German Attitude for Encouragement

Yesterday I experienced what I perceived to be a rude German attitude. I went for a consultation at the language school I will be attending and had to take a placement test. I was very open about the fact that I am just beginning to learn German. The test administrator marked my test, but had feedback on every question. "Hmmmm... I'm surprised you don't know how to conjugate this verb properly. You don't know the Accusative case yet? But it is very easy." And on it went. I was almost in tears by the end.  I relayed this to J.P. and he just smiled and said that this was the typical German attitude and was not meant to be rude, just honest.

Later that night, he was assembling a bookcase for us and I said "Good job". He just laughed and said that Germans find that type of support, rather silly. A typical German attitude would be to say "It looks nice." and leave it at that. J.P. says a typical German attitude is  honest, even if it hurts your feelings. Being a bit of a sensitive soul, this will take some getting used to. Although I did feel better when after the test administrator's umpteenth comment about how bad my German was I finally said, "Well isn't that good for your business since I will need so much language training." She was quiet after that. Maybe I will get the hang of the German attitude after all while living as an expat.

See more on the German Attitude:  German Attitude Towards Window Screens, German Attitude Towards Fans