Verbal Communication In German Culture Essay

In the German culture greater emphasis is placed on verbal communication rather than non-contextual language. It is considered socially desirable for an individual to express thoughts and feelings in a concise, straight-forward manner. With this being said, personal thoughts are considered to be private and displaying emotion can be viewed as showing vulnerability. Therefore, emotions and physical displays of affection are not common, and in the German culture this is preferable as it displays that the individual is “in control.” Personally, I can relate to all of these communication aspects of the German culture. I was raised with a great emphasis on verbally expressing ideas and feelings, and maintaining my composure, rather than acting out emotionally or irrationally, and I find it a little uncomfortable to express my personal feelings or thoughts to others. Also, in the German culture punctuality is a very important asset. I can definitely relate to this in my own personal culture, seeing as I hate being late somewhere; I consider it to be rude, and I also dislike when I have to wait on other individuals who are late …show more content…
Some Germans believe the duration and intensity of the dying process can be a result of the kind of life led by the individual. I can understand how some people would have this ideology, but often I see different situations unfold, whereas an individual who led a “righteous” life sometimes has a very painful and miserable death, and others who lived their life outside of the regulations of the Christian faith had a more tolerable end of life process. Personally I am undecided as to the existence of an afterlife, but I do view death as a natural part of life, which is concurrent to the beliefs held by most Germans. A viewing and a funeral usually takes place after the death of a loved one, and this is a ritual practiced by my family also (Purnell, 2014, p.