What do Germans really understand when the English talk to them?

The English language has many subtleties that do not exist in German. The German language is very literal and & as a result, Germans may come across as rude or off-hand to the English speaker. Of course, Germans are not rude at all.

When attending meetings with Germans, managing German staff or dealing with German management, it is worth considering these differences in language use, to ensure effective communication.

For example, ‘I hear what you say’ means the English speaker disagrees and & does not want to discuss the matter further. However, the German listener would think the speaker is accepting his point of view.

The phrase ‘I was a bit disappointed that‘ means the speaker is annoyed. The German listener, however, may think the disappointment is only slight.

The term ‘quite good’ will be understood literally as ‘quite good’, although it means ‘disappointing’.

‘Very interesting’ means it ‘is clearly nonsense’ and & may be understood as ‘they are very impressed’.

Consider the Following Examples:

To avoid such communication problems in the future, why not start German Lessons in 2012, with one of our native speaker tutors?

Meeting German business partners for the first time

When meeting with business partners for the first time in person, make sure you are on time, dressed appropriately and armed with ample business cards. Your business partner will probably introduce him or herself as Mr. or Ms. XYZ (Herr or Frau XYZ), which implies that you should wait to address him or her on a first name basis until invited to do so. In general, the corporate dress code is formal. Casual wear is acceptable on some occasions and in some industries (creative/media). Be sure to use a firm grip while shaking hands and maintain appropriate eye contact with the other parties when they are speaking to you. Be aware that it is impolite to put your hands in your pockets while someone is conversing with you. Please note that Germans will both greet and say goodbye to their business partners and friends with a handshake each time.

Many Germans strictly divide their work and private lives. For example, some people may hesitate to speak about their marital status, political and religious opinions, their personal income or other matters they consider to be private at work. You may, however, be able to get a conversation going by appealing to your business partners' loyalty to his/her home region and its foods/beverages or sports teams. On the whole, however, Germans tend to be more interested in business-related issues, tasks and problems than getting to know customers, colleagues and vendors - it may thus take time for German business partners to get to know each other on a personal level. On the other hand, as Germans tend to be rather reliable, a well-established business relationship cannot be disrupted too easily. Business partners usually reward another year of good business relations with a Christmas or New Year's card or a small token of appreciation (a local wine, beer, sausage, or baked goods, for example).

Business Negotiations

Germans are proud of ''made in Germany'' as a synonym for quality and reliability. In business meetings, Germans are rather formal, detail-oriented and direct. They tend to say exactly what they want and mean. They are decision making and problem solving oriented, although these processes can take quite some time to complete, especially considering the generally very highly hierarchical structures in some German companies. Be aware that the negotiation process can sometimes be very lengthy, since Germans prefer to discuss many details in advance in order to prevent future misunderstandings. It is generally seen as very impolite to make or accept telephone calls during a business meeting, conference or on any occasion where the call would serve as a distraction or imply disinterest to your business partners.

As Germans prefer to act on the basis of clearly communicated guidelines and fair rules, your German business partners will most likely view signed contracts as the non-negotiable end result of such discussions. Therefore, they will be quite disappointed if you surprise them with changes to business agreements after contracts have been signed. To sum it up, German business people value high quality, yet affordable, goods and services, which are provided (as agreed) on time and are accompanied by timely and transparent correspondence.

For more details about conducting business meetings in German please get in touch to book a German course.