I think there are enough differences between Germany and America to tell. Be it different sensibilities, pet ownership rates even and different histories and trajectories. While Austria’s not exactly similar to Germany either, it having a similarly divergent history and having had a shared history with Hungary (Austro-Hungarian empire), it’s still relatively more similar to Germany than America is.
Especially when it comes to having shared languages, geography and history. I even think Italy’s likelier to have more of a shared link with Germany and Austria (in relation to both the Holy Roman and Austro-Hungarian empires) also for those reasons. Italian’s spoken in both Italy and Switzerland just as German’s spoken in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and to some extent Italy!
Inevitably, Northern Italy’s more similar to Southern Germany than Germany as a whole is to America!
fynm 