Kultur 4

Jennie oft sagt "Deutsch is sehr logisch, nein?" und ich kann nur "Jawohl!" antworten. I realize that she's referring to the German language in these instances, however I found logic and order to be an overwhelming motif in these culture readings. A good example of this order, and what I found to be the most interesting topic overall, was how much more important the "honor code" is in Germany than it is in America. In Amerika gibt es viele Regeln, aber mann muss nicht (or isn't as expected to) follow these Regeln. You can jaywalk when no one is around (z.B. In Ann Arbor geht mann immur in front of cars, ja?).

Simply from the conciseness of their language, it makes sense to me that in Germany, not following the rules is considered by many to be a disruption in the order of things. While I don't picture Leute in Deutschland walking around perfectly synchronized in some strange, single-file choreography, it seems as though the general German public prefers (and understands the benefits of) following the rules. This being said, the counteracting one-way street signs is an obvious example of the simple truth that not everyone is perfect, and that Germans are not, in fact, robots (although that would be awesome).

Another recurring theme that I've been noticing more and more in these articles is how much German culture has been changing in recent years. Every article will talk about some sort of typical Eigenschaft aber sie sagen auch "but this isn't as true as it used to be" oder "fewer and fewer people are still doing this". While Germans still have a very distinct culture that is very much of their own making, it seems like American and outside European influence is starting to have a greater effect on deutsch Kultur. Zum Beispiel, die FKK ist nicht so groß anymore, und mehr Deutsche sind jaywalking. I think this is happening to a lot of nations, in that there is a developing global culture, however I find it particularly sad that this is seen so often in our readings.