My English partner is trying to learn German (he is doing great), but whenever we’re in Germany, he always continues to speak English with my friends and family. Why? In his words: “It’s your own fault. You all speak my language simply too well.”

And he’s absolutely correct. Germans are fantastic at speaking English. And I am not exaggerating, I promise. In fact, I just googled, just to back myself up with some data – and look at this: according to data, Germany is the #1 country in Europe and #6 in the world in terms of total non-native English speakers. That’s pretty good, if you ask me. Nearly 4 in 5 Germans speak a different language – and more than 1 in 2 speak fluent English. Now, obviously, “fluent” depends on a few metrics – but in general, you’ve got a pretty high chance of being understood in Germany, if you’re starting to talk English (unless you pack out your Geordie accent, that is). But how come?

How do we learn English in Germany?

Well, you see, English is a pretty important language on the global playing field. Next to Spanish and Mandarin, it’s one, if not the most powerful language, so there is a very high incentive for us to know it. And our school curriculum reflects that. I am always incredibly stunned when I find out more about the differences we have in our school systems, and this is one of them. In Germany, during our school years, we have the options to pick languages – like you do, in the UK. The most common ones are Spanish and French, of course. Latin ^{(hic forum est, yo!)} is still a big player as well. Depending on the school around 7th grade, you usually have to pick one of them and do them for at least a couple of years, before you can decide to not wanting to do this anymore. English, however, is mandatory. It’s like math. Or German. Or history. You can’t not have it. I went to the highest tier of our different schools (I’ll explain our system in a later article), meaning I started going to university after 13 years of school. For 9 of these years, I learned English. Nine years. I started after elementary school, which is still the most common case, but I also know of schools that start as early as third grade. We’ve been taught very early on, that knowing English is an important life skill.

Maintaining English skills after school finishes

Now for what comes after, well, this is my speculation. But I simply assume that because Germany is such a big international player, both in the EU as well as global, a lot of our careers are tied to being fluent in English. That’s of course not needed for every profession – but enough to make it a big part. And with globalisation and the technological advancement, as well as social media and world news being in English, it’s just something you don’t necessarily forget and keep honing over time. Younger generations will speak better than older, but even my grandfather, when I introduced him to my partner, surprised me with being able to hold a conversation without too much troubles. So if you’re wanting to visit Germany and are nervous about the language barrier: Don’t be.

[Picture by Patrick Tomasso – thank you!]