LEARNING GERMAN IN GERMANY

Would you like to learn

German in Germany? Lots of
institutes offer language
classes at various levels during
the day or in the evenings.
Well-known are the Goethe
Institute and
the Volkshochschule (VHS, for
short), which you find in nearly
every city.
You normally have to pay for language classes at a language school. In certain
circumstances, for example, if you are a recognized refugee, then the city will
cover most of the costs of the class. You can visit a so-called integration course
and only have to pay very little. At the end of the course, you must sit and pass a
test. Then you may apply for a job in Germany.
If you like learning online, there are lots of good resources available on the
internet for learning German, from individual materials to real language courses.

WHO SPEAKS GERMAN?

About 105 million people
in Germany, Austria,
Switzerland, Liechtenstein
and Luxembourg speak
German as their first
language. German is also
spoken in parts of
Belgium, eastern France
and South Tyrol (Italy). 
German is spoken above
all within the European Union and in other countries of eastern and central
Europe. But German is a popular foreign language elsewhere too: it is taught in
about 144 countries, including North Korea. After English, Chinese and French,
Spanish and German are regular rivals for the fourth most commonly studied
foreign language in the world.
 HOW DO GERMANS LIVE?
Over 40 percent of German families own the house or apartment in which they
live. But the majority live in rented apartments – more than in all other
European countries. Particularly in big cities, more than one third of the
apartments house only one person. These are often older people, singles, or
those who live alone for professional reasons. The average number per
household is 2.2.
In a rented apartment, you have to
pay a monthly rent and additional
costs, like electricity, heating,
water, and trash collection. In cities
with universities, students often
share an apartment, called a
"Wohngemeinschaft" or "WG" for
short. Lots of Germans have house
pets, especially cats or dogs.

ON THE GO WITH YOUR BIKE

Do you like riding a bike?
Then you're in good company
in Germany. Lots of people
use their bikes for everyday
transportation and go on bike
tours in their leisure time. In
cities there are special bike
paths alongside streets and
sidewalks. As a pedestrian,
you have to watch out if you
walk onto the bike path.
Throughout Germany there is a network of relatively well-marked cycling
routes. Many follow rivers through beautiful landscapes and nature reserves, and
are family- and child-friendly.
If you ride a bike in Germany, it should be safe for traffic. That means it should
have working lights, good brakes and a few other things. A good thing to be
aware of: occasionally the police will ask cyclists to pull over.