{"id":10223,"date":"2018-09-26T16:33:14","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T16:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=10223"},"modified":"2018-09-26T16:33:14","modified_gmt":"2018-09-26T16:33:14","slug":"3-german-things-that-arent-so-efficient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/3-german-things-that-arent-so-efficient\/","title":{"rendered":"3 German Things That Aren’t So Efficient"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! We often talk about Germans being ultra-efficient. In fact, one of the first things that comes to people\u2019s minds when asked to describe Germans is usually a comment about their effizient<\/b> (efficient) nature. So is there anything about German life and culture that\u2019s actually\u2026 not so efficient? Here are three things that may well fall under that category!<\/p>\n

Rented houses and apartments come without kitchens<\/h3>\n
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Image via Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

When you move into a new place, you might need to install your own fridge or washing machine into the kitchen, but that\u2019s about it. When you move into a new place in Germany, however, you need to bring your own <\/b>K<\/b>\u00fc<\/b><\/span>che<\/b><\/span> (<\/span>kitchen) with you or buy\/build an entirely new one. The kitchen you\u2019ll see when you go for a viewing won\u2019t be there when you take the apartment and move in \u2013 because the previous tenants will have taken it with them! The alternative is that the previous tenant will sell their kitchen to you. Either way, the kitchen does not come with the house\/apartment in Germany, which could make the whole \u2018moving house\u2019 experience even more stressful than it already is.<\/p>\n

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You can\u2019t cross the road if the green man isn\u2019t showing<\/h3>\n
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Image via Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

When you\u2019re at a pedestrian crossing, it makes sense to cross the road if there\u2019s no car in sight, even if the <\/b>Ampelmann<\/b> (\u2018traffic light man\u2019 or pedestrian light) is still red. In Germany, however, this is a no-no. If you\u2019re at a pedestrian crossing in Germany and there is not a car in sight, but the light is showing red, you must remain on the pavement (and people genuinely do, because you can get fined if the police see you crossing). This rule, although somewhat strange, has a logical meaning behind it: It is in place for the sake of parents who are trying to teach their children not to cross the road \u2018until the green man shows\u2019. If you cross the road and the child sees you crossing, they won\u2019t understand the point of this rule. In that context, it does make sense. But when you\u2019re standing there with a bunch of adults and not a child or a car in sight, and still<\/i> nobody is crossing the road, it starts to feel a little odd.<\/p>\n

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You aren\u2019t allowed to drive on a learner\u2019s license<\/h3>\n
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Image via Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

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In the UK, once you have your learner\u2019s license you are allowed to practise driving outside of your lessons- as long as you\u2019re with a driver who\u2019s had a F\u00fchrerschein<\/b> (driver\u2019s license) for at least 3 years. You can do all of your theory work at home, and you can have as many or as few lessons as you need to be ready for your practical test. In fact, you don’t even need to get a qualified instructor to teach you – you can get a friend or family member to do it, if they’re up to the job. In Germany, it\u2019s quite different: You must be taught by an approved driving instructor, you’re not allowed to practise your driving outside of lessons, the theory work is done in a school-like environment (this is mandatory), and no matter how quick you learn or how skilled you are a driver, you must complete a set amount of driving lessons, including ones at night, driving cross-country, and on the motorway. This is one of those rules that could be perceived as efficient, as it is clearly designed to produce good drivers, but it could also be perceived as inefficient because of how restrictive (and expensive!) the process is to get a driver\u2019s license in comparison to that of other countries.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Of course this is all subjective, and what one person finds impractical may not be a problem for someone else. But I thought it would be interesting to challenge the efficiency stereotype and suggest a few things about German life and culture that people may be baffled by! So, what things about German life and culture do you find efficient? And what do you find not so efficient? I\u2019m interested to hear about them!<\/p>\n

Bis bald!<\/p>\n

Constanze<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Guten Tag! We often talk about Germans being ultra-efficient. In fact, one of the first things that comes to people\u2019s minds when asked to describe Germans is usually a comment about their effizient (efficient) nature. So is there anything about German life and culture that\u2019s actually\u2026 not so efficient? Here are three things that may…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":10230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[2661,376022,2080,376066,504027,1101,10014,7452,5891,218681,6639,13],"class_list":["post-10223","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-language","tag-apartment","tag-culture","tag-driving","tag-german-culture","tag-german-efficiency","tag-house","tag-house-hunting","tag-kitchen","tag-life","tag-renting","tag-rules","tag-vocabulary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10223"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10232,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10223\/revisions\/10232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}