Studying German Abroad In Germany, Austria, or Switzerland.?

Question

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Do you have any suggestions as to what university/institute to choose?

So far I have found the von Goethe Institut and the ActiLingua Academy in Vienna.

Do most of the natives speak English?

Thanks ahead of time!

Answer 1

Hello!

I don't have any experiens because i grew up in Switzerland but I think the best plays to studying German is Germany! We don't speak the right German in Switzerland, we speak a really different and difficuld dialect wich is completely different in each region...! And I think in Austria it is the same...!

Answer 2

The University of Giessen works with several American Universities for exchange programs.

http://www.nndb.com/edu/628/000071415/

You will find in Germany that most people under 30 will speak English -- and that's all over the country. More older people in the Western part of the country will speak English than the Eastern part. (Of course, that's a holdover from the old Cold War divisions.) I've lived in Germany, traveled there extensively and hosted 3 German kids. While I can speak (enough) German, my husband can't, yet he's not had too much trouble.

I've discovered that fewer people in Switzerland speak English. Of course the younger ones do, since it's been required in school for many years, but the older ones may not. For example, I've also hosted some Swiss kids and their parents did NOT speak English (the German ones did). The Swiss guy was also right about the dialect. It's almost another language it's so different from "regular" German! They use regular German in the university, but once you're "on the street" you're using Swiss-German. So you'd kind of have to learn two languages.

I'm not sure about Austria, not been there in many years.

Good luck and enjoy! No matter where you go, it will be a great experience!