The author states this about a German ticket counter employee completely baffled by the writer's usage of a term German learners like me are being taught:
"When I wanted to buy a train ticket at the central train station in Berlin, I asked a member of staff where I could find the “Fahrkarten-Schalter”. He looked completely baffled and only reacted when I switched from “Fahrkarte” to ticket. He directed me to the “service point” where I could buy my ticket."
Is it this serious?
How does this affect the German learner regarding the extra effort put in by him or her?
It's true that you can see lots of English words and expressions in public places in Germany. It's mostly companies that use these English words, either because they come with a product or an idea that was created somewhere in the English-speaking world, or because they just think that it sounds "cool" and "modern". However, only a tiny fraction of these English terms make it into the everyday language of Germans. While "das Ticket" has become a German word by now, most people would still know the the "service point" as "der Schalter".
How does this affect learners? Well, if you speak English, you will sometimes recognize an English word and just be able to use it. Sometimes you'll have to adapt to a different pronunciation of these English words, and in some cases, English words even have a different meaning when used in German. So it's mostly some additional vocab to learn.
But you are still right, there are many expressions that have been switched from being truly german to English (because of globalisation, English being one of the most-spoken languages in the world etc.).
