I lived in Germany from '83 to '94, but I never did learn to speak much of it since I went to American schools. Apparently most Germans speak decent English now? That would have been nice back in the day!
English is on the curriculum of all schools as a mandatory subject, but learning it in school =/= speaking proficiency. That usually comes with a ton of practice, and not all that many of us are exposed to English on a daily basis, even less so in lower income strata.
I’ve just read that a lot lately, that most people speak English relatively proficiently there. Back in the 80s and 90s it was somewhat rare. Possibly the internet helped a bit.
The internet helps with reading/writing mostly, and that comes with the benefit of looking things up when needed, which you really can’t do in a normal conversation. But yeah it has most certainly improved. I think it’s now also mandatory as a first foreign language, back when I started high school in 1994 we were still given the option to start with French or Latin instead (with English as a mandatory second language from grade 7 then).
But don’t quote me on that, I haven’t had anything to do with the German school system after graduation, it’s mostly hearsay.
I lived in Germany from '83 to '94, but I never did learn to speak much of it since I went to American schools. Apparently most Germans speak decent English now? That would have been nice back in the day!
English is on the curriculum of all schools as a mandatory subject, but learning it in school =/= speaking proficiency. That usually comes with a ton of practice, and not all that many of us are exposed to English on a daily basis, even less so in lower income strata.
I’ve just read that a lot lately, that most people speak English relatively proficiently there. Back in the 80s and 90s it was somewhat rare. Possibly the internet helped a bit.
The internet helps with reading/writing mostly, and that comes with the benefit of looking things up when needed, which you really can’t do in a normal conversation. But yeah it has most certainly improved. I think it’s now also mandatory as a first foreign language, back when I started high school in 1994 we were still given the option to start with French or Latin instead (with English as a mandatory second language from grade 7 then).
But don’t quote me on that, I haven’t had anything to do with the German school system after graduation, it’s mostly hearsay.