I live in Großraum Nürnberg, which is more cosmopolitan than anywhere in the former East (aside, of course, from Berlin), and I'm stuck in the plateau of speaki

I live in Großraum Nürnberg, which is more cosmopolitan than anywhere in the former East (aside, of course, from Berlin), and I'm stuck in the plateau of speaking German well enough to get the Ausländeramt (excuse me, Auslanderbehörde) to grant me a Niederlassungserlaubnis (permanent residence permit), and to maintain good relations with my in-laws, but not what could be called "verhandlungssicher" (capable of negotiations or other serious business discussions), and that has put a definite ceiling on my career possibilities - I'm sought after as an individual contributor, but I will never be in management unless I manage to kick my German use up a couple of levels. Germany is a prime destination for ambitious young people from Spain, Portugal and Greece, many of whom are willing to put forth the effort to learn German well enough to be successful here, but get their feet in the door with English. Spain, Portugal and Greece are prime destinations for Germans on vacation, and the more intellectually ambitious will attempt to learn enough of the local languages to be polite, but there are enough not intellectually-ambitious Germans with sufficient money to travel that menus and hotel room info are often offered in German, along with the ubiquitous English. TL;DR: There's a bit of an economic hierarchy going on that makes the language situation for Germans different from that of the Spanish, Greeks and Portuguese.