[CogitoCogito]

I 100% disagree with this advice. I don't know what opportunity cost you refer to, but I think learning German is still probably the best way to get to know Germans. Sure the country is multicultural and German is no longer the only language if you want to truly know Germany, but it is still a big deal. I feel like language is the single largest contributor to a group's culture.

That said I am amazed to say I agree that you don't need to learn German to survive in Berlin. I lived in Berlin 2005-2006 and learned German while there. I think that not knowing German at the time often made things extremely difficult. Even many of my highly-educated university friends were quite bad at English. But now when I go back and visit English is just plain everywhere. It's weird now how easy it is to live in your bubble and never really need to learn German. And it is true that now you will need to push learning the language yourself when presented with so many opportunities to speak English.

Whether or not to learn the local language is of course a personal choice, but I still feel like it's something you should do.

[chrisked]

Learning to speak German is time intensive. The global utility of that language is on the lower end. I argue that OP should rather invest this time into (1) building his career, (2) professional+personal network and (3) exercise.

That said my assumptions are that OP wants to live in Berlin, is a young tech worker who does not envision today that he stays in Germany for more than 7 years.

[CogitoCogito]

> Learning to speak German is time intensive. The global utility of that language is on the lower end. I argue that OP should rather invest this time into (1) building his career, (2) professional+personal network and (3) exercise.

> That said my assumptions are that OP wants to live in Berlin, is a young tech worker who does not envision today that he stays in Germany for more than 7 years.

I guess we are just different. And since it's a personal value judgement there really isn't any right answer. I just couldn't imagine living somewhere for 7 years and not wanting to learn the local language. I can't even imagine living somewhere for a few months without making an attempt at it. I agree that your examples (1)-(3) are important, but I consider learning the local language and culture as an investment in your life and experience. It may not have global utility, but I find that totally irrelevant since you are not living "globally" you're living in Berlin.

Anyway I find it interesting to hear your opinion. At this point I guess we'll just have to let the OP decide what's important.