German perhaps

This morning I had a meeting with a consultant (that's what they're called now) from the German unemployment office.

She was very pleasant and appreciative on what I've been doing.

But she only spoke in high speed, beaureaucratic German - or rather a dialect of German (I can only cope in standard German, Hochdeutsch).

I left with lots of forms and leaflets, all in German, with the daunting task of understanding them.

I reckon even a native German speaker would have problems.

More German malarky

Last week the German unemployment office sent me an electronic message which mainly asked for my c.v. in GERMAN (their caps, although they wrote the message in German).

German c.v.s tend to be longer than Anglo-Saxon ones but in this case it is shorter.

Bit of a bite

Contacted on Xing (the German version of LinkedIn) by a recruiter for what turned out to be a job in Düsseldorf.

We spoke in German about a probable interview until I started to say - in German - that obviously my English was better.

The recruiter immediately switched to English and told me that the international company really needs someone with very good German - even though the job details were in English.

I explained that my German is rusty as I live in Munich - a land which only pretends badly not to speak English.

At least it's a bite.