Every day, memes work very hard indeed to fill the gap between what we feel and what we can communicate, so that we can laugh and forget about the ill realities of the world. Here are some of our favourite German memes.
From the first moment you open a German textbook to holding your new German passport in your hands, German memes can help you to communicate language learner frustrations, understand the national zeitgeist and learn your B-list German celebs from your B-list German politicians.
On the Deutsch meme scene, there are some particularly big hitter accounts to know, namely @alman_memes2.0, @deutschebahn_memes and for those of us in the capital, @berlinauslandermemes. Communicating the incommunicable, there is a funny German meme for every stage of your integration into the federal republic. Here are our top picks:
These ones are usually funny for outsiders looking in on Germany - perhaps the person you once were. When you reach the stage of cultural integration which involves joining the chorus of eternal complainants but being automatically defensive when anyone expresses criticism which is based largely on German stereotypes, these Deutschland memes will have lost their initial tickle. The most famous of them all...
Der, die, das die (den, die, das, die, des, der, des, der, dem, der, dem, den) offers an endless cave of confusion to be mined for memes by people taking German courses at beginner, intermediate and advanced level alike. A meme much like this might be the first proverbial toe you dip into the deep, dark sea of German memes.
You can now hear that "Schmetterling" is a more complex and subtle word than one Google of “funny memes deutsch” lead you to believe; a word that is rooted in the Slavic for “cream”, “smetana”, making this creature a diminutive “cream-ling”, as opposed to the “butter” of its similarly dairy-based, English-speaking cousin. It’s time to dig a little deeper than A1-level laughs and challenge yourself in the world of German pun memes…
You’ve finally landed, visa in hand, but your painful journey into the world of German bureaucracy is only just beginning. These ones cut deep - a meme genre about the great equaliser for new arrivals, dealing with Kafkaesque German bureaucracy. The first unavoidable step is making an Anmeldung registration appointment, that is if you’ve been lucky enough to find a flat with Anmeldung…
As you broke into a furious sweat trying to make your Anmeldung appointment and then spent 45 minutes waiting for your name to be called, the first myth to be dispelled was that of German efficiency. You now know that the Bürgeramt chaos is only the tip of the iceberg.
Now that you’ve settled in a bit and got some of your affairs in order, it's time to start appreciating Germany for what it truly is - often completely chaotic in many of the areas in which it is stereotypically thought to be excellently efficient.
Six months have passed since your arrival and Deutsche Bahn’s mask of Pünktlichkeit has slipped to reveal its face of rosy-red embarrassment. Slating die Bahn is often called Germany’s national sport and you must learn how to play. Half of this slating is done in small talk and the other half is communicated through the medium of memes. There is no better place to passively pick up the lingo.
Now that you’re starting to feel more at home, you may feel at one with the people who once seemed so different. For now, that Ja-maste is limited to a lack of patience with tourists on the cycle path. The tourist you once were in your new home is now the subject of your mockery:
And the behaviour of the holidaying German tourists you once mocked in your home country now makes perfect sense; you must claim those sun loungers with your towel and wearing those Birkenstocks barefoot has become a little too chilly:
If you’re living in Berlin, adding some socks to your Stocks might have been the smallest of the radical changes to your appearance. You are now uniquely alternative, and you must go to great lengths to be perceived as such, even if that means looking like everyone else.
You’ve transcended, you now laugh at German memes about Germany, but with the Germans and sometimes even in German. But don’t be caught laughing too hard now, the Auländerbehörde might hear you:
Do you have a favourite meme about the trials and tribulations of living in Germany? Let us know...
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