"Können Sie deutsch?" Sounds familiar? My first day in Germany! And without German language it was tough for me and I can imagine it is the same for the other people like me.
12 March 2006, when I landed in Wien and later to Stuttgart airport it was the first question people asked me: "Können Sie deutsch?" And believe me, this question will remain everywhere throughout your life in Germany since people don't know how long you are already here of if you even learned the language. Sometimes I felt that the knowledge of the German language is way too important for Germans than any other degrees, certificates or skills.
The flight was good and the service was great. To be honest it was my first flight so I had no comparison about flight services. Nevertheless I enjoyed the flight. It was my first time nice to hear "Sir, do you want this? Sir do you want that?" I liked that. I was very excited and looking forward for my so called new life and I could not sleep. Everything was new.
When landed in Wien and encountered a cold temperature, although I heard about it it was a big surprise and definitely colder than I could possibly imagine. Coming from India and therefore only wearing a thin jeans jacket made it maybe feel colder than it actually was.
Since I had no idea what to do at the airport, I just followed the others and was reading signs. I went to the immigration counter and their first question was "Sprechen Sie deutsch?" Although I took several German courses back home I understood nothing so asked back "Can you speak English please?" They were very friendly and all went well but this small question wasn't be able to understand or even to give an answer let me feel helpless and I tried to remember was I learned in that course. After few hours wandering around the Vienna Airport I took a connecting flight to Stuttgart. There I came out and immediately tried to communicate with few people in English but without big success. Everyone wanted to help but the language was a huge barrier. Maybe I have not found the right person but my first thought was that if even on an airport English was not working, how will I survive in this country during my study?
Maybe you ask yourself why I came to Germany instead of going to the US, UK or Australia where they speak English? I am sure many students or job aspirants ask themselves this question during their career/future planning? Would you like to know what was my reason?
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