Typisch Deutsch! | Galileo Lunch Break

Punctuality, order and diligence.

Allegedly, these are
the typical German virtues.

But is it true?

We were wondering what
are actual German traits

and what we found is surprising.

A German is supposed
to be punctual by minute.

He is supposed to be
invincible in drinking beer,

love garden gnomes

and apparently wear
slides over white socks.

But is that really typically German?

The Germans are conscientious.

That is not just a stereotype.

According to a study,
almost 90% Germans claim to be so.

If the traffic light is red,
we will wait,

even if no car is passing.

After all, it is forbidden
to cross at a red light.

By the way, the longest red interval
has a traffic light in Stuttgart.

Its waiting time is up to 5 minutes.

Almost every guidebook about Germany says:

The Germans are punctual.

At any rate, that is true of the trains.

95% of trains are punctual

or are less than 6 minutes late.

But they could be even more punctual:

In Japan, the trains are in average

only 6 seconds late.

Another stereotype:
German bureaucracy.

Apparently, no other land

has so many rules and regulations as we.

Perhaps that's why
our paper usage is so high.

Every year, we use 247 kg per person.

That is as much as one book
with around 500 pages per day.

That is more than
25 times as much as India.

Bureaucracy and consequent
paper war is thus typically German.

Considering food,
in Germany it's all about the sausage.

♪ Yeah, the sausage is ...
my reason for living. ♪

With 1,500 types of sausage,
we are the front-runner of selection.

The same goes for bread: 500 types!
Nobody bakes more.

Besides, according to
international guidebooks

'Guten Appetit!' should
always be said before a meal.

- 'Guten Appetit!'
- Thank you.

It is the stereotype about us,
the Germans:

We love beer, we drink it
all the time and above all, a lot.

But that isn't quite true.

As in fact, the biggest quantity of beer
is drunk by the Czechs.

A typical German virtue?
Orderliness.

That is evident even
in the most private of places.

While the Americans - for example -
just scrunch up their toilet paper.

the Germans fold up theirs neatly

before they use it.

Bras band music and 'Schunkeln' (swaying),

is highly sought after
among tourists in Germany.

The Germans, however,
only rarely listen to the folk music.

It is on the penultimate place
on the list of best-selling CDs,

Third place: classical music.

Second place: rock music.

And the most popular in Germany:
pop music on the first place.

At home, the Germans love comfort.

Every year we invest
in average 390 € for furnishing.

No other nation spends more.

The classics are: the wall unit,

the television unit,

the computer desk

and the rubber fig.

A German invention?

The garden gnome.

There are around
20 mio samples in Germany.

That's the number

of people living in Australia.

Although, every third gnome
produced in Germany gets exported.

Therefore, an organisation called

'The International Association for
Protection of Garden Gnomes' was founded.

We love receiving parcels.

Every year we spend
in average 246 € for mail order -

more than any other country in the world.

We order products,
test them

and if we don't like them,
we simply send them back.

That also makes us
the leading country in return ratio.

In Germany,
it is the highest in the world.

When it comes to the payment,
we are trustworthy.

We settle the unpaid
invoices within 8 days.

In majority of other European countries,
it usually takes at least 12 days.

Our collecting skills
can't be defeated,

especially concerning the plastic bags.

Due to reluctance to dispose of something
that can still be used

we re-use the plastic bags
up to 6 times.

So each of us only uses
65 plastic bags per year.

The Italians use 6 times as many.

Finally, we don't just
dispose of our plastic bags.

We repurpose them.

Exemplary!
Just like our waste separation.

Over 90% of Germans separate waste.

Paper, plastic, residual
and biodegredable waste.

Everything is diligently sorted
and separately discarded.

Admittedly only,

when the containers are
directly in front of our door.

If they are further, our enthusiasm
for separation dwindles somewhat.

In the eyes of foreign tourists
are the multicoloured containers

in Germany, an attraction worth seeing.

Back to our red traffic lights ...

For those, fed up with waiting:

In exceptional cases it is allowed

to cross even at the red light;

that is, when the light remains red

unusually long, due to a defect.

Legal experts advise, however,
to remain waiting for at least 5 minutes.

Subtitles: Sandra P