Germany anyone?

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cgsr
cgsr Posts: 113
in Chit-Chat
So, my wife is an opera singer and getting ready for a European audition tour in the fall, focusing on Germany. If she gets a contract (which I'm pretty sure she will) I'm packing up the family and heading across the pond. I figure now is a good time to build my German network...

Guess I should go buy Rosetta stone eh?

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  • seventwenty
    seventwenty Posts: 565 Member
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    So, my wife is an opera singer and getting ready for a European audition tour in the fall, focusing on Germany. If she gets a contract (which I'm pretty sure she will) I'm packing up the family and heading across the pond. I figure now is a good time to build my German network...

    Guess I should go buy Rosetta stone eh?


    Rosetta Stone is a good resource, but I found their resources pertaining to grammar lacking. My old college German instructor has a great website with tons of grammatical information: http://clasfaculty.ucdenver.edu/tphillips/
  • adastra808
    adastra808 Posts: 11
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    I've been in Germany for the past 8 months. I was really nervous about the language difference at first and I have an auditory processing disorder which makes it extremely difficult for me to learn new languages. But there really hasn't been much of a problem. I have learned some conversational German which is really helpful, but, depending on the area, many Germans speak English as a second language, or at least know a little.
    Good luck to your wife!
  • Bahet
    Bahet Posts: 1,254 Member
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    We lived in Germany for 1 1/2 years. Here's all you really need to know - Bratwurst mit brochen (bratwurst on a fresh, crusty bread roll and usually sell for 1 Euro), Khune Senf Mittlescharf (medium spicy mustard. Seriously, you'll never eat that Plochmann's or French's carp again.), and Fleischkaisse (which translates to meat cheese but is sort of like a pork meatloaf sandwich on a brochen. It sounds weird to say the least and it took us a while to even try it but it's really good.) You'll also never drink that Bud Light (or other similar beer) again. If you end up near a Globus - go. It's sort of like a Walmart but only in the aspect that you can buy just about everything there. Ask for a sample of a sausage and they give you an entire sausage. The cheese counter was mind boggling. I "measured" it once and it took me 52 steps to walk the length of it - and the cheeses are stacked about 4 deep too.

    Restaurants aren't like in the states where they have bright neon signs, etc. If you see a sign for a beer (Pils or Bitburger typically) that's often the only indication you will have that it's a restaurant. The beer sign doesn't mean it's a bar. That's just the brand of beer they serve.

    Oh, and restrooms off the autobahn cost .50 euro to use. BUT if you take the ticket into the store right there they will give you that .50euro as a credit on any purchase.
  • CouchSpud
    CouchSpud Posts: 557 Member
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    Learning the language would certainly help, many Germans do speak a basic English, but as iusual (and I think quite frankly in every land on earth) you certainly gain more of a social life if you put a bit of Effort in.
    Other than that, enjoy, in general we can be quite nice people ^^
  • TXPaul
    TXPaul Posts: 74 Member
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    I've been there a couple of times and previous posters are correct. Depending on where you are, there is a good chance you will find english speakers. There are a lot of US military in some areas as well. The people are very friendly and I have never had any issues.

    Let us know if you go. I'll probably get over there again late this year or early next year.
  • M1chelles5
    M1chelles5 Posts: 107
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    I'm a German citizen and American....get roseta stone you'll be happy you did :)

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