Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by pitkali 870 days ago
> Especially that Berlin is basically an American/Expat enclave in Germany where the native Germans are a minority to the point they're annoyed that nobody at cafes, bars and restaurants can take their orders in German.

This is a pretty tired trope. As an immigrant living in Berlin since 2020, first in Prenzlauer Berg and now in Schöneweide, I still haven't found those enclaves that even speak English, let alone don't speak German. I'm sure they exist, but generalising from them to the whole 4 million+ city seems as misguided as generalising from your Berlin experience to the rest of the country.

2 comments

I have eaten in Restaurants and and shopped in shops in Berlin where at least some of the staff were unable to speak even the very basic German needed to take an order or inform the customer of the price. This seemingly wasn't considered a reason not to employ them. As another example, there are plenty, perhaps even the majority of Yoga studios that work in English only.

It's probably going too far to call it an "enclave", but I don't think any of this would happen in any other German city.

They might be talking about the famous Kreuzkölln bubble around Görli, Kotti and Schlesi.
I find it easier to hear Turkish than English there.