Culture Smart! Germany : A Quick Guide to Customs and Etiquette

by Tomalin, Barry

• ISBN13: 9781558687042
• ISBN10: 1558687041
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-03-01
• Publisher: Ingram Pub Services

Summary

Whether your customers are traveling in luxury or with just a pack on their back, it's important that they have a safe, fun, and easy-going trip. Bad etiquette and a misunderstanding about customs can put an otherwise very exciting trip on hold faster than a bad case of food poisoning. Readers are going to want to know about the Culture Smart! customs and etiquette series and will find them as indispensable as their passports. The Culture Smart! titles are not your basic travel guides: they are consistently updated customs and etiquette references for more than twenty-five countries, with six new titles available this fall. Now more than ever, travelers are more than just sightseers and tourists; they're ambassadors making impressions of the United States wherever they go. Readers will find these to be invaluable for pointing them on their way to a safe and fun trip abroad.

Author Biography

Barry Tomalin is an expert on the business culture of Germany, having worked as a consultant with five German companies in Munich, Berlin, and Hamburg. He is the lead consultant of Culture Shock!Consulting, and the author of many books on culture and on cultural training. He has a BA in anthropology and linguistics from the University of London, and is a module leader on the MA program in media, technology, and culture studies at the University of Westminster in London.

Table of Contents

Map of Germany	7	(1)
Introduction	8	(2)
Key Facts	10	(2)
Land and People	12	(24)
Geographical Snapshot	13	(3)
Climate	16	(1)
The German People: A Brief History	16	(13)
The German People Today	29	(2)
Germany's Cities	31	(1)
German Government	32	(3)
American Influence	35	(1)
The Eurozone	35	(1)
Values and Attitudes	36	(14)
Ordnung Muss Sein	37	(2)
Klarheit	39	(2)
Truth and Duty	41	(1)
Duty (Pflichtbewusstsein)	42	(3)
The Work Ethic	45	(2)
Authority and Status	47	(2)
Private and Public	49	(1)
Customs and Traditions	50	(14)
National and Religious Festivals	50	(9)
Annual Fairs	59	(1)
Family Occasions	60	(1)
Historical Celebrations	61	(1)
Religion in Germany	62	(2)
Making Friends	64	(10)
Work and Social Life	64	(3)
Greetings	67	(1)
Du and Sie	68	(1)
Greetings in Shops	68	(1)
Attitudes to Foreigners	69	(1)
Joining Clubs	70	(1)
Invitations Home	70	(1)
Entertaining	71	(1)
Gift Giving	72	(1)
Manners Makyth Man	73	(1)
The Germans at Home	74	(20)
Heimat	74	(4)
Living Conditions	78	(1)
Furnishing	79	(1)
Appliances	80	(1)
Identity	81	(1)
Daily Life and Routines	82	(2)
Bounds and Boundaries	84	(1)
Kinder, Kuche, Kirche	85	(1)
Schools and Schooling	86	(2)
TV and Radio	88	(2)
Complaining	90	(1)
Are you Stammtisch?	91	(1)
Changing Lifestyles	92	(2)
Time Out	94	(18)
Shopping	95	(2)
Sunday Closing	97	(1)
Banks	97	(1)
Restaurants, Food and Drink	98	(7)
Leisure	105	(1)
High Culture	106	(2)
Popular Culture	108	(1)
Countryside Pursuits	109	(1)
Sport	109	(3)
Traveling	112	(14)
Road Sense in Germany	114	(2)
Getting Caught	116	(1)
Drinking and Driving	117	(1)
Car and Driving Licenses	117	(1)
Jaywalking	118	(1)
Trains	119	(1)
Local Transport	120	(1)
Taxis	121	(1)
Staying in Germany	122	(1)
Health and Security	123	(3)
Business Briefing	126	(22)
Office Etiquette and Protocol	127	(5)
Management Styles	132	(2)
Women in Management	134	(2)
Leadership and Decision Making	136	(2)
Presentation and Listening Styles	138	(1)
Meetings and Negotiation Styles	139	(4)
Teamwork and Managing Disagreement	143	(5)
Communicating	148	(16)
Language	148	(2)
Making Contact	150	(1)
Telephones	150	(2)
Post	152	(1)
Communication Styles	153	(2)
Lost in Translation	155	(2)
Seriousness and Humor	157	(1)
Analysis and Detail	158	(1)
Honor	159	(2)
Conversation	161	(1)
Body Language	161	(2)
Conclusion	163	(1)
Appendix: Simple Vocabulary	164	(1)
Further Reading	165	(1)
Index	166