When I first moved to the UK in 1999, I subconsciously expected the British mentality to be very similar to the German one. After all, it's all Western Europe. During my studies, I primarily met other Europeans and - with hindsight- I think I was also quite naive in a lot of respects. Only in the last few years have I started noticing a number of differences.
Amongst those are most certainly the differences in communication. On more than one occasion have I been told that I can be rather 'abrupt' and uncomfortably direct. While I don't necessarily want to change my ways (I definitely prefer to come straight to the point than pussyfoot around), I am aware that it can cause issues. People might take offence and might also misunderstand what I am trying to say as it is said more bluntly than what people are often used to.
The other thing I have noticed is that I seem to take people way too literal. Personally, I believe you shouldn't say what you don't mean. Language is such a great tool - use it to express exactly what you want to say! This causes issues for me of course, as it is easily me who take offence for things people say maybe more lightheartedly than how I take it.
I wonder whether I will ever be able to communicate at a native speaker's level - not only in terms of vocabulary, and accent but more importantly with regard to all the other layers of communication which are packaged in the tone of voice and choice of words.
Most probably not.
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