For the past several months I have been wading into German history and culture, the better to befriend a certain someone.  Last week it paid off.  Finally.  But it was eye-opening.  If you want to make friends across cultural boundaries, it helps to understand where the other person is coming from, understand their frame of reference, and learn what their expectations are in social situations.  If they’re even a little interested in you, they are probably trying to meet you halfway, and chances are you are trying to do the same.  But you just can’t wing it.  You have to know where the other person is coming from. And all too often Americans don’t even know where they are coming from. 

Anyway…   I meant to post this some time ago.  This is a passage from Germany – Unraveling An Enigma, by Greg Ness.  If you are trying to befriend a German, or trying to do business with one, I strongly recommend this book…

It is no coincidence that the Germans call the Enlightenment the Aufklärung, literally, the "period of clearing up".  With the German’s strong sense of history, they view the Enlightenment, with its emphasis on Wissenschaft (science and scholarship) and Vernunft (rational understanding), as a watershed in human development.

It would be difficult to overstate the German respect for understanding based on rational analysis and scientific knowledge, both of which are seen as ways of creating Klarheit.  This desire for clarity can be seen in their attempt to define their germs precisely when discussing issues as well as their love of creating comprehensive categories and taxonomies.  Because Germans love to converse at length, clear, well-thought-out, rational arguments based on broad knowledge elicit admiration and great respect…

…

Germans also desire clear, unambiguous knowledge as a way to reduce the general insecurity and anxiety that plague them, since having knowledge is one of the best forms of control.  From the German perspective, you can only control that which you understand, keeping every lurking chaos at bay.

Which leads us to this, regarding German communication patterns…

In Germany, there is a strong emphasis on explicit verbal communication, which emphasizes the content level of communication, and deemphasizes the relationship level.  This is especially so among educated Germans in business and public situations, and is directly correlated with the private/public distinction we examined in the previous chapter.  Americans also place significant emphasis on the content level of a communication but do not deemphasize the relationship level as much as Germans do…

Educated Germans today have, as we learned in chapter 3, idealized analytical knowledge, and their communication style tends to be explicit, fact oriented, and academic.  There is a widespread belief among well-educated Germans that only by remaining rational and constantly following clear principles will humans be able to achieve a better, more civilized society.  Germans believe that to really express something exactly, one needs complicated language…

(like…German?  Um…anyway…)

…This leads to a business German that is more elevated and convoluted as compared with the more pragmatic, popularistic American style.

Corresponding to the strong emphasis on content, the relationship aspects of communication, as mentioned before, are more marginalized.  Conflict is generally avoided, not by emphasizing harmony in personal relationships or by smoothing over differences of opinion, but rather by maintaining formality and social distance.  Direct attacks on the content of a person’s communication are common, but attacks on the person are avoided by keeping the discussion impersonal and objective…

So I’m reading this book…which again I highly recommend, and at that same time I’m seeing this in Der Spiegel about the coming Oktoberfest…

At last year’s Oktoberfest visitors ate 521,873 roast chickens, 58,446 pork knuckles and 104 oxen. They consumed 6.9 million liters of beer which is supplied exclusively by Munich’s six main breweries and is brewed especially for the festival. The list of lost items collected from under the tables is a good indication of how intense the partying can get — last year it included four sets of false teeth, 1,600 pieces of clothing, 600 identity cards and credit cards, and one complete Dirndl dress.

Notice the precision of the statistics there.  Okay…thinks I.  I get it now…I think.  Germans are really Vulcans.  But instead of Pon Farr they have something called Oktoberfest…which is when they get to go crazy…

This year’s Oktoberfest was only a little less raucous apparently…

Members of staff found 680 identity cards and passports, 410 wallets, 360 keys, 265 spectacles, 280 mobile phones and 80 cameras, one set of diving goggles, one set of angel’s wings, a superman costume and four wedding rings.

A long-haired Dachshund was also found roaming the festival ground, but was later reclaimed by its owner.

"For the first time, no dentures were found," the Munich city press department said with a mixture of surprise and disappointment. "Is this a sign of demographic change, good dental hygiene or a higher rate of tooth implants?"

I see more identity cards are being lost.  But…Diving goggles?  And…what self respecting native child of the land that produced Nietzsche would be seen in a Superman costume for chrissake?  That’s too ridiculous for words.

Beer.  Enough of it makes even Vulcans let down their hair…and fall on the floor…