You can learn Dutch or Swedish that way - but not German. The reason is that it is very rare to find English-language films with German subtitles. In Germany most films get dubbed. Which I think is possibly one reason why, as a general rule, people in Germany don't speak English as well as people in the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Germans, unlike their neighbours, don't hear English on TV.

It used to be rare, and you won't find much that is subtitled on TV or in the movie theaters, but now, with the advent of DVDs, you can do this with pretty much any film. In fact, now you can watch a film first, say, with English audio and German subtitles and then watch it again with German audio and English subtitles.

And, yes, I agree with you--I think that the amount of English Scandinavians hear on TV is related to their excellent English skills (there are other factors, of course, but this would seem to be one).

You certainly won't find movies subtitled in German in the US, that's for sure. I have about 250 DVD's at home and I don't think I've ever seen anything other than French/English/Spanish subtitles.

JP

Well for THAT you can use the wonderful Viennese for Americans phrase book: http://www.abseits-soccer.com/wienerisch.html :D

good day,

you didn't ask, but i will tell you anyway . . .
as an american, your income earned in a foreign country is still taxable by uncle samuel. please see the following link for some very helpful, INTRODUCTORY comments on how to exclude foreign earned income from taxation by the us, what may be excluded (and what may not), etc:

http://www.irs.gov/faqs/faq13-3.html

incidentally, i have been a professional tax preparer for several years -- please be sure to contact a professional preparer in your area so that you will know the rules on how to exclude your income (if you go to an h&r block office and talk with a senior preparer they will be able to help you). absent that, you could download the publications mentioned in the above url and read up yourself on what is required. or, you could get a publication such as lassiter's and read in there what you will need to know.

as a last resort, contact your hr department on this topic, or perhaps there is a colleague in your office who just returned from abroad and can advise you.

i have seen too many people lose out on this by not knowing the rules beforehand.

have a great year.

This was a comment about films available for rent or purchase WITHIN Germany.

travis - danke! sehr gut!

This is something i am definately going to look into and was planning on asking HR. Another thing I am going to look into is that my apt lease ends up in May of '07. So technically I wont have a residence in the US (i guess my parents). Unless anyone knows of anything I should watch out there for I think its just an issue I can take up with HR.

Regards,
-mb

Good advise. However I noticed that the English subtitles are most of the time word by word but it seems that German subtitles tend to be more for hearing impaired and do not always show what is actually spoken.

If you will not have a permanent residence when you move to Germany I would recommend using a friend or relatives address in one of the state tax exempt states (ie. Florida, Texas, Washington, etc) This way you will only have to file a federal tax return. I lived in Germany for 9 years as a military brat, and 2 years in Okinawa in the service. This was good advice that was given to me. Take every opportunity to enjoy Germany it is a wonderful country and has events happening every weekend in many towns.

I would recommend going with the latter - watch a movie you already know in the dubbed German version and switch on the English subtitles. I think the learning effect is much greater than if you watch English with German subtitles. And when you're ready, you can graduate to etch's suggestion, watching the German-German version. And after that, you can try to watch a German-made film (like Goodbye Lenin or something) with the German subtitles on.

It's not for lack of trying though. Unfortunately, there is a law that TV programming must be dubbed, rather than subtitled. Nominally, it's supposed to be a programme to keep the German language alive, but in fact it is just a make-work scheme for a sizeable industry - dubbing all those programmes employs a huge number of people!

I wish I at least had a choice of whether to watch in in German or English though. In Switzerland, some programmes are broadcast with the original soundtrack and the dubbed soundtrack, and you can switch between the two. I would really like to see this in Germany (especially for my beloved Simpsons).