The German Way : Aspects of Behavior, Attitudes, and Customs in the German-Speaking World

"The German Way" is quite an interesting little book. Having lived in Germany and traveled in Austria, and, to a lesser extent, Switzerland, there were numerous items of information in this book that were unknown to me. For example, although I have visited almost every province in Austria from the shore of the Bodensee in the west to Vienna in the east, I did not know that Austria was eighty-five percent Catholic.

I was vaguely aware that Germans use eating implements differently than Americans do. I have occasionally eaten a sandwich with a knife and fork in a "Gasthaus". However, I did not realize the extent to which handling table implements is a differentiator between Germans and Americans. For example, my wife pointed out to me in discussing this part of the book that one of our German friends, who has lived in the U.S. for seven or eight years, uses a modified German style of handling silverware.

It was also surprising to read that only fifteen percent of the movies Germans watch are from Germany. This may explain why many of the German movies available to be rented in the U.S., even from specialty houses, are usually older ones.

It was a total surprise to me that the local office of vital statistics has to review the names given to babies in Germany to ensure that the name must not endanger the child and that it reflects the child's sex. The latter rule, maybe the first, would have made short shrift of "A Boy Named Sue".

One point about the German language that Hyde Flippo appears to oversimplify somewhat is the idea that "Hoch Deutsch" originated from the way the language was spoken in the northern part of Germany. A recent article in a German language magazine I read stated that German, Austria, and Switzerland each has its own "Hoch Deutsch".

One shortcoming I found in this book is that some of the information seems a little dated. For example, although Europeans have been transitioning to the euro for several years, marks and schillings are discussed as though they will be used indefinitely when, in fact, they have already gone out of circulation. Another example relates to a discussion of the Austrian Freedom Party of Jorg Haider being unable to form a coalition with another party at the national level. Well, unfortunately, the "Freiheit Partei Oesterreich" did form such a coalition some time ago. It led to international sanctions against Austria.

On the whole, I found this book interesting and acquired some new insights about the German-speaking world from it. Business people or tourists planning to go to Germany, Austria, or Switzerland could well benefit from reading this book.


A must-have for travelers and business people   March 2, 2000
J. Collins (Las Vegas, NV USA)
51 out of 52 found this review helpful

I lived in Germany for over three years. My German acquaintances in general liked Americans; but they greatly disliked our cultural ignorance. I also did part-time work as a tour guide and a portion of "tour guiding" is to educate people on the culture, and saw the extent of this ignorance first-hand. While German/Austrian/Swiss society is in a "big picture" sense similar to American, (guilt vs shame-based culture, individuality vs collectivism) there are major differences in personal and business relationships. Anyone who really wants to know Germany or succeed in business dealings with Germans ignores these differences at their peril. This book does an outstanding job of clearly explaining all aspects of German society from Government through economy, consumerism, to social relationships. It also spells out the contrasts between German and American ways of thinking, and between German and Austrian/Swiss world-views. Bottom line is if you want a better vacation experience in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, a better business trip, or are just interested in other cultures, get this book.


Shallow and brief, but better than nothing   March 9, 2000
29 out of 31 found this review helpful

I suppose that someone who knew absolutely NOTHING about German culture would find this book interesting and useful. But, if you already know a little bit and want to learn more (like me) you will likely be disappointed. Others have pointed out that each topic is covered briefly, and in my opinion, that's usually EXTREMELY briefly. I find the alphabetical organization of topics unhelpful, and would prefer to have similar subjects located together. I often had to guess several times to see which word the author would use to alphabetize a given topic. If you're looking for more than a quick-and-dirty introduction to German culture, skip this book and read "Culture Shock! Germany" instead.


Excellent light reading   April 13, 2000
Stephen B. Maurer (Swarthmore PA USA)
13 out of 15 found this review helpful

I mean the following remark in a very positive sense: German Way is one of the best bathroom readers I have ever bought. While some of it is common sense or common knowledge to anyone who knows anything about German Europe, some was not, and all of it was presented in a lively way. Most important, because it is broken into short segments, it was easily digested over "spare moments". Sometimes I started somewhere and read straight through, sometimes I jumped around using the table of contents. My wife and teen-age son read it and enjoyed it the same way. I look forward to reading other books in this series as the occasion arises.


Highly Recommended!   January 29, 1999
raphael_schwerdt@hp.com (Tuebingen, Germany)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

This is an excellent book. We plan to recommend it to our international employees in Germany, and those considering a move to Germany.

The optimum, however, especially if you are interested in brand-new, current information, is to use the outstanding companion Website (sorry, URL not allowed here, but simple to guess) in parallel with the book. I think the right combination of printed and electronic media is the future, and that has already become a reality here.