anders deutsch

In the German version of the blog I got a comment about the post Different or not?. The author of the comment argued that one should stop discussing the issue. One has to live with the fact that one is asked such questions in a 'foreign' country.

With this comment the author has illustrated quite well the situation of the 'Other Germans'. They constantly make the experience that people consider them 'foreigners' in the place they live. And they continue like the author of the comment to imply that they belong to some other place.

But this ignores the fact that in their supposed 'country of origin' they are much more 'foreigners' than in Gemany. They are socialised in Germany and know their way around there. In the so called 'country of origin' they are not familiar with the structures of society and everyday life. They are actually 'foreign' to it.

In Germany they are not 'foreign'. But they experience othering. As for example in the comment.