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I have had a few students tell me that we Americans expect people to know English when we travel and get upset when people don't. My impression was always that those of us who actually travel are happy when people can speak our language but don't really expect it, and that, in general, those who get upset have usually learned English as a second language really well (Germans, Dutch ect.) and wonder why others have not done the same. Of course I could be totally wrong on this. So when Americans travel do most expect the locals to know English or not and do we get upset when they don't?
By the way, none of these students speak English well enough or are well traveled enough to actually tell who is American and who is not.
Even if students don't speak English well or travel, it is easy to recognize Americans (US Americans and Canadians). Maybe native English speakers don't realize that, but to any non-native speaker the sound of American English is very easy to detect, even if someone speaks little English.
I guess most Americans have no choice but to expect others to speak English, else they are lost. Who hasn't seen one of those chubby Americans wearing shorts and panda glasses, holding a map, looking around themselves as if they were on the moon
All Americans are not all like this, though many are. I also would like to point out that the *expectation* is not limited to Americans, but is also found among other native English-speaking peoples: British, Irish, CanadiAns, Australians, New Zealanders.
As well, the phenomenon is often found among people who are not native English speakers but who have learned English as a second language. These people can also sometime flip out or be rude when in a non-English country and people don't understand "the second language they took he trouble to learn for global travel and thought that that was all they'd need" (or something like that).
ALL, Gosh, I don't think I've ever heard so much assumption and anger and astrological meanderings in one thread since I can remember, and as we all know in forums, folks will make up stuff and get all upset and base their arguments on nothing but their vague ideas of what's what. Well, I'm a gonna say what's what!
Based on my own personal experiences traveling to Europe and Africa, we did not EXPECT anyone to speak any language other than their own. The very idea that people would expect folks in another country to speak anything except their own language is rude, crude, and unattractive. When we traveled, we practiced with recordings of conversational foreign language of the countries we were to visit, we had several books just in case we forgot a particular word, and I think I can still remember Spanish for one of the most important phrases an American visiting Mexico or Spain should know: Donde esta el bano? (Excuse the reference for a bathroom! Just being funny!)
If when traveling, however, someone happened to know English, this was a fine thing, we were happy with these personages. We would respect this philosophical phrase, "Keep in mind when you're talking with a foreigner who is speaking broken English, that they also know a second language." I have nothing but respect for foreign people who speak English, I find it a great courtesy and a sign of intelligence, for "they say" English is a hard language to learn. I mean, do I know French? Do I know Spanish, do I know German? NO. I just know a very few words, and I WISH I had learned one of them, tho I earnestly studied all three. I cannot do foreign languages and I cannot do math. But my English is fine, altho lately because of a car accident, I cannot be sure of what I express, thru typing, talking, or otherwise, for I am a bear with very little brain now (from "Winnie the Pooh").
With all that said, I DO think some people who posted here as usual did not carefully read the orginal post, which is another case of forum misunderstandings expressed with great abandon. So, I shall say something reasonable about foreign visitors to the United States of America. I do not care if my neighbor or a traveler or anyone else of foreign nationality might not speak English, and I think it's one nutty thing that in order to be a legal immigrant here, one must speak English. Good grief. I say if they can read the Constitution of the United States and the first ten Articles, even if it's a translation, FINE. If we have to test them on that, we can do it in their language. And all they gotta do when they get sworn in as citizens is to be able to recite in English the "Pledge Allegiance to the Flag." WHAT ELSE DO WE REQUIRE? This whole immigration things... it is NOT the foreigners who are creating economic hardships... it is the traveling harvesters who use them to pick vegetables and fruit that do not give them (a) paychecks at minimum wage (foreigners get less), and (b) take out taxes from their paychecks. I would rather we had five million legal immigrants than ONE illegal immigrant, and I would adjust the laws to "make it so." Oh, if I could rule the world... sometimes my know-it-all self thinks, "You know, if they would just call me on the phone about this issue (whatever issue it is), I could straighten this all out!
So, those are MY thoughts on English. Others can think what they want. I mean, maybe the original poster's students had heard this somewhere. And actually, on the very idea that English is some sort of international language, I say if one knows French, it is as close to being an international language as English is. Me, I'd like to learn Spanish, since North America is now becoming ONE NATION... we are just seeing the beginnings of it now. I'd LIKE to be able to talk to our visitors from down south, so as to show them the respect and kindness that we, especially as Americans who really are THE nation of peace in the world, and are thusly respected despite the news, can give so easily if only we could say it in a few simple words that they understand, "Mi amigo, senior, muy bien amigo." (Excuse my Spanish, my friend, very good friend...). GG
I don't think Americans are more or less obtuse than any other nationality. I've found don't expect people to speak English. Having said that, English is one of main global languages.. so to expect to be able to find someone that can understand it, esp. in the tourist industry, is not entirely unreasonable. I've travelled to Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and always found someone that could help, but I learned some key phrases in the local lingo to be polite. However, if people asked where I was from I honestly answered Adelaide, Australia as that was my home at the time (dual national), so if I was rude.. I was added to the Australian bucket. LOL.
Do Americans expect people to know English when they travel
I have found the opposite to be true.
American are a touchy-feely, okley-dokely bunch. Consequently, they love the idea of learning a few lines of [insert language here] and trying their luck. At the minimum, that shows respect and the tortured pronunciation is good for a laugh.
Having said that, let's be honest. Thanks to several factors, the former British Empire being one of them, English won the title of international language long ago. Rare is the educated Scandinavian, German, Austrian, or Dutch citizen who does not know at least the rudiments. Most Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students want to learn English.
I have seen ads in English in places like Zurich and Milan. I asked why and the response was, "its trendy." So it goes.
When I lived in Germany, I struggled to perfect my German. Took a long time and a lot of effort, but I got pretty good at it.(no joke Neuling). Yet it was not unusual for a local to answer me in English. Made me wonder why. If my tribe had a rep for lingual arrogance, why were my supposed victims initiating it? I just ignored them and continued in German. But I realized the OP question was bunk.
We should not expect it. But that does not mean there are not a lot of people over there who do indeed speak it. And I applaud them.
I have spent many years living in a Spanish-speaking Central American country. My primary residence was in a town that attracted a lot of tourists from all over the world. The town was small (roughly 600 people) and largely based on small panga fishing and some agriculture. Only within the last few years did tourism become a major "industry" in my little town.
I cannot even count the number of people I encountered who were outright frustrated and sometimes angry that the cashier in the local supermarket did not speak any English. I always wondered it it ever occurred to these people that they were not in the US (or Canada, for that matter). Apparently, it didn't matter - everybody was supposed to speak English.
Now, I will say that I also encountered a french man who was utterly appalled that the same cashier did not speak any French. I have no idea why she would - but he was upset nonetheless. Since there were more English-speaking visitors than French-speaking ones, I obviously had a better chance to encounter entitled Americans (or Canadians - which wasn't alway clear).
BTW, I have not encountered any Germans act that way - I always had a feeling that they understood very well that they were abroad. I suppose it must have to do with Germans holding the number one position when it comes to international travel.
Alas, English is the language commonly used to bridge language barriers and it is quite reasonable to assume that younger generations in developed nations have some knowledge and/or that people in the tourism sector have some mastery. Apparently, though, that assumptions extends even to formerly undeveloped areas.
Of course almost everyone speaks English - IF they want to. In many, maybe even most, countries English is just another standard subject at high school, often taught from 5th grade on.
Some people will simply not speak English for various reasons (for instance because they simply don't like English, after all students are forced to learn it, they don't choose to; or because they think foreigners who don't speak their language shouldn't go to their country in the first place) while others are just waiting for a chance to talk to anyone in English.
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