Germany, thinking about making it official!

[darmstadt]

I've only been here around 21 years and have never learnt German properly although apparently I speak it pretty well and am often mistaken for one of the locals but I'm tulip at the grammer and can't write it to save my life. Most shops in my town are open to 20:00 on Saturdays and some until midnight. Tend not to hang out with 'expats' as they most tend to be knobheads whinging about Germany and why isn't everything in English and, oh these people make me want to vomit, you only have to check out the Toytown website...

[shaunbhoy]

I found that both speaking and understanding German, at least to a workable level, was not all that difficult. I very much doubt that it would have passed many formal exams, but that was hardly the point. The germans I encountered were always happy to meet you halfway, and were usually quite happy that you had gone to the bother of even attempting to learn the lingo, overlooking most rudimentary errors.
I really enjoyed my time there and would have no problem living there if the situation arose again. However, as it is unlikely to, I am more than happy to remain in Blighty for the time being.

[Aman]

I enjoyed a better quality of life in Germany than I could at the same earnings here. Once stoppages had come off my pay and the rent and telephone was paid (warm) I knew where I was financially.
I didn't find the place I was living very friendly, in fact I found it quite lonely but I was in my early twenties, wanted to keep my work and social life separate. Frankfurt was a bit more welcoming, same as any large city.
My German wasn't very good, I had only taken a German evening class which wasn't grammar based.

Getting groceries was a bit of a mission, with supermarkets cosing at 5 pm weekdays and being closed all day on Sundays. Maybe I didn't find the right supemarkets.

The landlord calling my work and complaining that I cut the grass on a Sunday ... what's that all about?

[doodab]

The landlord calling my work and complaining that I cut the grass on a Sunday ... what's that all about?

They have rules about when you are allowed to make a noise. Drilling & hammering, cutting grass etc, even having the washing machine on if you are in a flat are all Verboten on a Sunday.

The beer gardens are open all day though

[milanbenes]

well well,

I have been advocating the benefits of living in germany for years,

and now, and the ney sayers are suddenly massive german-philes !


Milan.

[BlasterBates]

I always found it strange that Brits found the shops closing at 5 pm in Germany a problem but pubs in the UK closing at 11 pm not! Anyway Germany and the UK have both moved on, the shops in Germany are open until 20:00 Pm and the big hypermarkets are now open until 22:00.

[sasguru]

...but gentleman, don't shout too loudly about the ease of transitioning to live
in the european mainland utopia, we don't want everybody coming do we


Milan.

Milan, we're talking about big city life in Germany, not the village life in some Eastern European tulip-hole that is your lot.

HTH

[milanbenes]

Sas,

you are more than welcome to big city life

I'll take village life any day


Milan.

[Sysman]

I've only been here around 21 years and have never learnt German properly although apparently I speak it pretty well and am often mistaken for one of the locals but I'm tulip at the grammer and can't write it to save my life.

I can write it but it takes a lot of time to check the genders against a dictionary. I've got to the stage where I can pick out mistakes in written German quite easily, which brings me onto the point I'm going to make.

Yesterday I was asked by a colleague to look at a CV written by an English person. . It was mainly in English but with bits of German where relevant (course titles etc) and the mistakes leapt off the page at me.

If you are going to splatter your CV with German, please get a native speaker to check it for you. (Also be aware that just as in the English speaking world, not everyone can spell and get the grammar right.)

Tend not to hang out with 'expats' as they most tend to be knobheads whinging about Germany and why isn't everything in English and, oh these people make me want to vomit, you only have to check out the Toytown website...

Yep, I tend to avoid expats as well. Did you ever come across the "Tennis, Bridge and Dinner Party" crowd? The ones I met seemed to spend all their time slagging off the locals and when not doing that gave you lectures on "not going native"

I've seen the behaviour you mention on various expat sites (and can say the same about another site owned by the folks who run Toytown... ).

There is some good technical info on those expat sites in the tax, legal and immigration/work permit sections, but the rest is best avoided.