This intercultural pragmatic study compares the culture-specific realisation of different types of refusals in Spanish and German. The inquiry of the culture-specific means to handle the associated face threat discloses a high tilt for indirect refusal strategies and vague answers without a clear final result by Spanish speakers, whereas German speakers place a higher value on more direct refusal strategies and explicit answers with a high degree of pragmatic lucidity, in particular with regard to the conversation's final result.