Continuing in this series of doing business with Germans, here are 3 things to avoid when working with Germans--and what to do instead!

1. Do not use "du."

Germans are used to keeping their professional distance, which is a helpful benefit of using the formal you form "Sie." In the US Americans toss around "du" and use first names for practically everyone except school teachers. Even when you greet someone you've never met, say waitstaff at a restaurant, their nametag references their first name, not their last name. We are very casual in using others' first names, especially if it is someone in our same age group; this is not exactly the same for Germans (although some younger people would certainly switch to "du" right away, even at work).

Instead:

If you have trouble remembering which to use when, make sure you practice "Sie" with your German teacher and in dealings with other Germans. Use "Sie" and Herr/Frau + the last name of every one of your fellow students. You could even start thinking of every woman as "Frau" and every man as "Herr" if that helps.

2. Don't bring up the Nazis.

It can be a hard topic to avoid in Germany where, as I like to say, history is hautnah (very close to your skin). Germans spent the second half of the 20th Century rebuilding their country and creating an impressive infrastructure, repairing damaged and demolished buildings and trying to make sense of what happened (work that goes on today). Everybody knows what the Nazis did, however there is a way to recognize this without speaking about it directly.

Doing business is one thing, doing business with folks in another country is another, and here are 3 tips to help you do better business with Germans.

1. Remember proper greetings & salutations

Manners for greetings, whether in email or in-person, are not only polite, but a wonderful way to make your German guests feel welcome. Take time to learn a good hand-shake and remember to make polite inquiries about their trip to your office or to meet you.

Germans who have received cultural training will know the only real way Americans answer the question "How are you?" is with "I'm good, thanks," and that that's the only culturally acceptable response. Germans who haven't had this training, however, may respond with the truth, whether someone in their family just died or they have a medical issue you really don't want to hear about, you may be on the receiving end of that information.

(Sidenote:  I once, without thinking, asked my former landlord in Germany how he was doing and he proceeded to tell me about a sting he got on his foot, the rather displeasing condition of the spot, and what the doctor said. I never made that mistake again.)

2. Be an attentive host

For in-person meetings, being a thoughtful host is an easy way to create an atmosphere of ease for your German business partners. Remember to have beverages on-hand like water (Gerolsteiner, anyone?) and coffee, perhaps some soft drinks. Be sure to offer your guests something to drink and remember to ask them again later if they'd like another beverage.

Many German learners want to know what "to clean" is. The verb "to clean" in German is putzen. However putzen is something very specific in German--it may not be what you think!

For Germans, putzen is the actual process of cleaning, and nothing else. Americans think of cleaning as vacuuming, putting away books that might be laying about, doing the laundry, and any other amount of things. However putzen does not indicate that things are being picked up. This is something different entirely.

Most Germans keep things picked up all the time, they are German after all. (Although I have seen some notable exceptions to this!) To pick up around the house or to clean off the table is aufräumen.

Because Germans are very specific about verbs and their uses, it's important to keep this in mind when you use the verbs aufräumen and putzen. Here is a short list for each of these verbs to help you know when to apply it:

aufräumen:

• picking up clothes
• clearing off a table
• organizing papers on a desk
• organizing your desk

putzen:

• vacuuming and washing the floors
• cleaning the bathroom
• washing windows
• polishing shoes (!)
• washing fruit

Have you ever discussed this difference with a German speaker? I bet s/he was specific about it! What did s/he say? Comment below!

One of the pinnacles of German classical music culture is the Johannes-Passion from Johann Sebastian Bach. And since it is Lent, that means it is time for the Passion of Christ.

For those of you who don't know, I'm a professionally trained, classical musician, and I mix music and German teaching as my career. It's a wonderful combination of the foreign language of German and the language of Music, and when I get to sing in German, well, I get a little bit verklemmt. During my 5 years in Germany I spent several years singing with the Gächinger-Kantorei, the professional choral ensemble of the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart (IBA). (By the way, the IBA is mentined in Passwort 3 for those of you in that book!) We sang a lot of music, and a lot of it in German.

Thus this week's blog post is short and sweet because I have lots of Proben (rehearsals). If you're close or able to travel, we're in St. Paul, MN on Saturday and in Winona, MN on Sunday. Ich hoffe, wir sehen uns dort!

Karneval beginnt am kommenden Donnerstag!

Carneval begins this coming Thursday!

Carneval is the celebratory season/week-long party before Lent. Carneval is centuries old and is found most frequently in Catholic areas, however similar celebrations are found to date back to pre-Christian times.

Time is of utmost importance for carnival:  at 11.11 a.m. sharp the carnival begins--on Thursday the 12th, known as Weiberfastnacht. In between Thursday and Rosenmontag (Rose Monday), there will be parties galore, in particular in Cologne (Köln). Monday the traditional parade will take place, so hold your hats and get ready for some distinct opinions on world events and German politics brought to you by the wonderful media of paper mache.

The parties continue up until Ashermittwoch (Ash Wednesday), where we turn to the season of Lent.

But not until then.

Until then, we call out "Kölle alaaf!"

Meine Tipps für Sie:

For a more in-depth exploration, check out this article I wrote on Karneval last year.

Here is a fantastic slideshow from SWR1.de about the Schwäbisch-Allemanische Fastnacht and its origins--absolut faszinierend! (Auf Deutsch.)

Guten Tag!

Here's a reading exercise for you to do. You'll need:

• some quiet time
• a print-out of this post
• a print-out of the article (linked below)
• a colored pencil and a regular pencil

The Background

During the time of the DDR (GDR in English) there was a secret police called the "Stasi," which spied on the people in Eastern Germany, listened to their phone calls, opened their mail, and infiltrated schools, hospitals, every part of life.

After the end of the DDR, Germany set up a process by which people in the former Eastern Germany could request information on if they had been spied on. It's a three-step process, with months in between each step; first you request information on whether you had a file or not (i.e. if you had been spied on) and then you could find out the information the Stasi had about you. Finally you could find out who had been spying on you.

This was sometimes a relief to some Germans, who found out they had not been spied on, yet others found out their own spouse had been a Stasi informant...

As N-TV reported last month, Germans are increasingly interested in their Stasi files (stats in English below):

2014 gingen bis Anfang Dezember 61.000 Anträge von Menschen ein, die wissen wollen, ob die Stasi Akten über sie angelegt hat und was darin gesammelt wurde. 2013 wurde knapp 64.250 Mal persönliche Akteneinsicht beantragt, 2012 waren es noch rund 88.200 Anträge gewesen. (Source)

Up to December of 2014 there were 61,000 requests, 2013 almost 64,250 and in 2012 88,200.