How much English spoken in Germany

[AKE]

We are going to Germany this summer and neither of us speaks any German. Is it possible to get by in English or will we have problems? (We were in Sweden a few years ago and had no problems with English for cabs, transportation, hotels, etc.)

 

[zazz]

You shouldn't have a lot of problems in most places in large cities. When I was in Germany last year, I had to use my rather poor German in two places, a small restaurant near Alexanderplatz in old East Berlin and pretty much everywhere in Nordhausen, which is a medium size city between Berlin and Munich. But I think even if I had been completely devoid of any German, I could still have gotten by. I suspect that as long as you don't find yourself in some small village, you'll be fine.

My rule when traveling is to at least understand the currency, know your numbers from 1-10, know please and thank you and know "Where is?" And always carry around a card with your hotel address.

As an aside, I think I may have met the only Swede who doesn't speak any English whatsoever. He works in a pizza joint near the ferry station in Stockholm.

 

[ScoopKona]

Learn how to say, "Ich spreche keine Deutsch... spricht jemand Englisch?" (I don't speak German. Does anyone speak English?") If it's only one person, "Ich spreche keine Deutch... sprechen sie Englisch?"

Here's an internet enunciation: Ick sprekah kine-ah Deutsch. Sprikt Yay-man English?

They'll usually stop you mid sentence and start speaking in perfect english.

You'll find that nearly everyone in Germany speaks either excellent english, good english or passable english. Everyone learns it in school. Although reading and writing is stressed more than oral -- much like Japan. It's still a good idea to learn a few words to at least be polite.

If you need specific help, PM me -- I learned German as a child. Babelfish will also help you with the basics.

Where is: Wo ist (Veaux ist)
Please: Bitte (bitt-ah)
Thank you: Danke (Dann-kah)
How much: Wie viel (vee feel)

Most important: "We're done with our frikkin meal, and we'd like to pay and leave" -- Zahlen bitte (zah-len bitt-ah) -- otherwise you'll sit at the cafe and wait, and wait, and wait.

 

[ScoopKona]

Double post - sorry

 

[Passepartout]

You won't have any problems in the former West Germany. Everyone was taught English in school since the '50s. Not so much in the former East. I'd buy an inexpensive phrase book and go through it a bit before you go. Your hosts will appreciate that you at least try their language even though they are very proficient in yours.

ScoopLV's list is a good basic one. My only addition is Damen is the girls room and Herren is the boys.

Jim Ricks

 

[bigrick]

I think you'll be fine. The last 20 years in CA whenever I heard someone speaking crsip, slang-free English I asked where they were from. They ALWAYS said Germany. They were travelers on a month holiday to the States. Not to learn English but to see the land using the English they learned in grade school.

 

[ecwinch]

If TUG was a german or french board, how do you think this question would be answered if the poster was thinking of visiting the USA.

How good is it to be able to go to another country and not need to learn to speak some of the local language. I am not trying to be critical, as I have done it myself a number of times.

 

[Pens_Fan]

I speak passable German, but never found a real need to use it when I was in Germany.

Nearly everyone I spoke with would rather speak to me in English than to hear me butcher their language.

 

[ScoopKona]

If TUG was a german or french board, how do you think this question would be answered if the poster was thinking of visiting the USA.

How good is it to be able to go to another country and not need to learn to speak some of the local language. I am not trying to be critical, as I have done it myself a number of times.

They'd tell you you had better know English or Spanish, because those are the only languages spoken here.

Unfortunately, we do not start our children early enough with other languages. High school is no time to START learning a language. We should be putting the finishing touches on a language by then. But alas, that would require more teachers, better paid teachers, etc. etc. etc.

 

[Keitht]

The lack of a second language is a common on in those countries where English is the first language. I think part of the problem is deciding on which is the best ie most relevant language to learn. Much of the rest of the world teaches English as the second language because it is so widely used, and therefore finding somebody who at least understands some English isn't generally too difficult.
I'm not saying that is an excuse for not attempting to learn other languages as even being able to say 'Please' and 'Thank You' in the host language is often appreciated. In the past 2 years I've been to Turkey, Greece and Spain and there's no way I could achieve any level of fluency in all 3.

 

[zazz]

They'd tell you you had better know English or Spanish, because those are the only languages spoken here.

Unfortunately, we do not start our children early enough with other languages. High school is no time to START learning a language. We should be putting the finishing touches on a language by then. But alas, that would require more teachers, better paid teachers, etc. etc. etc.

You're getting ahead of yourself. It requires a desire by the majority of parents that their children learn foreign languages and a sense of necessity on the part of the students. You don't have it.

The notion that Americans NEED to learn foreign languages is a solution in search of a problem. The vast majority of Americans don't have a passport and likely won't need it.

Those that do have the need or the desire have a multitude of resources that do not involve waiting until high school and (in my opinion) are a lot more useful in teaching how to communicate. I'll save my opinions on the competence of the US language teaching fraternity for another time.

 

[AKE]

If TUG was a german or french board, how do you think this question would be answered if the poster was thinking of visiting the USA.

How good is it to be able to go to another country and not need to learn to speak some of the local language. I am not trying to be critical, as I have done it myself a number of times.

I think learning a few phrases is easy, the hard part is when the person replies to you in that language -... or worse when you look like a local and someone asks you a question in the local language and when you don't answer they really get mad at you (had this happen in Finland many years ago when I was at a store and never even realized that the person beside me was asking a question in Finnish - I think that I had just tuned out her out as to me it was part of the 'background noise'... she kept repeating herself louder and louder until I looked up surprised and shook my head... making her even madder as it looked like I was continuing to ignore her before I realized what had happened)

 

[kalua]

re; english spoken in germany

well it all depends on if they want to speak english to you or not,english is a mandatory language for anyone who has gone to school in last 40 year's in most of europe,so anyone in their mid 60's or younger will speak some english,just don't offend them by not trying to speak their language and most germans will go out of their way to speak english,or just help you! ONE other thing they point with their middle finger so don't be alarmed if see it or it happens to you. sorry for the additional post but good info.

 

[ecwinch]

You're getting ahead of yourself. It requires a desire by the majority of parents that their children learn foreign languages and a sense of necessity on the part of the students. You don't have it.

The notion that Americans NEED to learn foreign languages is a solution in search of a problem. The vast majority of Americans don't have a passport and likely won't need it.

Those that do have the need or the desire have a multitude of resources that do not involve waiting until high school and (in my opinion) are a lot more useful in teaching how to communicate. I'll save my opinions on the competence of the US language teaching fraternity for another time.

You make a great point. In the other countries, there is a greater need to be multi-lingual.

And extending your point, if you are going to be multi-lingual, you would logically want to speak english if it was not your native tongue. Which allows us to travel to other countries and find someone that speaks english. Just as it does other countries that teach English early in the schools, like the Germans.

 

[ScoopKona]

You make a great point. In the other countries, there is a greater need to be multi-lingual.

And extending your point, if you are going to be multi-lingual, you would logically want to speak english if it was not your native tongue. Which allows us to travel to other countries and find someone that speaks english. Just as it does other countries that teach English early in the schools, like the Germans.

Wouldn't you say that this improves their world view, and their world citizenship in general?

Conversely, wouldn't you say our students are missing out on something special, because they do not have the opportunity to really learn another language (because we don't start teaching other languages, in general, until high school)?

 

[Timeshare Von]

I'm embarrassed to admit that back in 1996 my sister and I went to Germany, flew into Munich and railed down to the Bavarian Alps and timeshared at the Feinenclub in Oberstauffen. Neither of us spoke a lick of German, and we got by even in places where they represented that they didn't speak English.

We had a couple in a very small pub help us order dinner one night because we were completely clueless on the menu . . . and what we were attempting to order.

 

[hibbeln]

Starting with the graduating class of 2016, the state of Michigan will require ALL high school students to take 2 years of a single foreign language to graduate. I thought it was a great idea (my kids will regardless of the requirements) but I can absolutely also see how that could be a real problem for kids who struggle academically, who don't have great parental support or resources, who are not academically motivated. European countries also tend to put kids on "paths" by 3rd or 4th grade, those that will be college bound and those that won't. I wonder if the "technical school" kids are actually learning English?

Anyway, it is EASY to learn enough "key phrases" to get by reasonable well in any country.
And I had a friend who taught me to say "Your English is very good!" in German and suggested I use that whenever I ran across someone that spoke English. It was my most useful phrase! :whoopie:

 

[chellej]

DD took German in High school and the had an excellent teacher. Their junior year they did an month long exchange. 32 German students came here in March and then in May 32 of our kids went to Germany. They each were assigned a partner and their partner stayed with us while in the states and then our kids stayed with their partners family in Germany.

We hosted several pool parties at our house while they were here and all of the German students spoke excellent english. When our students went to Germany they had a little more trouble as they were not fluent and would get lost in the German's conversation.

It was and excellent experience for both the students and their families.

 

[ecwinch]

Starting with the graduating class of 2016, the state of Michigan will require ALL high school students to take 2 years of a single foreign language to graduate. I thought it was a great idea (my kids will regardless of the requirements) but I can absolutely also see how that could be a real problem for kids who struggle academically, who don't have great parental support or resources, who are not academically motivated. European countries also tend to put kids on "paths" by 3rd or 4th grade, those that will be college bound and those that won't. I wonder if the "technical school" kids are actually learning English?

Anyway, it is EASY to learn enough "key phrases" to get by reasonable well in any country.
And I had a friend who taught me to say "Your English is very good!" in German and suggested I use that whenever I ran across someone that spoke English. It was my most useful phrase! :whoopie:

When I lived there every German student took english. I might be wrong on this last point, but I thought it was for more than 2-3 years.

I lived in Germany from grades 1-7. And every year we would visit a German school for a day and have cross-language classes with the German students.

Or course, that was a while ago. So it might be different now. And I did not think they started dividing the classes into Tech vs University until the 7th grade. Not the 3rd-4th grade. I think that would be a little premature.

Sorry Franz we tested you in 3rd grade. No university for you. You get to work in the Opel factory.