Useful German Phrases
Germany is a well-educated country that is still partially under US military occupation, so most Germans know at least a smattering of English. Its central location and desirable job market has made it imperative for its people to be able to communicate in the languages of at least one or two of the neighboring countries. Nevertheless it is never good to rely entirely on someone else’s knowledge of your language because if you want to go out into a more rural area to explore you might quickly find yourself lost with nowhere obvious to turn. Here it helps to have some basic survival German ready. It will also help you because Germans learn RP (Received Pronunciation) English, so unless you sound like a BBC newscaster they might not be able to understand your accent.
1. Hallo, könnten sie mir helfen? Means “Hello, could you help me?“. This is reasonably polite and is great for getting someone’s attention. If you start desperately following people around asking in English people might assume you’re panicked and feel that helping you will be too much of a bother.
2. Wie kommt man von hier zu [insert place name]? This means “How does one get to _____ from here?“ Asking for directions is a great idea even if you don’t speak the language. Carry a map with you, lay it out and let them draw the route out for you. It will take them seconds and give you very clear visual. Though most people travel with a GPS now locals will know about which roads should be avoided due to chronic congestion and can help you navigate train lines that might appear very convoluted to those unused to public transport in densely populated areas.
3. Können sie English? Can you speak English? Note that in German the “e ” is pronounced more like the e at the beginning of the word “expert” because the “ee” sound is reserved specifically for the letter “i”. Asking this will usually cause the person you’re asking to either answer you in English or to run off to find you someone who can. If they don’t know English they might also try French in hopes that you learned it at school.
4. Wo ist die toilette? Where is the bathroom? This one is important for obvious reasons, primarily that taking the 5 minutes needed to find an English speaker is longer than we typically want to wait when we have urgent business to attend to.
5. Vielen Dank. Thank you very much. Politeness is very important. Germans do not typically give foreigners the benefit of the doubt, so a failure to be polite could easily be interpreted as intentional rudeness. If you are in a more rural area you may well be the basis for a long-standing stereotype about your home country, so it is important to make sure that that stereotype is a positive one for the sake of future travelers in need.
Additionally it would not be a terribly idea to familiarize yourself with the sounds of the language to help make yourself understood when using these phrases. Note that in German the letter “v” is pronounced the same as the “f” in English, and the letter “z” is pronounced “ts”. Showing any proficiency at all in German will make people much more amiable and will help to make your experience as enjoyable as it can be.
Guy Pierson is a writer and globetrotter, currently working as a content creator for the EHIC travel support team at Applyehic.org. Guy’s hobbies include learning new languages, eating bizarre food, and glider flying.