1) I am certified C1 German - studied in high school for 6 years. Granted, I don't like speaking German and will use English when possible, but it's not a matter of not being able to connect with them.

2) Shortly after moving in, I started dating a German woman. Lasted close to a whole year. That was more than enough time to meet a lot of her friends, I got to meet her family, etc. That was more than enough time and opportunities to get a good insight into "native German" lifestyle, culture and values.

Want to try again?

▲ throwaway2037 a day ago | parent | next [-]

    > Granted, I don't like speaking German and will use English when possible, but it's not a matter of not being able to connect with them.

Why do you live in Germany? Why not somewhere else?

	▲	rglullis a day ago \| parent [-]
		Because I have not been able to convince my wife to move to Greece. Also, the fact that I am not integrated does not mean that I am unhappy here.

▲ platybubsy 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

wowow C1 and dated a German? Sorry, you are basically a native

	▲	rglullis 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		You take that back, right now!

▲ eska 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

You don’t know Germany, you know Berlin.

You don’t have insight into German lifestyle, you have insight into that one woman’s family’s lifestyle (and only less than a year, you’re not a family member at that point).

	▲	rglullis 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		I'm not claiming that I know all of Germany or all Germans, I am just refuting GP's guesses. Also, she wasn't the only German that I've met and it wasn't the case that I only met native Germans through her personal network. I also worked at Deutsche Telekom and Mercedes Benz. I've had the opportunity to interact with lots of people outside of the work environment.