ESL Questions Germany
Germany
From Oktoberfest to the Holocaust Memorial, Germany gives students a lot to talk about. These 75 questions cover the country's culture, history, politics, and contradictions, and work well for all levels.
Beginner
Do you know where Germany is?
What is the capital city of Germany?
Have you ever been to Germany?
Do you know any German words?
Is Germany a big or small country?
Do you know any famous German people?
Have you ever eaten German food?
What do you know about Oktoberfest?
Do you know what the Berlin Wall was?
Is Germany in Europe?
What language do people speak in Germany?
Do you know any German cars?
Have you ever seen a German film?
Do you know what the Euro is?
Is Germany a cold or warm country?
Do you know what Bayern Munich is?
Have you ever heard German music?
Do you know what the Holocaust was?
Is Germany a rich country?
Do you know any German foods besides bratwurst or pretzels?
Have you ever seen a map of Germany?
Do you know what World War Two was?
Does Germany have a king or queen?
Do you know what WWII ended?
Would you like to visit Germany? Why?
Intermediate
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Germany? Where do you think that image comes from?
Have you ever met a German person? What was your impression?
Germany is famous for its engineering and manufacturing. What does a country need to build that kind of reputation?
How do you think Germany's history in the twentieth century still affects the country today?
Would you want to live or work in Germany? What appeals to you, and what puts you off?
Germany took in over a million refugees in 2015. How do you think that decision changed German society?
Do you think it is possible for a country to truly reckon with a history as dark as Germany's?
What do you know about the difference between East and West Germany? Do you think the reunification in 1990 is complete?
Germans have a reputation for being direct and punctual. Do you think national stereotypes ever contain a grain of truth?
What do you know about German food beyond the obvious cliches?
Germany has some of the best universities and research institutions in the world but is not as famous for them as the US or UK. Why do you think that is?
How do you think the German political system, with its coalition governments and checks on power, was designed in response to history?
Have you ever watched a German film or TV series? What did it show you about the culture?
Germany is the largest economy in Europe. What responsibilities does that size create?
Do you think Oktoberfest is a genuine cultural tradition or mostly a tourist event at this point?
How does Germany's relationship with environmentalism, green energy, nuclear power, compare to your own country?
What surprised you most when you learned something new about Germany?
Germany's birth rate has been low for decades. What are the consequences of that for a country?
Do you think the German language is difficult? What makes a language hard to learn?
How do you think Germany's position between Western Europe and Eastern Europe has shaped its history?
What does German football mean to people in your country?
Is there anything about German culture that you find admirable and would like to see more of in your own country?
How do you think young Germans today think about World War Two?
Germany phased out nuclear energy after Fukushima. Was that the right call?
If you could ask a German person one question about their country, what would it be?
Advanced
Germany has built its postwar identity largely around remembrance and guilt. Is that a model other countries should follow, or is it specific to the scale of what Germany did?
The German economic model, strong manufacturing, powerful unions, export-led growth, has been hugely successful. Why have other countries found it so hard to copy?
Germany reunified in 1990 but polls consistently show significant cultural and economic differences between east and west. What does a genuine reunification actually require?
Germany took in over a million asylum seekers in 2015 and then watched the far-right AfD become the second-largest party in parliament. What does that sequence tell us?
Holocaust memory has been institutionalised in Germany through memorials, law, and education. Does institutionalised remembrance work, or does it eventually become ritual without meaning?
Germany's Basic Law was written explicitly to prevent another Hitler. What structural features make that constitution different, and have they held?
The concept of 'Vergangenheitsbewaltigung', working through the past, is central to German identity. Is there a limit to how long a country can or should do that?
Germany depends heavily on exports and has run large trade surpluses for years. Economists argue this has destabilised the eurozone. Is Germany's economic success partly a problem for its neighbours?
The German energy transition, Energiewende, aimed to phase out both nuclear and coal in favour of renewables. A decade in, how should we evaluate it?
Germany has strict laws against Holocaust denial and Nazi symbols. Is that the right legal approach, or does it drive those views underground rather than confronting them?
Angela Merkel led Germany for sixteen years. What does her tenure tell us about the kind of leadership that stable democracies tend to produce and reward?
Germany's relationship with Russia, especially energy dependency, was a strategic miscalculation. Who was responsible for that, and what does it say about how foreign policy is made?
Is the German model of worker representation on company boards, Mitbestimmung, something other countries should adopt?
Germany has a federal system where states have significant power. Does that make governance better or just more complicated?
The 'German guilt' narrative sometimes gets used to shut down legitimate policy debates. When does historical responsibility become a rhetorical tool?
How do Germany's relationships with France and Poland tell us different things about what European reconciliation looks like in practice?
Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, was deliberately kept weak for decades after WWII. The Russian invasion of Ukraine forced a rethink almost overnight. Was the original restraint wise?
Is there something distinctly German about the country's philosophical tradition, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Marx? Or is the national framing of philosophy always a bit artificial?
Germany has a strong culture of privacy protection, rooted partly in its experience with Nazi and Stasi surveillance. How does that shape its approach to tech regulation?
What does it mean that Germany, a country that committed the Holocaust, is now one of Israel's strongest allies and arms suppliers?
Do you think Germany's dominance within the EU is a stabilising force or a source of resentment that undermines the project?
German society has become significantly more diverse since the 1960s through guest worker programs and later refugee arrivals. How has German identity adapted, and how has it resisted?
The AfD is now polling as Germany's second-largest party. What does that tell us about the limits of building a national identity around antifascism?
Is Germany a country that has genuinely changed, or one that has become very good at performing change?
What would you want to understand better about Germany if you had unlimited time to study it?