Are Americans really as direct as Germans?

37 comments

1. This varies strongly across the US. Midwesterners and Southerners are more circumspect, the Northeast is more blunt.

2. No, I wouldn’t say so. I think Germans are generally more direct and do have less taboo conversation topics than the US. Directness in the US is very regional though. The most direct speakers are in the Northeast.

   However, there’s a difference between being direct and being arrogant and contemptuous, and a lot of us have experience with Germans being arrogant and contemptuous. This is also true.

3. We often can be. While we are less aggressively blunt than Germans, we’re still way more direct than Germans give us credit for. The difference is, frankly, overstated. Americans, despite German beliefs, have no trouble stating their opinion or talking about such topics as politics and religion.

   I lived in Germany and have worked with Germans for years. People are generally comparably direct. The main misunderstanding here is in the context. Germans are way more comfortable leveling criticism than Americans are. A common complaint is that Germans will use “directness” as a hall pass to be hostile, and insulting towards Americans.

   For instance, German tourists will lay into a bartender about the Iraq war and then say they were just being direct. It’s not that Americans don’t talk politics, it’s that we dislike being lectured about it.

   It’s not that we’re that much less direct, its that we don’t appreciate the German habit of using it as hall pass to be rude.

4. German here who’s been to the US. I feel US American *can* be as direct as Germans, but have fewer situations in which it is socially acceptable. There is, I feel, more pressure in US culture to present politeness and content when you don’t feel it. As where Germans tent to be direct and blunt all the time.

5. As others have said, there are huge regional differences in the way people talk to each other. But even more important (IMO) are the urban/rural differences. People act differently in rural areas (where they are more cautious) than they do in cities (where they are more direct).

   It also depends on the setting. You shouldn’t ever talk about politics or religion at work in the US, but people at bars talk about sensitive topics with strangers all the time.

6. People who say that haven’t been to both countries.

   Also, part of it is your language. German is a much more direct and less apologetic language than English

7. Depends on what part of the country it is. Southerners tend to be indirect, almost Japanese in nature when they disagree.

8. The number of times I got casually yelled at by strangers in my two weeks in Germany exceeds the number of times is happened in 37 years in the US

   So I’m going to say no.

9. I feel like Americans are often as direct, but we are happier and friendlier and smilier overall while saying they direct things. So it comes off differently.

   Germans most definitely are arrogant, lol. But that’s still different than being direct.

10. People in both countries having varying degrees of directness. Germans have a reputation for using “directness” as a cover for being rude, but plenty of Americans do this as well, it isn’t unique to one culture or another.

    People on Reddit in general, and this sub in particular, don’t seem to understand that essentialism is bullshit.

11. No, US Americans are not as direct as Germans. I’m a German living in the US, so I get to experience US American communication and I also have US roommates asking me to help them when they need to get a point across.

12. I’ve worked for a German company for 15 years, so I’ve come into contact with a lot of Germans over the years, and spent a few months in Germany spread over various business trips during that time.

    If I generalize at a very high level, the average German is a bit more blunt than the average American. But the range of variation between both cultures is extremely wide. If the scale of bluntness goes from 1-10, Americans range from a 2 to a 9 while Germans range from a 3 to a 10.

13. Directness varies to a significant degree by part of the country.

    I’ll also point out that people are typically more direct/blunt in their non-native language, as the very fine social distinctions are arguably one of the last things to grasp in terms of the road to “perfect” fluency.

    I suspect the average German comes off as even more “direct” speaking in English to Americans than they would if the conversation was taking place in German – and may not even be aware of that.

14. My general experience is that Americans are nearly as direct when they think something needs to be said or discussed, but are more selective about what fits that criteria. It’s not about the tone or the word choice as much as whether you bring something up at all.

    Yes, there is variance across the US on this front but we vary across the phrasing more than we vary across subject matter and circumstance which is why this is still a culture clash even in regions of America known for being “direct”.

    So…depends on what falls under direct for you, I suppose.

15. Do you mean direct or just rude? You can be direct while not being rude. Germans are a bit rude compared to other ppl but obviously not all. I work at a company with offices in maybe 30+ countries and anytime someone says ‘oh I’m just direct it’s the nature here’ then I find that it’s just a cover for them being a rude asshole. Nobody likes them.

16. > Cause he even said Germans are arrogant and contemptuous which I think alone is very offensive/rude and arrogant itself (even if it’s true in some way).

    Why are you offended by something you acknowledge to be true? How is telling the truth arrogant?

17. Coming from the South: lol.

18. No.

19. Living in Germany, I can say that my experience has been that Germans have been more direct than Americans. That being said, the level of directness varies across Germany, as it does in the US. For example, in California people are stereotyped to be less blunt than those in New York, in terns of both speech and attitude. Also, I personally find the Dutch to be more direct and blunt than both Americans and Germans.

20. Youtuber [LebenUSA](https://youtube.com/@LebenUSA) has some videos about this topic, if you‘re interested.

21. no they aren’t, they are very polite,

22. People in the New York area, specifically New York and New Jersey, can be very direct. It’s mainly because we move quickly and don’t have time to beat around the bush.

23. What about Austrians, are they more or less direct than Germans? Or about the same?

    A few years ago I was on vacation in Europe and sitting at an outdoor bar/patio, this older Austrian couple came and sat in the area I was sitting. We chit chatted a little bit but mostly did our own thing. Then when I got up to leave I was like “well it was nice meeting you, tschuess!” and one of them just scowled at me and said “we don’t say that in Austria”, like I had mortally offended them or something lol. I was just trying to be friendly!

24. You can be friendly and direct or blunt at the same time. Many Americans certainly are both.

25. Germans are more direct. While Americans can be direct in their communication generally, there are a lot of taboo subjects that must be approached indirectly. Things like a person’s weight, general appearance, race, could never be dealt with directly in the US. You would never say a person put on weight or looks tired or was late. Germans would have no problem say some one looked tired, put on weight, or was late.

26. Oh Sweet Summer Child, Bless your heart.

    Germans would be much more direct.

27. I noticed that in the American South, people tend to put on a nicer face than those in the American North.

    America is a massive country, and people act differently based in different areas.

28. Not even close. I’d even go further and say we’re also less direct than the French and most ither europeans as well.

29. >Americans are as equally direct as Germans

    I’ve only known a few Germans, and of course there are 333+ million Americans with very different cultural backgrounds and norms, but based on my experience, and on average, I’d say no way no how. Maybe some New Yorkers are as direct as Germans, but not Americans across the country.

30. Northeast is direct. South, midwest, and west, absolutely not. PNW is almost british in their unwillingness to say anything unpleasant.

31. Depends what part of the us… big country. New Englanders are most associated with being direct and more outspoken compared to other regions

32. I think painting any person with a broad brush stroke is doing no one a service.

33. I think relative to other English speaking countries we have that reputation but not sure if it would be true relative to Germans. We’re definitely more direct than the English are (usually) which is where I think the reputation mostly comes from.

34. They aren’t. I’m first generation American with a German upbringing. The way my family talks to me would piss off a lot of Americans, especially the younger generations, and I have done just that. Also in Germany when people misbehave in public, Germans are much more likely to say something to them. Try that in America and your response could vary wildly.

35. Maybe on the East Coast, from around Philadelphia and north into New England, where people take a certain pride in “keeping it real.” Otherwise, politesse and unspoken codes of behavior predominate.

36. No

37. You have to keep in mind that America is a very large, very culturally diverse place. So it’s really hard to generalize.

    That said, as any American who works for a company with a German office will tell you, by and large, Germans generally are much more direct, than Americans. And fwiw, being overly direct comes off as very rude here.

    So I’m afraid this is a bit of wishful thinking on the part of your friend.