31.3% in Bavaria
48% in Westphalia
Only 20% of "Gymnasium" students earn a college drgree.

http://www.destatis.de/presse/deutsc...5/p0820071.htm

Should have read it before posting, sorry.
20% of all people of that age.

hi Jim,

you didn´t ask for that, but that World Cup Tournament is about soccer, as you call association football in the USofA. I´ve heard, it is considered there as an exercise appropriate for girls with middle class background.

Not so in good old Germany. Soccer is quite popular here, the fans are not as enthusiastic as in Spain or Italy but quite that way.

So, do not suppose to get a a game ticket on location after your arrival. Do not suppose to get a hotel room in or around the towns where the plays take place on your arrival. If you want to be sure, you should get these things in advance and you better start with it now.

the official fifa page:
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/index.html

On the other hand, I suppose most Germans will be in a mild form of mental disease at this time. The only thing to sober them will be the German National team to be kicked out early. But there are also strong supporters of the Italian team amongst the Italian Immigrants living in Germany.

As you have something in common with them and you are a soccer (in German: Fussball) aficionado, odds are good that you will have lots of fun and make friends with them. They will love you just for the fact, you came from the USofA for the Weltmeisterschaft over here.

There will be a lot of events for the visitors, just to keep them happy and inagressive. Germans will watch the games on TV, either at home or in their favourite inn. In tournament and larger towns, there might be screens in public places for the fans. To take part in these events might be fun as well, but watch out for hooligans, as the British call them. On the other hand, authorities are aware of these people, and I suppose, law enforcement will be fast and strict at those days.

Oh, and the basic phrases for soccer, by Sepp Herberger, the famous coach :

Der Ball ist rund.
The ball is round, i.e. the result is not predictable.

Ein Spiel dauert neunzig Minuten.
A match lasts ninety minutes, i.e. the result is open to the last minute.

Der nächste Gegner ist immer der schwerste.
The next opposite team is the hardest one to overcome, i.e. whether you have won or lost, you have to concentrate on your next match on the schedule.

Depending on where you are going, learning even substabtial amounts of German won't do you much good. There are such strong regional dialects, that trying to speak Hoch Deutsch, which is what you will learn from books, is a waste of time. People in the south, in particular, speak a German that unintelligible to foreigners educated in Hoch Deutsch.

Bavarian (subdevided into upper, lower, and Tyrolean), Svabian, Frankonian, Saxon, and many more up to Lower German, Platt in the north of Germany. Yet everybody underdstands Hochdeutsch (I hope)) even though the farmers tools, some foods and the Krampus have completely different names from one region to another ;-)

Imhornet says, "There are such strong regional dialects, that trying to speak Hoch Deutsch, which is what you will learn from books, is a waste of time."

Now, why exactly do you think anyone bothers to teach or learn High German ("Hochdeutsch")?? Because it is indeed universally understood! There are many strong regional dialects, but the vast, vast majority of Germans are bi-dialectal. Hochdeutsch is the language of TV, radio, and business, the dialect that villagers use to communicate with those outside the village. If you live in Germany and can't understand Hochdeutsch, then you are either a foreign worker or in a coma. Visitors who learn to speak Hochdeutsch well will be understood anywhere.

Imhornet says, "People in the south, in particular, speak a German that is unintelligible to foreigners educated in Hoch Deutsch."

It's true that some villagers, when speaking among themselves, will speak a variety of German that the learner of Hochdeutsch will not understand. But these same villagers, if they have their wits about them, will NOT speak to YOU, the visitor/tourist, in their village dialect, as a rule. They will all understand your High German, and 95% of the time, they will use High German with you unless they are really old and communicate so infrequently with people outside their village that they can't manage High German themselves.

In some ways, it's much like certain language situations in the US. There are dialects of Hawaiian English that I really do not fully understand, but those people who speak it fully understand standard English, and the vast majority of them, if they've been to school at all, can converse in a more standard form of English that is easier to understand.

The only real reason that knowing a lot of High German is useless is that Germans normally have acquired an even vaster knowledge of English than you have of German, a knowledge that they would prefer to use with visitors.

All that said, you must remember that many of the World Cup attendees are going to be tongue-addled drunk and will hardly be communicating well in their own home dialect if they are from some little village somewhere, much less High German or English. You'll need to have a lot of beer in your system to communicate in their language.

Everything in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (German speaking areas) is in high German except when the locals speak to each other in their dialects. They all read, write and hear high German on a daily basis. High German is required at school.

Unfortunately, sometimes it isn't spoken very often and then, when the locals are suddenly required to speak it, it often comes out a bit rusty.

There were times on my recent trip when I was very glad to have my Fodors German-language pocket guide with me. Get a copy and start learning some words and phrases in the next few months--you'll be very glad you did.

Actually I think the country with more English speakers than any other ir probably Holland. I have very rarely encountered a Dutchman who doesn't speak fluent and I mean fluent English...

Many Germans speak English; you have to remember the US milirary was highly involved in the Western part of the country for decades after the war. I remember my first trip to Germany in 1971; when I got to Germany I was able to turn on both the BBC and the US Armed Forces Network to listen to English on the radio.

Of course in the Eastern part of the country, the study of Russian was mandatory but that hasn't been so for the last 16 years or so.

My favorite story concerns a train trip on DB (the German National Railroad) last summer. Apparently they were doing some sort of survey of passengers and a gentleman came over and asked me for my ticket. I said I'm sorry, I don't speak German. He switched to flawless English and asked, "Why not?" I said it was too difficult for me. He laughed and said, "How can it be so difficult? Three year olds speak fluent German."

Oh well.

>you have to remember the US milirary was highly involved in the Western part
I doubt the US military has anything to do with it. It's a tradition "English (Britain!) and French". It's been the same in the 19th century, no US involvement needed ;-)

"It's true that some villagers, when speaking among themselves, will speak a variety of German that the learner of Hochdeutsch will not understand. But these same villagers, if they have their wits about them, will NOT speak to YOU, the visitor/tourist, in their village dialect, as a rule."

This is nonsense. I lived in southern Germany for 8 monthes and could barely understand maybe 15% of what people said. And I wasn't living in any village but a decent sized city.

When I made trips the north, Essen or Hamburg, I had no problem understanding 95%. Further, the people in the north told me that THEY couldn't understand the southerners, either. I won't even get into the complete impossibility of of understanding Swiss German. And no, I doubt that anyone was going to mistake me as a nontourist based on my passable but hardly fluent German.

Sure, everone will understand danke and bitte. But if you want to have a real conversation, like getting directions, it's not so simple.

"It's true that some villagers, when speaking among themselves, will speak a variety of German that the learner of Hochdeutsch will not understand. But these same villagers, if they have their wits about them, will NOT speak to YOU, the visitor/tourist, in their village dialect, as a rule."

Gruss Gott Imhornet: what did you do to make them lose their wits?

I've lived here in CH (Switz.) for over twenty years and still speak Swiss German with an accent. Even though I'm speaking Swiss German, sometimes people hear only the accent and automatically begin speaking high German. So I delicately remind them that I'm speaking Swiss-German, especially because my high German is MUCH worse.

<< Actually I think the country with more English speakers than any other ir probably Holland. I have very rarely encountered a Dutchman who doesn't speak fluent and I mean fluent English... >>

Indeed. Of course, it's hard to think that there is any language more similar to English than Dutch. Especially if you have learned much German - - and know a few rules about spelling differences (like &quot;ij&quot; for &quot;ei&quot;, to name the most obvious one)... you will find that you can almost read Dutch with hardly any studying. I'm not sure which language the Dutch consider the most similar to <i>their</i> language - - English? German? Danish?

Not that we English speakers can say with the same pride as the Dutch that we are comfortable with their language, as they are with ours... but no one should be apprehensive about giving it a try. You just won't match their ability to speak English, very likely, for the vast majority of Dutch speakers you meet.

Best wishes,

Rex

&gt;everone will understand danke and bitte
Be assured, everyone in Germany, Austria and Switzerland who actually is a native speaker of his local dialect WILL understand high German, no doubt about it. It's only the question if you understand the answer. ;-)

I was in Germany for a week during Thanksgiving and about 99% of the people I met all spoke English - conversational English. I also found the native German to be extremely warm and friendly, and very appreciative when I attempted conversations in my broken German. Have a wonderful time, I fell in love with Germany!

Forgot to mention Luxemburg, where they in fact speak a very strong an hard to understand dialect for a person from southern Germany. It resembles the dialect spoken in Cologne. But then those Luxemburgians, speak fluent French, German and most speak English too. Don't you have to envie them?

&lt;Be assured, everyone in Germany, Austria and Switzerland who actually is a native speaker of his local dialect WILL understand high German, no doubt about it. It's only the question if you understand the answer.&gt;

I agree with logos! A German who answers a question in Hochdeutsch will still use his own accent, and a traveler who understands only stilted, college-lesson German (like me) may well be able to ask the question but not understand the answer.

One thing I've found: Asking where something is (&quot;Schuldigen Sie, bitte, aber wo ist...&quot;) may yield an answer I have trouble following. But asking only for the direction (&quot;In welche Direktion liegt...&quot;) will often result in a brief answer, accompanied by pointing, that I can use to hone in on my destination. (Actually, either question may, and often does, yield an answer in perfect English.)

&gt;(&quot;In welche Direktion liegt...&quot;) will often result in a brief answer, accompanied by pointing.

Yes, this may be because you said &quot;In which management lies...&quot;, so what I would think if you said this to me would be &quot;He/She's looking for directions but doesn't know the word &quot;Richtung&quot;, maybe I'd better switch to English or just point to the right direction&quot;

Maybe thats the answer...

&gt;&gt;I agree with logos! A German who answers a question in Hochdeutsch will still use his own accent, and a traveler who understands only stilted, college-lesson German (like me) may well be able to ask the question but not understand the answer.&lt;&lt;

There once was this brilliant commercial for the Flensburg brewery displaying perfectly the attitude of my fellow North Germans (mine as well? ;-) ):

A young, smart man driving a roadster approached three stubborn peasants on a bench and asked politely in High German:
&quot;Can you tell me where there is the nearest bay where I could do some surfing?&quot;
No reaction.
He then tried &quot;Platt&quot; (the North German dialect), Danish and English. No reaction.
When he left furious, one of the peasants said stoically:
&quot;What a nice car he had&quot;
The other:
&quot;And his command of languages was impressive, too&quot;.
The third:
&quot;But neither helped him with us&quot; upon which they opened their beers and toasted to each other.

Don't be discouraged! You are likely to get along well with just English (unless you manage for some reason to annoy people)!

Happy holidays
hsv