Where should I work in germany in my gap year?

Question

Whats a nice place for a 17/18 y/o to work?

Im leaning towards Berlin. I have decent german but ive heard i wouldnt be able to understand the bavarians due to their bayerisch dialect. Is this true?

Answer 1

Think about where you live now, and where you'd like to live.  Berlin is a great city, but is enormous.  Could you handle living in a large city by yourself for a year?  Berliners are also infamous for their "attitudes."  However, since you are a native speaker of English, you'd be a very attractive employment prospect for more businesses.  

Don't discount Bavaria because of the dialect; virtually every region has its own dialect, and Bayrisch is one of a few dialects there, and Hochdeutsch is used pretty extensively, especially with non-native speakers of Bayrisch.  (Bayrisch is also pretty much the same thing as Austrian German, as it is.  After a few days, you probably won't have an issue with the accent, and it'll probably be easier for you to understand than a native speaker, since you have to be focused on comprehending the message, anyway.  Also, one of my friends lives in the Allgaeu but was born in Bonn, and no one speaks Bayrisch to her.)  

Don't forget that there are fourteen other Bundeslaender/Stadtstaaten, too.  If you are applying through a program, Berlin and Bavaria are typically the most commonly chosen states, so there's still a huge chance that you might not get placed there, anyway.  You'll learn a lot no matter where you end up.

Answer 2

You could try working at a restaurant, café or even Starbucks, they always have international people working there and it doesn't require a lot of German to work in something like that. Hope that helps.

As for the bayerisch's dialect, I find it hard to understand, being a foreigner who's been living in Germany for the last four years.

Answer 3

Bavaria is beautiful!

You'll get the hang of anything THERE!!!