Figure 56: Awareness of culture shock phenomena, comparison of German youth and their peers from other countries.
Have you ever heard the term “culture shock”?
Germans
67%
28%
4%
Others
53%
29%
10%
8%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
a) Yes, I know very well what the term means b) Yes, I know the term to some extent c) I do not know the term much d) I do not know the term at all
6. Conclusions Young people from Germany are just as open to going abroad as their peers from other countries, and they are more likely to go beyond the borders of Europe for their mobility stays. Moreover, when young people from Germany do go abroad, they are just as thrilled about the experience as their peers from other countries. Young Germans are, however, more worried about the environmental impacts of their travels, and they are also a bit less enthusiastic about the benefits of a mobility experience to various domains of their lives. Young Germans are motivated most by having fun, doing something new and meaningful, and getting away from daily routines, with external pressures (school obligations, push from families, etc.) being much less effective motivators. Young people from Germany are enthusiastic to go travelling in general, to do an internship abroad, or to work abroad, and they are also happy to study internationally. They are most prone to going abroad for 1-6 months, and they are very aligned with their peers from other countries on the preferred mobility format, which is in-person mobility. Challenges perceived as most pressing among the German youth are time restraints, finances, finding opportunities for which one is eligible, and lack of information in general. On top of these, German youth seem to be more prone to be reluctant to get out of their comfort zone, and to leave behind their friends, than their peers abroad. These are all domains in which information services could support young people from Germany to manage their expectations, fears, and resources in such a way that their mobility experience is the best possible. When searching for mobility-related information, Eurodesk is more known by German youth than by young people from other countries, but other EU-wide initiatives such as EURES, or Europe Direct, lack attention among German youth in comparison with their peers from elsewhere. German young people also seem to be less fond of youth information services and youth organisations when searching for mobility-related information. This is, of course, an important finding for the youth sector in Germany, since it suggests that information outreach may not be as wide as in other countries, and that if the youth sector is to be an effective and efficient information provider, its visibility among the German youth might need to be increased. This boost in visibility might be best achieved by using information sources favoured by German youth. These are Eurodesk, schools and universities, and most importantly peers, families and parents. Peers and the family are seen as an important information source by German young people in the
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