German-speakers are very often considered to be “rude” and “aggressive”. Aside from the historical evidence of the “German nature,” there is a problem in the language construction that makes us come across as “aggressive”. I know from many painful intercultural encounters how sorry I was in the past whenever someone considered me to be rude or aggressive because that is the last thing I want to be. And I want to share this with you as I honestly believe that (despite the occasional slip when I am in a bad mood) I have learned to be more polite in the international sense of the word and also moving to Switzerland has changed the way I speak “German” now. After 16 […]