I did a bit f flying in West Rhienland and had absouletly no probs with the language. Apprently East germany is getting there as well.
All the twr guys are very good at english and most Germans under the age of 30 have very good spoken english. Most use it on there holidays abroad. We had a few Germans who spoke English to each other many because the discussion was technical but also because they didn't understand each others regional variations. Bit like broad NE Aberdonian and anyone else 10 miles outside the fishing village.
My boss at the time when i explained i couldn't do overtime due Deutsch classes. Said that if a germen couldn't speak english they proberly wern't worth talking to.. which i thought a bit harsh
Another trick is to pretend to be French. Most Germans will go to great lengths to speak English just to piss you off. After the war (don't mention the war
) the country was split up into sectors which the kids were meant to be taught either French or English as a second language. Most areas which were allocated French just ignored it and had secret English schools.
MJ