Guten tag!
Hello my German friends, I am moving to Germany from Ireland in a few months for work and will be there at least a year (longer if things go well).
I will be moving to the seemingly lovely town of Unna , to work in a bar.
I am a little worried about the language, even though I did six years of German in school (that was about ten years ago, and I have forgotten most of it). I have been to Germany about four times over the last three years, and each time after a week I feel like I have been able to understand about 40% of the conversation, but lacked the language skills to say much myself. I am a quick learner though, and will try hard to pick it up.
My job will entail dealing with a lot of people every day, so I have a few questions for any German duders up in here:
1) I have noticed that a lot of German people speak a serviceable level of English. Is this true across most of the country? I will be trying very hard to learn German as quick as I can, but I hope people will recognize I am learning and speak with me in English sometimes.
2) Any major cultural things I might have missed? I don't feel like I have made any mis-steps when it comes to this, but you never know what things are deemed appropriate / not appropriate in different countries. Obviously I am not stupid enough to talk about the war, etc, in an insensitive fashion.
3) I have observed in the past that Germans seem to be quite responsible drinkers (compared to the Irish at least). What are your own experiences of drinking in Germany versus other countries you have been to? I am interested in the way Germans socialize as a pub is where I will be spending most of my time.
4) And finally, if anyone knows Unna or is indeed from there, or somewhere close to there, I would love to hear your impressions of the town and anything cool that happens there. I spent a week in Brilon, and Schutzenfest was in full swing. It was an amazing week. You guys know how to party!
That's all, any kind of advice would be appreciated!
Danke schön!
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