A Cultural Presentation on Germany by Markus Schneider & Fabian Huttner

GERMANY

Contents1. Germany – the basics

2. Government & Politics

3. Geography 4. Nature and Landscapes

5. Cities & and their places of interest6. Neuschwanstein - a very famous castle

7. The work place in Germany

8. Economy and Society

10. Clichés or Stereotypes about Germans

12.Typical German Food

13. Who says German is difficult?

Germany – the basicsOfficial Name: Federal Republic of Germany

Official Language: German

Political System: Parliarmentary Democracy

Capital: Berlin

Area: 357.021 km²

82 millon inhabitants – 230 per km²

Currency: EUR Composed of 16 Federal States

Has borders with 9 countries: (Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, France, Liechtenstein, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark)

Climate: continental

Government & Politics• Germany is a federal republic that has 16 federal states

• Legislation: Bundestag (lower house - voted every 4 years) by the folk), Bundesrat (upper house - 69 representatives of 16 states)

• Current: Great Coalition between FDP (Philip Rössler (Vice-Chancellor) and CDU (Angela Merkel)

• Head of state: State president Joachim Gauck

• Head of Government: Chancellor Angela Merkel

Geography of Germany – The 16 Federal States and their capitals

Nature and Landscapes

Black Forrest Alps

Rhine Valley Danube

Important Cities & and their places of interest

• Berlin • Hamburg• Munich• Cologne• Dresden

Berlin

Hamburg

Munich

The “Oktoberfest”´in Munich

The Biggest festival in the world with 6 million visitors In average the visitors drink about 5 million liters of beer each year.

Cologne

Dresden

Neuschwanstein

Neuschwanstein, one of the most popular of all the palaces and castles in Europe.

Every year 1.3 million people visit the castle

It was „the castle of the fairy-tale king“ Ludwig II in Bavaria.

Economy and Society• Europe’s largest economy and fourth largest in the world

• The national currency is the euro

• The main export products are: Automobiles, Chemicals, Electronics, Foodstuffs, Machinery and Equipment, metals, textiles

• 2009: second largest export (export champion until 2009) and third largest import nation

• Mainly contentrated on secondary (industry) and tertiary sector (services)

• In the use of solar energy internationally groundbraking

• Long mining tradition: Significant natural resources (Coal, precious salts and building materials)

The work place in Germany• In Germany the work day is fairly short

with the hours being close to 7:00, or 8;00 in the morning to 3:00 in the afternoon, 4:00 is often considered pushing the feasible limit.

• The common myth about German working is it’s tough to get fired from ones Job, but that’s not the truth. An employee can receive a “Kündigung” as long as there is a good reason for it like stealing or threatening a co-worker. Though it has to go through the companies council who must approve the firing if the worker.

• German Business is less about being quick to decide what’s next and more about the planning of the current action. It is pretty standard for German companies to spend more of the decision making on a thorough look at all the options. This has earned Germans a reputation of having a fetish for business charts, and paper work.

CulturePeriod of 1871: Land of poets and thinkers

Philosophers: Immanuel Kant, M.Luther, F.Nietzsche, Karl Marx

Authors: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller and the brothers Grimm

Classical music composers: Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert

Art and music:

• One of the most important monuments is the Brandenburg Gate.

The main German composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn in 1970 and died in 1827, was a great composer of Classicism and Romanticism. His deafness mark his life and character bitter. His major works are: the Third Symphony (the heroic), the fifth symphony, the eighth symphony and the opera Fidelio. He also wrote several beautiful piano pieces.

Clichés or Stereotypes about GermansClichés:1. They don’t like smiling a lot.2. They are very neat, tidy and they like recycling3. They are very hard-working and very skillful people.4. Germans are well organized, accurate and easy-pedantic.

Stereotypes:

The Germans are reliable, punctual, hard working and efficient, have no humor, boring, drink beer, eat sausages, well educated & very controlled, evironmentally aware, want that everything works, and we love our cars!

German Cuisine

German Cuisine• Germany is partycularly known for its hearty and heavy

meals• Northern Germany: A lot of potatoes in diverse forms of

preparation• In the south: Dumplings, Spätzle and Pasta• Local specifies e.g. In Bavaria: The white sausages with

mustard and pretzels or pork roast• Black bread• Regionally very different beer

Who says German is difficult?English / Spanish German

Hello ! / Hi! Hallo! Hello, how are you? Guten Tag! Wie geht’s dir?

I’m fine, thank you. And how are you?

Danke, mir geht’s gut! Und wie geht’s dir?

Please.. Bitte..!

Thank you! Danke!

Enjoy your meal! Guten Appetit!

Thank you for the invitation! Vielen Dank für die Einladung

Goodbye ! / Bye! Auf Wiedersehen! / Tschüss!

Thank you for your attention!

Gracias a todos por su atención!