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Firstly, as a Brit, I am in absolutely no place to criticise any other country for its lack of linguistic skills. Along with Americans, we are terrible monoglots and other than een beetje Nederlands, I only speak English.
I have traveled to, and done business in Germany for many years and I would say the standard of English speaking in the west is pretty good. In the German companies I trade with currently, they ALL speak really good English.
However, in 2015 we had a driving holiday, starting in Dresden, then Görlitz, Wroclaw, and back to Berlin. Our fluent German speaking friend was supposed to come, but was very poorly, so we were on our own. 4 Brits without a word of any other language. We struggled a bit in Dresden. In Görlitz we barely found anyone at all who could speak any English at all. We took the tourist "bus" ride, and the guide couldn't even explain to us that it was all in German. (I have to say - a very freaky place I have no wish to return to). Arriving in Wroclaw, it was a world of difference. Young folk all around, funky bars and restaurants, and EVERYONE spoke perfect English. I was staggered. In 3 days we only found one person (bar server) who didn't. Obviously, back in Berlin we had no problem - though it's not like Netherlands or Scandinavia. A lot of Berlin taxi drivers have no English - but then neither do some in London!!
As other have said, Italy is the worst for language speaking. I have been in quite large towns in central Italy and been unable to communicate in any way. What I don't understand is this. If you only speak Italian (or, for that matter, German), how do you travel around the world? Where can you travel if you only speak Italian or German?
I accept we Brits are lazy, but when one speaks the world language, the motivation to learn another is diminished.
Finally someone who gets it! So then comes the question why are people better at English in Poland than in (eastern) Germany? It was the same in Gdansk and Sopot in Poland, everyone I talked to spoke English, and you could even ask locals (not employed in the tourist or restaurant business) for directions, also the cab drivers spoke perfect English. Same in Klaipeda, Lithuania and the nearby Liepaja, Latvia.
Firstly, as a Brit, I am in absolutely no place to criticise any other country for its lack of linguistic skills. Along with Americans, we are terrible monoglots and other than en beetje Nederlands, I only speak English.
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I can't speak for all parts of America, but in my particular area, there is a lot of support/focus on being bilingual, but mainly if Spanish is one of the said languages.
I can't speak for all parts of America, but in my particular area, there is a lot of support/focus on being bilingual, but mainly if Spanish is one of the said languages.
Well, that makes sense in some of the US - especially CA and TX. Spanish is the only world language giving English a run for its money.
I may be doing Americans a mis-service, but I have never met many who were polyglots. If I encounter tourists abroad struggling, it's usually Brits or Americans. .
That said - the funniest and most hopeless incident I ever encountered were 5 "too-cool-for-school" Italian guys sitting outside a cafe on Nevsky Prospekt. They must have asked the waitress 10 times for "cinque gelati" - she just ignored them in that uniquely Russian manner. "Say in English" she barked at them, but they didn't understand. One became so agitated, he even took his sunglasses off (it was cloudy, of course).
Eventually she came out with one small ice cream in a dish and 5 spoons.
Finally someone who gets it! So then comes the question why are people better at English in Poland than in (eastern) Germany? It was the same in Gdansk and Sopot in Poland, everyone I talked to spoke English, and you could even ask locals (not employed in the tourist or restaurant business) for directions, also the cab drivers spoke perfect English. Same in Klaipeda, Lithuania and the nearby Liepaja, Latvia.
Are Poles, Latvians and Lithuanians really so good in English??
Are Poles, Latvians and Lithuanians really so good in English??
At least in those places. And Wroclaw, as another one mentioned. Another Baltic state, Estonia, is among the 10 best non-native English speakers in the world.
I accept we Brits are lazy, but when one speaks the world language, the motivation to learn another is diminished.
This is the crux of the matter, isn't it? From a practical point of view, it is something of a waste of time and effort to put years into learning a language which might be used for a week or two on holiday in one particular corner of the world, and never again. Of course, learning languages is personally enriching, but many English-speaking people would rather focus their energy on areas which are more useful to them.
Yeah, that makes Finnish so amazing in poetry, when you can twist every word in 100 different forms. And when the syntax is flexible too, you can do pretty much whatever you want.
Note though that those are the all the possible cases, and nobody but linguists know all those (if even those). In spoken form you need only some of the ones in the first picture where the finlandball is warming up.
Last edited by Ariete; 02-23-2016 at 10:10 AM..
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