In Closing

After gathering the many facts available regarding the richness of the German culture, I was amazing to learn how diverse it was. It was interesting to learn just how new that the country itself is, not nearly a century old, but the people of the area have been there, investing in their own cultures for centuries. Only recently has it become a real country, yet the people have been so bonded and united in their common interests and attitudes that their culture has existed for a long time. In learning, and in some cases re-learning, about the German culture, I realized how similar the American culture is to my family's mother country. Everything from fashion to food, fine art to politics has a sense of familiarity and resemblance to what I know of from America that I wonder if this country of mine hadn't borrowed some culture from Germany. We know that America doesn't exactly have its own culture, but rather borrows from the many foreigners who come to call this place home. The cultures of the world come together to form America and, in doing so, creates a culturally rich place. I see how influential Germany is on America, especially in the "desirable" areas like fashion and art, and how "undesirable" the German political climate was at one time for American taste. Unfortunately for Germany, it is so often remembered for its role in World War II, the Holocaust and Hitler that it is difficult still to get beyond that American tendency to associate Germans with the Nazism of that time in history. Not less than 100 years later and the country still holds that reputation, at least in my opinion from many I have spoken to and what can be seen on television. No doubt that this period in history plays a big role in how Germans are perceived, but maybe this serves more to remind other countries, especially democracies like America, the "undesirables" in politics and in nationalism.

Works Cited:

1.    Samovar, Larry A. et al. “Intercultural Communication: A Reader.” Wadsworth Cengage Learning: Australia. 12^th edition, 2007. 


http://www.justgermany.org/germany/germany-facts.asp 


http://www.foodbycountry.com/Germany-to-Japan/Germany.html

http://www.kickupthefire.net/top-german-fashion-models/#more-38

http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Germany.html

http://www.ethikrat.org/_english/main_topics/end_of_life_care.html

http://www.alsintl.com/resources/languages/German/

http://www.joesclass.com/bits221/Gestures.htm

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/10/country_facts/main3246509.shtml

http://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/en/culture-and-media/main-content-09/fine-arts.html

Art in the German Culture

The Arts and Humanities

Support for the Arts. The arts in Germany are financed, in large measure, through subsidies from state and local government. Public theaters, for example, The Holstentor and Holsten gate, built between 1469 and 1478, in Lübeck, Germany, gained 26 percent of their revenues from ticket sales in 1969–1970 but only 13.6 percent in 1996–1997. Public subsidies have been threatened in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries by budget cuts, which have been accompanied by calls for more sponsorship by private industry. In the new federal states of former East Germany, the once very dense network of theaters and concert halls has been reduced dramatically. In Saxony, for example, the Kulturraumgesetz of 1994 (legislation for the creation of arts regions) requires neighboring communities to pool their resources, as, for example, when one community closes its concert hall but retains its theater, while another does just the opposite. Concert- or theatergoers are then required to travel about within the region, in order to take advantage of the full arts program. Still, many major and some minor German cities have excellent theater ensembles, ballets, and opera houses. Berlin and Munich are especially important centers for the performing arts. 

Literature. Germany was a Kulturnation, that is, a nation sharing a common language and literature, before it became a nation-state. As is well known, the printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1400–1468) in Mainz about a half a century before the onset of the Protestant Reformation. The Luther Bible, written in the vernacular German of Upper Saxony, spread throughout the German-speaking world and helped to create a national reading public. This reading public emerged among the educated bourgeoisie in the Age of Enlightenment (eighteenth century). Important aspects of this public sphere were newspapers, literary journals, reading societies, and salons. The classical phase in the history of German literature, however, came during the transition from the Enlightenment to Romanticism, the two most important figures being Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) and Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1809). The nineteenth century saw a dramatic expansion of the publishing industry and the literary market and the blossoming of all modern literary genres. Following World War II, there was a split between the literary spheres of East and West Germany. German reunification began with an acrimonious debate over the value of East German literature.

Graphic Arts. German artists have contributed to every era in the history of the graphic arts, especially the Renaissance (Albrecht Dürer), Romanticism (Caspar David Friedrich), and Expressionism (the Brücke and the Blaue Reiter).

Performance Arts. Germans are especially well-known for their contributions in the area of classical music, and the heritage of great German or Austrian composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig von Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Richard Wagner, and Gustav Mahler is still cultivated in concert halls throughout the country. Germans developed an innovative film industry in the Weimar Republic, but its greatest talents emigrated to the United States in the 1930s. In East Germany, Babelsberg was the home of DEFA ( Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft ), an accomplished film company. With the help of extensive public subsidies, a distinctive West German cinema emerged in the 1970s. Since then, however, attempts to reinvigorate the German film industry have proven difficult, in light of the popularity of products from Hollywood.

http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Germany.html

Fine Arts - a place for new ideas

Since the 1990s German painting and photography have been enjoying international success. Abroad, this new German painting revelation is known under the label “Young German Artists“. The artists involved come from Leipzig, Berlin and Dresden. Neo Rauch is the best known representative of the “New Leipzig School“. His style is characterized by a new realism that has emerged, free of all ideology, from the former “Leipzig School” of East German art. The paintings reveal for the most part pale figures that would appear to be waiting for something indefinite; a reflection, perhaps, of the situation in Germany at the beginning of the new millennium. So-called “Dresden Pop“, propagated among others by Thomas Scheibitz, references the aesthetics of advertising, TV and video to playfully deal with the aesthetics of finding certainty in the here and now.

For most younger artists, dealing with the Nazi era, as was the case in the works of Hans Haacke, Anselm Kiefer and Joseph Beuys, belongs to the past. Rather, a “new interiority” and an interest in spheres of experience that collide with one another are emerging in the art scene: The works of Jonathan Meese and André Butzer reflect depression and compulsive phenomena; they are seen as representatives of “Neurotic Realism“. The subject of Franz Ackermann’s “Mental Maps”, in which he points out the disasters behind the facades, is the world as a global village. Tino Sehgal, whose art exists only at the time it is performed and is not allowed to be filmed, is aiming for forms of production and communication that have nothing to do with the market economy. The interest shown in art in Germany can also be witnessed at the documenta, the leading exhibition of contemporary art worldwide held every five years in Kassel; documenta 13 will open on June 9, 2012.

As opposed to the Fine Arts – whose importance is underlined by the boom in the foundation of new private museums – photography had to struggle for a long time to be accepted as an art form in its own right. Katharina Sieverding, who in her self portraits sounds out the boundaries between the individual and society, is considered to be a 1970s pioneer. The breakthrough came in the 1990s with the success of three young men who studied under the photographer duo Bernd and Hilla Becher: Thomas Struth, Andreas Gursky and Thomas Ruff portray in their pictures a double-edged high-gloss reality and possess such a trailblazing international influence that they are simply referred to as “Struffsky".

http://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/en/culture-and-media/main-content-09/fine-arts.html

Politics

Definition of Politics

- By Bahram Maskanian

http://www.venusproject.com/definition-of-politics.html

"Politics is the art and science of managing and governing one’s entire social and economic affairs, interactively in conjunction with the rest of the community, especially the collective governing of a political entity, such as a nation, the administration and control of its internal and external relationships.  Politics is the activity and interaction engaged in by any given society’s citizens, to build and maintain a community and establish communal social services for all people.  Politics is the maneuvering methods and tactics involved in managing any given society, or state government.  A politician is an ethical individual, holding an intriguing and rewarding career of public service that honorably discharges hers, or his duties in an ethical and caring manner. -- One must not confuse the dishonest, common and criminal political hustlers engaged in illegal activities with true divided and good politicians."

As Europe's largest economy and second most populous nation, Germany is a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations.

European power struggles immersed Germany in two devastating World Wars in the first half of the 20th century and left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945.

With the advent of the Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR).

The democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security organizations, the EC, which became the EU, and NATO, while the Communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and the end of the Cold War allowed for German unification in 1990. Since then, Germany has expended considerable funds to bring Eastern productivity and wages up to Western standards.

In January 1999, Germany and 10 other EU countries introduced a common European exchange currency, the euro.
Source: CIA World Fact Book

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/10/country_facts/main3246509.shtml

Political Life

Government. Germany is a parliamentary democracy, where public authority is divided among federal, state, and local levels of government. In federal elections held every four years, all citizens who are eighteen years of age or older are entitled to cast votes for candidates and parties, which form the Bundestag, or parliament, on the basis of vote distribution. The majority party or coalition then elects the head of the government—the Kanzler (chancellor)—who appoints the heads of the various government departments. Similarly, states and local communities elect parliaments or councils and executives to govern in their constitutionally guaranteed spheres. Each state government appoints three to five representatives to serve on the Bundesrat, or federal council, an upper house that must approve all legislation affecting the states.

Leadership and Political Officials. Germany's most important political parties are the Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union; the Social Democratic Party; the Free Democratic or Liberal Party; The Greens; and the Party of Democratic Socialism, the successor to the East German Socialist Unity Party. In 1993, the Greens merged with a party that originated in the East German citizens' movement, called Alliance 90. Since the late 1980s, various right-wing parties have occasionally received enough votes (at least 5 percent of the total) to gain seats in some of the regional parliaments. The growth of right wing parties is a result of political agitation, economic difficulties, and public concern over the increasing rate of immigration. The first free all-German national election since 1932 was held on 2 December 1990 and resulted in the confirmation of the ruling Christian Democratic/Free Democratic coalition, headed by Helmut Kohl, who was first elected in 1982. The Christian Democrats won again in 1994, but in the election of 1998, they were ousted by the Social Democrats, who formed a coalition government with Alliance 90 (the Greens). Like his then counterparts in the United States and Great Britain, Gerhard Schröder, the chancellor elected in 1998, described himself as the champion of the new political "middle."

Social Problems and Control. In the Federal Republic of Germany, police forces are authorized by the Departments of Interior of the sixteen federal states. Their activities are supplemented by the Bundesgrenzschutz (Federal Border Police) and the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution). In the early twenty-first century, organized crime and violence by right-wing groups constituted the most serious domestic dangers.

Military Activity. The German armed forces are under the control of the civilian government and are integrated into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). German men who are eighteen years of age are required to serve for ten to twelve months in the armed forces—or an equivalent length of time in volunteer civilian service. In 2000, Germans began a public debate about the restructuring of the armed forces.

Social Welfare and Change Programs

Germany's social welfare programs are among the oldest of any modern state. In 1881, the newly founded German Reich passed legislation for health insurance, accident insurance, and for invalid and retirement benefits. The obligation of the state to provide for the social welfare of its citizens was reinforced in the Basic Law of 1949. In the Federal Republic of Germany, the state supplements monthly payments made by citizens to health insurance, nursing care insurance, social security, and unemployment insurance. Beginning in the late twentieth century, questions were raised about the long-term viability of existing social welfare programs.

Nongovernmental Organizations and Other Associations

German society is structured by many different Verbände, or associations, which are often organized at federal, regional, and local levels. There are associations for business and industry, for workers and employees (unions), for social welfare, for environmental protection, and for a number of other causes or special interests. Through such associations, members seek to influence policy making or to act directly in order to bring about desired changes in society. Associations that contribute to public welfare typically operate according to the principle of subsidiarity. This means that the state recognizes their contribution and augments their budgets with subsidies.

In local communities in Germany, public life is often shaped to a large degree by Vereine , or voluntary associations, in which citizens pursue common interests or seek to achieve public goals on the basis of private initiative. Such organizations often provide the immediate context for group formation, sociability, and the local politics of reputation.

Beginning in the late twentieth century, German society was strongly affected by the so-called new social movements, which were typically concerned with such issues as social justice, the environment, and peaceful coexistence among neighboring states. In the last years of the GDR, several civil rights groups emerged throughout the country and helped usher in the Wende (literally, turning or transition) in 1989 and 1990.

http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Germany.html

Nonverbal Behavior

"Nonverbal behavior includes gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, gaze, posture, movement, touch, dress, silence, the use of space and time, objects, artifacts and paralanguage. Nonverbal behaviors often communicate as much or more meaning than the actual spoken words. In intercultural communication, inappropriate or misused nonverbal behaviors can easily lead to misunderstandings and sometimes result in insults. Nonverbal greeting behaviors show remarkable variance across cultures. Eye contact is another important culturally influenced nonverbal communication. Nonverbal expressions, like language, form a coding system for constructing and expressing meaning, and these expressions are culture bound. People engaging in intercultural communication should try to maintain a continual awareness of how body behaviors may influence the interaction." (Samovar 15).

Example 1: Mealtime customs

When eating out in Germany, it is polite to have both hands above the table at all times, but elbows should not rest on the table. It is also considered impolite to leave food on a plate. Waiters expect a 5 to 10 percent tip. An imbiss is a food stand that may serve bratwurst or other fast foods. Another type of restaurant is the bierhall, which commonly serves bratwursts, accompanied by beer.

Breakfast, or früstück, consists of rolls with jam, cheese, eggs, and meat. Coffee or tea may also be served. The zweites früstück (literally second breakfast) is a mid-morning snack eaten at work or school. Students may have belegtes brot (literally covered bread), a small sandwich of meat or cheese, and a piece of fruit. Germans eat their big meal of the day, mittagessen, around noon or later, sometimes lasting two hours. The meal almost always begins with suppe (soup), and several more courses follow (see sample menu). In the afternoon, kaffee (snack with coffee) is often served, consisting of pastries and cakes. Abendbrot (supper, literally "bread of the evening") is a lighter meal than lunch, usually offering an open-faced sandwich of bread with cold cuts and cheese, eaten with a knife and fork, and perhaps some coleslaw or fruit. Pretzels and sweets may be enjoyed, especially by children, any time during the day.

http://www.foodbycountry.com/Germany-to-Japan/Germany.html

Example 2: Greeting Gestures Germany

·        It is impolite to shake someone's hand with your other hand in your pocket. Children are often scolded for putting their hands in their pockets because this is seen as a sign of disrespect.

·        Never open a closed door without first knocking.

·        If you are in a group situation, and wish to express your thanks, clasp your hands together and raise them high above your head.

·        If you are dining in a busy restaurant and there are empty seats at your table, and no other tables available, then the host may seat other people at your table. This is a common practice in Germany, and you do not have an obligation to speak with the other people at your table, unless you feel inclined.

·        If you are talking with someone, do not chew gum. This is considered very rude. To do so would remind a German person of "a cow chewing on a cud".

·        When a man and woman walk together, the man walks on the left side of the woman. This is due to the fact that Germans consider this a romantic gesture because one's heart is on the left side of the body). However, the man will walk on the side closest to traffic when the couple are on a busy street.

·        To wave goodbye, raise your hand upward, with your palm out and wave your fingers up and down. Don't waggle your hand back and forth, because this would symbolize the idea of "NO".

·        To signal the number "ONE", hold your thumb upright. 

·        In various parts of Germany, if you arrive at a dinner table and you are unable to shake everyone's hand due to the arrangement of the seating, the Germany guest will rap his knuckles lightly on the table to signal his greeting to everyone. This same gesture also applies to when the person leaves the table. Also, university students utilize this gesture in order to greet their professors in a classroom.

http://www.joesclass.com/bits221/Gestures.htm

History of the German Language

Language: A Definition


According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: 

The German Language

http://www.alsintl.com/resources/languages/German/

German is used as the official language of Germany and of Austria. It is also used as one of the four official languages of Switzerland (along with French, Italian, and Romansh).

German is also spoken in dialect form throughout Luxembourg and by much of the population of the regions of eastern France formerly known as Alsace and Lorraine. It is further spoken in the north-Italian border regions of Tirol and Ticino (formerly parts of Austria), and in isolated communities widely scattered throughout eastern Europe, notably in Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania (Transylvania), and Russia (Volga region). Outside Europe, dialect German continues to be spoken in large emigrant communities in southern Brazil, South Africa, Australia, and the United States (notably Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Texas).

Germany and German Language History

Modern German belongs to the group of so-called Germanic languages (including also the Scandinavian, Dutch, Flemish, and English languages) that are descended from a common prehistoric ancestor referred to by linguists as “proto-Germanic”.  “Proto-Germanic” is itself a branch of the Indo-European family of languages that also includes the Celtic, Italic, Slavic, Albanian, Greek, Baltic, Armenian, Iranian, and Indic language groups.

Earliest archaeological findings establish that around 750 B.C. Germanic tribes were concentrated in southern Scandinavia and along the North Sea and Baltic coasts from what is now the Netherlands to the Vistula River. Over the next 500 years, some of them spread southward along the Rhine and Elbe rivers and into the Danube river valley, conquering territories formerly populated by Celtic and Slavic tribes, while others remained in Scandinavia; still others wandered southeast along the Vistula  River, ultimately to the shores of the Black Sea. The increased geographical dispersal of the Germanic tribes brought with it, over time, variations of pronunciation and grammatical usage that resulted in the emergence of separate Scandinavian, German, Gothic (now extinct), and later also Netherlandic (Flemish, Dutch) and English branches of the Germanic language group.

During the 1st century B.C., portions of the territory then occupied by the Germanic tribes were conquered by the armies of the expanding Roman Empire. Some of these regions later became parts of modern Germany (western portion), Austria, and Switzerland. The Roman cities of Colonia, Confluentia, Trivium, and Vindobona, for example, founded at this period, survive today as the modern German and Austrian cities of Cologne (Köln), Koblenz, Trier, and Vienna (Wien).

The earliest written records of any Germanic language are isolated words and names cited by Latin authors of the 1st century B.C. From 200 A.D., Germanic carved inscriptions are found using a 24-letter “runic” alphabet. The official conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity in 312 A.D. slowly led to the Christianization of all the Germanic tribes over succeeding centuries, launching the establishment of their tongues as written (as against oral) literary languages, as the Bible was translated for local use. The first, fragmentary example of the latter is the so-called “Gothic Bible”, dating from 350 A.D., made by the Visigothic Bishop Wulfila, of the so-called Arian church, for the conversion of Gothic-speaking tribes inhabiting the Black Sea coast around the mouths of the Danube. (The last trace of living use of this Gothic language is found in the 16th century Crimea, among a tribal remnant whose speech was noted down by a Flemish ambassador to Constantinople.)

In the region of what are today Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, the Germanic tongues (having already absorbed some important Latin “culture” words during Roman times --for example kaufen = to buy, from Latin caupo = merchant, shopkeeper) subsequently underwent changes in grammar and pronunciation that created the spoken forms of modern German. These fall into two main groups, corresponding to a geographical divide: so-called Low German (“Plattdeutsch”, spoken in the low-lying coastal plain area that forms the northern half of Germany), and High German (“Hochdeutsch”, spoken in the upland plateau and mountainous region that forms the southern half of Germany and all of Austria and Switzerland). Within Low German and High German there are many local variations that form a continuum of change in pronunciation and idiom from south to north.

But a clear break is apparent along the line of demarcation where the upland plateau of southern Germany falls away to the north-German plain. A “standard” form of German was evolved in early modern times, at first as a written language modeled on that of the German translation of the Bible made by Martin Luther in the early 1500’s. This was a language that corresponded essentially to the spoken dialect of Luther’s home region of Saxony -- a so-called “East Middle German” dialect that combined features of High German and Low German, and was thus found convenient for communication between the governments of the many postage-stamp-sized principalities that then formed the feudal political landscape of the German-speaking world.

The nearly simultaneous introduction of the printing press (Gutenberg published Luther’s Bible translation) powerfully abetted the acceptance of this “Lutheran” language as the standard written German language, as did the extraordinary eloquence and power of Luther’s rendering of the Biblical text. In the eighteenth century, a standard spoken from of German (“Hochsprache”), based on the written language, came into use with the establishment of theaters by the many German-speaking princely courts. This “Hochsprache” entered the curriculum of public schools as public education was instituted on a wider and wider basis, and is universally used today in business, media and films.

It is an irony of the history of the German language that, although the migration of Germanic tribes fleeing attacks by nomadic invaders from Central Asia led to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the immediate replacement of the Empire by states ruled by a feudal aristocracy of largely Germanic extraction did not lead to the dominance of German on the continent of Europe. The most politically and militarily successful of the migrating Germanic tribes – the Franks, the Langobards, the Allemanni,  and the Visigoths – all abandoned their Germanic languages in favor of the popular Latin spoken by the indigenous populations of the Roman territories they overran and subsequently governed.

Indeed, the so-called “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation” founded in 800 A.D. by Charlemagne, a French king of Frankish origin, vigorously promoted the use not of German, but of church Latin as a unifying force throughout a Christian Western Europe that was feeling the chronic threat of invasion by Islamic armies. The subsequent history of this Holy Roman Empire likewise made only a very late and precarious contribution to the spread of German within Europe. When Charlemagne’s French-speaking dynasty died out and was replaced by one that that actually spoke a form of German (the Hohenstauffen), the territory of France was severed from the imperial package.

Only during the later phases of the Habsburg dynasty’s rule of the remnants of the Holy Roman Empire did German make territorial gains as a commercial language in East Central Europe (Silesia, Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, Galicia, Bukovina Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia...). In modern times, the use of German outside of Europe has generally been limited to German-speaking minorities living in the Western Hemisphere, Africa and Australia. Like Italy, modern Germany was late to achieve political unification as a nation-state (1870), and undertook overseas colonial expansion only after British, French, Spanish and Portuguese imperial undertakings had preempted most of the globe. German colonial establishments in Africa (German Southwest Africa [now Namibia] and Cameroon), the islands of the Western Pacific, and China (the Shandung Peninsula) were lost by 1919, following the German defeat in World War I. Hitler’s defeat in World War II put paid to a transitory military occupation of North Africa.

As a result the German language, although of great importance for the historical literature of science and technology (in which Germany was preeminent up to 1933), does not today play a major role in global commerce. The earliest written records of any Germanic language are isolated words and names cited by Latin authors of the 1st century B.C. From 200 A.D., Germanic carved inscriptions are found using a 24-letter “runic” alphabet. The official conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity in 312 A.D. slowly led to the Christianization of all the Germanic tribes over succeeding centuries, launching the establishment of their tongues as written (as against oral) literary languages, as the Bible was translated for local use.

The first, fragmentary example of the latter is the so-called “Gothic Bible”, dating from 350 A.D., made by the Visigothic Bishop Wulfila, of the so-called Arian church, for the conversion of Gothic-speaking tribes inhabiting the Black Sea coast around the mouths of the Danube. (The last trace of living use of this Gothic language is found in the 16th century Crimea, among a tribal remnant whose speech was noted down by a Flemish ambassador to Constantinople.)

German Language in the World

In the region of what are today Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, the Germanic tongues ( having already absorbed some important Latin “culture” words during Roman times --for example kaufen = to buy, from Latin caupo = merchant, shopkeeper) subsequently underwent changes in grammar and pronunciation that created the spoken forms of modern German. These fall into two main groups, corresponding to a geographical divide: so-called Low German (“Plattdeutsch”, spoken in the low-lying coastal plain area that forms the northern half of Germany), and High German (“Hochdeutsch”, spoken in the upland plateau and mountainous region that forms the southern half of Germany and all of Austria and Switzerland). Within Low German and High German there are many local variations that form a continuum of change in pronunciation and idiom from south to north. But a clear break is apparent along the line of demarcation where the upland plateau of southern Germany falls away to the north-German plain.

A “standard” form of German was evolved in early modern times, at first as a written language modeled on that of the German translation of the Bible made by Martin Luther in the early 1500’s. This was a language that corresponded essentially to the spoken dialect of Luther’s home region of Saxony -- a so-called “East Middle German” dialect that combined features of High German and Low German, and was thus found convenient for communication between the governments of the many postage-stamp-sized principalities that then formed the feudal political landscape of the German-speaking world. The nearly simultaneous introduction of the printing press (Gutenberg published Luther’s Bible translation) powerfully abetted the acceptance of this “Lutheran” language as the standard written German language, as did the extraordinary eloquence and power of Luther’s rendering of the Biblical text.

In the eighteenth century, a standard spoken from of German (“Hochsprache”), based on the written language, came into use with the establishment of theaters by the many German-speaking princely courts. This “Hochsprache” entered the curriculum of public schools as public education was instituted on a wider and wider basis, and is universally used today in business, media and films.

It is an irony of the history of the German language that, although the migration of Germanic tribes fleeing attacks by nomadic invaders from Central Asia led to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the immediate replacement of the Empire by states ruled by a feudal aristocracy of largely Germanic extraction did not lead to the dominance of German on the continent of Europe. The most politically and militarily successful of the migrating Germanic tribes – the Franks, the Langobards, the Allemanni,  and the Visigoths – all abandoned their Germanic languages in favor of the popular Latin spoken by the indigenous populations of the Roman territories they overran and subsequently governed. Indeed, the so-called “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation” founded in 800 A.D. by Charlemagne, a French king of Frankish origin, vigorously promoted the use not of German, but of church Latin as a unifying force throughout a Christian Western Europe that was feeling the chronic threat of invasion by Islamic armies.

The subsequent history of this Holy Roman Empire likewise made only a very late and precarious contribution to the spread of German within Europe. When Charlemagne’s French-speaking dynasty died out and was replaced by one that that actually spoke a form of German (the Hohenstauffen), the territory of France was severed from the imperial package. Only during the later phases of the Habsburg dynasty’s rule of the remnants of the Holy Roman Empire did German make territorial gains as a commercial language in East Central Europe (Silesia, Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, Galicia, Bukovina Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia...).

In modern times, the use of German outside of Europe has generally been limited to German-speaking minorities living in the Western Hemisphere, Africa and Australia. Like Italy, modern Germany was late to achieve political unification as a nation-state (1870), and undertook overseas colonial expansion only after British, French, Spanish and Portuguese imperial undertakings had preempted most of the globe. German colonial establishments in Africa (German Southwest Africa [now Namibia] and Cameroon), the islands of the Western Pacific, and China (the Shandung Peninsula) were lost by 1919, following the German defeat in World War I. Hitler’s defeat in World War II put paid to a transitory military occupation of North Africa.

As a result the German language, although of great importance for the historical literature of science and technology (in which Germany was preeminent up to 1933), does not today play a major role in global commerce.

http://www.alsintl.com/resources/languages/German/

Perception - Values, Beliefs and Attitudes

According to Samovar et al, perception is defined as the following: 


"The process of selecting, organizing and evaluating stimuli. We select (for evaluating purposes) only what is considered relevant or interesting. Information must be given structure before it can be interpreted. Information is processed and assigned meaning. Perception is strongly influenced by culture; the world is seen, heard, felt, tasted and smelt through the criteria that culture has placed on one’s perceptions. Perception is an important aspect of intercultural communication because people from dissimilar cultures frequently perceive the world differently. It is important to be aware of relevant socio-cultural elements that have a significant and direct influence on the meanings assigned to stimuli. These elements represent the beliefs, values, attitude systems and worldviews of a culture." (Samovar 13).


Values: Definition and Examples
"Values represent those things held important in life, such as morality, ethics and aesthetics; values are used to distinguish between the desirable and undesirable. Each person has a set of unique, personal values and a set of cultural values. Cultural values are a motivating force behind behavior." (Samovar 13).


Example 1: 

The National Ethics Council of Germany on 
Stem cell research

Stem cells are cells that can renew themselves over long periods by division and have the capacity to develop into individual or different cell types with specific characteristics (differentiation). Under suitable conditions all kinds of tissue can potentially be developed from stem cells. For this reason it is hoped that research on stem cells, coupled with a better understanding of the processes of development and how they may be controlled, may make it possible, by means of cell replacement, to cure diseases due to tissue defects. Examples of such diseases are neurodegenerative conditions, injuries to the spinal cord, diabetes mellitus, the sequelae of cardiac infarction and various forms of pathology affecting the haematopoietic (blood-producing) system.

Stem cells may be derived either from embryos in the first few days of their development (embryonic stem cells) or from certain tissues taken even from adult subjects (adult stem cells). It is not yet clear whether embryonic and adult stem cells are equally suitable, in terms of their potential capacity for development and multiplication, for cell and tissue replacement.

Particular ethical problems arise in connection with the derivation of embryonic stem cells because the technique results in the destruction of the embryos. The production of human embryonic stem cells is prohibited in the Federal Republic of Germany by the Embryo Protection Law.

The permissibility of using embryos for research purposes is a matter of political and social controversy. Although everyone agrees that the protection of human life is a primordial moral and constitutional concern, opinions differ on the protection to which human life is entitled during its early embryonic development.

The stem cells themselves are not embryos within the meaning of the Embryo Protection Law, as the general scientific presupposition today is that these cells are not totipotent but pluripotent - that is, they do not possess the capacity to develop into a human being. The import and use of embryonic stem cells for research purposes are to be regulated by a Stem Cell Law.

The National Ethics Council issued its first Opinion, on the import of embryonic stem cells, in December 2001.

http://www.ethikrat.org/_english/main_topics/stem_cell_research.html

Example 2: 

The National Ethics Council of Germany on End-of-life care

The progress of modern medicine has substantially increased life expectancy and improved the quality of life. However, the possibility of the medical treatment of disease, the reduction of suffering and the prolongation of life may become a burden if the full panoply of high-technology intensive care is deployed in such a way that measures to prolong life are taken even at the cost of pointless drawing out of the process of dying and the imposition of suffering. Many people manifestly fear that such a fate might await them at the end of their lives and would prefer a non-lingering death without dependence on technical apparatus. It is precisely this ambivalence that makes the subject-matter of this Opinion so important. After all, now that conscious intervention in the process of dying is possible and indeed unavoidable, matters such as the taking of difficult and conflictual decisions in borderline situations at the end of life cannot be eschewed.

Dying is an individual process which, as such, cannot be removed from the sphere of the individual’s self-determination. At the same time, however, it involves a range of different ethical obligations, legal demands and religious expectations, which call for thorough discussion and evaluation in all their aspects.

The National Ethics Council has intensively discussed the issues involved in dealing responsibly with dying. It has perused a large volume of material, obtained expert opinions, consulted with doctors and other medical specialists, and held meetings in Augsburg and Münster at which it exposed itself to public debate. The outcome is enshrined in the Opinion now presented.

The Opinion "Self-determination and care at the end of life" continues the examination of the themes addressed in the Opinion "The advance directive" published in June 2005. The present analysis, in conjunction with the clarification of terminology here proposed, may facilitate interpretation of the recommendations set out in that Opinion.

http://www.ethikrat.org/_english/main_topics/end_of_life_care.html

Beliefs: Definition and Examples
"Beliefs can be defined as individually held subjective ideas about the nature of an object or event. These subjective ideas are a product of culture and directly influence the behavior of individuals." (Samovar 13). 

Example 1: Religious Beliefs. Germany was the homeland of the Protestant Reformation, but, in the politically fragmented Holy Roman Empire of the sixteenth century, many territories remained faithful to Roman Catholicism or reverted back to it, depending of the policy of the ruling house. Today, 34 percent of the population belongs to the Evangelical (Protestant) Church and a further 34 percent belongs to the Catholic Church. Many Germans have no religious affiliation. This is especially true of former East Germany, where, in 1989, the Evangelical Church had 4 million members (out of a total population of 16.5 million) and the Catholic Church had only 921,000 members. Since 1990, the Evangelical Church has lost even more members in the new federal states.

The Evangelical Church is a unified Protestant church, which combines Lutherans, Reformed Protestants, and United Protestants. Reformed Protestants adhere to a form of Calvinism, while United Protestants combine aspects of Lutheranism and Calvinism. Other Protestant denominations make up only a small fraction of the population. Most German Catholics live in the Rhineland or in southern Germany, whereas Protestants dominate in northern and central parts of the country.

In 1933, there were over 500,000 people of Jewish faith or Jewish heritage living within the boundaries of the German Reich. Between 1933 and 1945, German Jews, together with members of the far more numerous Jewish populations of eastern Europe, fell victim to the anti-Semitic and genocidal policies of the National Socialists. In 1997, there are an estimated sixty-seven thousand people of Jewish faith or heritage living in Germany. The largest Jewish congregations are in Frankfurt am Main and Berlin.

In the postwar era, migratory workers or immigrants from North Africa and western Asia established Islamic communities upon arriving in Germany. In 1987, there were an estimated 1.7 million Muslims living in West Germany.

Religious Practitioners. Religious practitioners in Germany include especially the Protestant or Catholic pfarrer (minister or priest). In local communities, the minister or priest belongs to the publicly acknowledged group of local notables, which also includes local governmental officials, school officials, and business leaders. Roman Catholic priests are, of course, local representatives of the international church hierarchy, which is centered in Rome. Protestant ministers represent Lutheran, Reformed, or United churches, which are organized at the level of the regional states. These state-level organizations belong, in turn, to the Evangelical Church of Germany.

Rituals and Holy Places. From the smallest village to the largest city, the local church dominates the central area of nearly every German settlement. German churches are often impressive architectural structures, which bear witness to centuries of growth and renovation. In predominantly Catholic areas, such as the Rhineland, Bavaria, and parts of Baden-Württemberg, the areas surrounding the towns and villages are typically strewn with shrines and chapels. The processions to these shrines, which were common until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, have now been largely discontinued.

Despite processes of secularization, which had became intensive by the early nineteenth century, churches retained their importance in public life. Beginning in the 1840s, there was a popular movement to complete the Cologne cathedral, which was begun in the Middle Ages but which remained a construction site for 400 years. With the support of the residents of Cologne, the Catholic Church, and the King of Prussia (who was a Protestant), work on the cathedral was begun in 1842 and completed in 1880. The character of the ceremonies and festivals that accompanied this process indicate that the Cologne Cathedral served not only as a church but also as a national monument. Similarly, the national assembly of 1848, in which elected representatives met to draft a constitution for a united Germany, took place in St. Paul's Church in Frankfurt. (The national and constitutional movement failed when the Prussian king refused the imperial crown, which was offered to him by the representatives of the national assembly.) One of the centers of the popular movement that led to the fall of the GDR in 1989–1990 was the Nikolaikirche (St. Nicolas Church) in Leipzig.

Since the late nineteenth century, churches and other historical buildings in Germany have become the objects of Denkmalpflege (cultural preservation), which may be understood as one aspect of a broader culture of historical commemoration. Together with museums, historical monuments constitute a new set of special sites, which may be approached only with a correspondingly respectful attitude.

Graveyards and war memorials occupy a kind of middle ground between holy sites and historical monuments. All settlements in Germany have graveyards, which surviving family members visit on special holidays or on private anniversaries. War memorials from World War I are also ubiquitous. Monuments to World War II often have a very different character. For example, the concentration camp Buchenwald, near Weimar, has, since the early 1950s, served as a commemorative site, which is dedicated to the victims of the National Socialist regime.

Death and the Afterlife. Nearly 70 percent of Germans are members of a Christian church, and many of these share common Christian beliefs in himmel (heaven) and hölle (hell) as destinations of the soul after death. Many other Germans describe themselves as agnostics or atheists, in which case they view beliefs in an afterlife as either potentially misleading or false. Funerary rites involve either a church service or a civil ceremony, depending on the beliefs of the deceased and his or her survivors.

http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Germany.html

Example 2:

National Identity. Following World War II, German national identity became problematic, since the national movement seemed to have culminated in the Third Reich and found its most extreme expression in the murder of millions of people, including six million Jews. All further reflection on the German nation had to come to grips with this issue in one way or another. There have been many different attempts to explain Nazism and its crimes. Some see Adolf Hitler and his cronies as villains who misled the German people. Others blame Nazism on a flaw in the German national character. Still others see the beginning of Germany's problems in the rejection of the rational and universal principles of the Enlightenment and the adoption of romantic irrationalism. Marxist scholars see Nazism as a form of fascism, which they describe as the form that capitalism takes under certain historical conditions. Finally, some cite the failure of the bourgeois revolution in the nineteenth century and the lingering power of feudal elites as the main cause. Interpretations of this sort fall under the general heading of Vergangenheitsbewältigung, or coming to terms with the past. Since the fall of the GDR, West German traditions of coming to terms with the past have been extended to the period of socialist rule in East Germany. Some Germans emphasize the similarities between the two forms of dictatorship, National Socialist and communist, while others, especially many East Germans, view the Third Reich and the GDR as being essentially dissimilar. Lingering differences between the attitudes and practices of West and East Germans are often attributed to the so-called Mauer in den Köpfen, or wall in the mind— an allusion to the physical wall that used to divide East and West Germany.

In recent years, German nationalism has been reexamined in accordance with views of the nation as an "imagined community" which is based on "invented traditions." Most scholars have concentrated on the organization, the symbolism, and the discourse of the national movement as it developed in the nineteenth century. The most significant contributions to the imagination and the invention of the German nation in this era took place in the context of (1) a set of typical voluntary associations, which supposedly harkened back to old local, regional, or national traditions; (2) the series of monuments erected by state governments, by towns and cities, and by citizens' groups throughout Germany; and (3) the various representations of history, some of which have been alluded to above. In addition, there is a growing body of literature that examines understandings of the nation and the politics of nationhood in the eighteenth century. There is much disagreement on the political implications of the critical history of nationalism in Germany. Some scholars seem to want to exorcize the deviant aspects of modern German nationalism, while retaining those aspects, with which, in their view, German citizens should identify. Others see nationalism as an especially dangerous stage in a developmental process, which Germans, in their journey toward a postnational society, should leave behind.

http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Germany.html

Attitudes: Definition and Examples
"Attitudes are learned tendencies to act or respond in a specific way to events, objects, people or orientations. Culturally instilled beliefs and values exert a strong influence on attitudes. People tend to embrace what is liked and avoid what is disliked." (Samovar 13). 


Example 1: Fashion Models

Top German Fashion Models are always in the news for a number of reasons. From different people you get to hear different things. While from some you can get updated on the criticism on the fashion models from Germany, double the amount of reviews and referrals swear otherwise.

Rave reviews and praise are baggage deals for the fashion models from Germany. Many of the supermodels of the world have standards that are practically impossible to meet. The fact remains that many of the top German fashion models have set these impossible standards, not only in the past, but in the present as well and will continue to do so in the future.

German models are well known for their envious looks, physique and flawless skin. Not only do the men, but even women are known to drool in response when they get to view many of the best looking supermodels from this part of the world. Both the female German models as well as the male German models have superb height, beautiful soft and silky skin and the best international looks required in the fashion industry.

These days, German models are sidelined despite models in many areas all over the world becoming a butt of insults and jokes.

The image of the female models is generally tarnished by public for the sheer idiocy of clothing that is haute couture, anorexia health issues, pencil thin figures, flaunting clothes that are not at all wearable in real life, prostitution and sexual promiscuity, etc. All this keeps going on in the fashion industry but not commonly among fashion models from Germany.

These issues appear to be very prominent in the fashion industry all over the world. The German fashion industry has supermodels that are revolutionizing the ramp and receiving a lot of attention in Paris and Milan too. 

They are not among sexual scandals and are talked about on a large scale. Female German supermodels have made a mark in the industry that is hard to brush aside. In the early 1940s the German supermodel went on to become household names by the 1980s. The trend to use mostly fashion models from Germany in the promotion of products and services started during this time and continues to do so in the present as well. They lend their looks and fame for many social causes as well. Generally most German supermodels and various other fashion models from Germany have a good reputation within the industry of fashion.

German supermodels are the most recognized models in the fashion world and you get a chance to see them in many of the prestigious fashion shows held all over the world. It has become very necessary for the German supermodel to feature on all the covers of world famous magazines. Top German Fashion Models are currently into multimillion contracts, working for ad campaigns and fashion designers and carving a niche for themselves in the world of fashion. The media has paid ample tribute to the glorious bodies and shapely chiseled features of the German model.

http://www.kickupthefire.net/top-german-fashion-models/#more-38


Example 2: Food

Food has always been a major part of German culture. Even the well-known German fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel, makes reference to food. Hansel and Gretel, brother and sister, discover a house in the forest made of gingerbread and candies. King Frederick II (King Frederick the Great, 1712–1786) introduced the potato, a staple in the German diet. He gave away seed potatoes and taught the people how to grow them. But wars caused food shortages and hardship twice during the twentieth century. After the Germans lost World War I (1914–18), food was scarce and soldiers trying to get home were starving. After World War II (1939–1945), the country had even less food available, but this time nations that had defeated Germany, including the United States, helped to feed the Germans and rebuild the country. In 1949 after World War II, Germany was divided into East Germany and West Germany. This division caused the country's two halves to develop different styles of cooking. East Germany, closely associated with its neighbor, Russia, took on a more Russian style of cooking. West Germans continued the traditional German cuisine.

There are also differences in cooking style between the northern and southern Germany, similar to the northern and southern styles of cooking in the United States. In the north, restaurants in Hamburg and Berlin might feature aalsuppe (eel soup) or eintopf (seafood stew). Soups of dried beans, such as weisse bohnensuppe (white bean soup) are also popular. In the center of the country, menus include breads and cereals made with buckwheat and rye flour. A favorite dish is birnen, bohnen und speck (pears, green beans, and bacon). In the middle of the country, a region near the Netherlands known as Wesphalia is famous for spargel (asparagus), especially white asparagus, and rich, heavy pumpernickel bread. Westphalian ham, served with pungent mustard, is popular with Germans worldwide.

Frankfurt, located in the south, is the home of a sausage known as Wüstchen . This sausage is similar to the U.S. hot dog, sometimes called a "frankfurter" after the German city. In the south, a dish mysteriously called Himmel und erde (Heaven and Earth) combines potatoes and apples with onions and bacon. The southern region of Bavaria features rugged mountains and the famous Black Forest. Black Forest cherry cake and tortes, as well as Kirschwasser, a clear cherry brandy, are two contributions from this area. Spätzle (tiny dumplings) are the southern version of knödel (potato dumplings) of the north. Lebkuchen is a spicy cookie prepared especially during the Christmas season. East and West Germany were reunited in the early 1990s, but Germans continue to cook according to their region.

Germans tend to eat heavy and hearty meals that include ample portions of meat and bread. Potatoes are the staple food, and each region has its own favorite ways of preparing them. Some Germans eat potatoes with pears, bacon, and beans. Others prepare a special stew called the Pichelsteiner, made with three kinds of meat and potatoes. Germans from the capital city of Berlin eat potatoes with bacon and spicy sausage. Sauerbraten is a large roast made of pork, beef, or veal that is popular throughout Germany, and is flavored in different ways depending on the region. In the Rhine River area, it is flavored with raisins, but is usually cooked with a variety of savory spices and vinegar. Fruit (instead of vegetables) is often combined with meat dishes to add a sweet and sour taste to the meal. Throughout Germany desserts made with apples are very popular.

Knödel, or dumplings, accompany many meals, especially in the north. In the south, a tiny version called spätzle is more common. Knödel may be made either of mashed potatoes or bread (or a mixture of both), and are either boiled or fried. Germans enjoy bread with every meal, with rye, pumpernickel, and sourdough breads more common than white bread. Soft pretzels can be found almost anywhere. Spargel (asparagus) served with a sauce or in soup is popular in the spring.

Many Germans have begun to modify their eating habits to lower their calorie and cholesterol intake. Since the unification of East and West Germany in the 1990s, the government has faced the challenge of bringing the living conditions in the former East Germany up to the standard found in the former West Germany. Upgrading housing, schools, and utilities will continue after 2001. Despite unequal living conditions, Germans in all parts of the country are well nourished. In fact, most German children have enough to eat.

http://www.foodbycountry.com/Germany-to-Japan/Germany.html

Germany

The Basics

Population: 82,057,000

Size: 357,021 km²

Adjacent countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland.

Geography: Germany is located in the centre of Europe. It forms a bridge between maritime West of Europe and the continental East, between the warmer South and the cool North. Germany is a triad of mountain ranges, uplands and low-land plains – the Bavarian Alps in the South, the pleasant wooded mountains of the Mittelgebirge in the centre of the country and the low country along the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts in the North.

Highest point: Zugspitze (2,962 m) - 31% of the country is covered with forests.

Climate: Germany’s climate is temperate. The average temperatures are around 20-30°C in the summer dropping around 0°C in the winter months 

Life expectancy: 77 years (Men - 73 years; Women - 80 years)

System of government: The Federal Republic of Germany is a democracy with a liberal free-market economy, freedom of religion and freedom of the press. Germany is a member of the European Union (EU).

Capital: Berlin (3.47 million inhabitants)

States in the Federal Republic: 16 - Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia

Freeways and roads: 633,000 km

Time zone: In Germany, clocks are set to Central European time. From the end of March to the end of October (summertime) they are put forward one hour.

http://www.justgermany.org/germany/germany-facts.asp