Just an observation

Don't worry! That is typical German (and I think our neighbors left and right are not much better), don't feel offended and enjoy the flood of informations provided over the last years.

As most peoples that join the board are Germans also, they are not turned off, as you fear. We take such behavior as pretty normal (even if most of us know that it seems rude to foreigners).

We need to bash our heads together from time to time, to feel at home.
Have you ever considered that Germans might feel offended by the behavior of north americans? I.e.: I consider myself a pretty normal guy, but got paranoid by the extremly penetrating behavior of US store clerks. It would ruin a buisiness over here if your customers are bothered continously by assistance offers.
Other way around, the rude behavior of french salespeople is considered one of the major triggers of a psychlogical disorder know as "Paris-Syndrom".

You might say that all Germans and Austrians you know are pretty nice people. Well, yes, but that might change in front of a internet-forum...

I entered the US through Toronto, but only purchased cigarettes there, since in the US you only get lights or 100s.

Hi Martin,

I'm non German and I understand what you meant perfectly.

Chat room etiquett is very different from the behaviour you would see when people , be they Germans or not, actually meet face to face.

I don't post so much on the Forum but do follow the many quite often very interesting subjects discussed.

My own experience with German born people and German speakers has been nothing but excellence. As soon as I speak or write on the board or chat rooms they know I am not a native speaker. But everyone I know has always gone out of their way to help me in any way they can.

I belong to several German speaking boards, mainly because I collect German postal history but also because I like to try and improve my German language skills. My German is self taught and full of mistakes, but people still mainly can understand me. They even say I speak and write, " Raetzel Deutsch" ( Puzzle German).

Please do continue to participate on the board and even share with us all your own collecting interests.

Hi Lithograving,

Do not be so afraid, about some comments in the forum!

As Lasplesis already wrote: "We need to bash our heads together from time to time, to feel at home."

And that is true! By the way, last year I was in Asia to built up an industrial plant, together with some other germans and austrians. During the day there where a lot of really rude comments on site between us. The comments I do not repeat here! But in the evening we were sitting together in the bar and having a beer. When our asian friends saw this, they were really wondering about us. Yelling bad words during daytime and have a beer together in the evening!

On the other hand when you try to speek or write german here in the forum, and people know you are not an native speaker we try to help you in many ways. So, please join the forum and the chat rooms as well. We do not bite you

Regarding your question to infla-alec, how a scotsman can get interessted in german philately I just can guess.

1st: Scotland has no (or not much) own stamps. They have to use the stamps from GB, but they are scottish and very proud to be scottish. If you are interessted in history and check the internet about the scottish history you will figure out why he not collect british stamps.

2nd: When he was a young boy and get the first stamp from the german infla period in late 1923, he thought he must be a billionaire and from this day on he collect this special time of german philately.

3rd: He collect this stamps, because it was easy and not really expensive to get a good base for his collection. Then he started to look forward for some good books regarding this period, and you may find a lot of them, here and just a few good books INFLA-BERLIN . Then he tried to get more specialised one some issues and this provided so much fun to collect more and more and more. By the way normally stamps could be used a long time, but during this period the price for postsendings increase so fast and the time you can use the stamps is that short that it is quite difficult to get the good ones canceled.

Please continue to participate on the board!!!

BR

Loetti_p

PS: Excuse my bad english! I am german!

Hi Lithograving,

just woke up early today! I will go to work in approximately half an hour.

I wish you a good night!

Loetti_p

Hi there

Totally agree with you, but people will always have differing opinions, or hold other ideas and notions. It's what makes the world go round.

One of the problems, and this applies to all langauges, is the different ability of people to express succinctly their idea or opinion, some can, some can't. German is a very precise language (as languages go) and it is as easy for a native speaker to make a mistake as it is for a foreigner.
Few are its master, and many just speak their mind giving little thought to the language, its structure or the subject under discussion.

It is also very easy to misinterpret the intentions of those asking what their inherited or found collections are worth. In the four years I have been active on the board I can only recollect seeing three collections that possessed any inherent value.

Encouragement of beginners is an area where this board can sometimes be weak. A matter that needs addressing, however by and large the newbies do receive encouragement, guidance and information.

In summary most members are treated fairly and sympathetically by one another.

Please continue to read, and fear not about contributing, or asking questions, in English, as you will see a good number here possess good English skills.

I wish you well,

kind regards

Nigel

Zitat

Original von Lacplesis
Don't worry! That is typical German (and I think our neighbors left and right are not much better), don't feel offended and enjoy the flood of informations provided over the last years.

As most peoples that join the board are Germans also, they are not turned off, as you fear. We take such behavior as pretty normal (even if most of us know that it seems rude to foreigners).

We need to bash our heads together from time to time, to feel at home.
Have you ever considered that Germans might feel offended by the behavior of north americans? I.e.: I consider myself a pretty normal guy, but got paranoid by the extremly penetrating behavior of US store clerks. It would ruin a buisiness over here if your customers are bothered continously by assistance offers.
Other way around, the rude behavior of french salespeople is considered one of the major triggers of a psychlogical disorder know as "Paris-Syndrom".

You might say that all Germans and Austrians you know are pretty nice people. Well, yes, but that might change in front of a internet-forum...

Well, if you visit i.e. the stamp board at ebay USA, then you will find much more rude behavior..., it is not related to any nationality but it is a typical Internet behavior were most participants hide behind their user name.