Communicating with Germans

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, most 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 accepts 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:

What the English say	What the English mean	What Germans understand
I’ll bear it in mind	I’ve forgotten it already	They will probably do it
I’m sure it’s my fault	It’s your fault	Why do they think it was their fault?
You must come for dinner.	It’s not an invitation; I’m just being polite	I will get an invitation soon
I almost agree	I don’t agree at all	He’s not far from agreement
I only have a few minor comments	Please re-write completely	He has found a few typing errors
Could we consider some other options	I wouldn’t say I like your idea	They have not decided yet
With the greatest respect …	I think you are an idiot	He is listening to me
That is a very brave proposal. See you later.	You are insane…See you soon, not necessarily today	He thinks I have courage. He wants to see me later today

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