect,
but I feel very comfortable in almost any situation and enjoy
reading books and newspapers (Die Zeit) in German. Suddenly
and unexpectedly the year 2003 came upon me with the realisation
that I had already spent twenty years in Germany, almost half of
my life. In 2005 I applied for German citizenship, long before
Brexit was a serious issue. Nowadays my entire social and
work-related environment is German speaking and I seldom have
the opportunity or need to speak English.  In the mean time I
have remarried and bought a house - and have never felt more
happy and at ease in my life. Now, after nearly forty years
in Germany, I think I would find re-adjusting to life in the
UK very difficult.  It's a diffrent country today and I have
changed as well. Oddly enough, my wife has more ties to the
UK than I do, although she is German. So, am I integrated?

[john g. 37,439]

7 hours ago, Tammodar said:

I have no idea how other people perceive me, but I feel quite
well integrated. Back in 1983 when I first came to
Germany as a student in order to learn a bit of the
language, I had no intention of staying for more than 10 months.
In the end I must have liked the experience because I decided to
stay on another year. And then another. After my studies, the
student job magically drifted into full time employment. In 1987
I married a German woman and thought I was happy - at least for
the time being.  In the early 90s I had a bit of an early mid-life
crisis and felt I was loosing touch with my roots, my culture,
my heritage and language. I reached out to other ex-pats, mostly
from the UK, and we debated for hours on end about all the pros
and cons of living in Germany, about separating rubbish and red
lights and impolite behaviour, and we all drank far too much
beer in the process. Most of the other ex-pats have left Germany
over the years. After my divorce in 1992 and almost ten years in
Germany I seriously considered moving on to some other country,
to see something else and learn a new language as long as I was
still young and energetic enough.  France was on the top of the
list at the time, but today I cannot understand why.  Somehow
I managed to come to terms with Germany, or was simply too lazy
to sell off everything, pack my bags, and move on.  In 1995 I
did the C2 German language test, not because I needed it, but
just as a sort of challenge. I've always enjoyed learning
languages and still do today.  My German will never be perfect,
but I feel very comfortable in almost any situation and enjoy
reading books and newspapers (Die Zeit) in German. Suddenly
and unexpectedly the year 2003 came upon me with the realisation
that I had already spent twenty years in Germany, almost half of
my life. In 2005 I applied for German citizenship, long before
Brexit was a serious issue. Nowadays my entire social and
work-related environment is German speaking and I seldom have
the opportunity or need to speak English.  In the mean time I
have remarried and bought a house - and have never felt more
happy and at ease in my life. Now, after nearly forty years
in Germany, I think I would find re-adjusting to life in the
UK very difficult.  It's a diffrent country today and I have
changed as well. Oddly enough, my wife has more ties to the
UK than I do, although she is German. So, am I integrated?

I think yours is a lovely post and you ARE integrated. And just a normal person's perspective of living in another country and what if I had moved and done this or that or whatever and can I be bothered to do or have done this or that elsewhere?

 ( Plus: am I too bloody old to do something else?😂)..

[Fietsrad 379]

Edvard Munch lived in Germany for a while. "I liked Germany, for I met few Norwegians there", he said.

 

Not many English speakers where I live, either😉

[jubinjohn 235]

15 hours ago, Tammodar said:

I have no idea how other people perceive me, but I feel quite
well integrated. Back in 1983 when I first came to
Germany as a student in order to learn a bit of the
language, I had no intention of staying for more than 10 months.
In the end I must have liked the experience because I decided to
stay on another year. And then another. After my studies, the
student job magically drifted into full time employment. In 1987
I married a German woman and thought I was happy - at least for
the time being.  In the early 90s I had a bit of an early mid-life
crisis and felt I was loosing touch with my roots, my culture,
my heritage and language. I reached out to other ex-pats, mostly
from the UK, and we debated for hours on end about all the pros
and cons of living in Germany, about separating rubbish and red
lights and impolite behaviour, and we all drank far too much
beer in the process. Most of the other ex-pats have left Germany
over the years. After my divorce in 1992 and almost ten years in
Germany I seriously considered moving on to some other country,
to see something else and learn a new language as long as I was
still young and energetic enough.  France was on the top of the
list at the time, but today I cannot understand why.  Somehow
I managed to come to terms with Germany, or was simply too lazy
to sell off everything, pack my bags, and move on.  In 1995 I
did the C2 German language test, not because I needed it, but
just as a sort of challenge. I've always enjoyed learning
languages and still do today.  My German will never be perfect,
but I feel very comfortable in almost any situation and enjoy
reading books and newspapers (Die Zeit) in German. Suddenly
and unexpectedly the year 2003 came upon me with the realisation
that I had already spent twenty years in Germany, almost half of
my life. In 2005 I applied for German citizenship, long before
Brexit was a serious issue. Nowadays my entire social and
work-related environment is German speaking and I seldom have
the opportunity or need to speak English.  In the mean time I
have remarried and bought a house - and have never felt more
happy and at ease in my life. Now, after nearly forty years
in Germany, I think I would find re-adjusting to life in the
UK very difficult.  It's a diffrent country today and I have
changed as well. Oddly enough, my wife has more ties to the
UK than I do, although she is German. So, am I integrated?

What a nice post. Beautifully written

[kiplette 8,603]

On 27/10/2022, 13:56:18, Tammodar said:

So, am I integrated?

 

Cripes, yes. On any measure. Except I think you are supposed to build a house, not just buy one, that's kind of cheating