Talke talks: Germanic role models | nd-aktuell.de

While you in Germany are having the same integration debate as you do every year, I would like to do the same, but this time it will be about the Germans in the States. In fact, we integrate much better than one would expect from the inflexible Teutons. From what I’ve observed, Germans settling into America are quick and efficient (so maybe that’s true to the stereotype). The language is not a problem for most people thanks to school lessons and we have a clear advantage over other nationalities because we change the country when we move, but not the language group.

The majority of Germans who emigrate today are transferred here by their employers, which is also an advantage compared to the situation of so many other migrants. Those Germans who move here to get married get the most important things from their American partner: Don’t dry your laundry outside (considered embarrassing), smile more (considered normal), forget mayo on fries (considered disgusting).

The Germans in the USA are better prepared for the country through previous vacations and possible student exchanges – while my Russian acquaintances still struggle with the smile many years later (and, bizarrely, continue to buy mayonnaise from the Russian store).

Most German traditions are quickly being replaced by American ones because they cannot be maintained here anyway: cycling is difficult in the long run without bike paths. Naked on the beach or in the sauna? The cops are coming! You can buy recycling bins, but the city then throws everything into the landfill, at least in Texas. Eating bread in the evening? With this type of bread – impossible. Added to this are the numerous cases in which Germans marry other foreigners in the USA and have to make cultural compromises. The children then have cute names like Emil Escobar, Linus Lee or Deepti Deichmann.

But I still think it’s a shame that we give up all customs so quickly, while the French in Texas meet for monthly aperitifs and exchange puff pastry recipes, while the Russians and Russian-speaking non-Russians perform Chekhov’s plays and drive for hours to the best forest to pick mushrooms Indians celebrate Diwali and open sari shops. And what I find so bad about the successful assimilation is the decline of the German language. It’s probably happening in Germany too, judging by the news headlines on social media, but here it’s unstoppable. No other foreigners forget their language in the diaspora as quickly as the Germans. The “Germans in the States” Facebook groups are so full of Denglish that you really have to cringe when you read them. The decline in language does not stop at venerable institutions either: a teacher from the Goethe Institute, who was supposed to give my daughter German tutoring, wrote an entire email in Denglish. I found that awkward. Goethe would say: foolish.

But back to you. How does Germany finally manage to make integration policy its bitch? As a former immigrant child in Germany raising an immigrant child in the USA, I feel particularly called to answer this question (although I have nothing groundbreaking to say, just the obvious): invest and digitize! Improve and expand the German as a foreign language programs at all schools, add summer offerings, distribute iPads with learning apps, and involve parents more closely. Abolish the scary official German letters that drive up every migrant’s cortisol level, cut the bureaucracy. And don’t forget: Be a Germanic role model! You know, honoring the poets and thinkers: quoting Goethe, knowing the difference between Briest and Brie, Kafka and Kavka, Jean Paul and Sean Paul.

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