Your anecdote is stronger than my anecdote :)

yea, I'm afraid I'm not adding much to the discussion. In the end, it doesn't matter if Germany really is like this - the idea of an orderly country still exists.

I beg to differ, counterpoints are always useful. I have an outsiders view of Germany. I've seen large chunks of it. Even stopped for a month or two (Munich, Berlin). But I don't speak German, or at least not enough to be useful (Mein Deutsch ist nicht gut). I visit a park once or twice, not with a group that you get to know.

My lack of German may well have changed the interaction I mentioned.

Haha.

Just for the record, I am not part of the dog owners group :) I don't think it's nice to let a dog roam in the park, kids get scared, and things can go wrong.

Ah, I read that differently. Yeah, it depends on the dog I guess. I have an English Cocker Spaniel which the worst risk is probably knocking someone over. I'm generally not pro breaking rules like that, and in the case above I actually hadn't seen the sign (it was not well posted). I do generally go out of my way to translate rules where necessary.

You can get along famously in Germany knowing only the following 3 phrases:

1. Ein Bier bitte

2. Noch ein Bier bitte

3. Wo ist der W.C.

Ah my German is a little more advanced than that, but every time I stumble through trying to communicate in German they immediately switch to English. It's not like I can blame them, I wouldn't have time for my fumbling halting German either.

Does make it hard to get practice though.

What I'd do if I lived in Germany is every day read the front page of the newspaper, looking up every word I didn't know.

Due to the internet, I encounter a lot more German than I used to. For example, Netflix runs a lot of movies Auf Deutsch, and I try to figure out what they're saying.