English is taken for granted.

I moved to Berlin from London.

When I told people I was moving the first question they asked was: do you speak German? No, I don’t. Before moving I attended German lessons for five months. So, I know the very basics and I intend to join classes again.

I hate that I am an ignorant Brit who has never properly learnt another language. But I am. On holiday, I am that person that who hopes the locals will speak English.

I met a French girl on the second day I moved here. She is fluent in English, has a German boyfriend and doesn’t speak German. She has been in Berlin for two years and has managed quite easily without German. She told me it is too easy to use English when you first move, and very difficult to then later start using German.

I’m very aware of this and therefore I am trying to use German when I can. At the shops, in restaurants or ordering coffee. I went to a café this week and ordered my drink in German, ‘Kann ich bitte einen Hafer-Latte haben?’. I was very pleased with myself. But the barista then continued to ask me something in German – I guessed she asked me if I wanted to sit in or takeaway. I was thrown. I didn’t expect this question and didn’t know how to respond. I must have communicated incorrectly to them because I ended up with a takeaway cup with the intent to sit in.

My understanding of German is clearly limited. And I don’t know the best way to respond in this situation. Am I trying hard enough if I ask my first question in German and then ask for/need the rest of the correspondence to be in English?

I guess struggling through the very broken German is the best way to pick up vocabulary and to learn as I go. There’s a need to embrace the difficulty in order to make progress.

After living in Berlin for just two weeks, I have concluded that I take English for granted. Becoming conversationally fluent in German will take a while. My initial goal is to become comfortable with small talk. Talk to someone about the weather. Order a coffee and confidently say I want to sit in. Ask for stamps at the post office. Ask the cashier for cashback (I’ve been hit by a lot of ATM fee’s) and tell them I don’t want a bag. Basic goals to make day-to-day life so much simpler!