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Comment by anonzzzies | Hacker News Reader

Everything in the EU is suffering from not having a universal language, be it English, German, Spanish, Mandarin, I don't really care, but it's incredibly bad for everything but 'the culture' to not speak one language. My German is excellent and the last time I had a project in Germany, ALL my German colleagues wanted to speak English to practice their English. It is almost worthless, from a financial perspective, to speak any of the smaller languages and doubtful if German, even in Germany, would give you a better outlook than speaking bad German but solid English. In ES/PT/GR this is definitely the case; English will make you king, the local lingo will do nothing but allowing you to read the literature. It's important, but really shouldn't be a priority imho. It's mostly old people wanting to keep this alive and the youth is fed up not having chances because not speaking a viable language.

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> In ES/PT/GR this is definitely the case

Spanish and Portuguese open the doors to LatAm. Know a good number of Spanish business owners who have built fortunes in the Spanish-speaking world with dubious English.

Sure, but most people are not entrepreneurs and they just want jobs and have a family where they are born. I am not saying we should be speaking English (although it makes sense), i'm saying to pick a language (Spanish is fine) and just do it.

Language influences the way we think, however I agree that would be better to focus on single universal language. Multiple local languages just create additional barriers in communication. I can't just move to Germany, France or Spain, because unless you fluently know their language, you're more or less disabled person that requires translations.

There's a lot to unpack here, so I'll probably miss something.

I'm British and living in Berlin; my German is… I can get most written text, and the carefully-edited examples in recorded lessons, but I only understand about half of spoken German, regardless of if that's DW Langsamer Gesprochen Nachrichten Podcast or a conversation.

Most of the Germans I talk with have ample examples of exported culture from Hollywood to learn English language from.

But: (1) I'm mostly interacting with the companies that hire foreigners like me, and (2) everyone says Berlin is exceptional in how welcoming it is of outsiders.

Spanish, Portuguese, and Greek? I'm not sure, as I have no experience of working there, και εγω barely μιλαω two of them, but I assume the external cultural pressure from Brazil helps a bit with promoting Portuguese, and the rest of Latin America likewise with Spanish.

Sorry but what have you unpacked? I don't understand what point you're making here.

I am unsure how this relates to what I posted?

Ah, in that case it seems I've misunderstood you, so treat it as some random stranger making a well meant but useless anecdote that merely vibes with you rather than properly adding — I think MandieD was on the same page as me given the response to me in the same vein?

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.

> 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.

In international companies, especially US ones, this shouldn't be an issue. It may be even be an advantage, because there tend to be conflicts between the German business and the US mother, and the Germans need someone who can talk to US people on the same level while representing the German business.

> English will make you king, the local lingo will do nothing but allowing you to read the literature. It's important, but really shouldn't be a priority imho.

Because most jobs outside of IT require you to be fluent in the local language as that's what all business is done in. No matter what sector. Even if you work in IT, if you're a sysadmin for example, you still have to be able to communicate with the business dept, other employees, software and documentation is in the local language, and so on.

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