How easy is it right now to go work in Germany with limited German language skills?

April 9, 2009 6:21 AM

How realistic is it for me to go live and work in Germany six months from now, currently knowing little German?

I'm considering applying for a one year working holiday visa for Germany, starting late 2009. I'm a Canadian who is currently doing the work/travel thing in New Zealand. My job experience is varied and includes web design, drafting, admin/reception, vineyard labour, and bakery assistance.

I'm about halfway through the German steps program on the BBC website. My German is pretty much limited to that, plus curse words learned from fellow travellers in New Zealand. :D

How feasible is it to go live and work in Germany, considering the current state of my German, my work experience, and the economic climate? If language is the biggest barrier, what could I do in six months to improve it to the necessary level? I'm especially interested in moving to Berlin.

posted by exquisite_deluxe to work & money (9 comments total)

Very feasible. We did it ten years ago. I had two years of high school German under my belt, taken eleven years previously to us going to Germany. My husband, the one who was working in Germany (in software development), didn't know any German at all. None. All his co-workers spoke English. I found it very easy to navigate public transportation (love those Germans) and I understood more than I could speak, so I was okay in the shops. We took an immersion class while we were there and it really helped me...my husband was in a little over his head but he managed.

What could you do to improve? An immersion program, definitely. I can't speak to how easy/difficult it will be to get a job, though.
posted by cooker girl at 6:30 AM on April 9

If you already have a job lined up with a company or a friend who lives there already and can speak the language and help you through the bureaucracy, go for it. Otherwise it will be tough. You should have a few thousand € to fall back on if things get rough.

If you want to learn the language, you have to use it. Taking lessons and learning the vocabulary through various means is fine and dandy, but if you don't regularly engage in conversation with other German speakers, it will be hard for it to take hold.

Take a look at Toytown Germany for more info.
posted by chillmost at 6:36 AM on April 9

I honestly think that moving to Berlin to work is going to be frustrating. Not only are there few jobs and no private sector industries as the phrase is understood in other large cities, but the office culture leaves a lot to be desired.*

If you can bring freelance work here from somewhere else you'll be a lot happier, IMO, since the city is fun if you have enough enjoyable work and money, and it takes very little money to have enough. Or, go to one of the other groovy cities which have jobs and workplace pleasantries in more abundance such as Köln or Hamburg.

*Berliners are rude
posted by Your Time Machine Sucks at 7:05 AM on April 9

I used The Michel Thomas Method to learn Japanese and Spanish conversationally (the latter, more thoroughly). It was fantastic if you can learn well through auditory means. Very effective program and fairly reasonably priced.
posted by alcoth at 7:26 AM on April 9 [1 favorite]

If language is the biggest barrier, what could I do in six months to improve it to the necessary level?

Watch German movies and TV. International news programmes are good because they use high-standard language and they are about content you already know (e.g. tagesschau.de ausland).
If your German isn't good enough for listening comprehension, try to find subtitled movies.
Try to read German tabloids: e.g. Bild.de (partly NSFW. And I would only recommend this for language learning, not for good content). Better (and more difficult to read) articles can be found at spiegel.de.

[As an aside from a German, others have already mentioned that: Berlin attracts tens of thousands of well-qualified people from all over Germany/Europe/The World looking for exactly the kind of short-term job you're looking for, i.e. webdesign, admin/reception etc. This part of the jobmarket is totally overcrowded in Berlin. Ten years ago, it would probably have been a great idea to just go there and have a look, but nowadays: not so easy anymore. Before you go there, you should have a job lined up, otherwise it's going to be tough. Living costs are still cheaper in Berlin when compared to other German cities, but not as cheap as some years ago.]
posted by The Toad at 7:32 AM on April 9 [2 favorites]

When my family moved to Germany from the States, none of us but my dad spoke any German. By the end of the three years we lived there, we were approaching fluent. I have a friend who moved to Berlin about a year and half ago, knowing only basic German that she learned taking classes. She's still there and has rapidly acclimated, and her accent is pretty good.

Note that both cases were sponsored by companies with a presence in both countries who were able to help out with some of the logistics. I think that your biggest issue is going to be getting a work permit. Is there any way you can finagle citizenship in an EU member state? This would help you immensely.

Another thing to consider is that Germans are very title-conscious; having a college degree might be mandatory for a foreigner to find meaningful employment, although people are paid under the table all the time. They don't seem to put quite as much stock in having a varied work experience either -- Germans typically get on one career track early in life and stick to it, and changing that track can be tough.

But by all means, go for it. Germany (Berlin especially, and Munich, which is close to my heart) is a fantastic place.
posted by kdar at 8:31 AM on April 9

I second the Michel Thomas program. I'm learning conversational French right now (moving to Montreal this summer), and it appears to be going pretty well. I'll know soon how well it's really going. :)

Good luck! Moving to a completely new place is one of my favorite experiences.
posted by nosila at 9:12 AM on April 9

I think it may not be that easy to find a job without fluent German. The problem is that most Germans learn excellent English in school and, of course, they already speak German. So you would be competing against a mostly bilingual pool of applicants. My friend tried for 6 months to find a job in software testing and finally had to go home. He kept losing the position to someone equally as skilled who also spoke German.

On the other hand, if you are willing to be an english-speaking tourguide or something, your english skills might help you even though you can't speak German. Also, I work at a science research facility and everything is done in english-- if you aren't a researcher, you might find an admin job in a place like that.

In terms of living in Germany, you definitely don't need to be able to speak german in order to buy groceries, open a bank account or go to a restaurant. It's just earning the money that would allow you to do these things that's tricky...

You might look at The Local.
posted by emmykm at 3:37 AM on April 10

Thanks for both the encouragement and reality check, everyone. After posting this question, I happened upon Wikipedia's take on working holiday visas for Germany via another thread. I think it sums up the answer to my question nicely.
posted by exquisite_deluxe at 5:19 AM on April 11