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Formatting and language conventions
For articles about Germany, please use the 24-hour clock to show times, e.g. 09:00-12:00 and 18:00-00:00. Please show prices in this format: €100 and not EUR 100, 100 euro or 100€. Please use British spelling (colour, travelled, centre, realise, analogue, programme, defence). Phone numbers should be formatted as +49 XXXX XXXXXX. |
Laughing stock?
[edit]Can anyone confirm the claim that "the country's rail network is now Europe's laughing stock"? It seems like hyperbole to me, or political sloganeering. Ground Zero (talk) 17:29, 9 September 2025 (UTC)
- the boss of Deutsche Bahn (who will leave his job early once a successor is found) says of the company that "it is in its biggest crisis in 30 years" (the company was created 31 years ago.) Punctuality has fallen from ~80% in 2017 to ~60% in 2024.
- source:
- https://www.dw.com/de/wann-f%C3%A4hrt-die-deutsche-bahn-wieder-p%C3%BCnktlich/a-72059024
- The reputation of Deutsche Bahn amongst people not living in Germany suffered in particular during Euro 2024:
- "Start of overhaul project follows Deutsche Bahn becoming butt of jokes at Euro 2024 due to unreliability of services"
- source:
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/15/germany-close-key-rail-corridor-overhaul-train-network-deutsche-bahn Griffindd (talk) 07:25, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
- Sounds reasonable. Thanks. Ground Zero (talk) 11:02, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
PostIdent
[edit]We want to mention them because? I've never had trouble getting cellphone service in Germany and have been here 4 times since 2013, and I'd never heard of PostIdent until it was just added. Everyone has an address, even if it's a hotel. Ikan Kekek (talk) 11:21, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
- Postident is an identification system by the Deutsche Post. In contrary to identification in Aldi or shops of the big brands (Telekom, Telefonica, Vodafone) you are free to decided which plan you want to have.
- Moreover Postident supports most passports, here is an official list: https://www.deutschepost.de/dam/jcr:2f2c2ca3-f3c3-40a2-911e-4916dc1af7ef/dp-postident-ausweisliste-filiale.pdf
- When I was a tutor at a German university I often experienced trouble with other identification methods, students from Japan, Azerbaijan, China or Taiwan were rejected in stores and by identification via videocall like WebID, with Postident there was no problem.
- In addition I want to raise the question whether we should really recommend people to get pre-registered SIM-cards. They could have been in use for phone scams, and if someone gets caught with these nubers they would at least be interogated for a while. I doubt that they would be imprisoned, but it's definitely not a nice experience during a trip. ShuaiXuesheng (talk) 13:16, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
- I currently have a Telekom plan. There was a choice between different plans. I remember that 3 were advertised at the store. Ikan Kekek (talk) 17:50, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
- Upon a short check the Telekom offers five plans online. When they already reduced your choice to three in the store it's likely that the method is similar in stores of Telefonica and Vodafone stores. So we are talking about a choice of 9-15 plans with the big providers. With postident you can choose these 15 plans but just mentioning the big supermarket brands from Edeka, Rewe, Aldi, Lidl, Norma, Kaufland and Netto this already makes 7x4=28 plans more.
- Big advantage on the supermarket plans is that you can switch your plan to 0 Euro standard fee, so you could use it for one month, go back home, and use it for your next trip in eight months or two years later without additional costs. Your Telekom plan doesn't offer that any more, since about 2022. Furthermore you can decid even before you start your trip which plan you want since you can make your choice at home in your sofa where you have time to deliberate. You can register and do the postident in the airport. Travelling from Munich airport frequently I know that there is no store from Vodafone, Telefonica or the Telekom, but a Postident is possible in the post office there.
- Post offices that offer postident are also much more frequent than provider stores. 8500 options to do a postident vs. roughly 3000 provider stores.
- I think these arguments together with the fact that postident accepts much more passports than Videoident or the shops of Telekom, Telefonica and Vodafone themselves should speak for itself. ShuaiXuesheng (talk) 18:47, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
- For the record: they didn't reduce my choices; they merely had posters for 3 or 4 of their plans, from what I remember. I couldn't get a Telekom plan online because doing so required already having a German phone number. Ikan Kekek (talk) 20:06, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
- Ok, and how do we go on now? I have given you a bunch of arguments, you haven't provided any argument against it but haven't agreed to implement the Postident process yet.
- Do you need any more evidence? Why are you still sceptic? ShuaiXuesheng (talk) 20:24, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
- I didn't delete the information you added to the article. Ikan Kekek (talk) 20:43, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
- Alright, have a nice rest of your day. ShuaiXuesheng (talk) 20:46, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
- I didn't delete the information you added to the article. Ikan Kekek (talk) 20:43, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
- For the record: they didn't reduce my choices; they merely had posters for 3 or 4 of their plans, from what I remember. I couldn't get a Telekom plan online because doing so required already having a German phone number. Ikan Kekek (talk) 20:06, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
- I currently have a Telekom plan. There was a choice between different plans. I remember that 3 were advertised at the store. Ikan Kekek (talk) 17:50, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
Waiting at red light at 2:00 am is normal
[edit]Isn't it normal in most European countries to stay and wait at a red light even at 2:00 am and a very serious frowned upon offence even in countries like Poland if it comes to driving (I come from both), Germans also don't really wait on pedestrian lights. This sentence does not give the German rule following justice. I would change it to some better example like the strict following of night time quiet hours. Essasitopapopito (talk) 04:11, 14 April 2026 (UTC)
- I'm finding more jaywalking in Berlin this time than during previous visits in 2013, 2014 and 2024, and the more shocking thing is that it's now routine for people to ride their bikes and scooters on the sidewalk in Berlin, sometimes at relatively high speed (though not as dangerously as is sometimes the case in New York). That said, there are definitely pedestrians who wait at red traffic lights when there is no traffic at all, and I definitely wouldn't say that's abnormal in Berlin, by contrast for example with New York. I also wouldn't assume that all of Germany is like Berlin in this respect, and I haven't yet traveled to other parts of Germany this year so as to be able to make a comparison. In previous trips to Munich, I found a greater amount of respect for red lights by pedestrians than in Berlin at the same time (so that I'm not comparing different years in different places). All of this is anecdotal and from my personal experience, of course. Ikan Kekek (talk) 06:17, 14 April 2026 (UTC)
Article about living on a temporary work visa in Germany?
[edit]My partner and I are currently in Berlin on 6-month freelancers' visas. We're early in our time here but already have a lot to share about the process of applying for the visas, what you need to do to follow up when you have moved to wherever you're staying, and various differences between the U.S. and Germany. (For example, over-the-counter medications tend to be more expensive here and dispensed in much smaller quantities, and some supplements are more difficult to find; however, groceries are cheaper and produce and meat in supermarkets is generally excellent.) We have articles about studying abroad in different countries and retiring abroad. Should I start an article about living and working in Germany as an American? Ikan Kekek (talk) 15:57, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
- Is a general article for non-EU people (not just for Americans) possible?
- It would be nice to have articles like that for many countries. For example, I learned a few years ago that if you are living and working in Italy, you have to register your lease. This isn't to prove your residency so much as a way for them to prevent the landlord from "forgetting" to report your rent on their income taxes. (It also makes you eligible for various rental protection laws.) WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:21, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
- Yes, it's possible, though the work I do will necessarily be from an American's perspective and experience. You have to register your place of residence here, too. That's the first official thing to do after you arrive at your rented apartment, receive a form from your landlord and fill out a form you bring to your appointment. Ikan Kekek (talk) 17:35, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
- I'm not clear whether I have permission to start this article or not. Ikan Kekek (talk) 10:36, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
- I'd say go for it (something like Living on a temporary work visa in Germany, whatever you think works) – what you write might be oriented towards someone migrating from the US, but I suspect over time as the article gets more edits, that will fade out. //shb (t | c | m) 10:41, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
- Or Working in Germany. I think most of the content will apply also to somebody who gets permanent residency, and much of it also to EU citizens who don't need visas. Anybody should understand that it is directed to people from abroad. We have several Working in… articles already. Working in the United States seems to concentrate on directly work (or employment contract) related issues. In Working in Finland I have included a range of practical issues, such as housing and children, offloading to it practical matters many people who stay a longer time may need to consider. –LPfi (talk) 11:43, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
- I think many American-specific issues may be interesting for people from other countries too; somebody from a non-Western country who knows the USA even superficially may expect things to be the same in Germany. And for me, I suppose I will learn quite some about the USA from what is different in an EU country (although that's of course a side point). –LPfi (talk) 11:48, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
- Ok, I'll start a draft in my userspace some time within the next 3 weeks or so, probably sooner. I would start by mentioning something about the fact that there are different types of work visas, my experience of the process of applying for one type of visa from my home country, what I've heard about how much harder it is for nationals of developing countries to get such visas, the things you need to do when you are in Germany with your work visa in order to be able to work, bill for your services and earn money, and some side points about similarities and differences between life in the U.S. and Germany such as more strongly enforced and relatively more uniform quiet hours, especially as relates to quiet days - Sunday and holidays - over-the-counter medications being more expensive and available in much smaller quantities per box and dry cleaning being more expensive and slower but produce being high-quality and often cheaper. OK, that was a run-on sentence that should have semicolons, but I'm not going to edit it on my phone. :-) Ikan Kekek (talk) 12:16, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
- I think many American-specific issues may be interesting for people from other countries too; somebody from a non-Western country who knows the USA even superficially may expect things to be the same in Germany. And for me, I suppose I will learn quite some about the USA from what is different in an EU country (although that's of course a side point). –LPfi (talk) 11:48, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
- Or Working in Germany. I think most of the content will apply also to somebody who gets permanent residency, and much of it also to EU citizens who don't need visas. Anybody should understand that it is directed to people from abroad. We have several Working in… articles already. Working in the United States seems to concentrate on directly work (or employment contract) related issues. In Working in Finland I have included a range of practical issues, such as housing and children, offloading to it practical matters many people who stay a longer time may need to consider. –LPfi (talk) 11:43, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
- I'd say go for it (something like Living on a temporary work visa in Germany, whatever you think works) – what you write might be oriented towards someone migrating from the US, but I suspect over time as the article gets more edits, that will fade out. //shb (t | c | m) 10:41, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
- I'm not clear whether I have permission to start this article or not. Ikan Kekek (talk) 10:36, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
- Yes, it's possible, though the work I do will necessarily be from an American's perspective and experience. You have to register your place of residence here, too. That's the first official thing to do after you arrive at your rented apartment, receive a form from your landlord and fill out a form you bring to your appointment. Ikan Kekek (talk) 17:35, 16 March 2026 (UTC)