Speaking the local language earns you some respect from the local people. At a Christmas dinner a couple of months ago, one of my husband's work colleagues told me he had noticed that a lot more expats were becoming proficient in German compared to (in his memory) about 10 years ago when it was unusual to find a Brit or an American who could get past the basics in German and were more often than not completely unable to utter a word in another language.

I didn't see it as an option not to learn the language here. I was going to live here - how crap was that going to be if I couldn't talk to anyone?

Neighbourhood gossip is too good to miss!