7 ms·

She must also speak German right?

alicelthwaite 10y ago
Hi there - I'm the author of this piece. I don't actually speak German. I'm trying to improve - however, I wouldn't say it's required in Germany to start something on your own. Many of the meetups are in English and everyone I've spoken to is fluent. I think it's another story if you're trying to get a job though...
- k__ 10y ago
  Yes, the hardest thing is probably to get a flat and register a business without speaking German and these are one time things, no ongoing stuff. The start-up scene speaks English fluently and buying stuff etc. doesn't need much talking. The start-up I work with has 2 employees who don't speak German at all and they say it's only a problem when they are in smaller villages.
  - allendoerfer 10y ago
    Registering a business is literally going to the "Gewerbeamt" and answering their questions about what you want to do. You will then be contacted by the tax authorities. I would then just search for a tax adviser, who speaks English. If you want to incorporate a business, you do not necessarily have to do it in Germany, it is the EU after all.
    - k__ 10y ago
      Ah sure, yes I forgot that you can create a company in the UK and simply run it from Berlin without much hassle.
- petre 10y ago
  Why not start a business in Central or South Eastern Europe? Most cities are even cheaper than Berlin and still open to young people. Plus people are fluent in Englush, except maybe in Hungary.
  - sotojuan 10y ago
    People want to move to Berlin and the city has a great tech scene from what I can gather.
  - uola 10y ago
    Generally the cities tend to be too small, too expensive (for what you get) or not international enough. More than anything "even cheaper" doesn't necessarily matter, around €750 is pretty much the sweet spot in terms of cost of living. Ljubljana seems pretty nice though.
deleted 10y ago
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jorgemf 10y ago
She must learn German. The thing with Berlin is that there are a lot of startups with foreign people, and a lot of Germans speak English. But when you want to do normal day things as going to the market you need German to understand what are you buying and to talk with the people. It is not like other countries where you cannot get a job or life if you don't speak the language. You can get a job in Berlin as a English speaker but you must learn the local language for the day to day things.
- hellofunk 10y ago
  I agree, my experience after a week of work in Berlin was that a lot of the restaurants I visited, the waitress couldn't speak English at all. Or taking a cab was sometimes quite an effort to communicate as well. Even more strange, Berlin (and perhaps much of Germany, I don't know), places much greater emphasis on cash than on electronic payments like credit cards. I gave a credit card to a vendor once and they looked like they couldn't figure out what it was. In fact, as they were trying to understand it, I motioned that they were in fact studying it upside down! Other restaurants would tell me it was the first credit card they had seen in weeks, and the owner simply hadn't bothered to bring the credit card machine in from his house in a long time. Not a problem, just a bit strange to me. Berlin is a neat place, though, and I love German food (and beer) a lot, but it cannot be overstated how you quickly come to realize that you currently take for granted speaking the same language as everyone around you, and unless you know German already, that convenience will evaporate immediately upon moving there. Even all the Holywood movies and U.S. TV shows are dubbed into German -- it is the largest overdub market in the entertainment industry, because Germans generally place low emphasis on learning other languages (just like Americans do).
  - DasIch 10y ago
    Cash is much more popular however another big factor is that credit cards aren't really a thing. Instead Germany has its own system of EC cards which are directly tied to your bank account (which most people get as a child here) and work more like debit cards. The only reason to have a credit card as a German is for buying this outside of Germany.

Hi there - I'm the author of this piece. I don't actually speak German. I'm trying to improve - however, I wouldn't say it's required in Germany to start something on your own. Many of the meetups are in English and everyone I've spoken to is fluent. I think it's another story if you're trying to get a job though...

k__ 10y ago
Yes, the hardest thing is probably to get a flat and register a business without speaking German and these are one time things, no ongoing stuff. The start-up scene speaks English fluently and buying stuff etc. doesn't need much talking. The start-up I work with has 2 employees who don't speak German at all and they say it's only a problem when they are in smaller villages.
- allendoerfer 10y ago
  Registering a business is literally going to the "Gewerbeamt" and answering their questions about what you want to do. You will then be contacted by the tax authorities. I would then just search for a tax adviser, who speaks English. If you want to incorporate a business, you do not necessarily have to do it in Germany, it is the EU after all.
  - k__ 10y ago
    Ah sure, yes I forgot that you can create a company in the UK and simply run it from Berlin without much hassle.
petre 10y ago
Why not start a business in Central or South Eastern Europe? Most cities are even cheaper than Berlin and still open to young people. Plus people are fluent in Englush, except maybe in Hungary.
- sotojuan 10y ago
  People want to move to Berlin and the city has a great tech scene from what I can gather.
- uola 10y ago
  Generally the cities tend to be too small, too expensive (for what you get) or not international enough. More than anything "even cheaper" doesn't necessarily matter, around €750 is pretty much the sweet spot in terms of cost of living. Ljubljana seems pretty nice though.

deleted 10y ago

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jorgemf 10y ago

She must learn German. The thing with Berlin is that there are a lot of startups with foreign people, and a lot of Germans speak English. But when you want to do normal day things as going to the market you need German to understand what are you buying and to talk with the people. It is not like other countries where you cannot get a job or life if you don't speak the language. You can get a job in Berlin as a English speaker but you must learn the local language for the day to day things.

hellofunk 10y ago
I agree, my experience after a week of work in Berlin was that a lot of the restaurants I visited, the waitress couldn't speak English at all. Or taking a cab was sometimes quite an effort to communicate as well. Even more strange, Berlin (and perhaps much of Germany, I don't know), places much greater emphasis on cash than on electronic payments like credit cards. I gave a credit card to a vendor once and they looked like they couldn't figure out what it was. In fact, as they were trying to understand it, I motioned that they were in fact studying it upside down! Other restaurants would tell me it was the first credit card they had seen in weeks, and the owner simply hadn't bothered to bring the credit card machine in from his house in a long time. Not a problem, just a bit strange to me. Berlin is a neat place, though, and I love German food (and beer) a lot, but it cannot be overstated how you quickly come to realize that you currently take for granted speaking the same language as everyone around you, and unless you know German already, that convenience will evaporate immediately upon moving there. Even all the Holywood movies and U.S. TV shows are dubbed into German -- it is the largest overdub market in the entertainment industry, because Germans generally place low emphasis on learning other languages (just like Americans do).
- DasIch 10y ago
  Cash is much more popular however another big factor is that credit cards aren't really a thing. Instead Germany has its own system of EC cards which are directly tied to your bank account (which most people get as a child here) and work more like debit cards. The only reason to have a credit card as a German is for buying this outside of Germany.