Germany becomes second most popular immigrant destination, 400 000 a year

bbc.com/news/world-europe-29686248


Interesting, because Poles that I chat to here are now more often saying they're going to Norway or Germany to work, not the UK. Of course, many are happy to stay in Poland and don't want to leave, but I do record a growing number dismissing Britain and saying Norway or Germany. I probably hear Germany more often than Norway.

Yes, I noticed myself that more and more people from Poland are either going there or living already behind our west border. For now the place is friendly for foreigners, especially with kids - easy access to primary schools, helpful environment. Work is hard but it's worth the money. I've heard that the life overthere is not wonderful anymore like it maybe used to be, but still good enough. Mostly better than in our homeland...

And it seems that UK is full already ;)

I'm sure the Germans will handle it with the utmost efficiency. Germany for all intents and purposes is a pretty damn good country to live in.

It's true Slavic people are coming to Western Europe looking for work. The EU having no borders.

In France they have 5 million-Muslims, 2 million-Africans, 1.2 million-Asains and 600,000 Jews. This is for reference only, not any point of view.

Germany's a great country these days but I wonder why so many would find it attractive. Do they offer immigrants a lot of help or is it purely because Germany is an economic powerhouse?

Thanking you Sir! I quite enjoyed this piece done by the BBC "Make me a German" - a British couple going to Germany to live "as Germans". I find their verdicts on the pro's and contra's quite interesting.

youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9bTKSin4JN4

I watched the whole video. Very interesting.

Tha vid is blocked in the UK, weird.

its so exciting

The most interesting things I found in that program are German work ethics (for example, they would not even consider spending time on personal e-mail during work hours), how they spend their free time (instead of plopping down in front of TV after work, they join multitudes of special interest clubs), daycare - outdoor, all day, no matter the weather (!).

Oh boy, Germany will soon resemble American inner cities like Detroit.

Doubtful. In Detroit, the city's whole reason - its automobile industry - collapsed. In Germany it is thriving.

Germany's still a very good place to live.

And will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

I'm not at all surprised. Since around the late '50's, early '60's - late '70's, Germany has had LOTS of experience (foisted upon them, no doubt!!) with absorbing immigrant populations from places as different and distinct as Spain, Turkey, Nigeria, even much later, Vietnam!!

Poles have been living in German-speaking lands proper since at least round about the late 18th century, as immigrant miners from Silesia mostly, having picked up and then moved to the Ruhr Valley:-)

With one poster's opinion that the FRG is a "damned good place to live", I can only concur wholeheartedly.

while i can`t pray for the positive effects on Germany because of all this, i would for sure pray for the negative.

Why? I don't quite follow.

to disintegrate. i wish Germany to disintegrate, not to manage to assimilate all that population, what that society doing since appeared on historical scene. First material for assimilation were Slavs (and still are available). Now, Germany swallow everything.

It is quite remarkable what have become Roman provinces of Germania and Britannia. They are now entire civilizations. Then, look Danes and Swedes. They were practically city states and now those are nations. In fact, Rome itself started as a city state. Greeks, too. Hungary started as tribal alliance. Romania, Moldova, Albania, Spain, France, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, etc, etc, etc. All profited on assimilation. More of them, less of Slavs.

Lots of Serbs amongst them, I've heard. Wanna go?

I have been to Germany over 10 times I think it could be 14. Its not bad. No way in hell would I live there.

Germans can be a bristly bunch! Centuries of relative homogeneity, plus the effects of the Thirty Years War etc.. have tended to make for a general tough-minded cynicism about life combined with a fierce rule-bound, i.e. often hidebound, approach to diversity.

I lived their for a while myself and couldn't even begin to imagine spending any serious amount of time in that country without knowing the language fluently:-)

The life of an expat or immigrant is never easy - no matter where you decide to settle down. You're away from home and usually outside your comfort zone for a while. The only solution (unless you want to end up in some sort of ghetto): learn the language and mingle with the locals. As soon as you've made friends, and Germans are quite good at that once you've cracked their outer shell, life becomes much easier. If you are really into the typical expat lifestyle: move to Berlin. No need to learn German there.

I disagree! English in Berlin??? Better Turkish:-)
lol

Where did I say that you can get away with English? :)
(you can, of course)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Berlin

The Turks and other Arabic immigrants are causing a lot of challenges with the welfare system in Germany. Eastern Europeans will work hard for their money, but moslims are known for milking the system.

Can you in fact, TheOther? Then again, how does one define "get away with"?? If you mean bread-and-butter conversation with myriad international hand gestures/body language, well, sure. With that in mind, one doesn't need English in England either; just grimace, grunt, and point:-)))

Sorry, friend! A Yank especially, a Pole perhaps too, who comes sans basic target language skills to Germany, yes, even the capital, will doubtless be less than pleasantly received (...unless of course the TRULY universal language of mullah/mezuma, the green stuff is knockin 'em over with the aphrodisiac of wealth!!!).

I consider getting by with English in Europe rather analogous to getting by with poor math skills. In what way, you ask? Going to a European country and speaking English, one won't really be able to figure out the inns and outs of the local culture and will be taken advantage of royally as the eternal innocent, the babe in the woods. Everyone in Germany learns English, but are they mostly any good at it?? Everybody everywhere also learns math; does that mean they all can count without using their fingers??

Well, at least they can communicate with you in a foreign language (or two). How about the Americans, Brits, Kiwis or Aussies? Crickets... :)

Again, it entirely depends, at least in this poster's opinion, how you define communication! I never once stated that they could necessarily "communicate" effectively/fluently in English across the board, merely, that they all go through the motions, i.e. instruction of learning English in school, that's all.

I learned how to count, but does that make me a mathematician??

true. i myself have my germanized phases. But, somehow i didn`t go.

you see, when we Serbs becomes Germans its something natural. Its process that happened and still happening. Its like when caterpillar becomes beautiful butterfly. i even think that those Serbs who refuse to become Germans actually represent caterpillars with error. So, i look forward in EU as kind of path to the correction of error. Yes, one can even comprehend EU as kind of correction facility.

No, but you can still tell whether a cashier in France cheats or not. Same with language. Germans learn English from 4th grade on, a second language is added in 7th grade, and a third one can be chosen on a voluntary basis in 11th grade, if I recall correctly. Germans and most other Europeans know how to get around with English, French or Spanish, and that's a thousand times more than most Anglos will ever be able to achieve. So no need to look down on the people, even if their English skills are mediocre at times. My 2c.

OK, then. Allow me to briefly recount one of several short "conversations" with assorted Germans over the years, humoring them at their insistance to speak to them in the language they're so desparately eager to practice!

Lyzko: So, tell me. How does Berlin compare with other European cities?

Interlocutor/acquaintance: Ye, I think we're f****g awesome, 'cuz we like, we got all this stuff in French for example isn't. I don't like

so much French. I like better Spanish 'cuz of the beaches...

Lyzko: I take it then Madrid doesn't rate so highly?

Interlocutor: I dunno, 'cuz I really f****g like Madrid....

......etc. ad nauseum

Is this, TheOther, what YOU call "communication" in English?????!!!