Over the years, Germany has had a large British expatriate community, mainly through military personnel stationed there since 1945.

Then, there was an influx of British builders & workers in the seventies and eighties who came to work in Germany – immortalised in the television series Auf Wiedersehen Pet! However, they did not settle permanently, but went back to the British Isles as the economy improved.

Since the early nineties, there has been once more a steady influx of British professionals & today approximately 96,000 Brits are working & living in Germany. Most of them are young professionals: age group is between the years 25 to 40.

British expatriates in Germany enjoy the relatively high standard of living & safety of the country. In comparison to the UK & other EU countries, Germany has in certain cities low levels of crime &  higher standards of living.

What about the German language you may wonder? Most Germans speak English & are more than happy to practise their English instead of speaking German. Hence, it is possible to get-by in every day life just by speaking English.

But, in order to work & fully integrate in Germany, it is vital to speak the native language. Maybe you are thinking of relocating to Germany & are thinking of attending German classes, or hiring a German tutor? Then, get in touch!

Planning to relocate to Germany for professional reasons? Or maybe working with Germans on a regular basis? The following words are taken from every day office language. Have you come across some of them yet? 

Der Anhang: If you send an email from a German version of outlook and you would like to also send a report along with the email you would send the report as an attachment, als Anhang.

Die Datei: The attachment/der Anhang could also be more generally refered to as a file, als Datei.

Hochladen/ herunterladen: Depending on whether you are sending or receiving the email with a file attached (mit einer Datei im Anhang) you may need to upload the file first – die Datei hochladen – and at the other end you will need to download the attachment – den Anhang herunterladen. You may have guessed from the look of the verb that it is separable. So it is “er lädt die Datei herunter”

Die Besprechung: Always a welcome excuse not to be able to take a phone call. This notion is the same across all countries, I believe: "Oh, I am afraid, he can’t speak to you right now; he is in a meeting – in einer Besprechung.”

Generally though English native speakers are on the lucky side when learning German, at least when it comes to computer related language. Unlike other languages, German has not bothered to find its own translation for words like, computer, desktop, email, internet, browser, scanner. The only thing you might want to be aware of is whether it is “der”, “die” or “das” and the fact that since they are nouns they are being written in capital:

der Computer

das Desktop

die Email – the has been slightly adopted to German verb grammar, emailen.

das Internet

der Browser

der Scanner – again the verb has the German verbal ending –en, scannen.

These are only a few examples. All in all German language has borrowed many English terms not only for computer related terms but also when it comes to technology, marketing and PR.

Are you looking for German courses in London? Why not consider classes with your own private German tutor.