 Formality
You will notice how formal many German speakers are, especially on the telephone. The polite 'Sie' form is used, especially with new contacts, who are addressed as 'Herr' or 'Frau', followed by the surname.
Timing your call
Things to remember:
- check out business hours and national holidays.
- try not to telephone someone at home before 10am weekdays, 11am at weekends and after 10pm.
Accents, enunciation, intonation
Are you familiar with the local accent of your telephone partner? Probably not, yet you may expect him or her to understand your own version of English. If you resort to English, speak clearly to make it easier for a German native-speaker to understand you.
Telephone numbers
People say: 'zwo'not 'zwei' on the telephone, to avoid confusion with 'drei'.
You give a telephone number as follows:
023 23 44 17
null zwo drei dreiundzwanzig vierundvierzig siebzehn
The first three numbers make up the area code: 'Vorwahl'.
Und die Adresse, bitte?
- Germany is divided into regions:'Länder':
|
Baden-Würtemberg
Bayern
Berlin
Brandenburg
Bremen
Hamburg
Hessen
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
|
Niedersachsen
Nordrhein-Westfalen
Rheinland-Pfalz
Saarland
Sachsen
Sachsen-Anhalt
Schleswig-Holstein
Thüringen
|
- Each place has a number relating to its position in the 'Land':
- 40595 Düsseldorf (Süd)
- 44263 Dortmund (Hörde)
- 38350 Helmsted
- 78253 Eigeltingen
- Box No. is 'Postfach'. You will also need to be familiar with words like:
- die Allee
- der Platz
- die Straße
- der Weg.
The 'Telephone Alphabet'
When spelling words on the telephone: it is often difficult to distinguish between 'm' and 'n'. To avoid confusion, Germans use the following list of names for most letters of the alphabet:
| A | Anton | N | Nordpol |
| B | Berta | O | Otto |
| C | Cäsar | P | Paula |
| D | Dora | Q | Quelle |
| E | Emil | R | Richard |
| F | Friedrich | S | Siegfried |
| G | Gustav | T | Theodor |
| H | Heinrich | U | Ulrich |
| I | Ida | V | Victor |
| J | Julius | W | Wilhelm |
| K | Kaufmann | X | Xanthippe |
| L | Ludwig | Y | Ypsilon |
| M | Martha | Z | Zeppelin |
Ä, Ö and Ü are not easily confused and do not
receive this special treatment.
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