u/Wunid

I’ve been living in Germany for three years, having moved here with a B1/B2 level of German. My English is at a similar level. I notice that people here often place great emphasis on mastering German perfectly. My boss, on the other hand, has praised me from the start for arriving with a knowledge of the language; I work in German, meet with German business partners, and give presentations in German. I also usually conduct job interviews in German (when they ask about language, I tell the truth that it doesn’t matter whether it’s English or German, and we usually end up speaking German straight away). In my private life, my work colleagues have also included me in their local social circles, where I get on just fine in German. My question is: where have you encountered a requirement for a very high level of German in a job without client contact (I mean engineering or IT roles, not customer-facing work)? I get the impression that, in my case, learning new things related to the industry will benefit me much more than learning a language. Alternatively, learning French to open up more opportunities (besides, I enjoy learning new things, including languages). What are your thoughts on this?

Wiecie jak wygląda sprawa z dostępnością gier w elektromarketach w dniu premiery? Chciałbym kupić grę, która ma premierę w piątek 5 czerwca i chciałbym od razu w nią zagrać w ten weekend. Zastanawiam się czy będą dostępne na sklepie czy zamówić kurierem czy z odbiorem osobistym. Jak myślicie, jaka opcja byłaby najpewniejsza, żeby mieć grę od razu w dniu premiery (od razu zaznaczam, że chcę grę na płycie więc wersja cyfrowa odpada).

Hi, I’m a fan of shanties and, more generally, the sailing scene and the Baltic Sea. I live in Pomerania, Poland, and I like local shanties (unfortunately, most people only know the translated English versions). What is the shanty culture like in Germany? I’ve seen that there are some bands, but how popular is it? Are there events in towns where they’re sung? Are there any trips, bonfires, etc. organised where people sing? And are there any typically German shanties that are widely known throughout the country, rather than just near the coast?

Hi, I’m thinking of looking for a job in Italy as an RF engineer. I’m wondering what the situation is like over there. I have six years’ experience in RF engineering, including some in defence and some in healthcare, and I’m wondering what the sector is like in Italy (I suspect the defence sector should be in good shape at the moment). I currently live in Germany, but the economic situation here looks bleak and we’ve just been hit by collective redundancies at work, so I’m thinking of leaving the country. Do you think English will be enough to get by at first (I also know German, but I doubt that’s much of an advantage outside South Tyrol)? I’d love to hear your thoughts on what the situation is like. Do you think an annual salary of around €70-80k is a realistic expectation?

Hi, I’m thinking about buying the game, but so far I’ve mainly been playing on GOG and I’d prefer to stick with that platform. Do you know if and when a GOG version will be released? I’m trying to figure out the best way to buy this game. For now, I could also get a Game Pass subscription for PC, but in the long run, I reckon it would be better to buy the game without a subscription.

Hi, I'm thinking about pre-ordering the Gothic Remake. I have a PS5 and a powerful gaming PC. I'm debating between getting the physical PS5 version or buying it on GOG. Either way, I’ll be playing with the DualSense controller, whether on the console or on PC, but I’m wondering if there will be any mods in the future, like there were for the old Gothic games on PC, or if the performance on the console will just be much worse. On the downside, there might be an issue with the controller and its support in the PC version, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. Which version did you choose in this situation?

Hi, I'm thinking about upgrading my computers. I have two (one belongs to my wife—it's in a small Ice Cube case in the living room next to the TV, where we play Civilization 6 together or she plays Fortnite, GTA, and Red Dead Online, and it serves as a media center for watching streams, etc.—and the other, more powerful one is mine, which I mainly use for playing new AAA games).

Small PC (mini-ITX size)
GPU: Radeon RX470 4 GB
CPU: Intel i7 2600
RAM: 16 GB DDR3
PSU: 450W

Big PC (ATX size)
GPU: Intel arc a750
CPU: AMD ryzen 5700
RAM: 32 GB DDR4
PSU: 750W

Normally, I’d buy a new GPU for my big PC and use the Intel Arc GPU in my small PC, just like I’ve been doing so far, but I’ve read that Intel Arc GPUs don’t work very well with motherboards that don’t have a Resizable Bar. I’m seeing artifacts in games on the RX 470, and I’m wondering what to do in this situation. Do you think it’s still worth upgrading the small PC? I have about €1,000 to spend on everything, and I’m thinking about how to split it between both computers to make it as effective as possible.

Hi, I’ve recently started working in Germany. I’m currently earning around €80k as an engineer with five years’ experience in a medium-sized town in eastern Germany, where the cost of living is low. Every now and then I receive offers from recruiters, mainly from Munich but also from Berlin and Hamburg. They usually offer pay rises of €5k, which seems pointless to me in my situation, given the cost of living there. As I’ve worked out, I’d need an offer in the region of €100–110k for it to be financially worthwhile, but at this level of the role, they’re not willing to offer me that. Do people move to Munich more for their careers than for the money, even accepting a lower standard of living to be in an environment where there are more companies? What’s the deal with moving to expensive cities?