How do German people answer the phone?

Question

OK. Suddenly, the phone rings somewhere in a German city...
Shortly after, a hand picks up the handset and... answers IN GERMAN.

What's that common German answer/greeting when a German person answers the pone?

Answer 1

If it's a private household normally the Germans just say their last name.

If it's a company they normally say the name of the company and then the last name of the person who is on the phone.

Answer 2

2

Answer 3

It depends on
- the region the person lives in
- the age of the person answering the phone
- whether it is a private phoneline or a business
- whether you called a landline or a mobile

Typically, people would answer stating their last name only (e.g. 'Bauer'). Some people add 'hallo', 'Guten Tag' or 'Grüß Gott' (Bavarian). Kids tend to say their first name or a combination of first and last name when answering. If you are calling a business, the typical greeting is , , , e.g. 'Grüß Gott, Bayernbank, Sie sprechen mit Axel Schmidt.' The phrase 'how can I help you?' ('was kann ich für Sie tun?' / 'wie kann ich Ihnen weiterhelfen?') is not too popular in Germany.

In some parts of Eastern Germany where manual exchanges were used until the 1980s, people would rather say their exchange name followed by their number (e.g. 'Mieste 3-1-4').

Mobile communications have changed habits in Germany significantly, and most younger people only answer their mobile by saying 'hallo' only, especially if they do not know the originating number. From a sociologic perspective, the start of a mobile call has lost much of its personal touch since the early 1990s. As mentioned earlier up this thread, this is especially due to marketing and cold calls.

Answer 4

If you are talking about a private call, you normally say your last name or your complete name.

Most of the Germans consider saying just "hallo" (hello) or "guten Tag" without identifying your self as lack of politeness.

this could sound as follows:

Phone rings, a hand picks the handset up and the possible answers could be:

- Müller!
- Hans Müller!
- (Hans) Müller guten Tag!
- Hallo, (Hans) Müller hier!
- (Hans) Müller Gruss Gott! ("Gruss Gott!" is the usual form to say "hello" in Bavaria)

However if you are calling to a cell phone, it is not seldom that people just answer with "Hallo" (hello) or just with "ja" (yes)

If you are calling a company and you get through the switchboard, they normally answer with the name of the company plus, plus the last name (not always but very often) and "guten Tag".

When you are transfered from switchboard or you are calling to a direct number, the person at the other end of the line will normally identify himself with his last name only or his whole name. It is very seldom in this case that the person answers using also the name of the company.

The same, when you are the one who is calling, it is considered not polite if you do not identify your self before getting into the reason of your call or asking to speak to someone else.

Answer 5

The "old protocol" was like this:
- Normally, if you talk with the "heads of the household", they will answer the phone with the last name. "Müller".

- Children living in the same household (adults, too) who have the same last name will answer with the first and the last name "Hans Müller".

- If children have a different last name or if people not related to the "heads of the household" live-in, they'll answer "Hans Schmidt bei Müller".

- If someone who is a relative/friend/neighbor/utter stranger of the "head of the household/children" answers the phone, it will be "Schulze am Apparat von Müller" (Schulze answering the phone of Müller). The same is valid if someone answers the phone for a colleague at work.

- If you call someone in a company, you'll usually get the company's name first, occasionaly the department, and then the name of the person you're talking to. "Geldbank, Kundencenter. Sie sprechen mit Hans Müller."(Moneybank, customerservice. You're talking to Hans Müller.)

Of course, nowadays a lot of people skip protocol and simply answer with "Hello?" or their first name, or "Yo!", or whatever else they like.

Answer 6

Well, it used to be that way, that we Germans answered the phone with our last name (or a guest with his name and then the residents name, etc).

But now it is different. Since it also got common over here to be harassed on the phone, many people got used to say "Hallo" only.

Lately companies try to improve their (known to be poor) customer service by telling a whole story while picking up the phone:

"Eisenwarenhandlung Müller und Co GmbH, Lieschen Maier am Apparat, was kann ich für sie tun?"
"Hardwarestore Müller & Co Ltd. Lieschen Maier on the phone, how can I help you?"

According to my opinion this sounds foolish, but - well ... let them break their tongues. :-)

Answer 7

My husband answers the phone using his last name-this is to tell the caller they have actually reached us. German´s normally don´t answer with hello (hallo or Gruss Gott-hello in Bavaria, because they want the other person to know they have reached where they called.

Answer 8

Hi, I answer my phone with "Hallo" what means hello. Or only with my last name.

On my business phone I say the company name, my last name and "Guten Tag".

And if I know the person who calls me I say "Hi John".

Answer 9

Hi,
I live in Germany and when you call people here most of them just pick up the receiver and say their last name.

Answer 10

it's either ja -yes- or hallo -hello-. that's on a cell.
at home it would be your last name. At work the company name, then your last name, then guten morgen-good morning-, guten tag-good day- aso.