About living in Berlin

Hi angelo_poerio,

Welcome to Expat.com

You should check out this article - Traveling to Germany in the guide. It might be helpful

I'm sure you will soon get a reply to your post

Thank you

Maximilien
Expat-blog Team

Thank you but I would like to hear something from someone living in Berlin

I don't live in Berlin, and from what I have gathered from friends who live there, you can survive if you speak english, but knowing/speaking/learning the local language is a plus and a must at some point (and that is from personal experience too!).

If you love Berlin- love the language too. It will come in very handy

Thank you for your answer alisa_ram

Ciao Angelo, I think life is fantastic in Berlin but much more difficult when you don't speak german. As you probably know, there are a lot of italians in Berlin, and a criteria of selection among the applications is for sure to speak german. Nevertheless, it is still pretty doable and making new friends shouldn't be a problem for you. Good luck in whatever you decide to do! Expatata

Thank you for your answer expatata (what a funny nickname XD). I think you are right but it also depends by the job field. I want to work in the IT field and the most common used language is english (I always send my applications in english and they reply in the same language). I hope being lucky to be hired XD. I know there are many italians in Berlin but If I moved there I would not live in an italian "ghetto". I like knowing people from different cultures.

Sure, you are right. I organize international expat meetings, you are welcome to share a beer with us anytime. Una bella giornatà per tè

Thank you! When I will be in Berlin for sure! Bonne journée!

In my opinion it can be problematic if you are not used to living in a city to have Berlin as your first big city to learn the "codes" that follows a big city, otherwise i don't think it would be a problem.

It's not a problem. I managed to survive in Milan (it's a very stressful city) for 7 months . Berlin looks like to be a quite relaxed city.

I'm shocked by how shallow most people living in the high striving cities like Hong Kong are, so I guess its best to adjust and dress and act in line with that, at least if one are from a remote village or something like that. The people from Berlin seems to be worse in staring than im used to, like if it is a sport. Similar to the spitting one experience in China. But it don't seem like you will have that problem, with all the Italian establishments there and your experience to lean on.

bored_02 do you come from the remote village of Santa Claus XD (I read you are from Norway) ?

Its around 2000 people where i am from. At least for me it was a big problem, its like here, if you wear a pink shirt or sweater like i sometimes do, you are wearing a pink shirt, thats all, in Berlin you are gay. Those things takes some time to adjust to.

Do you mean Berlin is not a tollerant city?

Thats my impression. But I guess on a world scale, and certainly on a German scale its tolerant. You know: Rules, rules, rules, weak consumers (extreme difference to the US), strong owners, time, time, time (don't be late to check out of hotels in Germany). That one of the things that can bother me.

The world is a nice place because there are so many different cultures. When I was in Stockholm it looked strange to me that people are not so friendly and every one was listening to his mp3 player without interacting with others. I do not judge that, it's a different way of spending your life.

I think part of the problem in Germany, is that the language you will be interacting with Germans in, wont be their native language. You wont have that problem, in lets say London, or in Stockholm (due to the much better English skills among those from Sweden) for that matter. The dubbing of movies and television is stupid. The language barrier I found quite frustrating. Especially if you are having a heated argument. I think you should really make an effort to break the language barrier. I think that will make for a much better experience.

If you came to Italy you would face a different problem: people are friendly but few of them can speak english (sad but true). But it's not a problem if you are good with the hand gestures language

And here in Norway you would find people even colder than sweden. One of the things I noticed in Berlin, is that some of the more popular parts of the city have what I would call an "older", established group of Germans, that might have a clash, with a mix of artists and other foreigners coming in to those areas, due to the cheapness (like mitte and prenzlauer berg). I also think the reputation as a sex city is  very overdone. Moral and rules are quite harsh in Germany and its important for people to categorize you into a box, so behave accordingly. I think the smartest thing to do would be to avoid hotels, and hostels, and try to short term rent an apartment or room at first.

Berlin is not the right city for you ahaha

Never had so many problems anywhere. No problems on the two visits before that. I think it comes from staying extended at hotels and poor planning / loose money management. Bad temper. I suggest avoiding to go that route.