Moving to Munich from England

Hi there,

My boyfriend and I are thinking of moving to Munich from England, possibly next summer. My boyfriend will have a job lined up. I won't have a job, but I'm happy to go with the flow.

I'm wondering just how much German we'll need to get by initially. We definitely want to learn the language, but my boyfriend doesn't know any, and mine is pretty basic (GCSE level). We are definitely not presuming that it'll be a breeze and that everyone will speak English, and of course, if it's definite that we're coming we'll try and get as much German in before we leave as possible.

So I'm wondering how easy/hard it will be to get settled with our basic/little bit of German. How easy is it to find English speaking jobs - perhaps office based? How widely-spoken is English?

Part of the reason we want to move is to experience a different lifestyle and culture, which would encompass learning the language. However, I want to get some kind of idea of what level of English is spoken and what kind of struggle we could expect with our lack of German!

Thanks!

Well, speaking English is the next best thing after speaking German. However, finding somewhere to live will be harder because if the landlord doesn't speak English then that's that. However, you'll hardly be the first Brits to come here without speaking much German. It will make things harder but not impossible. There are quite a few English-speaking jobs in Munich -- just keep an eye on the employment offered forum.

If your boyfriend has a job lined up, surely somebody in his company would be able to help you get settled and find accommodation. If nothing is set yet he should try negotiate this into his contract. (We were able to get this help through my wife's company)

Finding a job can sometimes be difficult (I guess it depends on your standards and what you are willing to do). It took me about 3 months to find a job here. I don't need to speak German for my job, but it would help a lot if I did.

My German is pretty basic. My learning consists of a very short course before I arrived and then 2 months of intensive classes after I arrived. I now know enough to get by in shops and have simple conversations. When we get official letters, etc we just ask a friend or colleage to help us out.

Thinking about it, if you hold an EU passport I think it would be pretty easy to find some sort of work here.

Basically, you can get by here with English (most people under 40 speak excellent conversational English), but if you don't want to feel like a tourist you should try to learn a bit of the language.

Thanks for your replies.

I've always enjoyed learning languages, but my boyfriend was put off at school. He's keen to learn now, but I appreciate that it will be more of an effort for him to do so, than it will be for me.

I'm not adverse to German-speaking work, but I guess my level or German just won't be anywhere near good enough.

I think we'd want to get a good mix of German friends as well as meeting other expats. This forum seems to have some great ideas and suggestions for socialising, so I'm not too concerned about that. We are still in the early stages of thinking about moving, but it's looking fairly positive so far.

That's more than a lot of people actually living here can say for themselves!

Perhaps you could sign up for a German class before you come. At least then you should have a good grounding and it will be that bit easier for you both.
Good luck!

Initially you can get by with none, but of course everything is much harder, like finding a flat, dealing with Telekom, Electric company, the 1001 ampts merry go round etc, etc. Not impossible (I did it with German consisting of "Gutten Morgen" and "zwei beer bittaaaa" hick). The rate at which you pick up German depends on how much you immerse yourselves into German life and not rest only with the Brit community. It is possible to get into the little Britten way of things and end up not learning a bit of German. But, if you make the effort to get involved in German life you can pick up the lingo surprisingly quickly and then everything becomes much easier and more fun.


They exist, but of course, you seriously limit your possiblities and may end up having to take a job at a lower level than you would normally expect in the UK. But, could be a first step in getting yourself settled. Or if bf has a job may-be the best thing to do would be a intensive German course to get a reasonable level of German and so increase your oppertunities. It is easier to learn here than in the UK as you "have to do it" and you are surrounded by it all the time.

English is widely spoke at least in all major, western towns by the under 40's. But, is a bit of a disadvantage as you will find that you will fall back on it and so not force yourself into speaking German. Munich has one of the largest ,and most active brit communities. So you can find a support group that would normally be willing to help with stuff and give you tips on avoiding the traps for young players. Also, will give you some down time from German life.

All in all a experience well worth doing. But, sometimes it will drive you mad to the point that you want to get a machine gun and kill them all. But, once you get passed that you will find that the quality of life here is good.

There's a website and forum specifically for "Germany's English-speaking crowd", but I can't for the life of me remember what it is. I'm sure you can find it through Google somewhere.

Been doing that for the last hour!!! Could you post the link???

Again - thanks for the info and advice.

If it looks like we'll definitely be coming, learning some of the lingo before we arrive will be a priority.

Tschüss

If you want to got to Munich forget the "Tschüss". It makes my ears bleed. Please either say 'Servus' or 'Ciao'(aka 'Tschau').

@nm123
You're a foreigner? You're a woman? Two very good reasons NOT to be using "servus" around here, in my opinion. I'd leave it to the locals.

Ciao being a very german word of course!?

Ciao is Italian, but living in Munich you could have noticed it is quite common to use it.
It even was germanized in the variation of 'tschau'.

Hmmmm, when used by Italians it is more often used as a greeting than a goodbye.

Ciao in Italian is used as a greeting as well as a goodbye equally. Just like 'Servus' in Bavaria.

or is it just germans wanting to be everything but themselves again, and Munich thinking its part of Italy?

That's also true. Munich _is_ the northernmost city of Italy.
Another Interesting behaviour is almost all people knowing distances to major Italian cities and not knowing distances to German major cities.

You've got something wrong mate, Its a southern German and Bavarian City and thats it, the rest is crap, no matter how much you all think you're Italian.

Are you envious?

And pigs might fly!

If you've ever been to Italy, you'll know that Munich is nothing like Italy. Thank christ for that. I know people say this a lot, but I don't really see very much Italian influence here.

I've been there quite a lot. And it depends on the place you stay to find similarities to Italy in Munich.
I would count Udine as quite a good example.

I see Italian influence; there are a huge number of Italians living here or doing stints working here, you can get good Italian food and coffee more readily than in many other places, and if you want you can go about your business eg hairdresser, dentist, doctor etc in Italian. But this 'most northerly city in Italy' stuff is nonsense. I love 'em both, but vive la difference!

nm123, good luck with your move to Munich. If you show the will to learn, you will find that rudimentary German will get you by at the start. I have always found Germans far more welcoming and willing to help than people generally give them credit for. Of course things like house-hunting, phone lines etc are more challenging but a resource like Toytown should help you over the hump. That said, I would try not to rely too much on it in the very early days in terms of social outlet or you may find it difficult to resist the temptation to live in a little English-speaking bubble - that makes it very tough to get to grips with the new language.

The italian influence is quite striking, both Nymphenburg palace and the Theatinerkirche were built by italian architects, and in numerous other buildings the architects were heavily influenced by italian buildings. Saying that Munich is the northernmost town of Italy is actually a way of saying how much people adore the italian way of life. Plus, there are more italians living in Munich than in any other german city. Comes Oktoberfest with its 'Italian weekend', the italian population rises quite a bit (at least for some time). At the end of the day, of course, it's still a german city, but with a distinct transalpine flavour every now and then