German Hand Gestures That Throw Off Tourists
Vložit
- čas přidán 19. 12. 2017
- In Germany it is not just the language that is different, but the hand gestures and body language are different as well. Here we cover the basic and most often confused hand signs or hand gestures that people, tourists, travelers and passersby have when they speak with Germany.
Filmed in Quedlinburg, Germany
Copyright Mark Wolters 2017
10 Shocks of Visiting Germany
• Germany: 10 Culture Sh...
10 More Shocks of Visiting Germany
• Visit Germany - 10 MOR...
The Don'ts of Visiting Germany
• Visit Germany - The DO...
USA Today & 10Best's #1 Independent Travel Videographer 2014
FlipKey by TripAdvisor Top 10 Travel Bloggers 2014
Grab Wolters World Merchandise & Travel Gear at
www.woltersworld.com/shop
Our Gear:
Sony Alpha 6000: Our favorite camera for vlogging. One of the best selling cameras of all time and its not too expensive.
amzn.to/2N0BStX
Osprey Meridian Carry-on Size Travel Backpack: This is THE backpack that all of the Wolters World family use. It fits in the overhead compartment, gives you a great day pack and has an awesome warranty. We always travel with one.
amzn.to/2NEyhTC
Duafire Travel Adapter: helps you plug into most countries plugs around the world.
amzn.to/2ujfUdR
Travel Strip: One plug for your normal device, four USB plugs as well, it saves a lot of trouble and outlets when you travel.
amzn.to/2NEuu8S
Backup Battery Pack: Essential for travelers wanting to have a backup batter charge for their phones, cameras, and devices.
amzn.to/2NFpT67
Hey There Fellow Travelers! Thank you for watching our honest travel vlogs from all over this wonderful world. If you would like to get in contact with us please follow us & send us a message via our social media channels below. Also, if you like our travel videos please feel free to share them with other fellow travelers.
Follow Us At
/ woltersworld
/ woltersworld
/ woltersworld
/ woltersworld
www.woltersworld.com
The amount of people who looked over and thought "What the hell is this American doing?"
Honestly, I have the most crazy looks when I film in Germany :) but i have had some nice people come up and chat with me which is always cool
Germans normally do not like to get filmed without their approval. It is legal to film at public places but it is a bit rude, too. I recommend to choose filming angles in which it is difficult to get into by accident, like standing in front of a wall and the camera filming towards it. It is not because you are not geman, most germans understand english so those people will probably know what you were talking about. It is only about getting filmed without a way to escape it. If you do not want to film towards a wall, then just film half the street so people can just go on the other half to prevent getting filmed, it worked to me in the past. Germans are super serious about their rights and getting treated respectful. Getting catched in a film is not respectful. But if you ask them, most germans will allow you to film then.
Wolters World I love your confidence in front of camera when a lot of people are walking by. I'd usually be shy if I'm in that situation or would find a "quieter" (if that's a word) area.
Is it an "one way" street? Does everybody come from the same place?
@@l3p3 yet another Ignorant american not respecting Germans' privacy by filming them
Do one on Italian hand gestures. It'll take about thirty minutes.
Gerry Zapiain not the italian hand meme again
haha
Metatron already did.
Gerry Zapiain pls
Knocking on the table is a subtle variation of applause, yes, but knocking on wood means wishing yourself luck.
I am Swiss and I thought these gestures were universal 😂😂
Hi,
The knocking on tables is mostly practiced in university circles, everywhere else applause is more common.
Thanks for your videos and Merry Christmas! :-)
Roni
That might be true where you live, but back when I was working in a big company in Lower Saxony, everyone only used to knock on their tables after a presentation or after a speech. That was 2006 to 2010, so nothing recent. (I left to go to university and ended up in a 2-man company, so I haven't experienced any presentations in a company for a long while since then. But I bet it's the normal thing to do in most companies.)
A quick Google search also shows me results like this: "Kennen Sie bestimmt, wenn Sie in einem Unternehmen tätig sind: eine Konferenz, ein Workshop, eine Projekt-Präsentation oder ein Arbeitstreffen. Jemand trägt vor. Am Ende klopfen die Anwesenden auf den Tisch.
" (www.lr-online.de/nachrichten/wirtschaft/wirtschaftswoche-wer-klopft-denn-da_-38158036.html)
@@scelestion Kann schon sein, Unternehmenskulturen sind auch ihre eigenen Welten, aber generell bei einer Aufführung mit Publikum oder ähnlichem wird geklatscht.
lg Roni
Knock, knock, knock! How wonderful to learn something about a country that you wouldn't find in a travel book! This shows your intimacy with the culture. Thank you.
The knocking on the table instead of clapping the hands thing is actually less of a "German" thing and more of a student/university thing. For whatever reason (It apparently is an old tradition, but I don't know where it comes from.), they tell you on your first day at university to knock on the table instead of clapping your hands for applause and to hiss like a snake instead of booing to show disapproval.
I grew up in Germany, but never heard about that before my first day at university. It really is something you usually don't encounter outside of universities, especially not the hissing thing.
We do the same thing for good luck in Sweden. Crossing fingers in Sweden means that you are lying/joking (depending on the situation).
So we say:
Håller tummarna - Holding thumbs
Jag håller tummarna - I'm holding my thumbs
Mazoox500, crossing your fingers behind your back while saying something also means you are lying in the USA. It would be more something a child would do when they are promising something when they intend to do the opposite or if they are swearing what they are saying is true.
Cool. I didn't know that. Thanks!
Adam Long l knew kids like that when I was a child. Crossing fingers seems medieval, like maybe holding crossed fingers up when you express a hope is giving you a cross to pray in front of when you can't get to the cathedral, while crossed fingers held behind your back means you are turning your back on Christ/virtue/truth. I know there are sociologists who study how cultural practices can survive for centuries by being passed to little kids from slightly older kids, even though almost everyone abandons those practices in adolescence. Like "Ring around the Rosie," which started in the black plague and keeps going even though modern children who play it have no idea what it is about (thank God).
I don't have aclue what ring around the Rosie is. Only heard it once in a horror movie. Not a thing here in Sweden (that I'm aware of).
Crossing fingers behind your back in germany actually also means that you're lying :P
Who thought of 'Inglourious Basterds' when he showed how to count in German?
That popped into my head after i edited the video :)
Haha me too :) "drei gläser!"
ya ya me too
Yup.
First thing I thought of; it's what got Lt. Hickox and crew whacked. If only he had Prof. Wolters...
Learning the hand gestures for counting is extra important if you're a British spy in a WWII movie.
My son will be studying in Regensburg for five months, so I shared this with him. Thank you!
I only know the knocking-on-table from university and it was new for me there, everywhere else I think we clap just like everyone else.
So John Cena has been telling us all just how crazy wrestling is this whole time. Good to know!
+Zach Gardner mind blown, right?
Zach Gardner well yeah I guess lol 😂
Zach Gardner not wrestling, but WWE
When I first learned about the counting on fingers, I actually accidentally just started naturally counting thumb first, and now I sort of use whichever feels right at the time.
I may only be learning German, but I'm fluent in hand-counting!
2:00
Pulling down the eyelid can also mean "You can´t fool me." or "I know that you´re lying."
Seriously how do you deal with all the people staring at you? Have any ever interrupted you?
sometimes it gets me, sometimes i just ignore it :)
I think it was the worst in China for them hahaha
Pascal Gorke Stare back
Mockbaboy: In China people are staring at you filming or not, so you get used to it. Probably they going to start filming you while you are filming a Video. Love 🇨🇳 people
if you are bothered about that you should not be a youtuber.
Eins zwei drei vier funf. Ah vielen dank fur die tipps. Thanks. Useful info as I am heading to Deutschland in the new year. Wonderbar!
Awesome. Have a great time!
I love your videos! So informative and respectful. I'd love to see one on hand gestures NOT to do!
People are looking at you like you just killed someone 😂 How do you deal with that? lol
Thats typical german. They´re famous for staring.
its funny. sometimes i smile, sometimes i try to just focus on the camera. the best is in germany and austria and switzerland people will come up behind the camera and look through it. its kind of funny.
Some are also used in Poland :) suprise suprise as we are neighbours :P
Cool.
I wouldnt be surprised if several of them are in use in just about any country bordering German-speaking countries, or at least the border parts of each surrounding country.
medowucha could be, I agree :)
Welche denn?
Well, since the Mongols conquered and decimated Poland all those centuries ago before retreating, one way for the polish nobles to get the country back on it's feet was to persuade german farmers to go and plow the fields of Poland and hence become landowners. So yes, a lot of "german" influence on Poland :p
Btw, loved your Hussars.
I will be visitng Germany for work tomorrow. These videos are helpful!
thank you mark thumbs up for you!
Always love your video. Thank you for your useful advices.
Fun fact: depending on where you are in Germany, if you want to "press your thumbs" for someone you put your thumbs inside the hand OR on top of it. Where I'm from, putting your thumb inside the fist was considered bad luck because your luck "falls down the well". But as anything in Germany, this might be a very regional thing so I'm pretty sure at least three other Germans will correct me under this comment saying that they've never heard of this :-D
+ParticleFairy now I understand why my friends did it different ways. Thanks for the heads up! Danke!
I put my thumb between index and middle finger. It literally allows me to squeeze my thumbs. Ich bin ein real Berliner.
ParticleFairy here next to Hamburg, there's actually no strict rule. Sometimes we press it inside, sometimes outside, sometimes we do something different....didn't even knew there are people who got like a strict code for it here in Germany
I know almost nothing on German culture and I have never been there, but from my very, very limited experience on dealing with Germans and reading and hearing about their hand gestures, I get the impression that many things are regional and vary from different parts of Germany. For example about counting with their fingers, it's true all of them signal three with their thumb, however I have seen Germans signaling 1 with their index and 2 with their index and middle fingers, without using their thumb for those.
Helped a lot for my presentation, thanks :D
Thanks! Cheers from Colombia!
Culture is so fascinating!
Thanks again for a job well done!
Love your videos. Its not only about the content, but also your nice, positive and funny presentation.
I love your videos, always interesting, relevant and personal!
+AmandaPaige thank you Amanda :)
Hi Mark! In Sweden we also press the thumbs for good luck, but we say that we "hold the thumbs" instead.
Always awesome content 🙌🏻 thanks for these gems, always useful 💝
+April Escamilla that's really nice to hear April. Thank you :)
Informative and well done. Thank you sir.
Thanks Jack!
I watch this video for an assignment, and your explanation is very clear!! Thank you
I liked the looks on people’s faces going by watching your hand gesture explanations
Knocking on a table to say “Good job !” is something we generally only do at universities and after s.o. gave a speech in a professional environment.
+Dixel that would explain why I heard it all the time at university :)
Right - you'd hear the knocking after a lecture or so also elsewhere, but it is typically the "academic" kind of applause - and it obviously only makes sense if there is some kind of table in front of you.
We actually do that in school too. It always depends on the school tho.
And in conferences/meetings at work.
I love this channel! Awesome video man :)
+Vulnette thank you so much.
Great video. Merry Christmas Mark to you and your family.
+Kelly Sun&Serenity thank you! Merry Christmas!
We love watching your videos. They move quickly and are so cheerful, positive and again, informative . Continued success and happy holidays to you and yours.
Thank you Jack!
Very interesting!!
+D Lish thank you
Quedlinburg - such a sweet city! Enjoy your stay
2:17 Lol, reingeguckt! 😂
This was very interesting.
Nettes Video. 👍
Great videos Mark! I'm watching your videos for quite a few months and there is always a good mix of fun and information! By the way...your german is awesome ;-) Grüße aus Deutschland, Timo
Danke schoen!!!
Off topic but you have the Singapore skyline as your cover photo, that's amazing :)
very close to my hometown, hope you had a nice time
You should come to a bar in Wisconsin, this explains everything we do here lol
You had me at BAR :)
Great that you are in Quedlinburg. We are going next year, so it would be OK if you talked a little about the city.
We use some of these gestures in Italy too
Sehr Gut DR Woltewrs!!!!!
+Brian Shull danke schoen
I,ll give you two thumbs up!!
Very funny. Good to know.
+Vlog18rodas thanks :)
I always use my index finger to order beer, and yes I often get 2. But let's be honest... Two beers are always better than one, right? LOL
+René van Oyen damn straight 2 beers > 1 beer :)
Germans are funny. Your sense of humour is very good.
thank you
I've been learning German and these are some good stuff you can't learn from a book 😄 thanks a lot Wolter
+Mert Aydoğan bitte :)
Knock on table for this video Mark!!
Love your videos "Vive la difference" :0)
Do one about the word "madre" in Mexico. Sooo many meanings... hahaha.... Mark, you are one of a kind! Best vlogger in the world!!!!! Great job, as always.
We are handclapping as well as knocking for a good presentation. It depends on where it happens.
Good to have a friend in Braunschweig. because it's the place where I was born.
Happy New Year for you and more funny videos of a traveller like you
Ralf from Cologne
I’ll be there in Frankfurt tomorrow, could be awesome to see you Walt
Its a great video . I would like to know more about Italians hand gesture's .
If you could make a video about it ; its gonna be great.
I am back in Italy next year so I will do one on those too don't worry :)
A High five with straight arm up may land you in Jail 😂😂😂
medowucha Captain Obvious strikes again!
Is it okay to do it when I see my friend, Al, and say Hi, Al!
Probably not, huh?
nope..
You will NOT go to jail. Stop believing those stereotypes!
L3 P3 It's a German law not stereotype.
nailed it, Mark!
(still travelling through Germany for business myself .. who knows, one day we'll meet up for a good cold Wolter Pils)
+g00fy heck yeah :)
Wish I would have known this stuff back in when I was in Germany a few years back haha!
Knocking on top of the table is a way of saying hello when coming to the bar in Bavaria and greeting the gang already sitting there, dont´t ever do that in Denmark though as it there means that you wish somebody bad, there it is knocking UNDER the table.
Thank you for making my days better and also you replied to me last week and the week before that so truly danke
Bun that was Romanian and Gerann
+Sully Cook cheers Sully
knock on wood
Tilman Baumann This actually exists in English, but in the form of an idiom: "touch wood".
Layth Alkhaer it's knock on wood in the US. Touch wood is UK.
Bobsuruncle Mum Oh okay, I never know that; my English is British.
I don't know if people practise this in other countries but a double or triple knock on a table with people already sitting there (maybe you are late to the Biergarten) means a short hello to everyone or goodbye when you are leaving.
Now you know, when things get a bit crazy, just do a little Tony Yayo
These gestures are the same in the Czech Republic. Also the "knock on wood" is so that the luck lasts, that is the meaning. In other words if you don´t knock on wood it may not last.
The "knocking on your head" gesture works similar to "flipping the bird". It just means you "got a bird", ie. a bird in your brain (or just that you're a bird brain).
+medowucha cool explanation. Danke!
@Wolters World:
Which is why that gesture can be accompanied by saying: "Bei dir piept's wohl?!" (Ther's ss.th.chirping in your head.)
You're the one!
Dang, besides the counting, I thought all the other gesturers were universal 🤣
Hey Mark can you make a video about buses in Europe? Talk about is it worth taking a bus from one city to another or from one country to another.
As a German, I can't agree with the last one. In Germany it almost always just means "ok", and sometimes kids use that gesture while playing a game. If you look through the hole, they are allowed to hit you once on the shoulder. But I guess you don't mean that with your negative association towards that gesture due to the fact that this behavior is common to children in elementary school. :D
The knocking on the tables instead of clapping your hands is mainly (to my knowledge: exclusively, but Germany can be quite divers, so I don't know for sure) a university thing. Normally applauding is the usual way to show that you think someone did a good job or that you liked a performance, a concert etc. Otherwise we would have to carry tables into the theatre for example...^^
Another situation in which knocking on the table is quite common is when you come to a pub, sometimes a restaurant, where you meet friends who are already there. Instead of shaking hands with each and everyone (which can take an annyoing amount of time you can spend better by drinking beer with said friends...) you can knock on the table like two times. Usually this is accompanied by a phrase like "Ich mach mal so" (="I just do this").
Naturally this only applies to informal meetings with people you know well.
Hier klopfen wir auch auf den Tisch wenn man in einen Raum ( Meeting, Feier etc.) kommt in dem viele Menschen sitzen und man nicht jeden persönlich begrüßen kann/möchte.
Oder wenn man zu spät kommt und keine großen Umstände machen möchte, klopft man leise auf den Tisch und hebt die Hand zum Gruß. Ich komme aus Niedersachsen/ Hannover
Actually you can also count like this: 1 = thumb, 2 = thumb and index finger, 3 = thumb, index and middle finger, 4 = index finger, middle finger, ring finger and pinkie ( your thumb in on your palm)
Yes, especially if you are one of those people who cannot raise the ring finger while keeping the pinkie down. For some, this is impossible - and so they cannot do the "four" sign with thumb extended and pinkie down (me, for example :-) ).
Don't really see a problem with accidentally getting 2 beers lol
Ангелина Суворова you're beautiful
Madara Uchiha うちは thank you so much! I'm sure you are beautiful too! :)
Ангелина Суворова 😳🤗
Ангелина Суворова you actually never drank German beer otherwise you would know.
And by beer I mean *_REAL GERMAN BEER_*
1:11 Knocking on table means "heaven forbid" in the Philippines and at 1:53 pulling your eyelid down is also sarcastic we called it "pikat" in Bisaya.
Interesting. I didn't know any om them. I was in Berlin a week ago and didn't see any of them, but perhaps they' did it about me anyway :) I used my long finger to signal one ticket, table for one and so on. It did work, but next time I will use my thumb.
i have the same experiences :)
Your "long finger"? I hope, your middle finger isn't the longest...
As a German I would never ever put the thumb inside my hand because that means bad luck - I always wish luck by forming a fist and putting the thumb on the index finger.
Knocking on the table to say "good job" is only done by people with higher education because it is a practice common at university.
Poking your head is short for "you must have a bird living inside your head".
cave felem from the German part I'm coming from it can also mean that you're having a loose screw or that you don't have anymore all cups inside your cupboard.
@@asmylia9880 having a lose screw is usually the gesture with the rotating index finger right next to the head
Don't be mistaken, the thumbs up thing is the same over here in Germany!
You just knock on table as applause when you sit in front of one. If there is no table, you clap. Except you clap to a song in a Bierzelt.
Go to the faroe islands, its a very beautiful place
+FarmLucky I want to go. I met a couple who went there a couple years ago and they just raved about it.
visitfaroeislands.com best guide if u go
table knock
I ❤ Quedlinburg! The first capital of
The "stupid sign" and "pushing (we say 'holding') your thumbs for good luck" go for Sweden as well.
"I press my thumbs for you"… and I ever only *said* it, not made any gesture. Why would I? I already said it, so all the information has been conveyed.
Hahaha the Germans in the background
Germans: was zum teufel machst du
Ich klopfe Ihnen den Holz, Herr Wolter! :-)
+myp410up danke schoen
In Belgium you say "zal voor je duimen" Translated: I shall "Thumbs" for you.. So no pinching of the thumbs but as the like thumb but than for good luck :D
cool. i didn't know that. i guess my Belgian friends never wanted me to have good luck :)
More something you say when you have an exam, big presentation or a job interview I think :D When it is even more dire you can use the old fashioned: I shall light a little candle for you, as a reference to lighting candles in churches.
I realized, that I do not count like that. mostly I order two things with my index and middle finger up and order one with only my index finger. As a German this confuses me now and makes me question my .... German...es? Great video, thanks and greetings from Braunschweig!
Dont of visiting north korea
+DenZeGamer I will see about that one ;)
just don't visit north korea :D
really ?? phones are not allowed there ??? damn
us Dutch also go 12345 like the Germans do but 'one' seperately is still done with your index finger :D.
Two is index and middle, three is index, middle and ring, four is index, middle, ring and pinky.
Yet when we count, thumb, index, middle, ring pinky :D.
We do the poking your head (center of forehead actually) here but it means 'you're an idiot' or 'you're crazy'.
It's generally considered quite rude.
The eyelid thing works here too but it's quite retro, hahaha. I think they stopped doing it in the eighties.
You forgot to edit something out, haha. Bleh.
4 with all fingers except the pinky is only used when you count in Germany. When you want to show the number 4 alone you may use all except the thumb as well.
Tapping your forehead is called "Einen Vogel zeigen" (showing a bird) and means that you are a complete idiot. It is quite rude.
I have never seen the eyelid gesture being used except maybe in CZcams videos. It isn't really common (anymore?).
I'm sure that I never used my thumb to indicate one, I always use my index finger.
Your sing for "ok" here in Brazil is also offensive like it is in Germany. It means something like " Go f.y."
What, I've always counted like that. And said knock on wood. But im from Canada!
I'm from Germany and the first thing isn't actually true. But anyway.
Good video Mark! :D
the knocking actually comes from university, usually at the end of a Vorlesung (lesson) you'd applaud the prof, but since you probably had to still write down things written on the blackboard you had only one hand free. so you can't clap and write at the same time. students are smart though and just use the table as a third hand.
so the knocking instead of clapping comes from academia and usually people who graduated keep using it
I'm German but I don't get why the last thing would be offensive
Leander Dato in the UK it's also known as the "wanker sign"
There is a different system of finger counting gestures in Spain according to friends, and you may get 2 or 5 beers if you get it wrong.
+Bruce Lee well... is 5 beers ever truly "wrong" ;)