This study explores how Korean and German college students differ in their motivational orientations for learning English in the context of English as the world language. This is of particular interest in part because the students’ native cultures are remarkably different in many aspects. Sixty students from two major Korean universities and 65 students from a major German university were given a questionnaire consisting of 30 items that seeks to ascertain their motivational orientations for learning English. Factor analysis was conducted on the collected data, and ten factors were identified for each group. The result indicates that the two groups were alike in their integrativeness to the target culture. However, whereas the Korean students seemed to be intrinsically motivated, the German students seemed be affected by the understanding of the target culture in their learning of English. These results were a little unexpected, considering the significant cultural differences between Korea and Germany. The data was interpreted to reflect the characteristics of the Korean students and the German students’ inherent cultural and historical heritages.