I just returned yesterday from a 15 day trip to Germany. At least a couple dozen times I would go into a store or hotel and start talking German and the responses would come back to me in English. Wanting to keep practicing my German, I carried on whole conversations with me speaking German and the other person answering in English. I figured this was OK because I was practicing my German and they were practicing their English.

This may be an old thread, but the subject is always current. I just returned from France, spending 3 days in LeMans, and 3 days in Paris. I have to say that I would have gotten by without any French, but it would have required a lot more effort. We were in LeMans for the annual race 24 Heures du Mans, and stayed in a private home, not a hotel. My host did not speak English, so my limited French was very useful. <BR><BR>I find when I travel that major tourist properties usually have someone with at least limited English, but it behooves the traveler to learn a little of the language. I never experienced any rudeness, on the contrary, the people seemed to appreciate my efforts. If a traveler wants to appreciate more of their trip, I highly recommend at least a grasp of the basics.

Wow! Such great stories. As an aspiring linguist, I really enjoy all the language experience stories...<BR>Here are some of mine.<BR>Last summer, I spent two weeks in Germany. Although my guidebook had assured me that I'd have no problem finding an English-speaking German to assist me in whatever I needed, it ended up not being true.<BR>I was trying to get breakfast at a cafe in East Berlin, and the young waitress (probably around my age) didn't speak a word of English. Sadly, German isn't one of the languages that was offered in my schools, so I never learned very much of it. I couldn't decipher the menu, and being a vegetarian, I couldn't just randomly order something.<BR>Finally, the poor flustered girl literally dragged her fellow waitress over to me, and the girl assisted me in perfectly American-accented English. It seems she'd spent a year or so in New York, but was a German citizen with a good ear for language. <BR>That's to be expected, though, right? However, when I went to the Ku'damm (a famous street in Berlin with lots of big department stores), I was looking at clothes. A saleswoman in her thirties approached and asked me something in German. Probably, she wanted to know if she could help me. I told her in German that I didn't speak German, and she promptly left me alone.<BR>This struck me as funny, because in the US, a saleswoman would try to find a co-worker who spoke the customer's language, in order to keep the sale.<BR>As for the French people not wanting to speak English, I encountered the same problems with German people. Although they were all very kind to me, my friend's ballroom dancing partner refuses to speak English (although she studied it for a number of years). We had very little to say to each other, as my German is so limited.<BR>My friend's cousin's boyfriend had studied English as well, yet he, too, wouldn't speak to me in it. It was really depressing to not be able to communicate, which is why I think we should all make an effort to learn each other's languages.<BR>As for the French being monolingual like Americans, well, I have to say that many Germans are the same way. Not that I'm condemning them for that; after all, if I were a German, I wouldn't want to move away from Germany, so why bother to learn another language?<BR>Anyway, the bottom line is to make friends with people, and hopefully you'll run into people who can speak some English if you don't speak the native language.<BR>Kristy

In 96 I had just moved to Panama quite suddenly and had no time to learn Spanish,beyond bathroon, please, ty, yes and no. My husband, who speaks wonderful spanish, was at work and had mistakinly locked me out of our home. A local man was working across the street and after seeing me sit on the steps for quite some time came over to see if I was ok. This began a ten minute exchange where I used my tiny bits of french, italian and english trying to explain my situation. I will never forget that wonderful guys face as he giggled and giggled while we tried to communicate. Many hand gestures later it was clear why I was on the steps and that I needed to learn spanish QUICK!

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England

As a rule, I found that english is widely spoken in the small countries such as The Netherlands, Danemark, Czech Rep. etc. As a practical matter, these people have to be at least bilingual, because they have to rely more on foreign trade.<BR><BR>On the other hand, in the "big" countries such as France, Germany, Italy & Spain, people tend to be less bilingual. There is simply less need for the average Joe/Jane to be so.

Some great stories on this site! Memories of Catalonia (I now live in the Basque Country) include famously scrambling my vowels when ordering macaroni - God knows how, the word's virtually the same all over Europe - and asking for "maricones gratinados" = toasted gays. Several friends of mine came unstuck with "sopa de polla", a soup made of cock (!) rather than chicken. There's at least one sleazy little diner in Barcelona where you can get both these delicacies and an amazing floor show, but I digress...<BR>Catalans are famously annoying for replying in Catalan to a question in Spanish, even from tourists. In southern Spain, "everyone's a comedian" and gestures and mime work well. Further north, the "sense of ridicule" holds people back from proffering even primary school level English. But stick with it - Spanish people are a hundred times more receptive and communicative wiht tourists than most Brits at home.

<BR>Sao Tome and Principe Islands. Everybody speaks Portuguese.

Have just spent 10 days spent in Finland - primarily in the lakes and forests - and most people spoke good English to a greater or lesser extent and where they overcome their natural shyness, they were very keen to practice their English. The only challenge I faced was trying to pronounce several of the 30+ character words found on signposts and menus!

In the hospital in Milan, where I ended up my first hour in Italy (don't ask). I speak French, Spanish and some German. Where on earth did I get the crazy idea I could get by in Italian because of my other languages???

...Only know enough in local languages to say "please", "thank you", and "I'd like another bottle of that..." which has served me well on trips through France, Italy and Spain. However, the location I most wished I spoke/understood the native language (and was most befuddled in conversation)was, without a doubt, Scotland. I do wish we Americans would insist on foreign language requirements at all school levels.

When we moved to Turkey in 1969, we quickly learned the basics in Turkish: numbers, please, thank you, how much is this?, how do I get to___? If we needed to have a more complicated conversation, someone would always go off and bring back a schoolchild, who seemed to always be able to speak adequate English, as most of them studied it in school. Everybody won out: we met some great kids, the kids were delighted to meet an American (it seemed that EVERYONE liked Americans back then) and the kids appreciated the tips we'd give them for translating.

tops

Easy...Tranlation dictionary. English Polish Polish English. I arrived at a dinner date with an aquaintance. She had a dictionary and I had one. We spent much of the evening working between the texts. I carry a small with me every time I leave the house. Today I got travel information, using simple words and many gestures. Patience..you will be a welcome diversion to perhaps a boring day.

In early 2000 I was living near Frankfurt, but happened to be visiting a friend in Munich. I had a day to myself, so I decided I'd wander around downtown, visit some shops and have a drink or two at one of the local cafes. Although I'm not a fluent German speaker, I usually have no problems with communication. I have had some problems with regional, country dialects, but nothing that couldn't be overcome by slower, more careful speaking. So I'm strolling along the streets when two nicely dressed elderly ladies walk up and start talking to me, and I realize that they are speaking German, but I can't understand a single word. I slowly reply in the local language that I don't understand the dialect and would they please slow down. She replied with more gobbledygook, but I thought I'd heard the word "Hofbraeuhaus" which is one of the more famous beer-halls in Munich. Assuming that they were looking for directions, I started to explain the most direct route but I kept getting the blank stare from the two. After a few more fumbling attempts to communicate, one of the ladies turned to the other and said, "I told you your German wasn't that good!" <BR><BR>It turns out that they were American tourists from Minnesota (I'm from neighboring Iowa) and I ended up walking them to their destination... The Hofbraeuhaus Muenchen.<BR>

Well, you really have to speak english in the USA. Hardly anybody speaks another language than english.<BR><BR>American tourists in Zurich ask their questions almost always in english. While visiting the USA I was never able to speak in 'my' language because they expect us to speak english... Isn't it unfair?

Welcome to the real world Gabriela. Think of it this way: what's the "English as a first language" population of the world? vs. French, German, Spanish . . . Chinese has many variations, Mandarin, Cantonese, Schezuan, Poodle . . . <BR><BR>I tried to learn Danish before I went to Denmark on business. A shopkeeper there told me (in English) "Why bother? There are only 5 million Danes in the world".<BR><BR>If I lived in a country that was bordered by a German speaking country on one side, French on another, and Italian on another and it was only 200 miles more or less to any of those places, it might make sense to learn those languages. I live in Texas and I speak a little Spanish. Why should I learn German, Gabriela?<BR><BR>

Gabriela, that's true for much of the US, but don't forget the enormous immigrant communities we have. I grew up in Miami, and only spoke English in school.....

The only place I have ever had any difficulty was in the Czech Republic. We were trying to get on a train to Vienna & the ticket person kept pointing us to the bus. no one in the office spoke anything but Czech (oftentimes German may be spoken). We ended up in the right place by pure luck taking a bus to the border & then boarding the train. I've never had any trouble in Germany, Austria, France, Luxembourg, Italy, Belgium or the Netherlands although I am sure if you go out in the countryside far enough you may have problems. Granted we speak a little of a lot of languages, but are by no means fluent in anything but English. Oftentimes (in shops,etc.) if they could not speak English they would seek someone out who could. Language which was my biggest fear before traveling to Europe is really inconsequential, just make an effort to educate yourself prior to going.