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I had interviewed a few of Germans who wanted to be interns in Asia. All of them could not speak/write English very well. Odd enough but Germans were the worst in terms of English proficiency.
In my department (and in the rest of scientific department of Italian universities) the researchers are payed according to their productivity, which is measured on the base of the number of published articles (and to the impact factor, so how famous the journals they are going to publish are). So here you can't be a chemistry, physic, biology... researcher if you don't publish something on a journal in English language. And you are also nearly obliged to use the articles of these journals as a source for your study.
There is a huge pressure in this direction for the whole scientific field, to facilitate the communication of information among the universities all over the world is considered fundamental.
Anyway, for the most of the students I've met English is much less problematic than exams such as quantum mechanics or organic chemistry
For the humanities it is the opposite instead. For example my sister studies in the education sector, and the most of her books are essays written by Italian educators. When I asked her why, she said something like "what we study is more related to the local culture-society, so some of the theories we study are a little different from the ones that are though in other countries". In particular for fields like law, that are based on the legislation of a certain country, it is not difficult to think that what students study in each country will be different.
Yeah, it is each countrys loss of new science when they make it language-limited.
So, do Germans really speak bad English? Who knows for sure?
I've really only known two people from Germany, and both of them were quite fluent in English.....with one, you would not guess that English is his fourth language.
Any particular reason for this? I have been for a few days around Germany now, and its very rare to find someone who can speak any English when asking for directions, ordering a meal or buying a train ticket. Based on my experience, people are even better at English in Poland. Also in Austria which is another German-speaking country, I had no problems whatsoever to get around in English, the ones I spoke to could speak English either fluently or moderate, when asking for directions, ordering a meal at the restaurants or buying train tickets, etc. And Denmark which borders Germany is the officially best non-native English speaking country, and the Netherlands which also borders Germany is not far from.
Some says its because tv and movies are dubbed in Germany but that does not explain how people speak more English in several other European countries where tv and movies also are dubbed in their local language which is the case of almost all of Europe except Scandinavia and the Netherlands/Belgium. Also in Austria the tv and movies are dubbed in German but they speak better and more English, at least by my experience in Vienna. This was not the case in Berlin, and even worse outside Berlin.
What an arrogant statement.
How about you speak GERMAN if you are in GERMANY??
How many Germans can go to the US and ask for directions in German??
Germans get taught basic English in school. And some schools teach French. And Spanish. Sorry, if after learning 3 foreign languages we are still not good enough for you. How many languages do you speak?
When I used to travel to a foreign country in Europe, I used to buy a little booklet beforehand and learned about their culture and language enough to ask for directions, understand the menu und order a beer. Going to a foreign country and expecting them to adjust to you is ignorant IMO.
How about you speak GERMAN if you are in GERMANY??
How many Germans can go to the US and ask for directions in German??
Germans get taught basic English in school. And some schools teach French. And Spanish. Sorry, if after learning 3 foreign languages we are still not good enough for you. How many languages do you speak?
When I used to travel to a foreign country in Europe, I used to buy a little booklet beforehand and learned about their culture and language enough to ask for directions, understand the menu und order a beer. Going to a foreign country and expecting them to adjust to you is ignorant IMO.
I am from Sweden, not the US. In my country you can easily communicate with people in English (about 90%) and behold yes, even German (30 to 40%, especially in tourism and travel related business), none of which are our native language which is Swedish, which we only speak between eachothers and to other Scandinavians who understands it. Not to people who does not speak or not understand Swedish.
And you will not need anyone to translate a menu for you at a restaurant in the bigger cities in Sweden, cause the menu is usually in English written below the Swedish text, (and sometimes even German). Just like most places in Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Copenhagen, Oslo, Amsterdam, Rome, Athens, Budapest, Bratislava, Vilnius, Gdansk, Sopot etc.
Last edited by Helsingborgaren; 02-22-2016 at 11:33 AM..
I found in Frankfurt there are quite a few good english speakers, and Berlin is no problem either.
However once you get out of those areas, english proficiency seems to take a steep drop.
My theory is that Germany is a relatively big place, with the largest population in western europe. There is a well developed German media, quite a large corpus of German literature, and even a strong german language presence in STEM.
Thus a German can live their whole life without really needing to know another language.
It isn't unique to Germany - France has a very similar situation. However, the French have always maintained more of symbiotic relationship with the UK, so there are just a bit more English speakers there.
I found in Frankfurt there are quite a few good english speakers, and Berlin is no problem either.
However once you get out of those areas, english proficiency seems to take a steep drop.
My theory is that Germany is a relatively big place, with the largest population in western europe. There is a well developed German media, quite a large corpus of German literature, and even a strong german language presence in STEM.
Thus a German can live their whole life without really needing to know another language.
It isn't unique to Germany - France has a very similar situation. However, the French have always maintained more of symbiotic relationship with the UK, so there are just a bit more English speakers there.
I have been to Berlin, Stralsund, Bergen auf Rügen and Greifswald. The latter 3, was basically zero English, anywhere. I have also been to Gdansk and Sopot in Poland, and Klaipeda in Lithuania, and there more people I talked to could speak English and nearly all restaurants had a menu ready in English, some of them (in Gdansk) even had a Norwegian menu.
When asking for directions, talking with locals, talking with cab drivers, many could speak at least some English, some of them very good, and were happy to do so! Like East Germany (DDR), both Poland, and Lithuania (which was in the Soviet Union) was behind the iron curtain. And I am not even talking about the capitals here, but smaller coastal cities. And Estonia, which was behind the iron curtain like the ones mentioned, is one of the best non-native English speaking countries in the world.
In Berlin it was somewhat good, and more could speak English there, but not nearly as much or as good as in Vienna.
Last edited by Helsingborgaren; 02-22-2016 at 02:35 PM..
I have been to Berlin, Stralsund, Bergen auf Rügen and Greifswald. The latter 3, was basically zero English, anywhere.
It's Germany. People speak German in Germany. Why is this so difficult to comprehend?
There is no obligation for any country to accommodate the language preferences of outsiders. Learn German if you have business in Germany, and problem solved.
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