A guide for Australians on how to make german friends.
## 31. How to Make German Friends: A Guide for Australians Who Find It Harder Than Expected The phrase you will hear from every expat who has lived in Germany: "Germans are difficult to befriend at first, but once you break through, they are friends for life." This guide covers the practical steps that actually work. ### Why It Is Harder Than Back Home Australian social culture is relatively easy-access. You chat to someone at a party and exchange numbers. A colleague becomes a friend quickly. The barriers between acquaintance and friendship are low and informal. German social culture has different structures. The public sphere and the private sphere are clearly separated. Colleagues are colleagues. Neighbours are neighbours. People you see at the gym are people you see at the gym. Converting any of these into friendship requires deliberate effort and time. This is not coldness โ it is structure. And once you understand the structure, you can work with it. ### The Approaches That Actually Work **Join something.** Germany has an extraordinary *Vereinskultur* โ club culture. There are clubs for every sport, hobby, interest, and activity imaginable โ football (*Fuรballverein*), hiking (*Wanderverein*), chess, music, volunteering, language exchange, book clubs. Joining a club means regular, repeated contact with the same people over time, which is exactly what German friendship formation requires. Repeated presence over weeks and months builds familiarity โ and familiarity is the precondition for German friendship. **Take a German course.** Doing a language course creates a cohort of people in a similar situation to you. In a Goethe-Institut course or a *Volkshochschule* evening class, you will encounter both Germans and other internationals learning German together. The shared goal and regular meetings create natural friendship opportunities. **The *Stammtisch*.** A Stammtisch is a regular gathering โ usually at a regular table in a regular pub โ of a regular group. Many German cities have Stammtisch groups for language exchange, for expats, for people with specific interests. Showing up consistently to the same Stammtisch, week after week, builds exactly the kind of slow-burn familiarity that leads to genuine connection in Germany. **Invite proactively.** Germans will not usually make the first move. If you want to deepen an acquaintance into friendship, you need to make the invitation โ to coffee, to a walk, to a museum, to a game. The invitation signals that you want to move beyond the existing social category. **Be authentic about who you are.** Germans tend to find surface-level social performance exhausting. They respond better to people who say what they actually think, share genuine opinions, and engage with real depth. Being the enthusiastic, friendly Australian who talks about the weather is less effective than being the Australian who has genuine opinions about something. ### Online Communities If you are new to a German city, expat Facebook groups (Australians in Berlin, Australians in Munich, etc.) are a practical entry point. These communities organise events, answer questions, and provide the initial social network that makes everything else easier. Similarly, *Meetup.com* has active groups in most German cities for almost every interest.Found this useful? Share it with other Australians learning German ๐ฆ๐บ
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B1 German / Beginner Swiss German
An Australian who learned German to B1 level without living in Germany โ navigating the same lack of local resources that most Australian learners face. Currently learning Swiss German. This site is the resource I wished had existed when I started.
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