• JASN_DE@lemmy.world
    421·
    9 months ago

    In Germany, it will absolutely depend on where you try this. Bigger cities? Yeah, likely. Countryside? You’re lucky if you find someone speaking understandable German, let alone English.

  • humbletightband@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    25·
    9 months ago

    As a Russian, I agree. Like okay, man, you have challenged yourself to the level when you easily construct sentences in accusative case, but why? To read Bakunin or understand Letov’s metaphors?

    Foreigners who learn Russian out of curiosity are true madlads.

      • crispy_kilt@feddit.de
        3·
        9 months ago

        It’s actually quite close to other European languages. It just seems more different than it is because it’s written in Cyrillic. Which is also surprisingly close to Latin once you learn to read it.

    • frickineh@lemmy.world
      5·
      9 months ago

      I took Russian in 6th-8th grade and switched to Spanish the second I could. It’s a cool language but it’s so hard. The only thing I remember are a couple common words and a weird poem about killing a fly with a gun. I don’t even know if it was a real poem or if my teacher was a lunatic.

    • crispy_kilt@feddit.de
      2·
      9 months ago

      Я учусь русскии язык.

      Уже могу сказать “путин иди на хуй”

      Ещё только 50 лет больше и я могу понимать родителный падеж. Навернае.

        • ikka@lemmy.sdf.org
          2·
          9 months ago

          I’m not the same guy you’re responding to.

          • Russian language sounds awesome
          • Many talented Counter Strike players from Russia that I need to communicate with in games
          • Russian language lands in the top 10 of most spoken languages

          Point #3 is not the strongest but it is the reason why I have an interest in learning Mandarin (although I have NEVER started the process)

          • humbletightband@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            1·
            9 months ago

            Russian language lands in the top 10 of most spoken languages

            It doesn’t necessarily mean that Russian/Mandarin will be in the top 10 among people you meet

            • crispy_kilt@feddit.de
              1·
              9 months ago

              There’s a figurative billion of Ukrainian war refugees in Europe now, and almost all of them speak Russian as a first or second language

        • crispy_kilt@feddit.de
          1·
          9 months ago

          Спасибо! Мне нравится учить разные языки. Я знаю языки из группа немецкий и латинский, но не славянский. Поэтому я начинал учить русскии.

      • Allero@lemmy.today
        5·
        9 months ago

        Basic Russian ain’t hard, and it’s easy to get yourself understood. Some are scared by Cyrillic letters, but that’s essentially a fusion of Latin and Greek, and there’s nothing special about it - it’s not hieroglyphics or something. Many, if not most, letters are same as in Latin scripture. Some are a catch though, and designate entirely different sounds - like “c” letter actually meaning “s”, “B” actually meaning “V” etc.

        Advanced Russian is a bloody meat grinder. Grammar is such a pain in the ass locals struggle with it, and there’s a LOT of synonymic words to learn if you expect to be fluent or understand what we’re talking about.

        On a positive side, despite the huge size of the country, most Russians speak roughly the same standard Russian. There are some regional words, but nothing I would call a dialect is popular anywhere but deep rural areas. You don’t have to learn all that to be fluent.

      • humbletightband@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        3·
        9 months ago

        I’m native Russian speaker and I often reflect on what I’m saying and how I say things. This is very counter-intuitive.

        Do you know the joke that ‘flammable’ and ‘inflammable’ mean almost the same things? Guess what, in Russian I can give you a dozen of such pairs, some of them are essential in a casual conversation.

    • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      11·
      9 months ago

      I just think сука блять иди нахуи дурак мне похуй дебил козёл ёобаный урод блин ёб твою мать and пиздеч are fun to say чувак.

  • troed@fedia.io
    262·
    9 months ago

    Swede here. We all speak English. Heck - my kids use English whenever they’re speaking about games or Youtube anyway.

    Come to think of it. We should just drop Swedish altogether.

      • khapyman@sopuli.xyz
        5·
        9 months ago

        Last time I went to Systembolaget they refused to sell anything to me because of my obviously Finnish accent. Luckily the nearby ICA had no problem in selling me some folköl. My Swedish is passable, it is just obviously from wrong country.

        • kungen@feddit.nu
          4·
          9 months ago

          they refused to sell anything to me because of my obviously Finnish accent

          Skitsnack, you’re just joking or they thought you were drunk.

          • khapyman@sopuli.xyz
            4·
            9 months ago

            I was sober, on my way to Åre - buy some beer, buy some groceries from nearby store. Just to get by for a week of off piste.

            It’s just the casual Swedish racism.

            • kungen@feddit.nu
              2·
              9 months ago

              So what reason did they say to you when you went to the checkout with your drinks?

              • khapyman@sopuli.xyz
                4·
                9 months ago

                As I understood my Swedish was so off that they couldn’t trust my Finnish passport or driving licence to be trustworthy. They claimed they could not verify my age.

                I was in over 40 in this exchange.

                • kungen@feddit.nu
                  2·
                  9 months ago

                  Did they think the majority of Finns who go through Pakkoruotsi remember anything more than “jag heter homopeter”? 😂 Still seems weird, Systembolaget has always accepted my US driver’s license (this was additionally before “real ID”; it basically was like McLovin’s fake ID), despite the fact that they’re not supposed to accept anything other than a passport for people from outside of the EU. And I looked young then, barely 20 years old.

                  I would have fought them harder instead of taking folköl instead. Regardless, sorry that happened to you, Finns are our brödrafolk, and it’s a shame if the cashier forgot that.

      • crispy_kilt@feddit.de
        3·
        9 months ago

        A Finn wouldn’t pay 100 billion trillion for a light beer at Systembolaget, he’d bring his own for cheap when crossing the border

    • AItoothbrush@lemmy.zipEnglish
      31·
      9 months ago

      Isnt rinkebysvenska swedish turning into a mix of english, turkish, arabic and serb? Tbh im really interested in what will happen to the swedish language in the future. Will they just switch to english or will it slowly turn into a mix like rinkeby? Idk but its interesting to see the lamguage develop. In hungary the state regulates the language so much that we dont really see any development.

  • Shelena@feddit.nl
    20·
    9 months ago

    I was in France and when I tried my best French (which admittedly is not that great) all I got was an angry stare. Like, not one time, but in several cases. I did not understand why. I was just doing my best. 😢

    So, I think the map is correct for France.

    • stormdelay@sh.itjust.works
      11·
      9 months ago

      Did you perhaps forget to say bonjour/excusez moi or other necessary greetings? That’ll make people look angrily at you regardless of how good your french is

        • Miaou@jlai.lu
          11·
          9 months ago

          In case you’re not joking, yes, the French are extremely formal, and starting any interaction without a “hi” will get you weird looks. Main reason Americans think the French are assholes, I guess

          • SendMePhotos@lemmy.world
            5·
            9 months ago

            Yeah… American here… In my area, a greeting isn’t necessary. It can be appreciated but isn’t required. Even ending conversation without a closing is not uncommon. Spouse gets mad because people just hang up the phone when done instead of a proper goodbye.

        • stormdelay@sh.itjust.works
          4·
          9 months ago

          Absolutely, I think a lot of Americans don’t realise that when going to France, and end up having a subpart experience because of it. From our perspective, you are the asshole if you don’t greet people appropriately, which often means we’ll answer in kind.

          The basics, bonjour, excusez moi, s’il vous plaît, merci should get you through that. Not assuming people want or can speak English can also be important, so if you can ask them “parlez vous anglais ?” before switching it’s not a bad call

          There’s also obviously some people who are assholes or simply having a bad day, that’s a universal thing and France is no exception.

      • Shelena@feddit.nl
        2·
        9 months ago

        I think I did say hello. I know I said s’il vous plaît and merci. However, I am Dutch and we are known for being a bit rude sometimes. So, maybe I did not behave completely correct according to French customs. I am not sure.

        Edit: Or maybe they thought I was German. I did not think that happens anymore, but when I was a child and I would go on a holiday people were sometimes rude if they thought we were German because of WW2.

        • stormdelay@sh.itjust.works
          5·
          9 months ago

          Unless you interacted with 90 year olds, it’s unlikely anyone would be mad about thinking you’re German these days.

          It’s entirely possible you encountered assholes, they do exist, though they’re generally equally assholes to everyone regardless of country of origin so don’t take it personally.

        • crispy_kilt@feddit.de
          4·
          9 months ago

          Dutch are not rude, but very direct. Even more so than the Germans. Try dialing the niceties and charms up to 11

          • Shelena@feddit.nl
            3·
            9 months ago

            I think the directness sometimes is considered rude, however some people appreciate it. I think it depends on the person as well. When I was in Denmark, I found that the Danes were very nice, but even more direct than I was used to. I came there for work presenting my ideas, and they were quite critical (but in a good way). They also had lots of jokes about the Swedes.

          • SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml
            3·
            9 months ago

            How do the Dutch compare to the British? British culture is quite extroverted and smalltalk-y, is Dutch culture more introverted?

            • Shelena@feddit.nl
              4·
              9 months ago

              I think the Dutch are very open. They like to make a lot of jokes, I think, just like the British. They can be more direct and to the point than the British and they do spend less time on saying things out of politeness. They just want everything to be clear.

              • Hadriscus@lemm.ee
                3·
                9 months ago

                I think I observed this with Dutch people… It’s definitely something I can appreciate, and which I strive to do myself (keeping things as clear as possible).

                • Shelena@feddit.nl
                  3·
                  9 months ago

                  Yes, the opposite side of the same coin is that I sometimes get confused if people are less clear.

                  I had a Turkish room mate at work and I asked him whether it was okay to open the window. Het said yes (at least I thought so), so I opened the window. The he started talking about people he knew that got pneumonia and he put on his coat. So, I closed the window again. That is something that might typically happen if you are not used to the difference between really yes, or yes, but actually no out of politeness.

                  It does not bother me too much, but it is quite typical. I just hope I am not creating issues with my lack of understanding.

      • Shelena@feddit.nl
        2·
        9 months ago

        I was actually in the Loire Valley on a holiday. It is quite touristy there, so I would expect them to be used to something.

    • Nick@lemmy.world
      5·
      9 months ago

      I had only very friendly reactions to speaking okay French in Paris which goes against everything I expected. It happened multiple times that people spoke English to us and we answered in French because they forgot we were able to speak it but they obviously didn’t mean to be rude with it, much thr opposite. Maybe I just ran into some very foreigber friendly servers etc.

      • Shelena@feddit.nl
        2·
        9 months ago

        This was in the Loire Valley, not in Paris. This never happened to me in Paris. Maybe some cultural difference between different regions.

  • rainynight65@feddit.de
    201·
    9 months ago

    The correct legend for France is:

    "Please don’t.

    Also, don’t speak foreign. Especially not English."

  • IWantToFuckSpez@kbin.social
    17·
    9 months ago

    This is why expats in the Netherlands never learn Dutch even after years of living there. I know of people who lived in Amsterdam for 10 years and still don’t know any Dutch beyond “Hoe gaat het? Één stroopwafel alsjeblieft” the worst thing is that their kids who have spent most of their lives in the Netherlands don’t speak a lick of Dutch either, because these elitists send their kids to international school.

    • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
      191·
      9 months ago

      I hate the term expat. It’s completely made up to not be grouped with the not white immigrants. It also goes with the condescending attitude of not really wanting to integrate with their new country, such as your international school and not learning the language examples.

      • fristislurper@feddit.nl
        61·
        9 months ago

        I think it has its place. There is a clear difference between someone coming to a country for a limited time to do some specialized work with the intention of leaving, compared to someone who has little or no intention of ever returning to their country of origin. Both categories are incompareble in the type of support they need (or want), where they live, whether they need to learn the language, etc. Just ignoring the difference is a bit silly.

        Although I agree the term is misused sometimes.

    • AItoothbrush@lemmy.zipEnglish
      71·
      9 months ago

      Lol what? In sweden for example i go to an international school because i dont speak swedish. And when i want to learn it they tell me that i cant attend the lessons because i cant speak swedish. When i try to speak to someone in swedish they notice that im making mistakes and automatically switch to english without even asking me. Its not the immigrants its the native speakers who have an attitude.

      • kungen@feddit.nu
        5·
        9 months ago

        when i want to learn it they tell me that i cant attend the lessons because i cant speak swedish

        What courses exactly? What’s your knowledge level? Because you won’t be able to join SAS (svenska som andraspråk) classes until you have a good basic comprehension from for example SFI (svenska för invandrare). Depending on your age, your town should have Komvux (adult education) classes for both SFI and SAS.

  • ladicius@lemmy.world
    217·
    9 months ago

    German here: There’s more than enough Germans who don’t master the language so please don’t torture my ears with your butchery, too.

    You’re welcome.

    • Miaou@jlai.lu
      7·
      9 months ago

      I’ll stop trying to learn your shitty language when the Finanzamt start communicating in English. Deal?

        • noli
          2·
          9 months ago

          My experience with the german healthcare system begs to differ. Bürokratie ist Deutsch und Deutsch ist Bürokratie.

  • jol@discuss.tchncs.de
    11·
    9 months ago

    Germany might be like that in Berlin and to an expect in some other big cities, but in most of the country, das ist Deutschland, wir sprechen deutsch!!

  • Servais@dormi.zoneOP
    9·
    9 months ago

    As a Belgian, I’m a bit annoyed with the lack of Dutch/French distinction, but at least they mentioned that on the side

  • Captain Baka@feddit.de
    7·
    9 months ago

    As a german I can say this seems legit. I’d rather speak english to a non-native speaker than german, because most of the time it is hard to follow their speaking due to their faults in pronounciation and grammatics. Well, except when they speak german good (at least A2 or higher) or need it for their training.

    • VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works
      31·
      9 months ago

      Do you think this is because English is a more flexible language or simply because Germans are more exposed to English culturally?

      • Captain Baka@feddit.de
        3·
        9 months ago

        I think a bit of both. English is definitely more flexible in terms of understandability as a second language for non-native english speakers. You can learn it relatively easy, unlike german (if you are not raised by german speaking folks). In the past we had a few TV programs that came unlocalized in german TV (Jackass, Beavis & Butthead, Celebrity Deathmatch). This exposed many of the younger people to english. The school system picked up english to the curriculum already in 1964. Back in my day (late 90s) we learned english since the 5th grade, today it seems to be third year primary school. Everyone learns english here, but too many people don’t bother anymore after school and practically unlearn it.

        • VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works
          31·
          9 months ago

          That’s really interesting. I’ve noticed quite a few German creators on YouTube and similar recently, there’s a much bigger market for english language videos so it makes sense they’d target it. I wonder how this will affect language learning, likewise the other way around with so many viral videos being in English.

  • protist@mander.xyzEnglish
    6·
    9 months ago

    Went to Turkey once and people seemed genuinely impressed when we attempted to speak Turkish. They also seemed impressed we were Americans. Almost all the other English-speaking tourists we met were older Brits, many of which acted pretty haughty. I guess they’re less used to Americans visiting. Turns out on the West Coast at least a large portion of Turks speak English

    • Skua@kbin.social
      10·
      9 months ago

      There’s a huge contingent of Brits who go to a place that’s sunny, reasonably close by, and relatively cheap and just stay on a gated resort for the entire week. I’ve had lengthy conversations about holidays with people before where it took a good while to discover that they saw literally none of the country they visited beyond the resort and the route between the resort and the airport

  • pocopene@lemmy.world
    5·
    9 months ago

    The thing with France is that their reaction is the same if you don’t speak French either.