A decade ago, Bradley Krae left the United States to teach English in Shenzhen, China. He spends less money and says the has found his own version of the American Dream there.
I’m not saying they are, and like previously mentioned lots of people enjoy Germany and its social/work culture. That’s perfectly fine, it’s just not for me. Germany still has a hierarchical culture we got rid of a while back in Sweden,. We used to use honourifics, titles, and such, but nowadays it’s awkward, borderline rude to use them.
There’s actually an amusing phenomenon with younger people entering the workforce trying to apply a formal “you” in Swedish. Historically though, that was always used to talk down to someone. We never really had a formal you, but “ni” fits in really well with “vous” or “Sie” if you’re unfamiliar with its history.
I’m not saying they are, and like previously mentioned lots of people enjoy Germany and its social/work culture. That’s perfectly fine, it’s just not for me. Germany still has a hierarchical culture we got rid of a while back in Sweden,. We used to use honourifics, titles, and such, but nowadays it’s awkward, borderline rude to use them.
There’s actually an amusing phenomenon with younger people entering the workforce trying to apply a formal “you” in Swedish. Historically though, that was always used to talk down to someone. We never really had a formal you, but “ni” fits in really well with “vous” or “Sie” if you’re unfamiliar with its history.
There’s a Wikipedia article on the du-reform here.