| > How is your German? Speaking the language is permission to play in most workplaces unless you are in some sort of ex-pat environment like the US military. This is contrary to my personal experience. English was absolutely the lingua franca. At my last jobs (I'm a freelancer, so I get around), Germans were clearly the minority. The language environment tended to be very fluid; people joining or leaving a conversation would cause a switch in language, sometimes mid-sentence. I currently work with 3 Russians, 1 Pakistani, 3 Germans. > Without language skills you are likely to remain an outsider in non-work situations as well. If you're thinking of outings with the team, if they are halfway decent they'll take you under their wing. If you're thinking of day-to-day situations, it'll be harder of course, but absolutely feasible. Many people speak reasonable English. |
To be fair a lot of my interaction has been in areas outside of large cities like Berlin, which are far more cosmopolitan than they used to be.