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> Not only that, I guess what what made everything just not worthy was Germans giving you shit every time you make a mistake, or your 5-vowel mother language ma

> Not only that, I guess what what made everything just not worthy was Germans giving you shit every time you make a mistake, or your 5-vowel mother language makes it hard to pronounce things. Not only that, but then if you make mistakes you get judged immediately as somebody that "didn't want to integrate". This isn't my experience at all, as a non-native German speaker living in Berlin with a half German child. > People would generalize and now, after 10 years. With 2 half-german daughters I don't want to learn the language. Trust me, you're being judged (fairly, imo) a lot more harshly for living somewhere for a decade and not even bothering to learn the local language.

aa-jv 4y ago
Its a lot harder to be an English-speaker living in Germany than you might think. NOBODY wants to listen to your shitty botched German (and trust me, it'll be botched for a while) and instead, almost everyone you meet will want to practice their English instead. All it takes is a few sentences in German, though, before the judgement dissipates and the "lets take the piss out of this guy speaking German by speaking 'perfect' English at a much higher level of competence" takes over .. It adds up though. Speak your shitty German to strangers, and you'll gain a lot more friends.
diegoeche 4y ago
> Trust me, you're being judged (fairly, imo) a lot more harshly for living somewhere for a decade and not even bothering to learn the local language. I had 2 years in Goethe institute. And had lessons 2 times a week at work. Kept a handbook at all times with vocabulary to repeat it in the subway. And mingled with German people to escape the expat bubble. I'm in B1 in German standards. But that's precisely the same judgement of "not even bothering" I normally get. After so much of that, after 3 years I just gave up.

aa-jv 4y ago

Its a lot harder to be an English-speaker living in Germany than you might think. NOBODY wants to listen to your shitty botched German (and trust me, it'll be botched for a while) and instead, almost everyone you meet will want to practice their English instead. All it takes is a few sentences in German, though, before the judgement dissipates and the "lets take the piss out of this guy speaking German by speaking 'perfect' English at a much higher level of competence" takes over .. It adds up though. Speak your shitty German to strangers, and you'll gain a lot more friends.

diegoeche 4y ago

> Trust me, you're being judged (fairly, imo) a lot more harshly for living somewhere for a decade and not even bothering to learn the local language. I had 2 years in Goethe institute. And had lessons 2 times a week at work. Kept a handbook at all times with vocabulary to repeat it in the subway. And mingled with German people to escape the expat bubble. I'm in B1 in German standards. But that's precisely the same judgement of "not even bothering" I normally get. After so much of that, after 3 years I just gave up.