Why learn German

German is the most widely spoken native language in Europe and the language of its largest economy. It is also, for an English speaker, a closer relative than French or Spanish - the two languages share a common ancestor, and it shows in the vocabulary far more than people expect.

The EU's biggest first language

Around a hundred million people speak it as a first language, across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and pockets of several other countries. Inside the European Union that is more first-language speakers than any other language, English included.

A country actively short of skilled workers

Germany has a long-running shortage of skilled workers and has built its immigration system around it, with routes specifically for qualified people from outside the EU. German is not always required to enter, but it decides how far you get once you are there - and it is what separates a job from a career.

University that costs almost nothing

Public universities charge little or nothing, including to international students, and Austria and much of Switzerland work similarly. Plenty of master's programmes run in English, but undergraduate study and everyday student life largely do not, so German is what makes the offer usable.

Closer to English than it looks

And it is closer to English than it looks. Haus, Buch, Wasser, Finger, Garten, Hand - the everyday core of both languages descends from the same stock. Once you stop being distracted by the long compounds, a surprising amount of German is already half-known.