We had a big project with a German company years ago, and all the equipment drawings were in German.
We all had to buy English-German dictionaries in order to get the project done.
The German engineers that came over for meetings here were great to chat with, and very nice folks.
It is my understanding that for the technical folks in Germany, English as a second language is a must.
I considered learning German at one time, but my hearing is off these days, and so that makes it rather difficult to pick out some of the more subtle sounds.
Many words/phrases are very similar to English, so it is somewhat easy to figure out some German writing.
I admire anyone who speaks more than one language.
I had a cousin from Denmark who spoke at least 5 languages.
He said that if your country is surrounded by other countries with different languages, then if you want to travel in a practical way, you learn the languages of the countries around you. Makes sense, but seems like a bit of a challenge.
And my other fear of learning German is if I don't practice regularly, then I will forget it.
I have relatives in Denmark, and that language is totally out of the question for me to learn.
German I would try to learn.
Danish is too mushy, and I can't even pick out words.
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