When you think the people of Germany, one of two things comes to mind. One, you picture people working to build stuff. The workers show no emotion, the managers angrily bark whenever someone's slacking, machines get made to an extremely high quality, and throughout all of this, you hear this in the background.
Either that, or you picture Oktoberfest.
Stereotypes aside, I am more German than anything else. Both sides of my family can be traced back to Germany. I don't know the exact percentage, but I believe I'm at least 60 percent German. And some of the cultural attitudes carry on in me, even though I'm a 4th Generation American.
First of all, look at the tropes here and here. We'll cover efficiency first. Germans are famous (or infamous) for being sticklers for quality. We want only the best; the best materials, the best results, the best of everything. And if we can't get the best? We will settle for something less, but never anything less than ideal. I've inherited this attitude from my mom and dad. When I perform a chore in the house, I do the best I can. When I play a video game, and I'm not screwing around, I play to the best of my ability. When I bought new speakers for my computer, I didn't buy a cheap brand, I bough something of quality.
This even extends to my choice in the arts. Look at my lists on my MAL page. Aside from some of my manga, I don't own anything I scored less than a 9, and even then, if I scored something a 10, I may not own it. (And even then, my lowest scored manga that I own, Bleach, got a 7, which is above-average. Suffer Not The Mediocre. Purge The So Bad It's Horrible.) Germans are stubborn like that, and so am I. I'm not wasting my time on shoddy goods, crappy automobiles, poorly written movies, and general incompetence. We have one life to live, so we must make the most of it!
Then there's Germanic Depressive. Well, that's a bit of a misnomer, since I haven't been clinically depressed for a long time, (and even then, I've spent most of my life not depressed.) It's more like, if you met me in real life, and if I wasn't hosting a party, you'd probably think I was imitating one of my European counterparts, or any of my East Asian friends. I, like in the article, also prefer to keep my workman attitude separate from my fun-loving personality. When I'm at a job interview, doing a chore, playing a video game "for reals", or anything of the sort, I tend not to be jokey, frivolous, or childish. I take a serious attitude, for I don't want strangers to think badly of me and my performance. You can also notice this in my published fanfics; I tend not to publish them unless if I feel absolutely certain it's something I can be proud of.
And yet, if you caught me when I'm watching a sitcom, screwing around in a video game, telling an amusing anecdote to my family, or something like that, you'd swear I was bi-polar! (I'm not, but I do have many faces) When I unwind from the stresses of life, I like to put my all into it. Again, these are all attitudes I inherited from my family.
And there's something else I'd like to clear up. I don't get how so many people think the German language is rough-sounding. I've heard people speak fluent German; it doesn't sound ugly. It can even sound pleasant. Then again, I know why the English-speaking world has this attitude. It's all because a guy from the Bavarian region of Austria made a career of blaming Germany's problems, very angrily, on Jewish business owners. (sighs) Oh Hitler, have you any idea of just how much damage you caused? Luckily for you, I'm not an affiliate of the Nazi Party, nor am I an anti-Semite. (How could I be!? Most of my favorite comedians are Jews!)
But even though I'm mostly German, this isn't the only aspect of my background. I've got five more of these articles in the making, so stick around for more.
P.S. One German thing I like is techno. It's not a favorite genre of mine, but if it's really good, I'll listen to it. One of my cousins has this totally badass German techno album we listened to, it was awesome! Can't remember the band name though . . .
