Is German a dying language?
I'm looking for a motivation to learn German outside of simply loving the language itself. As you know, motivation goes a long way. Could anyone tell me if it is true that most Germans and Swiss speak English and prefer to communicate in English? I'm not sure if it is worth the investment of time if everyone already speaks English. Are there other reasons to learn German?

Thanks for your thoughts as they will prove most helpful. .

Question

Is German a dying language?
I'm looking for a motivation to learn German outside of simply loving the language itself. As you know, motivation goes a long way. Could anyone tell me if it is true that most Germans and Swiss speak English and prefer to communicate in English? I'm not sure if it is worth the investment of time if everyone already speaks English.  Are there other reasons to learn German?

Thanks for your thoughts as they will prove most helpful. .

Answer

Germans and Swiss prefer to communicate in English when talking to a foreigner who only speaks a very clumsy German, because in these cases switching to English makes the commuication easier. But when somebody speaks German well, we are pleased to hold a conversation in German.

Answer

I have never heard anything like this before, that most Germans prefer speaking English to communicate with each other. We have our language and we are proud of it. We love it.

Answer

Even though there are a couple of anglicisms used in our language I've never heard of anyone using English for communicating with friends, family, colleagues etc.
As to me the only reason for talking in English is to talk with non German speakers.

Answer

Of course, nowadays English is taught at school in Germany so every and each younger person should be able to communicate quite well in English….. However, there is still quite a significant proportion of (often a bit older) people who have never had a chance to learn English or just have never practised their English after leaving school. I would recommend to learn some German basics at least if you intend to spend some time in Germany. Please don’t expect that you can rely on English all the time …. And yes, I have never witnessed native Germans speaking English in their daily communication ….

Good luck with your German studies.

Regards,
Paul