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A buddy of mine who can speak French did a test in Paris where he acted like he couldn't speak French, he asked for directions and stuff like that in English.
a lot of the French people didn't even react or just gave him a ugly face like "learn French before you come here" some even cussed him out in French or just gave him the wrong directions.
English is a global language no matter where I go I never have any problems to communicate, even in Japan!
But most French people are so proud idk what it is but they assume that you speak their language and most of them act like they can't understand English just to f*** with you.
Out of the 50 something people he (tried to) talk to in English only 4 of them could (wanted to) speak English.
I've never met your buddy, but it's worth noting that being objectionable will get you ignored in most countries and languages. I only speak a few words of French, but on odd occasions in Paris when what first promised to be a simple encounter has turned into something requiring more advanced language skills, someone in the vacinity has usually offered to help.
If you tried asking for directions in French in London or NY, I doubt you'd have a vy high success rate either.
I realize that English is a global language.
But can you really go to a foreign country (where English is not an official or major language spoken) and seriously expect everyone to answer you in English?
If someone from a foreign country came here to the U.S. and started speaking in Mandarin (the language with the most native speakers) how would you help them? Could you even answer them?
My sister just returned from a trip to Paris and Rome. She said she'll never return to Paris because the people were downright nasty. She didn't buy a thing. I know a Parisian would find that to be a source of derision and laughter. Well, then... Fine.
She went on to Rome, found the people to be delightful and spent a fortune. C'est la vie.
I lived, worked and grew up in the NYC area. When in Manhattan if someone asked me for directions or anything, I took the time to respond. One time I was running for my train and someone dropped a bag of groceries. I gathered up what I could, raced over to her and put them down with a wave before boarding my train. She looked a little surprised but grateful.
I never set foot in the Statue of Liberty, either.
I realize that English is a global language.
But can you really go to a foreign country (where English is not an official or major language spoken) and seriously expect everyone to answer you in English?
If someone from a foreign country came here to the U.S. and started speaking in Mandarin (the language with the most native speakers) how would you help them? Could you even answer them?
In a Western European country i expect that most people can speak some English yes (or at least try to speak it when the "tourist" can't speak their language)
I lived, worked and grew up in the NYC area. When in Manhattan if someone asked me for directions or anything, I took the time to respond. One time I was running for my train and someone dropped a bag of groceries. I gathered up what I could, raced over to her and put them down with a wave before boarding my train. She looked a little surprised but grateful.
I never set foot in the Statue of Liberty, either.
Maybe you but most people would not.
It is also my case, I always take the time toi help people who ask me for a direction or even who you look lost.
Imagine now that you don't have the time to help people and that english is not your native langage.
Even if you can understand it, it is not easy to speak a language that you don't use on daily basic.
In most of Paris, Arabic, African and Asian languages are much more common than English.
In my bus, hearing english is weird and very exotic while Wolof is common.
The londoners didn't help me even when I asked them, one indicate to me the wrong direction when I searched Brick Lane.
I spoke to them in English, the native language of the majority of London population.
It is what I call the big city atitude.
Many people when they visit Paris think of the stereotypes (romance, museum ) they forget that before being the "city of Love" Paris is a metropolis of 12 million inhabitants where the life is quite hard if you earn less than $100k per year.
Paris is not a city of native, it is a city where people move for work.
The Paris of the tourist and the Paris of the inhabitants are two completly different city.
Last edited by Minato ku; 11-21-2011 at 11:00 PM..
A buddy of mine who can speak French did a test in Paris where he acted like he couldn't speak French, he asked for directions and stuff like that in English.
a lot of the French people didn't even react or just gave him a ugly face like "learn French before you come here" some even cussed him out in French or just gave him the wrong directions.
English is a global language no matter where I go I never have any problems to communicate, even in Japan!
But most French people are so proud idk what it is but they assume that you speak their language and most of them act like they can't understand English just to f*** with you.
Out of the 50 something people he (tried to) talk to in English only 4 of them could (wanted to) speak English.
Terrible for the individual who speaks English, but kind of understandable isn't it? Why does English need to be the lingua franca everywhere? Why does everyone have to have English as the alternative to their native tongues or that of their neighboring countries? It's actually detrimental to us native English speakers because it gives us so little impetus to learn other languages--and the language of other countries is often the gateway to learning about the core and kernel of other countries.
There are more native speakers of Mandarin and Spanish than there are of English with many languages such as Hindu, Arabic, Bengali, Portuguese, Russian, etc. having many native speakers. How is it that we are compelled to expect English proficiency from them when the native English speaking population is a minority in a diverse world?
There are more people who have English as their 2nd language than any other language.
True, but if you're counting both number of native and second language speakers, Mandarin Chinese does sometimes come out on top (depending on what source you're looking at). Spanish is a little bit further behind when doing a native plus secondary language speaker counts. However, for all languages, the number of native and second language speakers combined will still be a fraction of the world's population, so I still don't understand why anyone goes to a non-English speaking country and expects people there to respond to questions in English.
so I still don't understand why anyone goes to a non-English speaking country and expects people there to respond to questions in English.
I'm talking about a West-European metropole / WORLD city not rural China.
If the French in Paris don't want to talk English to tourists they should stop calling themselves a WORLD city.
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