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I'm an American with mediocre German living in Berlin, I've been here for a decade. I don't feel like a foreigner whatsoever. My social circle is 70% German and

I'm an American with mediocre German living in Berlin, I've been here for a decade. I don't feel like a foreigner whatsoever. My social circle is 70% German and the rest is a mix of nationalities. I would absolutely feel like a foreigner in any other city in Germany, but not here. If being a "foreigner" disturbs you significantly, like it did me when I lived in Vienna, I would say moving is worth it. There aren't many cities where there is no such thing as a "foreigner", but they do exist and are not exactly mysteries.

baursak 9y ago
I'm confused, why is Berlin unlike any other city in Germany in this regard? E.g. what would be different in Frankfurt?
- aaronblohowiak 9y ago
  Berlin is more like Brooklyn than the hamptons... different notions of what is considered “belongs here” mediated by history and local culture.
  - Sophistifunk 9y ago
    Probably doesn't hurt having grown up with parents and grandparents who remember first-hand where nationalism and racism can take a society, either.
- raverbashing 9y ago
  One of the factors is that Berlin is more "American friendly" (not that other cities aren't) but its relationship with the US is more special
- m_fayer 9y ago
  Berlin's culture is proudly post-national, cosmopolitan, and bohemian - a place that doesn't care where you come from, and doesn't ask, you're accepted simply for partaking in the low-rent offbeat way of life that's on offer here. Of course that's all theory and reality is much less rosy with many more shades of gray. But even having that self image is already half the battle. And no other city in Germany has such a self-image, except maybe Hamburg to some degree.
CydeWeys 9y ago
New York City is like this too, or, at least, I think it is. I'm American so not the best person to judge. Can you expand on what living in Vienna felt like? I loved visiting there and didn't feel unwelcome at all, but of course being a long stay resident exposes you to different experiences than just being a tourist.
- deepGem 9y ago
  I concur, as an immigrant who lived in NYC for a couple of months, not once I felt like a foreigner. Some other cities in the US where I've absolutely never felt like a foreigner - Bay area, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver BC. Surprisingly, I felt like a foreigner in London, which is the most culturally diverse city and also in Singapore.
  - ivankolev 9y ago
    Never been to London and I see it is up there, but the most diverse city by various sources is actually Toronto.
- libdjml 9y ago
  Non-American in NYC; I read somewhere that ~50% of New Yorkers weren’t born in the US, so being a foreigner is as much a rule as an exception
  - IkmoIkmo 9y ago
    It really depends on the setting though. Where I'm from, I'm one of the four people in my office with my ethnicity and the only one in my graduate program. I've got about 500 colleagues and in my city and 100 students in my graduate program, my ethnicity represents about 9% of the population, and on the whole the aggregate diversity is extremely high here. In short, I represent 9% of the population but 0.8% of my office and 1% of my graduate program. At the same time I'm associated with all the other things my ethnicity is stereotypically known for, in which there is overrepresentation. (the usual issues linked with socioeconomic shittyness, like crime). As such I frequently feel like the other, despite living in a very diverse city. It's like we put water and oil in a pot and say look there's multiple things in the pot. But is it a melting pot? To me, not nearly enough. It's still shocking to me how much segregation there actually is, we've kind of left the discussion of segregation behind us since there's no more segregation by law (inputs), but the outcomes are still very much there.

baursak 9y ago

I'm confused, why is Berlin unlike any other city in Germany in this regard? E.g. what would be different in Frankfurt?

aaronblohowiak 9y ago
Berlin is more like Brooklyn than the hamptons... different notions of what is considered “belongs here” mediated by history and local culture.
- Sophistifunk 9y ago
  Probably doesn't hurt having grown up with parents and grandparents who remember first-hand where nationalism and racism can take a society, either.
raverbashing 9y ago
One of the factors is that Berlin is more "American friendly" (not that other cities aren't) but its relationship with the US is more special
m_fayer 9y ago
Berlin's culture is proudly post-national, cosmopolitan, and bohemian - a place that doesn't care where you come from, and doesn't ask, you're accepted simply for partaking in the low-rent offbeat way of life that's on offer here. Of course that's all theory and reality is much less rosy with many more shades of gray. But even having that self image is already half the battle. And no other city in Germany has such a self-image, except maybe Hamburg to some degree.

CydeWeys 9y ago

New York City is like this too, or, at least, I think it is. I'm American so not the best person to judge. Can you expand on what living in Vienna felt like? I loved visiting there and didn't feel unwelcome at all, but of course being a long stay resident exposes you to different experiences than just being a tourist.

deepGem 9y ago
I concur, as an immigrant who lived in NYC for a couple of months, not once I felt like a foreigner. Some other cities in the US where I've absolutely never felt like a foreigner - Bay area, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver BC. Surprisingly, I felt like a foreigner in London, which is the most culturally diverse city and also in Singapore.
- ivankolev 9y ago
  Never been to London and I see it is up there, but the most diverse city by various sources is actually Toronto.
libdjml 9y ago
Non-American in NYC; I read somewhere that ~50% of New Yorkers weren’t born in the US, so being a foreigner is as much a rule as an exception
- IkmoIkmo 9y ago
  It really depends on the setting though. Where I'm from, I'm one of the four people in my office with my ethnicity and the only one in my graduate program. I've got about 500 colleagues and in my city and 100 students in my graduate program, my ethnicity represents about 9% of the population, and on the whole the aggregate diversity is extremely high here. In short, I represent 9% of the population but 0.8% of my office and 1% of my graduate program. At the same time I'm associated with all the other things my ethnicity is stereotypically known for, in which there is overrepresentation. (the usual issues linked with socioeconomic shittyness, like crime). As such I frequently feel like the other, despite living in a very diverse city. It's like we put water and oil in a pot and say look there's multiple things in the pot. But is it a melting pot? To me, not nearly enough. It's still shocking to me how much segregation there actually is, we've kind of left the discussion of segregation behind us since there's no more segregation by law (inputs), but the outcomes are still very much there.