I was recently speaking to a German about learning the language, and he said not to bother – whether planning a permanent move or only a short visit, you can get by just fine, as everyone there speaks English anyway.
I was wondering: How true is that? Does everyone really know English? How much of the population is comfortable speaking it? Are people happy speaking English casually, or do most people still prefer to converse in German?
It is correct that you can get by just fine with English, but if you are looking to build relationships with people, you need to work on conversing in their native language.
With English, you will be able to get through life, buy what you need to buy, and get done what you need to get done. However, you will never become a part of all common life relationships - people know and speak English, but they will have limits expressing themselves, and especially in larger settings will find it bothersome to speak English all the time. For example, if you are at a party, everyone will speak German; if you get into a discussion, they probably will speak English with you. But you miss on all the discussions in German going on around you.
I estimate that less than 5% of Germans are able to express all their interaction needs in English without limitations; all others will just -- more or less -- limit how much and what they talk about accordingly.
Of course, it is easier in cities and gets worse in the countryside. But that is not the point.
As a foreigner having lived in Germany for about 20 years, I would imagine it to be very difficult to cope in everyday life without knowing the German language. For a short visit as a tourist, you can of course get along well with English.
In Germany, English proficiency varies greatly and depends e.g. on age, education level and to some extent where in Germany the speaker comes from. Younger persons and persons with higher education are more likely to have at least knowledge in English required for casual conversation. Persons who grew up and attended school in East Germany before the German unification, may very well have no knowledge in English at all.
If you decide to move and settle here, you will at some point most likely need to enter legal contracts (e.g. for tenancy or employment). You can not expect these to be available in English. You can also not take it for granted that you will be able to interact with the authorities in English.
I depends where you go. Even my half-remembered high-school German was very useful, possibly even essential when visiting a small town in the former East on business. The engineers spoke fluent English. The younger staff spoke pretty good English. The shift foreman spoke next to no English (but fluent Russian). Hotel and restaurant staff varied from passable English to none at all (with most knowing just enough to handle check-in and ordering food).
This was a few years ago (2009, some the demographics will have shifted a little, but not much) in an area that got quite a few visitors especially cycle touring.
In the former West, you'd get by absolutely fine without any German, but you'll have a better time even in the tourist areas if you can be polite in the local language and have a go (my opinion, but a general rule for me).
Slightly different angle than the accepted answer: For a shot or medium visit: don't bother. German is actually a pretty difficult language to learn. This only makes sense if you think you can get to a point that you speak better German than most Germans speak English. In most areas, that's a pretty high bar to meet and it would take a significant amount of effort and time to match this.
Even my 87 old mother who lives in the middle of nowhere and has been out of the country less then 10 times can converse pleasantly enough in English with the US partners of her grandkids when they visit.
If you want to live there, you should absolutely learn the language: but that's more or less true for any country you you live in. Speaking the local language is a huge benefit.
I spent a year of my degree scheme working in Erlangen, located in the traditional and often stubborn Franconia. I turned up with limited German, and had intended to learn the language in situ. However, due to my employment there being in an international office and language learning becoming a more expensive mission than anticipated, I ended up not leaving fluent, as I had initially anticipated.
To relate this to your questions:
I was wondering: How true is that?
English has Germanic roots. You'll be surprised how much vocabulary you'll be able to translate through guesswork. A guidebook for reference along the way may 'save' you from ever truley needing to learn the language while still surviving (it worked great for me!)
Does really everyone know English?
Big cities and what was West Germany has a very high percentage of English speakers. In the old East Germany and 'traditional' states you may find that the older generations (i.e. those 40+) do not speak English well or at all, especially away from the big towns, but anyone below 30 or so has had to complete compulsory English at school so will almost certainly have stronger English than you will German.
How much of the population is comfortable speaking it?
Especially if you have some basic German, politely try and say that you'd be able to communicate better in English, I never found anyone that wouldn't give a bit of English a go. Occasionally their English was poor, but they were 1 in 100 cases. Anyone in medicine or engineering will almost certainly speak English very well.
Are people happy speaking English casually, or do most people still prefer to converse in German?
I began a system at parties where I would be spoken to in German and respond in English. People will of course prefer to speak in their own language, but if you are a foreigner and making friends, I found almost all I met to be very accommodating and supportive folk, willing to communicate in the most mutually beneficial language.
Be polite and learn enough German to buy dinner and ask for directions, but for almost all other responsibilities I believe that it is true that many Germans would find you struggling with their language endearing but ultimately a waste of time when they can and will speak in English with you.
After four months experience in Austria and Germany combined, it was shared experience that if a German-speaking person knew English well, it was because they were Austrian (or Swiss). Most (90%?) Germans did not know English well enough for recreational conversations.
(addendum)
While being a tourist in Germany, even in big cities (Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne) English was useful for the basics (where is the WC?) but German quickly became better for everything else. In small towns—where I tended to spend most of my time—English was of little use. This was mostly in 1999, though more recent trips in 2006, 2009, and 2014 have done little to change my impression.
Even in Austria where every student learns at least four years of English (since at least the 1950s), small mountain villages are full of people rusty to very challenged using English: a little bit of German goes a long way to making them more comfortable.
Most of these answers focus on talking to people. But there's more to living in a foreign country than that! In my experience, in the part of Germany near Basel, CH:
While there are always unpleasant exceptions, for the most part I've found people to be very patient with less-than-perfect German.
But if you don't speak any German, you'll find it difficult to get around on public transit (you'll probably buy the wrong passes, or buy more expensive ones than you need), you'll miss a lot of important information, and you'll find deciphering wordy official documents (and all official documents are wordy here!) extremely tedious.
As a german more used to reading and writing (but just occasionally talking) in English I can confirm most of the answers here. You might find that when asking Germans beforehand how good their English was the answer usually would be a harsh overestimation of their own actual capabilities in doing so, mostly because they had good grades in school (where they kept talking German all the way usually). So if you write something down probably many people will understand you, but better dont expect them to answer in a way that wouldn't remind you of a kid with a very limited vocabulary. It depends a lot on education of course. The average Joe around here will tell you that he doesn't speak English. In Frankfurt you might find many more speakers, because it's Frankfurt (shouldn't compare to any other German city). So if you exclude Frankfurt, where you might just do ok, the chance that you meet a person with good enough English for a solid conversation is maybe 2-5% (Frankfurt more like 5 - 10), best. If you want to raise this number you should limit yourself to sentences like "I will go to a café and get a coke" using mainly simple expressions, which might not satisfy you much. And you should speak slowhowly. You will even find people trying to talk to you thinking their English is good enough for it. Usually they are wrong.
TL;DR if you want anything more from social events than getting you need for survival, better try to learn German. Else you will find yourself sitting around alone most of the times.
tl;dr: Use every chance life gives you to learn something new.
Your german friend felt for wishful thinking, when he assumes knowing german in Germany will bring you no benefits. Also it seems like learning something new looks like a burden, which it is if you think of endless courses to fully comprehend all words and rules (which will neer happen).
It is incredibly hard to learn any language without actually using, so every time you visit ANY country it's an opportunity you should definitely take. Learn at least this six phrases (no excuses allowed):
If you're not a language person write it on a piece of paper. You can extent your vocabulary at any amount. How much to extent is influenced by several factors:
Frankly, you will figure out if you feel the need to learn more or decide you have better things to do.
Compare where you want to live or travel. If you want to be in a bigger city like Berlin then it is not important to speak German because almost everyone is kind of international there and in almost every community you find people from overseas or people who speak English. But if you want to travel through the country and visit the smaller villages and stuff like that you definitely need to have some kind of basic German skills.
P.S. What I also hear from many friends who speak only English and start to learn German, when you ask something in German (of course you have an accent) you mostly get an English answer back. So don’t be upset with that. ;)
One can get the idea by the fact that you hardly can get a job in Germany if you declare that you don't know English- it is almost impossible from online applications for the jobs while German companies are much responsive, very straight forward.
In any case there is no substitute to speak to a local in his own language.
