Language: Living in Germany

I have only noticed the language only a little bit. But with what I have heard, I did notice that Debbie made a very good point that German people speak softer, or at least for the most part. The only people that I understand right now for the most part are the professors, and the other people in the Sommerkurs program. One reason, I think is the common answer of how they dpeak so fast. I haven´t noticed much use of hand gestures. It could easily be the fact that it may be similar enough to what I am used to that I just haven´t noticed it.