Sport in Deutschland

There are both similarities and differences between the ways in which sports in the United States and in Germany are organized.

Like young people in the United States, many young Germans are involved in athletics. The same sports are offered in both countries, but the levels of popularity vary.

For example, many people enjoy Handball in Germany, but few people in the United States. American-style football, baseball, and basketball are known throughout Germany, but are less popular there than in the United States.

One big difference is that schools have almost nothing to do with sports in Germany. Schools offer physical education (or ‘gym’) classes, but do not organize teams.

Instead, students go to sports clubs after school. These clubs are privately organized and have nothing to do with the educational system. They offer scholarships so that anyone can have a chance to play.

Even the smallest German towns will have several athletic clubs. The Deutscher Sportbund coordinates and oversees the clubs.

In addition to team and individual sports, there are Wandervereine (hiking clubs) and Turnvereine (gymnastics clubs). If you want something more aggressive than Wandern, you can go in for Klettern (rock climbing) or Bergsteigen (mountain climbing).

In addition to Wanderwege (hiking paths), there are Trimm-Dich-Pfade (fitness paths), on which there are periodic stations to stop and do exercises before running or walking further.

Athletic clubs usually have the words Verein, Klub, or Gemeinde in their names. You’ll find many organizations with names like Turn- und Sportgemeinde or Turn- und Sportverein, indicating that they offer a wide range of sports and gymnastics.

Clubs which specialize in only one activity will often feature that in the club’s name: a Schützenverein is a shooting club for rifles and pistols. Jagen and Angeln (hunting and fishing) tend to be hobbies of the wealthy in Germany, while in the United States, people from all income levels enjoy those activities.

Naturally, Fußball is the major sport in Germany, and there are Fußballklubs and Fußballvereine for children, teenagers, and adults. They are coordinated by the Deutscher Fußball-Bund.

The highest level of soccer play is found in the three tiers of the Bundesliga. At the end of the year, one team emerges as the Deutscher Fußballmeister.

Of course, there are many other kinds of sports. People enjoy Tennis, Tischtennis, Segeln, Windsurfen, Segelfliegen, Ballonfahren, Eishockey, and Drachenfliegen.

Golf is not as common in Germany as it is in the United States.

Skilaufen or Skilanglauf is Nordic cross-country skiing, while Skifahren or Abfahrtsski is Alpine downhill skiing.

Bodensee: Lake Constance

The largest lake in Germany is the Bodensee. Located in the southwestern part of the country, it’s therefore also at a Dreiländereck: a place where the borders of three different nations meet.

The Bodensee borders on Deutschland, die Schweiz, and Österreich. On some English maps, it’s also known as ‘Lake Constance.’

On the north side of the lake, there’s Deutschland. At the east end of the lake is Österreich. Along the south is die Schweiz.

Several major towns are located on the shores of the Bodensee: On the German side, there are Überlingen, Meersburg, Lindau, Konstanz, and Friedrichshafen. On the Austrian side, there’s Bregenz. On the Swiss side, there are smaller towns like Romanshorn and Kreuzlingen.

Many famous people have lived here over the centuries. The famous inventor, Ferdinand von Zeppelin, lived and worked in Konstanz from 1838 to 1917. He is also known as Graf, meaning ‘count.’ Graf Zeppelin developed the famous type of lighter-than-air ship.

The famous author Annette von Droste-Hülshoff was born in northern Germany in 1797 and spent part of her life there. But she moved to Meersburg later in life and remained there until her death in 1848. Mountains in the area inspired some of her poems.

The lake is good for segeln, schwimmen, and windsurfen. There are three main islands in the lake: Mainau, Lindau, and Reichenau.

Mainau is also known as the Blumeninsel, and the entire island is essentially one big park, with lots of flowers and other plants.

The three islands, as well as the cities around the shores of the lake, have the usual Burgen and Schlösser and other historic buildings which tourists love to see.

Oktoberfest - What It Really Is

People who’ve never been to Germany, and never taken a German class in high school, have still probably heard about the Oktoberfest. This annual event, in the city of München, attracts attention and tourists from around the world. But what, exactly, is it?

The Oktoberfest takes place every year, regardless of the weather, and it’s mostly outdoors, so if it seems rainy, people simply bring umbrellas. Food is one aspect of the celebration. People enjoy roasted Hühner and different types of Wurst. There are also Kartoffelsalat and Brezeln.

The Fest takes place on a large festival grounds called the Theresienwiese, which locals call simply the Wies’n. The fairgrounds were named after a princess whose wedding was celebrated by a horse race held there.

The wedding of Princess Therese and Crown Prince Ludwig took place in 1810. The horse race attracted over 40,000 spectators and turned into a big party. It was so successful that they decided to do it again the next year, and every year, and to name the fairgrounds after the princess.

At the beginning of the Oktoberfest, there’s a big parade, including a Trachtenfest: people wearing the old-fashioned traditional clothing of the region. The parade winds through the streets of downtown München and out of town to the Theresienwiese.

During the Fest, many people wear Trachten, the typical traditional clothing of the region. Because the Fest takes place in Bayern, many signs are written in local dialect, and people speak in a Bavarian accent.

The Fest is now sixteen days long, begins in September, and ends on the first Sonntag im Oktober. Millions of tourists from around the world attend, but lots of Germans are there, too.

There are games and rides, similar to a carnival atmosphere, and souvenirs of all types are sold. Naturally, there’s lots of Bier and Wein. Hundreds, even thousands, of picnic tables are set up in long rows, and people often start a conversation with someone they’ve never met before. It’s a friendly and relaxed atmosphere, called Gemütlichkeit.

The Fest has lots of Musik: sometimes Blasmusik from a wind ensemble, sometimes a Ziehharmonika (accordion), and sometimes modern music from a DJ. Naturally, there’s lots of Tanz as well!

The various tents, with food and drink, and the large groups of tables, are sponsored by various Brauereien, the major breweries of München. They see this as an opportunity to advertise their brand and get people to try it.

Freizeit! Fun Stuff in Central Europe

If you’re walking around a large city in central Europe - like Wien or Genf - there’s lots of entertainment. Billboards (Reklametafeln) are regularly updated with posters advertising concerts, plays, movies, and festivals. Those same posters are hung on columns or pillars (Litfaßsäulen) which are placed in parks or near sidewalks for that purpose.

In local newspapers (Zeitungen), magazines (Zeitschriften), and brochures (Broschüren), schedules for these events might be published several months ahead.

If you’re going into a movie theater (Kino), you’ll find small printed symbols on the posters which tell you about the Jugendschutzgesetz - the youth protection law. If the movie’s poster says frei ab 14 Jahren, then you’ve got to be at least 14 years old to get into that movie.

Even smaller town will have Theater, Opern, Museen, and Konzertsäle: theaters, operas, museums, and concert halls. It’s best to buy your Theaterkarten (theater tickets) in advance, in case the performance is sold out (ausverkauft) on the day of the performance.

If you live there, you might buy an Abonnement (a subscription to season tickets). If you get to the theater at the last minute and still don’t have tickets, check at the Abendkasse counter to see if there are any still available.

At a concert or play, the seating is described as Parkett if it’s near the orchestra, Loge if it’s a box seat, 1. Rang if it’s the first balcony, Balkon if it’s the center of the first balcony, and Gallerie if it’s the gallery. If your ticket says Reihe 7, Platz 10, then your exact seat is row 7, seat 10.

At nicer concerts, you’ll leave your hat, coat, and bag at the Garderobe: the checkroom. During the summer, many people enjoy a more casual experience at a Freilichttheater.

Large cities have a Zoo, also called a Tiergarten.

At different times of the year, large and small towns have a Musikfest, a Filmfest, a Kunstfest, and just about any other kind of Fest you can imagine. Just add the word Fest to your favorite form of entertainment: Tanzfest, Sportfest, and so forth.

A town will have a yearly Stadtfest, and a village will have an annual Dorffest. A group of students from the same school can organize a Schulfest.

Several times a week, there will be a Markt, which is like an ordinary farmer’s market with fruits and vegetables. But once a year, there’s a Jahrmarkt, also called Volksfest, which is like a carnival. A Zirkus will come to town from time to time.

Some celebrations are regional: München is of course known for its Oktoberfest. Around the city of Köln, the Mardi Gras celebration is known as Karneval, but in southern Germany, it’s called Fasching.

At a Dorffest, the streets in the center of the village may be closed to car traffic, and tables will be set up outdoors. There will be Musik and Tanz, Bier and Wein, and lots of fun conversation. This friendly, relaxed, and congenial atmosphere is called Gemütlichkeit and is some of the best fun you’ll ever have!

08 / 15 Nullachtfünfzehn

Imagine that you’re having a conversation with a friend in Germany, and you ask her or him how his day has been. You might ask Wie geht’s? or Wie war die Schule heute?

You might expect answers like gut or schlecht or langweilig or nicht so gut or so lala. But you might be surprised to if your friend answered by saying null acht fünfzehn.

To answer a question with 08 / 15 is to use an idiom. It means, roughly, ‘run-of-the-mill’ or ‘usual’ and is indicates that things are going routinely, even boringly.

The story behind this odd expression starts in 1908. In that year, a particular type of machine gun was designed, manufactured, and brought into service in the German army. The design was updated in 1915.

The official designation for this weapon was LMG 08/15, whereby LMG stands for leichtes Maschinengewehr. This weapon was produced in large numbers, and widely used, both in training and in battle, in World War I. It also saw use in WWII.

The ubiquity of this gun, both during long boring repetitive hours of training, and in long hours in the trenches on the front lines, made it a symbol of routine.

Decades after the war, author Hans Helmut Kirst titled one of his novels 08/15. The novel dealt with WWII.

The phrase 08/15 is now used to indicate that something is normal, routine, or repetitively boring. It is sometimes written in its slang pronunciation, nullachtfuffzehn. In the twelfth and final volume of the standard Duden reference books, the phrase is explained:

Die als geflügeltes Wort (auch in der Form „Nullachtfuffzehn“) in die Umgangssprache eingegangene Zahlenkombination ist zu einem Begriff geworden, mit dem man etwas als „alltäglich“ und „gänzlich unoriginell“ charakterisiert. Sie kam durch den deutschen Schriftsteller Hans Helmut Kirst (1914-1989) ins allgemeine Bewußtsein, nachdem dieser seiner sehr bekannt gewordenen Romantrilogie aus den Jahren 1954/1955 den Titel „08/15“ gegeben hatte. Zugrunde liegt die militärische Bezeichnung für ein Maschinengewehr aus dem Jahr 1908, das 1915 technisch verändert wurde und die Bezeichnung LMG 08/15 bekam. Die Zahlen wurden dann zunächst zu einer Metapher für den geistlosen militärischen Drill.

The term can be used pejoratively, in the sense of mittelmäßig, or neutrally, in the sense of üblich or alltäglich.

Germany's Mittelstand - What Is It?

Economists study Germany in order to unravel the mysteries of its continued success. Two factors are manufacturing and exporting. Germany has managed to continue to be strong in both of these.

While many first-world, high-tech countries have seen their manufacturing outsourced to nations with lower labor costs, Germany has maintained some level of domestic production. To be sure, German firms have some amount of offshore factories, but relative to other economies - the USA, the UK - there’s more domestic manufacturing.

This trend is powered not only by the big companies - BASF, Bayer, Bosch, Siemens, VW, BMW, Porsche, Audi, Mercedes-Benz-Daimler, Birkenstock, etc. - but also by the small and medium sized companies.

Standing between the large companies and the individual proprietors, these firms are called the Mittelstand and are the source of as much growth and innovation as the big firms.

When recession hits, the Mittelstand allows Germany to bounce back quicker than other nations. The BBC’s Stephen Evans writes:

This recovery is spread widely because every German town seems to have its periphery populated by the famed “mittelstand” of small and not-so-small companies, exporting countless unglamorous but profitable products. These companies are often family-owned and founded on values of quality and investment, combined with a shrewd search for markets.

In addition to policies carefully crafted to encourage a positive balance of trade, Germany also enjoys a superior worker-training system. While the USA and other nations have competitive university-trained professionals and large pools of unskilled labor, they lack the middle level: skilled craftsmen.

Germany’s skilled tradesmen create the legendary quality that goes along with brands like Porsche, BMW, and Zeiss. These artisans are produced by a thorough educational system which siphons good students away from the university-bound track and places them into apprenticeships.

The German economic structure ensures that master craftsmen are paid as well as the professionals coming out of the universities, and sometimes even better. There is no social stigma attached to being a machinist or a tool-and-die maker.

Can other nations replicate the results of the German system? Newsweek’s Rose Jacobs writes:

The Mittelstand is the envy of the western world – and beyond. The Economist reported last week that officials from South Korea, Iran and Egypt have been in touch with the German trade body for mid-sized companies, asking for advice on how to emulate its members’ success. In fact, the German model is already being exported in very concrete ways: several German companies with manufacturing facilities abroad have decided to address local skills shortages by recreating overseas versions of Germany’s apprenticeship system, with future workers recruited young and given a mix of classroom and on-the-job training that both prepares them for solid middle-class jobs and inspires loyalty. It’s proved so successful that, in the US, American firms are following suit, and in China, the government is adapting Germany’s apprentice training exam for its own young people.

The German economy provides a stable and predictable environment, which in turn encourages investors to take more risks, and look further into the future, foregoing short-term results for long-term ones.

The German model works even outside of Europe, as shoppers in North America flock to German retailers like Aldi and Trader Joe’s.

UK's Stewart Wood Analyzes Germany

As a member of Britain’s Labor Party (‘Labour Party’ as they spell it), Stewart Wood has a lifetime appointment in the House of Lords, and is a leader in his party. Writing in the Guardian, a Manchester newspaper with a global following, Wood encourages his fellow Englishmen to consider what they might learn from the example of Germany.

After a few years of prosperity in the 1980s, when real growth in all income groups ignited productivity in the lower and middle classes and encouraged innovation in business, British economic activity has stagnated. Wood sees, in the German system, a motivation for employers to invest in their workers.

The perception that there is potential for growth makes investors more future-oriented. A predictable and stable economic environment, and freedom to innovate, foster a psychology in which management is willing to take risks, because prospects and expectations are better. Wood writes:

What is most inspirational about the German economy is not the policies it has pursued, but the consensus of values on which the economy is based. Germany is committed to a free market economy, but one in which capitalism is organised and responsible. This “social market” rests on widely accepted rules and practices: to encourage long-termism; to promote collaboration rather than conflict in the workplace; to incentivise employers to invest in the skills and productivity of their workers; and to try to ensure prosperity is available to Germans in all regions rather than just one. And when bad times hit, Germans fall back on a welfare system explicitly based on the interlocking principles of need and contribution.

One aspect of the German economy is a strong manufacturing sector. While other high-tech countries have outsourced physical production to offshore sites with lower costs, Germany found ways to keep factories at home: higher productivity and smarter methods.

To be sure, even German companies fight the threat, and the temptation, of outsourcing to third-world sites. But even in the sweatshop-prone clothing industry, German companies like Adidas, Puma, and Hugo Boss have kept at least some operations on German soil.

As German firms continue to expand - Adidas is now the parent company of Reebok, and Americans are now shopping at German stores like Aldi and Trader Joe’s - Stewart Wood wants his fellow Brits to study those examples

Because the truth is that there is much to like and admire about Germany. And – whisper it softly – there is a lot we can learn from them too.

While major names come quickly to mind - BASF, Bosch, Siemens, Lufthansa, T-Mobile, Birkenstock, Hapag-Lloyd, and Bayer - the small and middle sized companies, whose names are largely unknown outside, and sometimes inside, Germany are also crucial to economic success. These small and middle sized companies are categorized as Mittelstand, between the large companies and individual proprietors.

As often as not, the Mittelstand drives economic growth, creating innovative products, new processes, and increasing employment.

Germany’s education system produces superior technicians and highly-skilled craftsmen. While many first-world nations have excellent universities which produce professionals, Germany has paired its prize universities with mid-level training programs for machinists and tool-and-die makers.

Craftsmanship is as important as engineering for the production of legendary brands like Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz-Daimler. Stewart Wood states bluntly:

It remains the most successful exporting nation in modern European history.

The lesson from Germany: keep domestic manufacturing at home, allow stability and deregulation to encourage investment, and train a solid cadre of skilled craftsmen to complement the university-trained high-tech professionals.