Well, you can definitely get around Germany and Austria with German. But in Switzerland they speak Swiss-German, which is basically German spoken through a mouthful of goat's cheese and gold coins. And there's not much German spoken in Poland at all, at least, not in my experience. Probably because most of the Germans got the old heave-ho after WWII.
As for the Czech Republic, you'll probably be okay with English most places there.
But don't let that deter you - Germany is great, I agree. And there's something fun about speaking German. I think it's the Monty Python influence.
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