[jen]

CC, I didn't mean to offend. I think Americans are much worse when it comes to foreign languages/cultures than Germans. But for a country which mandates English classes in middle/high school, Germans speak remarkably poor English. My university-educated, German colleagues, who work for an American high tech firm, speak reasonable English for the most part. But I have found that most people in the service industry - furniture stores, gyms, department stores, government agencies, banks - speak little or no English.

And to the OP's point, it is one thing to live with someone who speaks the language or have your firm move you (find you an apt, move your stuff, register you for German class, etc.) and quite another to find your own apt, buy your own furniture, and otherwise set yourself up for daily life with no previous experience with the language. Not impossible, but difficult.