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I think it's courtesy, they can see I'm struggling and switch to English. But then how do you ever get practice? I've had lots of interactions where I'm attempting German/French/Italian and they're speaking English. It's pretty funny.
I can speak some Italian - though I don't have full proficiency in the grammar, I can sometimes speak it without foreign accent. And when I travel to Italy, I ask to them to talk with me in Italian instead of English, simply because their English is not understandable. When I was in a hotel in Milan, the girl asked me: "wazza ruma?". I took at least ten seconds for understanding that she was asking me "what's your room?".
I am still amazed at how people assume things, why, oh why, would a French person be offended, bothered by a foreigner attempting to speak his/her native language? this is a huge stereotype. and in my POV, just a big excuse to rightfully not doing any attempts at all. "oh but no, I don't speak French, I don't want to butcher his/her language, so I will do everything in English, yay me!".... no. seriously, no. if you want to try your French with me, no probs, do mistakes, exactly like I will do with yours, if you don't want to practice and are just here to be a tourist, than just learn the basics, do it correctly and do all the rest in English, but at least try and don't assume that people will be bothered by your attempts, because that's somewhat stupid. if someone is trying to speak your language, it means that s/he care enough to do the efforts, so no damn reason to be bothered or anything.
I think the main reason is just because people want practice their English I don’t know in France or Germany but in Brazil is it.
English speakers in Brazil learn Portuguese quickly, I think because here don’t have many reference in English until movies are dubbed. I listen Brazilians helping all the time speaking slowly switch the speech for a easier Portuguese vocabulary, but some time want practice their skills in English or Spanish or other language who someone is able to speak.
In Brazil we can actually choose the movies between the dubbed version and the version with legends. But it's a fact, unless you are not in the bussiness districts of São Paulo or Rio, it's very hard to find someone proficient in English, but people try to help the foreigners in the best way they can.
Not if you try to learn a language in a place where nobody speaks English, throw away that dusty old ugly 100 year old French or German or Russian textbook and learn Cambodian, Thai, Vietnamese, Georgian, Berber, or whatever. Although I remember for Georgian, that a guy made a blog post where he tried speaking Georgian to Georgians and the all replied in Russian for some reason. In China they may reply in Mandarin if you try to speak Shanghainese to some villager.
Although I hear Brazillian fluency in English is less than 10% of the population and Russia, it's around 5-6% averaged through the entire country. Outside of Scandinavia and western Europe, the rest of Europe has fluency rates below 40%, but that may mean they may still try to speak basic sentences just to not feel embarrassed.
But screw all that, just learn Yoruba, Thai, Georgian, or Javanese instead of Russian for instance, many of you all would be surprised how logical almost every language outside conservative Europe is, even Native American languages though complex, won't make your head explode like Lithuanian.
English is the lingua franca in Europe and the foreign language most educated people learn (it's often compulsory). The downside for native speakers of English who wish to improve their foreign-language skills in Europe is evident, thanks to the ubiquity of English. This is especially true in larger continental cities like Paris, Berlin, Vienna, or Milan. I've heard many stories of people answering young Americans in English even when the Americans' German, French or Italian is fluent -- or at any rate better than the English skills of the Europeans they encounter. That doesn't make it fun for foreign-language students from the US. Already, few American students are learning foreign languages now compared to previous decades. Even university enrollments in Spanish are down, and the situation for French, Italian and German here is near-catastrophic. The attitude is: Why bother?
Quote:
Originally Posted by adrianf91
Not the case if you're learning Spanish.
If you live in the US it's pretty easy to encounter native speakers and it's the most studied language as well.
Yes, but most American Hispanics are bilingual, and you really have to search out far-flung enclaves with many recent Hispanic immigrants (read: undocumented ones) in order to use your Spanish. I speak four languages, including Spanish, and it's hard to use my Spanish here in New York. Most Latinos will answer you in fluent and idiomatic English (often without any trace of a foreign accent). That said, Spanish can be useful occasionally -- I used it in the subway with a Peruvian tourist last year.
Last edited by masonbauknight; 03-04-2016 at 06:26 PM..
Not if you try to learn a language in a place where nobody speaks English, throw away that dusty old ugly 100 year old French or German or Russian textbook and learn Cambodian, Thai, Vietnamese, Georgian, Berber, or whatever. Although I remember for Georgian, that a guy made a blog post where he tried speaking Georgian to Georgians and the all replied in Russian for some reason. In China they may reply in Mandarin if you try to speak Shanghainese to some villager.
Although I hear Brazillian fluency in English is less than 10% of the population and Russia, it's around 5-6% averaged through the entire country. Outside of Scandinavia and western Europe, the rest of Europe has fluency rates below 40%, but that may mean they may still try to speak basic sentences just to not feel embarrassed.
But screw all that, just learn Yoruba, Thai, Georgian, or Javanese instead of Russian for instance, many of you all would be surprised how logical almost every language outside conservative Europe is, even Native American languages though complex, won't make your head explode like Lithuanian.
Proficiency in English in places like Thailand and Vietnam is increasing fast due to the large numbers of tourists going to these countries in recent years. It's possible now to find a lot of Thais especially in places like Bangkok and Chiang Mai who are at least somewhat fluent in English and attempts at Thai might elicit laughter and confusion... as I said people aren't used to anglophones speaking their native languages.
Yoruba is spoken in Nigeria where English is the main official language...so even higher chance that someone responds in English there.
Latin America, Russia and Japan seem the best places for anglophones to learn the local languages but even there English proficiency is increasing which really sucks for anglophones
Teaching of Spanish in Europe’s secondary schools has enjoyed a ‘remarkable increase’, new figures reveal.
The data, released to coincide with European Day of Languages on September 26, shows the percentage of EU pupils studying the language jumped by 64.9 percent in the seven years leading up to 2012.
Experts say Spanish attracts a wider range of students than French or German and is helped by the ‘increasing economic strength’ of Latin American countries.
English, overwhelmingly the most popular, was taught to 96.7 percent of pupils at ‘lower secondary level’, up 7.5 percent since 2005.
i am sorry for the long rant, but it's just that this very subject is important, and i wanted to share my "experience" here, even if i'll end up ridiculed by some for being a "drama queen".
i am sorry for the long rant, but it's just that this very subject is important, and i wanted to share my "experience" here, even if i'll end up ridiculed by some for being a "drama queen".
Totally agree with you. That's totally disrespectful and I'd feel the same way. I reiterate that if you are going to visit a country to learn at least a few phrases in the local language as a sign of respect. If I go to Sweden or Netherlands for example, I will learn some phrases in Swedish and Dutch respectively as a sign of respect
i am sorry for the long rant, but it's just that this very subject is important, and i wanted to share my "experience" here, even if i'll end up ridiculed by some for being a "drama queen".
DJ- WATCH OUT!
There's a hug headed your way oh noooooooo...!
*Hug*
P.S.:
A few weeks ago a foreigner just turned around as he was walking to ask me (In English) which train he needed to take to get to some place. As I was taking the same one and knew the route I let him know which one it was. He didn't even say "Thank you".
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and in my POV, just a big excuse to rightfully not doing any attempts at all. "oh but no, I don't speak French, I don't want to butcher his/her language, so I will do everything in English, yay me!".... no. seriously, no. if you want to try your French with me, no probs, do mistakes, exactly like I will do with yours, if you don't want to practice and are just here to be a tourist, than just learn the basics, do it correctly and do all the rest in English, but at least try and don't assume that people will be bothered by your attempts, because that's somewhat stupid. if someone is trying to speak your language, it means that s/he care enough to do the efforts, so no damn reason to be bothered or anything.
