Sorry I was meaning all German speaking countries when saying Germany. (no nationalism intended, mainly thinking in media clusters)

The situation in Alemanic Switzerland shouldn't be better than average Germany, even worse because confronted with a variety of German dialects.

> And you'll probably find it much harder to participate in non-work activities and mingle with the locals if you do not speak, or at least understand, the local language.

Exactly what I meant. You can easily survive only speaking English in Germany but you will sooner or later be socially isolated to other expats.

In Scandinavian and Dutch TV movies aren't dubbed but subtitled, people are constantly trained in English as a second language - at least passively.

(at least thats the cliché, never really tried it myself)

I have an English cousin living in Amsterdam and her Dutch is really basic... and as far as I know she and her husband are mainly hanging around with workmates.