The two words are “Guten Tag”. My g comes out closer to “Chuten Tach”, and before I can say anything else someone goes “Ah, Holländer?” with a big grin.

My German is still basic, so I’m used to people switching to English to be polite. The Dutch accent gets a warmer reaction than that. My barber told me I sound like Rudi Carrell, who I had to Google. Even the woman at my bakery, who I hadn’t seen smile once in a year, called it “niedlich”.

None of my apps warned me about the "g" Duolingo and Babbel pass my “Guten Tag” without complaint, and the pronunciation feedback in Praktika hasn’t flagged it either.

Is there something about a Dutch accent in German that makes people smile, or does every accent get its own reaction here?

I posted here last week about a Lieferando refund dispute where a local restaurant owner called my private number to threaten me and showed up banging on my door.

https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/s/QA8SGzqtce

Things had gone completely quiet for nearly a week, so I genuinely assumed the issue was over and that he had moved on. Today around 5:50 PM, someone managed to get through the main building entrance again, came straight up to my apartment door, and started aggressively pounding on it. 

I stayed inside with the deadbolt locked and recorded the hallway from my phone. On the video, you can clearly hear a man shouting aggressive verbal abuse, swearing at me repeatedly, and aggressively demanding that I open the door while violently hammering on the wood. The voice, language, and context match the restaurant staff and the owner who originally threatened me over the phone. I called 110 immediately while he was outside making noise. 

Two officers arrived about 5 minutes later, but the guy had already left the place. When I spoke with them, they told me that because the person had already left and I couldn't provide more details about the person, they couldn't go over to the restaurant or do anything. They told me it is not considered a crime, and told me not to open the door but in next time I should look out the window to take a picture of him or number plate of vehicle. They said they hoped nobody comes back and left.

They are nice but I felt embarrassed because they now think I am afraid.

Should I confront that guy if he comes again? I don’t know what to do.

I feel completely stuck. I live most of the time alone, it is dark outside by 6 PM, and leaning out of an exterior window to photograph an aggressive, shouting man feels totally unrealistic and dangerous. I have clear video documenting the loud banging the 110 dispatch was logged under my name and address.

I really need practical advice.

Please read this below:

Please comment only if you have an advice. Some of the comments below are really rude. This happened in previous post as well. I was tolerating just because some other people were trying to help. You guys don’t even understand how I feel. Since I don’t have friends here, I chose Reddit to ask for an opinion, I am not here to take your hatred. Go show your frustration or hatred somewhere else.

Hello sub,

Here is the map of Germany made from 3'500+ drawings of the Länder people have traced from memory.

All the drawings are saved as geographical coordinates and positioned precisely in relation to one another on a blank canvas. When several lines converge at the same point, they become darker.

I don't know if I am allowed to link my page in the post for you to see the live map and your drawings...

I see a lot of posts here from people feeling alienated, burnt out, or wanting to pack up and leave. I get it. I’ve been living in Germany for almost six years now, and I won’t sugarcoat reality: yes, racism exists here, and yes, I’ve had my share of absolute garbage experiences that made my blood boil.

Leaving, however, is not the answer.

Despite the rough edges, I love this country, and I love the people here, Germans very much included. Online, Germans get painted as cold, rigid, and unwelcoming. In reality, some of the absolute best human beings I have ever met in my life took me in when I had nothing. My old flatmates, my university professors, and my 80-year-old swim coach a man who I’m pretty sure has never set foot outside of Bavaria in his entire life looked past my background, welcomed me with genuine warmth, and helped me build the life I have today.

Today, I’m an African migrant earning a six-figure salary in tech. My wife is a doctor who wears a hijab, and our daughter was born in Bavaria and will soon have German citizenship. To the small minority of bitter racists out there: we are here, we are thriving, and there is nothing you can do about it.

I also think we need to be radically honest about the other side of the coin. A lot of expats and newcomers never attempt to integrate, refuse to respect the law, act entitled, and then blame every single negative interaction on racism. Respect is a two-way street. If you treat people with basic decency and follow the rules, the overwhelming majority of Germans will meet you halfway. And most importantly: learn the damn language. It completely changes your reality here.

Germany is not a paradise, but it is my home now. If you let the small percentage of loud losers dictate how you see an entire nation of good people, you rob yourself of a future. Treat people with respect, hold your ground against the nonsense, and focus on the bigger picture.

Edit 1:

I didn’t expect this post to blow up the way it did. I wrote it out of pure exhaustion with the endless doomposting, the victim mentality, and the constant painting of every single German with the same brush.

First, thank you to everyone who sent kind, supportive comments and DMs it means more than you know. And a huge thank you to the mods, who have been working overtime clearing out the vile, hateful trash targeted at my family and me. I honestly considered deleting the entire post after seeing what landed in my inbox.

Someone pointed out this line: “We are here, we are thriving, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

Sitting with it now, I have mixed feelings. Part of me realizes it came off as arrogant, posturing, and unnecessarily poking a hornet's nest. But more than that, if I’m being radically honest: it wasn’t entirely true.

It was bravado talking. The reality is, every single day my wife leaves the house in her hijab, my stomach knots up, hoping she comes home safe. The reality is, I dread what my daughter will face growing up. Strangers have already thrown the slur “kleine Äffin” at a baby who hasn't even learned to speak yet. There is something racists can do: they can hurt the people I love most.

I’m caught between wanting to de-escalate so I don't put a target on anyone’s back, and refusing to shrink myself or live in fear. I still believe living on your knees is no way to survive, but real courage isn’t pretending the danger doesn’t exist.

Thank you again to the decent people here who remind me every day why this country is worth building a life in.

So i live in Germany in a small apartment 16m², and the apartment is always warm, like even now when it's 10 degrees outside it's 25 degrees inside. I found this on the wall, when i opened the cover i felt some cool air from outside comes in. So what do you think its job. Should i let it open ? When i close the cover the air gets totally blocked.

Can’t put words to this place. Genuinely out of a fairytale

Hi everyone!

I collected and compared the prices at all 1,367 McDonald’s in Germany (my Sunday project 😄).

Here's what I found:

- The exact same Big Mac costs between €5.99 and €8.39 – 28 different prices in total

- Most expensive: Kassel and Lohfelden (€8.39)

- Cheapest: Stuttgart area, Leipzig and Munich (€5.99)

- If you eat one Big Mac a week, you pay €124.80 more per year in Kassel than at the cheapest location

- Berlin is the most expensive state on average, Saxony the cheapest

- Munich is cheaper than Berlin; Augsburg is the most expensive major city

- Highway rest stops are pricier than the national average: McFlurry +32%, Cheeseburger +9%, Nuggets +8%, Big Mac +3%

- At the Bad Camberg rest stop (A3), the two McDonald's are just 261 m apart on opposite sides of the highway – a Big Mac costs €6.39 on one side and €7.49 on the other

More info here, and feel free to reach out with any questions or comments: https://x.com/mhimed100/status/2114444199710142952 :)

I was trying to buy some products from the HSN website and while I was checking out the price was stable, until the very second I tried to pay where they went from 70-something Euros to 100-something. They claim it's due to dynamic pricing but I would like to make people aware that there is a difference between dynamic pricing and changing the price during the very last step of checkout... where every checkout step has the same price AND there was no active countdown timer for the offer to end, as I waited the timer to go away and see if the offer is still there, which it was... with no timer in place.

I find this highly unethical and misleading. The official HSN responder tried to give me a very legal sounding answer in their email, which is concerning about their practices and how they act as a company to the customer.

TL;DR: Dynamic pricing may be legal, but changing the price at the final payment stage (while previous steps show lower price) shows unethical practices from the HSN store.

​

Hi everyone, I'm hoping someone has been through something similar.

My situation:

- I'm a US citizen, currently living in the Caribbean. I'm moving to Germany in November.

- My fiancé is German and lives in Rhineland-Palatinate.

- I was married before. The marriage took place in the Caribbean and the divorce was also finalized there. I have the decree absolute with an apostille and a certified German translation.

We first wanted to marry in Germany, but the Standesamt told us my Caribbean divorce has to be recognized by the Landesjustizverwaltung (OLG) first. That can take a while, so now we're looking at getting married in Denmark instead.

We're working with a wedding agency that is helping us with the Denmark process. I've already uploaded all my documents, and since our relationship is long distance, we also uploaded photos and other proof of our relationship. We've followed every requirement they asked for, and now we're just waiting to hear back on whether we get approved.

The Standesamt said that if we marry in Denmark, they're no longer involved, and that we should check with the Bürgerbüro about registering the marriage afterwards. My worry is the residence permit (Familiennachzug) at the Ausländerbehörde.

My questions:

1. Has anyone married in Denmark after a divorce from a non-EU country? Did the Ausländerbehörde or Bürgerbüro ask for the divorce to be recognized in Germany (Anerkennung) afterwards?

2. Did you start the recognition process anyway, just to be safe? How long did it take?

3. For Americans: did you apply for your residence permit from inside Germany after a Denmark wedding? Any problems?

4. Basically: what should we do next? How easy or difficult was the whole process for you once you were back in Germany?

I've emailed the offices, but I'd love to hear from people who have actually done this. Thanks so much!

Hello everyone,

I am worried that I might need a legal help with my work or with the landlord in the coming year, so I started to look for a legal insurance to ease my anxiety.

I called Allianz and got a good offer and they sent the contract by email to review before signing. There is a section that says that they cover the costs based on the official German statutory fee RVG.

I have a dental insurance that also covers up to the statutory fee, and I end up paying the difference after each visit because the dentist charges 6.5*the statutory fee.

Do lawyers work within the statutory fee for ordinary legal services? Or will it be hard to find a lawyer with this fee and ending up having to pay the difference out of pocket? (I live in Berlin if this makes a difference)

I converted my drivers license (did practical and theory exams). Unfortunately I did not get a scan copy of my previous license before handing it over.

The issue now is that I need to prove that I have been driving for a long time and I did conversion. I have experience driving the left (Asian) and right (German).

What document do I need from TUV or any office to prove this? Also for insurance purposes too, what document do I need for that?

Please ask me questions if you need more clarity. Thank you

I will be taking a river cruise December 2nd-8th. Starting in Nuremberg and going to Regensburg, Passau, Melk, and Vienna. We plan on visiting the Christmas markets along the way, but would like to know if anyone would be willing to share some cool stuff to do worth the money or just cool places to see in those places so that we can fill our days with fun! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello everyone!

I am a medical graduate planning to move to Germany to continue my medical career. I currently hold a TELC A2 certificate and am looking for an intensive German language course to progress through B1, B2, and C1 Medizin, with the ultimate goal of passing the Fachsprachprüfung (FSP).

I am hoping to start my course between mid-November and early December at the latest, so I am particularly interested in schools with upcoming course dates during this period.

My main priorities are:

• Affordable tuition fees and a reasonable cost of living.
• Good housing opportunities, ideally a private apartment or studio at an affordable price.
• German language immersion — I want to live in a city where I can hear and speak German regularly in everyday situations, helping me improve my listening comprehension and get used to natural, spoken German.
• A reliable language school offering an intensive and structured pathway from B1 to B2 and C1 Medizin.
• Ideally, a school that can provide the necessary enrollment documents for a language course visa.

I am flexible regarding the city and open to recommendations from all over Germany. I would especially appreciate advice on which cities offer the best balance between language learning opportunities, affordable accommodation, and overall quality of life.

Which language schools and cities would you recommend? If you have personal experience with particular schools or cities, I would love to hear about your experience, including any disadvantages or places you would avoid.

Thank you in advance for your help!

I need to register my car here in germany (München) and the cheapest insurance is 1640 euro per year. That is for Teilkasko with aditional driver (she is 24 ), 15k km per year and i am klasse 4 (SF4). what is cheapest insurance in München, what do you recommend. PLEASE HELP AND THANKS ALL.

I just started my first German job last month, I needed public health insurance. Before I started I took the time to go to a comparison site, compared all the fees and the fringe benefits. I thought I made the perfect decision, and then right away they announced a huge price hike (from 2.98% 3.65%) with less than a week's notice. (Is this normal btw?) Now I'm tempted to revisit and shop around again, but part of me is wondering what the point is, if prices really change that frequently and I don't know if the fringe benefits make a difference anyway.

Of course I haven't had a chance to use any fringe benefits yet, but the ones I was interested in were like, fully paid dental check-ups, a few fitness classes a year, etc. I can't guarantee I will get more out of it than I would save by switching to the cheapest provider, so I'm not sure if it's worth it or not tbh.

How do others go about it? Do you use a comparison site? Do you look at the whole package on offer or do you just go with the cheapest or most popular company? Also I know everyone says they are all 95% alike because of the law, but I'm also wondering if anyone has had like a horrible customer service experience with a cheap provider, or a fantastic experience using lots of extra fringe benefits from one of the more pricey ones? Or have you tried both types and they really are all the same?

Of course it's a personal decision, but I'm just wondering how other people go about it, especially if you are native or have lived here for a long time.

For what it's worth I'm doing an Ausbildung so my salary is very low. On the one hand every penny counts, but on the other hand, 1% of my salary isn't as dramatic of an amount as it would be if I was earning well.

I consented to certain things but not to the others. He used it against me that I was tired and sleepy and he took off my pants and wanted to initiate anal sex and he held my hands several times and forced me to hold his penis.

I was dumb manipulated and I hate myself for it. I asked him if he was okay later because he kinda kicked me out. I don't know if it is worth reporting. I have a logged medical emergency because I visited to see if there were signs of sexual assault. The doctor said she could see there aren't signs but they can't tell 100% and I should report it to the police. I chose not to i was scared. Now I am still scared but I want to reclaim my self respect and power.

He is not a good person. He is very manipulative and he even told me about a time when the guy cursed him and he dursed back but he deleted his words so fast then reported the man to the police. Then he humiliate the person to take back his words in order to remoge the strafanzeige. I don't know if I should still report him.

I have minor bruising and I am not psychologically okay I can't laugh or practice my normal life happily. This happened a few days ago.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

I recently just got an appointment for my PR application, however, I will not be able to go for the date that they provided due to being out of Germany on those dates. I sent an email to them via the contact form but I am a bit worried that they will not reply soon and it'll take another few months to get an appointment. Any experiences similar to mine? How did it work for you?

Thanks and would really appreciate your answers!

Hi everyone,

I worked in Germany over the summer, staying in hotels without having a permanent address there.

Now that I’ve returned to Portugal, the Portuguese social security office and employment centre are asking me for U1 and U2 forms.

And that’s where the problems begin. I’m stuck in a loop.

I managed to register with the Agentur für Arbeit, but when I try to request the documents, the website asks me to enter my house number, which is somehow missing from my address in their records.

To update my address, I have to authenticate through BundID. I can do that successfully, but then it tells me I have to log out to change my details. So I keep going around in circles: authenticate → try to update my details → told to log out → authenticate again → repeat.

I also managed to email them the completed application form. They replied in English saying they couldn’t help and that I should call a phone number.

I called, using a translator on my computer to help me communicate. After struggling to get through to an actual person, I was bluntly told that they don’t speak English, that I have to speak German, and then they hung up.

Has anyone dealt with something similar or got any advice? Could the German embassy or a consulate in Portugal help? Is there an official support service or ombudsman I could contact?

For context, I was doing maritime work for a Belgian company, on a two-weeks-on/two-weeks-off rotation. The project involved laying a submarine power cable and required a German employment contract. I never lived in Germany permanently and didn’t have an opportunity to learn the language.

Thanks!

So to preface I'm originally from a non-EU country but have previously lived and worked in Germany for close to a decade. Before moving back to my home country (due to family circumstances) I had gotten naturalized and gotten a German passport.

I'm slowly considering moving back to Germany and going job-hunting. I'll likely fly back and find temporary accommodation (couch-surf with friends or do a WG-Zwischenmiete while I find my footings) but it's still in the air whether I stay long-term or fly back. In either case, is it safe to do an Anmeldung, since I know it's required for a long-term residence? Or is it a bad look if you do Anmeldung for like a month or two then fly back abroad?

Since the new digital Führungszeugnis launched (Oct 1, 2026), I can’t apply online anymore. Same Personalausweis worked fine in September.

What happens: BundID login with the Online-Ausweis succeeds → redirect back to fuehrungszeugnis.bund.de → “Authentifizierung fehlgeschlagen – Die Authentifizierung mithilfe des BundID-Konto ist fehlgeschlagen.”

Key detail: I’m a German citizen with no address in Germany (“keine Hauptwohnung in Deutschland” on the ID). My husband (residence permit) applies successfully on the same phone and browser. So my guess is the new BfJ integration chokes on the missing German address.

Any other german expats hitting this?

Anyone found a workaround, or got an actual answer from BfJ/BundID?

Fastest paper route from abroad that worked for you recently?

BundID support says it’s not their problem. I’ve filed a bug report with BfJ, but it can take forever. Will update if I hear back.

Potentially going to Germany as an exchange student from the USA, how would I make friends in Germany before I go? Is there an app where I could talk to new people?

My girlfriend and I are considering buying a Kia Rio 2013 at about 6k for our first car. Wanted to ask about opinions about Kias in general in Germany. Are they expensive to own?