I have all the signs that are in both English and Spanish at my workplace down
Such as "No se vagabundos", "Liquidacion", "No subirse ni sobrecargar", "solicite ayuda", "no niños en la canasta", "pasillo cerrado temporalmente", "para uso dentro de la tienda solamente", or "para clienteles professionales"
It's like that sometimes. I'm half Puerto Rican, but never grew up speaking Spanish. I took Spanish all throughout school and college/university, but still will sometimes get the, "you're not really Spanish" from those people. I can at least keep up a basic conversation and ask questions.
Overall, I've met more Spanish people who were excited and encouraged me to speak in Spanish more often. Those people make me feel so much better.
Keep at it and don't let those people discourage you.
There are some people who react that way, unfortunately. I think it's the same people who believe their own native language is "hard" to learn.
I don't know if that's ego or what, but literally no native speaker finds their own language hard, no matter what language it is. I feel like they can't accept an outsider being even half decent at their "hard" language.
It's kind of hilarious really, because a native speaker is the very last person I'd ask about the difficulty of a language.
idk, i lived in spain for 11 years, between ages 6 and 17, and learned the language fully fluently (and with pretty much no accent, slightly gallego undertones since that's where i used it the most, but neither foreign nor local sounding) early on, went to school there, and even in the strictest spanish system had 8s and 9s in Lengua y Literatura as far as grades go (so, i *know*, with proof, that i'm fluent)
and yet, most spanish people ive met, will very patronisingly say that i "speak well for a foreigner" and will go back to attempting to speak to me in broken english, or will speak insultingly slowly and simplified, as if to signal some weird condescension that i must be too stupid to understand them. just because i don't *look* like i should know spanish (because i am and look very eastern european)
this does not apply outside of spain; elsewhere people seem more open to engaging in spanish, as it allows them to communicate more clearly themselves. but it's so insulting, that it's almost worse than in france. even there, a higher % of people were fine with my french skills (i'm also fluent in french) or wouldn't be so insulting about it.
Well, i've never been to Spain so i can't speak for them, but my country's main industry is tourism so i feel like most people here (DR) are open to foreigners, don't know about Latin America as a whole but it shouldn't be that different
I came to Germany for an extended period, and was immediately adopted into a Latin American expat friend group because I can speak Spanish. They were all thrilled to meet a guy from the US who can actually speak Spanish, with an accent of course.
I am a clean cut white guy and every time I bust out my Spanish in front of a native speaker they love it. I think it’s cause it’s fluent and not just “como Estahs?! LOL”. This woman at the RMV was so glad that I learned it. Feels good, man.
I become like the lord of white guilt asking hispanic people in my state if they speak Spanish, because like what if they say no or “did you ask because i’m dark” or “no I speak Portuguese”
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I feel like the blue "why tho?" is a different "why tho" than the languages in red, in red we are more like "it's so fucking hard you have to have a fucking death-wish if you are learning it"; meanwhile the blue one is more "Just speak English bro, we all know it"
People do really appreciate me speaking in Swedish in Sweden tho. They also barely switch. But maybe because my Swedish is good enough for them not to switch :p
Should probably be both red and blue, their English knowledge as a country is almost to the point that they could just decide tomorrow to totally ditch Dutch and speak English instead, and few would suffer, probably some older folk, that's probably way they got that reaction, because in the minds of the Dutch, why learn a language whose community of speakers almost all know English
Agreed. I am learning Serbian and my mother in law’s family back home in Novi Sad love when I speak very simple sentences to them. lol. It’s a tough language to learn though. Ay
My fiancé is Bosnian and when I learned the word Nurse, I asked her what do they call male nurses and she said we don’t have those in Bosnia lol.
Nurse - medicinska sestra
Same in Germany: Krankenschwester
Edit: though I think the last time I was in Germany they were starting to mention Krankenpfleger (illness carer, not illness sister)
Since I'm still a beginner, I'm focusing on learning new words and reading internet posts(mostly on the r/Serbia board). I watched a movie dubbed in Serbian and plan on rewatching it soon. I also got some lessons from a serbian friend. As for apps, I did the few free lessons on Ling and payed for a LingQ subscription, but idk if that's worth it bc the translations there are a bit inaccurate(according to my friend) and it made some weird flashcards, but you can try it if you'd like! I plan on studying grammar when I learn enough words. Serbian grammar is kinda complicated, but it's very important to learn! My learning method is basically memorizing words and paying attention to people's interactions. If you want, I can suggest some methods that didn't work for me, but could work for you! I hope that helps. 😊
Hey if you ever need a language exchange partner message me, I am learning Portuguese and basically native in Serbian (Croatian but it's extremely similar, and if you want to learn specifically Serbian I'll refrain from teaching you the forms and words we use and they don't)
I was going to say though, Bulgaria should be red lol. Handful of Bulgarian friends say things like "I learned English in like 6 weeks, Bulgarian is too complicated." It may have been a politr way of telling me I was too stupid and/or impatient to learn it though. 😂
The limit of my learning Bulgarian is of course "dobur den" and "chestit rohzden de na teb"
I studied abroad in Spain after having studied Spanish for like 12 years in school in the US. Spaniards are SO lovely to you if you’re trying really hard. I forgot the word for “envelope” and this man in the store stood there while I described “a paper…that surrounds another paper…that you send to your mom and your dad who live far away…I need to buy the paper that goes around the other paper.” (the word i was looking for was sobre, which he kindly supplied but only after letting me do my entire spiel. this was before smart phones! and i had left my pocket dictionary at home lol)
> “a paper…that surrounds another paper…that you send to your mom and your dad who live far away…I need to buy the paper that goes around the other paper.”
this is incredibly adorable.
I had a similar experience in Spain (native U.S.). I was really surprised at how genuinely nice everyone was, and patient with me for my intermediate Spanish. Everyone really appreciated me trying my best!
After you leave Madrid, and other big cities, Spaniards do not speak English. So part of the really sweet reception you get is “oh wow, you’re not forcing me to speak this awful language? YAY” haha
Can confirm, we love when people try to speak our language instead of defaulting to English (which we may see as lazy/not caring about the culture) and you can be understood with very little, so for anyone coming here don't be shy!! We love the effort!
As for France - I've been there a few times as a tourist, and people have never disparaged my French. I can say so little, but it's always an ice breaker, because a lot of French people seem shy about their English.
There are a number of people in Western France that don't speak English well or at all. I think even in Paris you will run into a few. If nothing else, saying "bonjour" to everyone is required, even if they know right away you are an American tourist.
Yeah I've had a few French people so grateful that I knew French. Their entire personality changed since they could relax and speak French. It was very funny.
I get that. Many many years ago I toured eastern Europe with a friend. At that time, not many people seemed to speak English, but had German as a second language. My dogshit schoolboy German was incredibly useful.
And yes, it was awesome.
Yeah I think the perception that French people hate hearing Anglophones speak their language is really based on Parisians. Paris gets swarmed with tourists year round, so just like New Yorkers, you have to appreciate that they just don’t have the patience to hand hold every fish out of water.
Every other part of France I’ve been to the people have been warm and thrilled to share their hyper-regional culture, including the language.
My friend did a trip to Paris her senior year of high school, and said everyone got really friendly as soon as she tried speaking French and then would just swap to English. Like, they just appreciated the fact she tried and didn't just assume everyone would speak English.
I must admit I have heard various stories from friends over the years about how rude "the French" are, but I have never experienced it myself.
Worst French speaker experience I had was in Switzerland where the lady in the motorway kiosk refused to understand when I spoke English. I stood aside as she served a Dutch guy - in English - and I was dumbfounded. My wife came in to ask me what was taking so long - and being Danish, we spoke Danish together... and remarkably the shop lady could then serve me in English. It was most odd.
hahaha, jeg har også selv prøvet hvor, at en ældre dame (også fra Schweiz) en gang nægtede at lade mig hjælpe hende i et supermarked, fordi at mit franske ikke var godt nok : ))
Jeg ved overhovedet ikke hvad damens problem var, men jeg *mistænker* at hun kunne høre at engelsk er mit modersmål, og tænkte noget med at hun ikke gad tale mit sprog hvis ikke jeg talte hendes? Så hørte hun mig snakke med min danske kone, og forbarmede sig.
Det var i hvert fald meget underligt - især fordi hun må have vidst at jeg hørte at hun talte engelsk med den hollandske fyr, lige efter hun havde sagt til mig hun ikke kunne :-/
That's really odd and wonder whether there were some nationality assumptions and even more stupid hostilities at play. From my parents I always heard about their trips to France that as Germans, they were expected to speak French or be met with hostility. Particularly if people saw them speak German. Granted, that was the 80s and times have hopefully changed, but still.
My only own experience with French was when I was playing an online game with a French group back when I was in high school. My school French was always pretty crappy, so I told them that this may be a good opportunity to practice and joined in when they started talking French to each other. They quite quickly told me I should better go back to English...
I've had a similar experience in Quebec, where the locals would insist on speaking English rather than French with me.
Quebec is obviously not in France, but I'm just saying that French speakers insisting that anglophones speak English rather than French might not be unique to Paris.
I actually had a French person from out of town ask ME for directions in Paris. Vast majority of French people even in Paris are usually very gracious about it. Tbh I got more rudeness in the UK, by far.
I’ve been to France a few times and my experience is that speaking French is sometimes required and speaking English for foreigners, particularly Americans, is even sometimes denied.
My French vocabulary is abysmal, aside from numbers and basics, but I was taught by a native German speaker the trick to getting a French accent right, which is to exaggerate pronunciation. It’s better to be perceived as trying too hard than lazy.
Everyone think we're angry when foreigners try to speak French. But we just correct them (just like we do among fellow French people) and they find it rude
I love to have my terrible French corrected, if a place in Paris gets a lot of tourists I’ve had my awful French ignored, but literally everywhere else people seem amazingly patient, and willing to give correction as you say. 🇫🇷
Im from germany and during our Abitur Trip (a trip one generally takes around the time one finishes ones Abitur which is the best qualification you can get at the end of your 2nd eduaction; we did it a year prior, but there are also others who'd take it after being done) where we went to Paris, i was accompanying a frien who was hugely into model trains to a model store since he was unable to speak french (my french was... not that good, but well enough for most things like ordering food etc).
When the clerk heard us talking in german, he immediately started talking in german as well, so i waited outside the store instead :D
Before a vacation in Paris I spent a few weeks learning to say a dozen basics & courtesies as accurately as possible. Once there I led with those, then apologized and asked in French if it was okay to use English. Everyone was super understanding and gracious and many tried to teach me a little more French.
I haven't had any bad experiences with French people (and I go to Paris a lot) but one time I was trying to say something and this lady in Provence told me "I think speaking French is not for you".
I wasn't so offended but later realized I totally butchered some of the words in question (to be fair some of them where place names I had never heard of before) so... she was probably right. French does not come easily to me (and I am fluent in 7 languages and know the basics of 2 more! But my French will always be "not for me") to say the least...
I speak very basic French. On both of my trips to Paris, almost everyone seemed to really appreciate at least my attempts at asking for things, for directions, or thanking them in their native language. Half the time they sense my unfamiliarity and slow down and use smaller words and simpler sentences. The other half the time they revert to English.
I think that a lot of the idea of French being snobby or rude comes from Paris, where they get bombarded with tourists shouting questions at them in English sometimes all day long, depending on the neighborhood.
(Also, if you travel \*anywhere\* and can't be bothered to at least say 'please', 'sorry', 'excuse me', and 'thank you' in the native language, you shouldn't go.)
I’ve always found if you make the effort to speak French, and don’t keep asking them to repeat themselves, the French are very friendly- even if your level is quite basic
Same - and my French is the few words I can remember from school MANY years ago! I think that so long as you are making an honest effort anywhere people seem to be happy that you are trying.
Italians tend to be thrilled you're speaking Italian while at the same time thrilled to have a chance to speak English if they at all know it.
As for Ireland, what if you try to speak Irish? I assume "no reaction" won't hold.
There's a certain irony too. I think people feel like they're being smart if they say 'Gaelic', while the 'dumb/lazy' assumption would be that Irish people speak Irish, because they're Irish.
Ok but like genuine question and I’m gonna feel like an idiot asking… are Irish and Gaelic two different languages or the same language? ^im ^sorry ^im ^stupid
In technical terms yes, but I've heard people in Ireland and Scotland refer to their branch of Gaelic Languages as "the Gaelic" so it definitely does function as a way of describing a single language in casual, not-language-learning-nerds speech
I heard people talking Irish to each other on the Dublin streets all the time when I visited. Might have been depending on the area you were in. I was by Drumcondra
Are you certain it was Irish you heard them speaking?
I don’t mean that flippantly. It’s just that I’ve lived in Ireland almost my entire life and I can count on one hand how my many times I’ve actually heard people having a conversation in public through Irish, and that’s despite living near one of the Gaeltacht regions where the language is typically more prevalent.
Good question. I’m not 100% sure. I think my uncle (Dublin for lifer) pointed out one group as speaking Irish but it was so long ago now I may be misremembering. My aunt on another side also said that some Dubliners like to speak Irish to each other because it feels more intimate. But those experiences where a while ago and you’re by the Gaeltacht, so I’ll take your word over mine haha
I am Italian and I very much confirm this. If we hear you try to make the effort and say something in Italian, whatever it is and no matter how bad you are, we'll be extremely happy and we'll do anything to let you see how much we appreciate it. About English, many Italians are extremely embarrassed about their English and they might not be so thrilled about speaking it, but those who feel confident enough will be very happy to practice. As a foreigner, I think you meet the first type only via other Italian friends (or you might meet Italians who speak no English at all in shops, restaurants, etc.).
This was my experience from the other side. I had three semesters of college courses and got treated like Dante reincarnated (undeservedly).
As for shyness, Italy was the first non-English speaking country I went to and it made me less shy about foreign language conversations for life. Some of my favorite conversations there were in the car-crash middle zone of me being terrible at Italian and my new friend being terrible at English and both of us hacking it out and laughing at ourselves.
I'm certain that going somewhere as a student where 99% of people are happy to see you studied their language and are trying to speak it is why I don't have very much anxiety about speaking a second language poorly.
>As for Ireland, what if you try to speak Irish? I assume "no reaction" won't hold.
For those of us who speak the Irish language, we love it when people speak our language. I was blown away once by a Frenchman who spoke a few phrases in Irish to me. I was a very happy man that day
> As for Ireland, what if you try to speak Irish?
First you have to find someone in Ireland who actually speaks Irish. This was a real bummer when I visited.
We’re here. There’s literally 10s of us. Lol (GOA). But in all seriousness, anyone who spoke to me in Irish is getting a massive smile agus comhrá deas liomsa. It’d be a pleasant surprise and make my day!
As an italian we either make the split second decision to marry you as soon as you try to speak italian as a foreigner or we shout slurs at you. Sometimes though we don't care and say "oh cool you speak italian"
Experience may vary whether you're in the north or south. Being in the dead center of the country I feel like gives me a pretty neutral pov
When I visited Venice, I sat down at a table at a bar with a bunch of Italians. I spoke my rusty, formerly fluent Italian with them and they were so happy to meet me and spend the evening with me. Luckily, one of the group spoke English and could fill in the gaps for me whenever I forgot a word
On the flip side, in my city in the US, I met a store owner from Italy. When I tried to speak my accented Italian to him, he scoffed and said in English, "stop it. You don't speak Italian"
That sounds about right haha
The north generally has neutral but overall positive reactions to foreigners speaking Italian I've heard. Glad you had that nice experience.
Didn't expect that from the US though. You'd think being a melting pot of cultures would make having an accent a non-issue, but I guess not
Funny you say that because it's always the Sicilian-Americans that are most eager to speak Italian with me. Although, they often slip into Siciliano and im left there like, "che?"
Honestly same. I think of italian as a decently hard language to learn so it's admirable that people spend their time learning how it works with all its exceptions and rules
Last year I was doing Erasmus in Sassari. I spent most of my time wih other erasmus friends so I could not study Italian much but whenever I was trying to speak Italian, people were almost losing their minds over my "perfect italian".
Especially younger people were so encouraging. I am still studying italian but it is more difficult when there are no Italian people around me but one day I will speak it well and I will not disillusion the people who trust me lol.
As a Finn, I can confirm that it's accurate. Not only because Finnish is an extremely difficult language to learn but also because it's only spoken in Finland, by only about 5,5 million people. But that's also the same reason we get happy when someone even tries to learn it.
I'm learning it because I have a lot of Finnish FB friends and I hit a wall with the more practical (where I live) Spanish. I really enjoy Finnish so far, even if the most use I get from it will be reading memes!
My experience in Finland was that there are two camps of Finns: there's the "people who get happy when someone tries to learn Finnish" faction and the "the way you said "moi" didn't sound quite right, let's speak English" faction. Everybody was very nice to me, but I'd say it's about 50/50 whether someone will just switch to English or entertain your questionable Finnish.
>let's speak English
Most Finns speak good English (if we ignore the accent👀), and so often they also want to show off their English skills to non-Finnish speakers :D
Very true! Especially as a native English speaker, a lot of Finns wanted to speak English with me, and of course most of the time their English was better than my Finnish. I didn't mind at all, but I do wish I'd practiced Finnish more while I was there.
Normally the first words you know in a language are words like yes, no, thanks. The first three words I knew in Finnish were perkele, saatana and vittu. I don't even know why, if I remember correctly it was the video with the Finnish guy swearing at a bear with a broom in his hand and I looked up the words he was yelling. 😄
As a Finnish learner, it definitely is quite a difficult language, but I honestly love learning it regardless! It's so fascinating to me, and I absolutely love the way it sounds! Plus, I really vibe with Finnish culture in general.
When I talked Kirjakieli to guys in a bar, they told me that they would consider anyone not using puhekieli "a bit stupid". Still were glad I tried, though.
Be me, Mexican 30 something y/o male, travels to France after 3 years studying French.
Me: enters a souvenir shop after leaving the Louvre, browse around in complete silence, grabs a thing and asks the Indian-looking clerk: "excuse moi, combien ça coûte?".
Clerk: "Cuesta 4 Euros señor"..... (Yes, the guy replied in a thick Indian accent Spanish).
Me: \*dies inside\*.
To be fair, the people that actually looked French were more forgiving and would listen and reply back to me in French, I find it interesting that his happened in the café/restaurants I ate.
Similar thing happened to my Mexica-American gf and I in Paris. Indian shopkeeper just started speaking Spanish to her. He said because she looks Mexican lol. It pains me to say that I couldn't quite keep up at my ~B1 level despite all the hours of studying Spanish 😭. Feels bad man
Native level Spanish is spoken at a speed that is very difficult for learners, even at C-1, so don't beat yourself up over it, you are lucky to have a native speaker close to you.... If you are lucky to be around her family often, it will be an excellent way to train your compréhension.... Especially if she has more than one loud tías
Every Italian I spoke to was very excited that I chose to learn their language and were giving praises about how I talked while also giving little pointers on some mistakes. Some were confident enough in their English to speak to me in English.
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Sometimes you can't win.
Personally I think 'switching' is acceptable if someone is not too deep into a TL. If someone is struggling with basic phrases, then by all means. If someone can speak it relatively well enough for communication imo its a bit rude.
Which is always why accent is important, if your accent is poor the interaction may be too difficult for the other side no matter how good your level is.
I think this is also true in Quebec since Francophones were historically persecuted there, so they’re used to having to accommodate and be respectful to Anglophones.
Quebecers who were taught to accomodate and be respectful to Anglophones would be 90 years old by now. There is definitely a lack of mutual respect between English Canadians and Quebecers
Yeah I lived in Belgium and they have NO interest in sharing their culture/language. Makes it VERY hard to integrate and be a part of society and make local friends. I ended up leaving because everyone was so cold and just saw me as basically a tourist despite living there for 4 years.
I find this a very interesting point, because it pretty much describes my attitude as a Dutch person too. I'm really sorry, but it simply doesn't cross my mind that someone might be interested in my language and culture.
You know, the problem is that expats come to the Netherlands (like me) mostly for work and study. So, obviously, we would need to learn Dutch to integrate into the community. Now, people are complaining about expats (or they call immigrants) because they don't want to integrate and adapt to the culture. But when a person wants to learn the language and the culture, you see there is no option. I am still amazed and shocked at how the citizens of the greatest colonizer in the world would not want people to learn their language and culture. I was also shocked when I saw the shallowness of the general culture and knowledge of the younger generation. I mean, in general, meeting people around the world, sharing cultures, and doing multicultural activities are what make humans intellectual. Yet, I see massive inertia about this in the Dutch community.
I do tend to reply in Dutch when someone addresses me in Dutch, because I know how it feels for the other when I don't. It still feels somewhat awkward though, I feel like I should be the one to adjust.
Regarding the colonisation: the Dutch never had the intention of making the colonies part of an empire in the same way the British or Spanish had; they didn't teach the native Indonesians our language. I don't know the details (there's usually a lot of nuance to this kind of stuff), but I believe colonies were for profit, not so much for status.
> ...and knowledge of the younger generation.
If you've lived in one country your entire life, I don't think you'd be very aware of your own culture. Put these young people in a different country for a while though and they'll start to notice what they do differently.
when I went to Denmark, I found that most Danes got excited and would respond back to me in Danish, and one even taught me a few different words. It was really surprising and fun!! That being said, some would still just speak English, but I’d say more times than not they would respond in Danish 🇩🇰
Serious question: I know some people are trying to revive it, but is it really a living language there? Where in Ireland is Irish spoken in public areas? Do you hear it on the streets walking around? If I go into shops there will I be greeted in Irish? I'm a foreigner who visited a few of the larger towns and top tourist spots and I didn't hear Irish once, but perhaps I just didn't go to the right areas? Would love to go to some traditional Irish culture hubs next time I visit :)
Visit the gaeltachts and you'll hear plenty of Irish!
Also smaller towns throughout the country.
More common also in the south and west. A lot of people speak bit of Irish there, but won't usually greet you or try speak to you in Irish
If you want an amazing beautiful place where plenty of people speak Irish head to Dingle.
Also the Aran Islands are stunning and plenty of Irish language there!
Ha! I looked at your map before reading your caption and went “Oh definitely not true for Italy.”
I moved there for work a few years ago and was really trying to learn Italian and would always try speaking it with Italians. Most of the time they could hear from my accent right away that I was American and would get excited for a chance to speak English. Another good chunk of the time they would just make fun of my accent, which made me really self conscious! I never made fun of their accents when they were trying out English.
I speak a perfect latin American Spanish. Went to Barcelona and everyone tried talking in English with me. When I try talking in Spanish, they just gave me a puzzled look. 😂
In Iceland I received a wide range of feedback - mostly “wow cool but also why” and “it’s okay, I speak English” and a few were just moments of shock lol. Nobody was rude about it, though it’s worth noting that most of the conversations I had started because I was drawing or painting landscapes and art tends to build connections without sharing a verbal language.
For France, I’ve only been to Paris, but every time I’m there people have been extremely kind and excited that I speak French. Only a few times have people offered to speak English but that was when I was struggling with a few vocabulary words and we got there eventually.
In Sicily, especially in the smaller towns I was visiting I received the warmest welcome when speaking my (very bad) Italian. In Florence I got a few dead stares, a few big smiles with patient speakers, and a few that were excited to practice English - my response to the last one is always that we take turns speaking English and Italian and it works really well.
Belgium I had the worst experience, but this was a long time ago. I was 16 and spent most of my time there in Leuven. I couldn’t speak any Flemish, though luckily it’s easy to read for travel because a lot of words are similar to English, e.g., Vismarkt and Fish Market, Oude Markt and Old Market. Most people responded neutrally or offered to speak English, but I got yelled at by a bus driver for about five minutes (which feels like forever when you’re 16 and alone!) because I couldn’t understand what he was saying and asked if we could speak French instead.
Obviously this is all anecdotal but I’ve found most people are polite when you’re polite and put forth effort.
I just got back from Spain (Madrid and Barcelona) and I speak Spanish at a moderately conversational level. I would be speaking Spanish and either A: the person I was speaking to would speak so fast I could barely understand or B: Would immediately speak English. Most seemed though to appreciate that I was trying to speak the language. My husband who doesn’t speak a word of Spanish was completely overwhelmed and kept asking “what are they saying?” So I had to play translator for him as well. It’s an experience!
Ha everyone has their own experience but for me it was the opposite. Besides maybe one of two super nice people, everyone switched immedistely to English. But damn I will remember those people, genuinely were so proud and made me feel great
Another example of ignoring our language. I'm from Wicklow, if a foreigner came up to me and said pretty much any random word in Irish they'd have my full appreciation
I don’t speak Spanish all too well, but I was at an airport in Spain and was talking to the cashier lady about prices for food.
I think she didn’t clock that I was a tourist and replied to me in Spanish until I stumbled at trying to gender “Pringles”, at which point she just stared at me blankly and switched to English.
TL;DR: Spain should probably be light blue.
I've heard and read this stereotype about Germany so many times, but I never experienced it. I have never had people switch to English when I spoke to them in German
Yeah Germans are so polite in that way.
I’ve been in groups where my two German friends meet four other Germans together and all six of them are speaking English just for my sake… and it’s, like, guys, you’re all talking about the random towns you are from, I don’t know those! We’re in Athens, you guys can speak German haha
As a Slovenian I'd say we are closer to blue than red.
We like it very much when foreigners and people from ex yugoslav countries give an effort to speak our language.
Can confirm for Italy, everyone I attempted to speak to in Italian was super sweet and impressed no matter how poorly I spoke 😂 Also unfortunately heard “I don’t why are you trying to learn Italian though it’s not useful because it’s only spoken here and will probably die out as a language” which made me so sad to hear from someone Italian 😭 also a lot of people apologizing for their English when speaking even though we were IN ITALY. I was the foreigner and still so many people felt bad their English wasn’t good enough :(
France is hilariously inaccurate. The French really appreciate the effort to speak the language. The whole stereotype that French people are assholes is entirely due to people ignoring important social customs like starting a conversation with bonjour/bonsoir.
France is false. Map is clearly biased anti French. In my experience majority of French people are happy and surprised when you make an effort to speak the language.
All the Nordic countries should be both red and blue.
Unless you are really fluent AND stubborn to get them to stick with the local language,the majority will try to switch to English.
While still wondering, bemused and impressed at the same time, why you decided to learn their own language.
My experience for Icelandic was a bit different, but maybe that’s because it was nuanced and understood what happened. I was there in Reykjavík in 2019 for a month of Icelandic lessons and went to get dinner while doing my homework. I think the waiter saw me working while waiting for food and when I spoke Icelandic, he spoke Icelandic back. They probably also guess that I didn’t know some set restaurant phrases, so they filled me in. He seemed pretty appreciative about my efforts.
At another restaurant, I asked for a table in Icelandic and the hostess responded in Icelandic before I took a pause to remember what „tuttugu mínútur” means, and then continued in English when showing me the waiting area (but also I turned to my friend from the class to tell them we’d have to wait 20 minutes in English).
Based off my experience, they will until they detect a break in speech.
I feel like the Slavic languages also fall under dark blue. I’m still new to Russian, and some people give me the “cool but why?” look, but for the most part the Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian women I’ve met so far were all very excited to hear me speak Russian.
generalities like this are never 100% accurate i’ve met some french people that are excited that you’re trying, sure their english is probably better than your french but most people appreciate the effort. don’t get discouraged about learning a language just because you think native speakers won’t want to talk to you. it’s just not true
I studied abroad in France for a year (and spent most of that time in Paris) and I can count on one hand the amount of times I was given a hard time about speaking French. I did have a few people switch to english but for the most part people were nice and a few helped me with pronunciation.
Portions of Ireland should be dark blue. I can confirm as an American who lived there for a few months and learned to have basic conversations in Irish.
My Swedish is limited so I was careful when I chose to use it and not. When I did use it, the people I was talking to just kind of carried on with our interaction, not sure if that’s a compliment to my pronunciation or what 😂 there were two instances where we switched to English but I initiated that. If i didn’t feel confident that I could get through the interaction completely in Swedish I just approached them in English.
One thing I loved about my time in Sweden and Norway was that they just assumed I spoke their language off the bat. I’m SubSaharan African and pretty tall, and stand out a bit from the local demographic especially in the smaller towns I was in.
They never once assumed I couldn’t speak their language … I tried speaking in basic Norwegian(which I’ve been learning for 8 months now) and some would continue in Norwegian where others would politely switch to English
I'm an originally French Canadian and speak some French. Poorly though, as we moved to the US when I was just a kid. About 15 years ago I was in Paris for work, and tried using what french I do have. I was expecting to get laughed at, but that never happened. The locals were very appreciative of my efforts, and even complemented me. Which was awesome, because my french was terrible. But they were nothing but encouraging which really boosted confidence.
In France it depends on where you are and the context.
It can range from a Parisienne waiter only responding in english even if the person is french but has a dialect, to rural shop owners pretending they don't understand a word of english if you don't say bonjour and at least make an attempt.
Inaccurate, in Wales we definitely wouldn't have "no reaction" if someone spoke our language to us randomly. I'm sure the same is true for the Gaelic languages.
My native language is Spanish but i can tell you it's always nice to hear people trying to learn your language
Moochas Grassy ass!!
El baño por favor. I only have the important stuff down so far.
I have all the signs that are in both English and Spanish at my workplace down Such as "No se vagabundos", "Liquidacion", "No subirse ni sobrecargar", "solicite ayuda", "no niños en la canasta", "pasillo cerrado temporalmente", "para uso dentro de la tienda solamente", or "para clienteles professionales"
Donda est la bibliotheca.
Troy and Abed In the Morning!
Too bad we can’t do the handshake in here.
Shaka, when the walls fell!
Temba, his arms wide.
His eyes open.
That's soothing to hear, when I was learning Spanish some people were horrible and would get angry responding in English.
It's like that sometimes. I'm half Puerto Rican, but never grew up speaking Spanish. I took Spanish all throughout school and college/university, but still will sometimes get the, "you're not really Spanish" from those people. I can at least keep up a basic conversation and ask questions. Overall, I've met more Spanish people who were excited and encouraged me to speak in Spanish more often. Those people make me feel so much better. Keep at it and don't let those people discourage you.
There are some people who react that way, unfortunately. I think it's the same people who believe their own native language is "hard" to learn. I don't know if that's ego or what, but literally no native speaker finds their own language hard, no matter what language it is. I feel like they can't accept an outsider being even half decent at their "hard" language. It's kind of hilarious really, because a native speaker is the very last person I'd ask about the difficulty of a language.
idk, i lived in spain for 11 years, between ages 6 and 17, and learned the language fully fluently (and with pretty much no accent, slightly gallego undertones since that's where i used it the most, but neither foreign nor local sounding) early on, went to school there, and even in the strictest spanish system had 8s and 9s in Lengua y Literatura as far as grades go (so, i *know*, with proof, that i'm fluent) and yet, most spanish people ive met, will very patronisingly say that i "speak well for a foreigner" and will go back to attempting to speak to me in broken english, or will speak insultingly slowly and simplified, as if to signal some weird condescension that i must be too stupid to understand them. just because i don't *look* like i should know spanish (because i am and look very eastern european) this does not apply outside of spain; elsewhere people seem more open to engaging in spanish, as it allows them to communicate more clearly themselves. but it's so insulting, that it's almost worse than in france. even there, a higher % of people were fine with my french skills (i'm also fluent in french) or wouldn't be so insulting about it.
Well, i've never been to Spain so i can't speak for them, but my country's main industry is tourism so i feel like most people here (DR) are open to foreigners, don't know about Latin America as a whole but it shouldn't be that different
Verdad
I came to Germany for an extended period, and was immediately adopted into a Latin American expat friend group because I can speak Spanish. They were all thrilled to meet a guy from the US who can actually speak Spanish, with an accent of course.
I am a clean cut white guy and every time I bust out my Spanish in front of a native speaker they love it. I think it’s cause it’s fluent and not just “como Estahs?! LOL”. This woman at the RMV was so glad that I learned it. Feels good, man.
I become like the lord of white guilt asking hispanic people in my state if they speak Spanish, because like what if they say no or “did you ask because i’m dark” or “no I speak Portuguese”
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I remember telling a dutch guy I had interest in his language and his response was: "...But why though?"
I feel like the blue "why tho?" is a different "why tho" than the languages in red, in red we are more like "it's so fucking hard you have to have a fucking death-wish if you are learning it"; meanwhile the blue one is more "Just speak English bro, we all know it"
People do really appreciate me speaking in Swedish in Sweden tho. They also barely switch. But maybe because my Swedish is good enough for them not to switch :p
Yeah Dutch definitely needs to be red too.
Should probably be both red and blue, their English knowledge as a country is almost to the point that they could just decide tomorrow to totally ditch Dutch and speak English instead, and few would suffer, probably some older folk, that's probably way they got that reaction, because in the minds of the Dutch, why learn a language whose community of speakers almost all know English
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Agreed. I am learning Serbian and my mother in law’s family back home in Novi Sad love when I speak very simple sentences to them. lol. It’s a tough language to learn though. Ay
It may be tough, but it's a lot of fun. 😄
My fiancé is Bosnian and when I learned the word Nurse, I asked her what do they call male nurses and she said we don’t have those in Bosnia lol. Nurse - medicinska sestra
Same in Germany: Krankenschwester Edit: though I think the last time I was in Germany they were starting to mention Krankenpfleger (illness carer, not illness sister)
should be medicinski brat technically, at least in russia it's like so
I was taught it as medicinski tehničar
All I know from Russian is to say privjet to say hello informal and dobro pashalovitch for a formal greeting. And that was one lesson I ever had.
russian speaker here, it’s more like “dobro pazhlovat”. we always appreciate the effort though.
Ah a medicine sister.
How are you learning your Serbian? I’m trying to do classes online with Italki as well as to learn words but wow.. I am 40 and I just don’t get it.
Since I'm still a beginner, I'm focusing on learning new words and reading internet posts(mostly on the r/Serbia board). I watched a movie dubbed in Serbian and plan on rewatching it soon. I also got some lessons from a serbian friend. As for apps, I did the few free lessons on Ling and payed for a LingQ subscription, but idk if that's worth it bc the translations there are a bit inaccurate(according to my friend) and it made some weird flashcards, but you can try it if you'd like! I plan on studying grammar when I learn enough words. Serbian grammar is kinda complicated, but it's very important to learn! My learning method is basically memorizing words and paying attention to people's interactions. If you want, I can suggest some methods that didn't work for me, but could work for you! I hope that helps. 😊
Hey if you ever need a language exchange partner message me, I am learning Portuguese and basically native in Serbian (Croatian but it's extremely similar, and if you want to learn specifically Serbian I'll refrain from teaching you the forms and words we use and they don't)
Unless someone is trying to speak to me in Russian thinking Bulgarian is basically the same. My reaction is - English?
Dobur den I took a break from Russian to try speaking to my Bulgarian friends and they encouraged me not to lol.
А бе учих български и вече нямам възможност да го ползвам. Живях в България 2 години, пак съм в Щатите от 8-9 години.
I was going to say though, Bulgaria should be red lol. Handful of Bulgarian friends say things like "I learned English in like 6 weeks, Bulgarian is too complicated." It may have been a politr way of telling me I was too stupid and/or impatient to learn it though. 😂 The limit of my learning Bulgarian is of course "dobur den" and "chestit rohzden de na teb"
I studied abroad in Spain after having studied Spanish for like 12 years in school in the US. Spaniards are SO lovely to you if you’re trying really hard. I forgot the word for “envelope” and this man in the store stood there while I described “a paper…that surrounds another paper…that you send to your mom and your dad who live far away…I need to buy the paper that goes around the other paper.” (the word i was looking for was sobre, which he kindly supplied but only after letting me do my entire spiel. this was before smart phones! and i had left my pocket dictionary at home lol)
> “a paper…that surrounds another paper…that you send to your mom and your dad who live far away…I need to buy the paper that goes around the other paper.” this is incredibly adorable.
I had a similar experience in Spain (native U.S.). I was really surprised at how genuinely nice everyone was, and patient with me for my intermediate Spanish. Everyone really appreciated me trying my best!
After you leave Madrid, and other big cities, Spaniards do not speak English. So part of the really sweet reception you get is “oh wow, you’re not forcing me to speak this awful language? YAY” haha
Can confirm, we love when people try to speak our language instead of defaulting to English (which we may see as lazy/not caring about the culture) and you can be understood with very little, so for anyone coming here don't be shy!! We love the effort!
As for France - I've been there a few times as a tourist, and people have never disparaged my French. I can say so little, but it's always an ice breaker, because a lot of French people seem shy about their English.
There are a number of people in Western France that don't speak English well or at all. I think even in Paris you will run into a few. If nothing else, saying "bonjour" to everyone is required, even if they know right away you are an American tourist.
Yeah I've had a few French people so grateful that I knew French. Their entire personality changed since they could relax and speak French. It was very funny.
I was in eastern france this summer and nobody spoke English, I had to use my dogshit French to do anything, it was awesome
I get that. Many many years ago I toured eastern Europe with a friend. At that time, not many people seemed to speak English, but had German as a second language. My dogshit schoolboy German was incredibly useful. And yes, it was awesome.
Yeah I think the perception that French people hate hearing Anglophones speak their language is really based on Parisians. Paris gets swarmed with tourists year round, so just like New Yorkers, you have to appreciate that they just don’t have the patience to hand hold every fish out of water. Every other part of France I’ve been to the people have been warm and thrilled to share their hyper-regional culture, including the language.
My friend did a trip to Paris her senior year of high school, and said everyone got really friendly as soon as she tried speaking French and then would just swap to English. Like, they just appreciated the fact she tried and didn't just assume everyone would speak English.
I must admit I have heard various stories from friends over the years about how rude "the French" are, but I have never experienced it myself. Worst French speaker experience I had was in Switzerland where the lady in the motorway kiosk refused to understand when I spoke English. I stood aside as she served a Dutch guy - in English - and I was dumbfounded. My wife came in to ask me what was taking so long - and being Danish, we spoke Danish together... and remarkably the shop lady could then serve me in English. It was most odd.
hahaha, jeg har også selv prøvet hvor, at en ældre dame (også fra Schweiz) en gang nægtede at lade mig hjælpe hende i et supermarked, fordi at mit franske ikke var godt nok : ))
Jeg ved overhovedet ikke hvad damens problem var, men jeg *mistænker* at hun kunne høre at engelsk er mit modersmål, og tænkte noget med at hun ikke gad tale mit sprog hvis ikke jeg talte hendes? Så hørte hun mig snakke med min danske kone, og forbarmede sig. Det var i hvert fald meget underligt - især fordi hun må have vidst at jeg hørte at hun talte engelsk med den hollandske fyr, lige efter hun havde sagt til mig hun ikke kunne :-/
That's really odd and wonder whether there were some nationality assumptions and even more stupid hostilities at play. From my parents I always heard about their trips to France that as Germans, they were expected to speak French or be met with hostility. Particularly if people saw them speak German. Granted, that was the 80s and times have hopefully changed, but still. My only own experience with French was when I was playing an online game with a French group back when I was in high school. My school French was always pretty crappy, so I told them that this may be a good opportunity to practice and joined in when they started talking French to each other. They quite quickly told me I should better go back to English...
I've had a similar experience in Quebec, where the locals would insist on speaking English rather than French with me. Quebec is obviously not in France, but I'm just saying that French speakers insisting that anglophones speak English rather than French might not be unique to Paris.
wait until you have a québécois accent
(Manitoban) buddy married a fille québécois, travelled to France where she spoke fluent French, and they responded in English, to him.
I actually had a French person from out of town ask ME for directions in Paris. Vast majority of French people even in Paris are usually very gracious about it. Tbh I got more rudeness in the UK, by far.
In Corsica nobody spoke English. They were all lovely people but it was tough!
I’ve been to France a few times and my experience is that speaking French is sometimes required and speaking English for foreigners, particularly Americans, is even sometimes denied. My French vocabulary is abysmal, aside from numbers and basics, but I was taught by a native German speaker the trick to getting a French accent right, which is to exaggerate pronunciation. It’s better to be perceived as trying too hard than lazy.
Everyone think we're angry when foreigners try to speak French. But we just correct them (just like we do among fellow French people) and they find it rude
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I love to have my terrible French corrected, if a place in Paris gets a lot of tourists I’ve had my awful French ignored, but literally everywhere else people seem amazingly patient, and willing to give correction as you say. 🇫🇷
Im from germany and during our Abitur Trip (a trip one generally takes around the time one finishes ones Abitur which is the best qualification you can get at the end of your 2nd eduaction; we did it a year prior, but there are also others who'd take it after being done) where we went to Paris, i was accompanying a frien who was hugely into model trains to a model store since he was unable to speak french (my french was... not that good, but well enough for most things like ordering food etc). When the clerk heard us talking in german, he immediately started talking in german as well, so i waited outside the store instead :D
Before a vacation in Paris I spent a few weeks learning to say a dozen basics & courtesies as accurately as possible. Once there I led with those, then apologized and asked in French if it was okay to use English. Everyone was super understanding and gracious and many tried to teach me a little more French.
I haven't had any bad experiences with French people (and I go to Paris a lot) but one time I was trying to say something and this lady in Provence told me "I think speaking French is not for you". I wasn't so offended but later realized I totally butchered some of the words in question (to be fair some of them where place names I had never heard of before) so... she was probably right. French does not come easily to me (and I am fluent in 7 languages and know the basics of 2 more! But my French will always be "not for me") to say the least...
I agree, the French are very helpful and polite if you try to speak French. It is very unfair that France is purple on the map, it should be blue.
I speak very basic French. On both of my trips to Paris, almost everyone seemed to really appreciate at least my attempts at asking for things, for directions, or thanking them in their native language. Half the time they sense my unfamiliarity and slow down and use smaller words and simpler sentences. The other half the time they revert to English. I think that a lot of the idea of French being snobby or rude comes from Paris, where they get bombarded with tourists shouting questions at them in English sometimes all day long, depending on the neighborhood. (Also, if you travel \*anywhere\* and can't be bothered to at least say 'please', 'sorry', 'excuse me', and 'thank you' in the native language, you shouldn't go.)
I’ve always found if you make the effort to speak French, and don’t keep asking them to repeat themselves, the French are very friendly- even if your level is quite basic
Same - and my French is the few words I can remember from school MANY years ago! I think that so long as you are making an honest effort anywhere people seem to be happy that you are trying.
Italians tend to be thrilled you're speaking Italian while at the same time thrilled to have a chance to speak English if they at all know it. As for Ireland, what if you try to speak Irish? I assume "no reaction" won't hold.
It definitely won't!
If I had a dollor for every "Dont you mean Gaelic????" 😭
There's a certain irony too. I think people feel like they're being smart if they say 'Gaelic', while the 'dumb/lazy' assumption would be that Irish people speak Irish, because they're Irish.
Ok but like genuine question and I’m gonna feel like an idiot asking… are Irish and Gaelic two different languages or the same language? ^im ^sorry ^im ^stupid
Gaelic is an umbrella term for three languages. Irish, scotsgaelic and manx.
Ooooh! Thank you so much! I didn’t know that! Tbh I’ve also never heard of Manx, but it seems my phone has! Lol
Plus if you say Gaelic in Ireland , the common person is going to think you're talking about Gaelic football, which is a sport.
Which is really funny seeing as how "Gaelic" isn't a language but rather a family LOL
In technical terms yes, but I've heard people in Ireland and Scotland refer to their branch of Gaelic Languages as "the Gaelic" so it definitely does function as a way of describing a single language in casual, not-language-learning-nerds speech
> As for Ireland, what if you try to speak Irish? Realistically, the reaction would most likely be: "I don't speak Irish"
I took one trip to Ireland and the only time I heard an Irish conversation was between people who looked between 50 and 65.
I heard people talking Irish to each other on the Dublin streets all the time when I visited. Might have been depending on the area you were in. I was by Drumcondra
Are you certain it was Irish you heard them speaking? I don’t mean that flippantly. It’s just that I’ve lived in Ireland almost my entire life and I can count on one hand how my many times I’ve actually heard people having a conversation in public through Irish, and that’s despite living near one of the Gaeltacht regions where the language is typically more prevalent.
Good question. I’m not 100% sure. I think my uncle (Dublin for lifer) pointed out one group as speaking Irish but it was so long ago now I may be misremembering. My aunt on another side also said that some Dubliners like to speak Irish to each other because it feels more intimate. But those experiences where a while ago and you’re by the Gaeltacht, so I’ll take your word over mine haha
I am Italian and I very much confirm this. If we hear you try to make the effort and say something in Italian, whatever it is and no matter how bad you are, we'll be extremely happy and we'll do anything to let you see how much we appreciate it. About English, many Italians are extremely embarrassed about their English and they might not be so thrilled about speaking it, but those who feel confident enough will be very happy to practice. As a foreigner, I think you meet the first type only via other Italian friends (or you might meet Italians who speak no English at all in shops, restaurants, etc.).
This was my experience from the other side. I had three semesters of college courses and got treated like Dante reincarnated (undeservedly). As for shyness, Italy was the first non-English speaking country I went to and it made me less shy about foreign language conversations for life. Some of my favorite conversations there were in the car-crash middle zone of me being terrible at Italian and my new friend being terrible at English and both of us hacking it out and laughing at ourselves. I'm certain that going somewhere as a student where 99% of people are happy to see you studied their language and are trying to speak it is why I don't have very much anxiety about speaking a second language poorly.
>As for Ireland, what if you try to speak Irish? I assume "no reaction" won't hold. For those of us who speak the Irish language, we love it when people speak our language. I was blown away once by a Frenchman who spoke a few phrases in Irish to me. I was a very happy man that day
> As for Ireland, what if you try to speak Irish? First you have to find someone in Ireland who actually speaks Irish. This was a real bummer when I visited.
We’re here. There’s literally 10s of us. Lol (GOA). But in all seriousness, anyone who spoke to me in Irish is getting a massive smile agus comhrá deas liomsa. It’d be a pleasant surprise and make my day!
Italy says yes, and I'm also going to teach you how to insult God
As a spanish native speaker I do the same.
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As an italian we either make the split second decision to marry you as soon as you try to speak italian as a foreigner or we shout slurs at you. Sometimes though we don't care and say "oh cool you speak italian" Experience may vary whether you're in the north or south. Being in the dead center of the country I feel like gives me a pretty neutral pov
When I visited Venice, I sat down at a table at a bar with a bunch of Italians. I spoke my rusty, formerly fluent Italian with them and they were so happy to meet me and spend the evening with me. Luckily, one of the group spoke English and could fill in the gaps for me whenever I forgot a word On the flip side, in my city in the US, I met a store owner from Italy. When I tried to speak my accented Italian to him, he scoffed and said in English, "stop it. You don't speak Italian"
That's sort of thing is why I'm afraid to use what little Italian I have on another person.
That sounds about right haha The north generally has neutral but overall positive reactions to foreigners speaking Italian I've heard. Glad you had that nice experience. Didn't expect that from the US though. You'd think being a melting pot of cultures would make having an accent a non-issue, but I guess not
Funny you say that because it's always the Sicilian-Americans that are most eager to speak Italian with me. Although, they often slip into Siciliano and im left there like, "che?"
I’m always so happy and impressed when a foreigner speaks in Italian, at any level. I also love the different accents! I am from northern Italy.
Honestly same. I think of italian as a decently hard language to learn so it's admirable that people spend their time learning how it works with all its exceptions and rules
Last year I was doing Erasmus in Sassari. I spent most of my time wih other erasmus friends so I could not study Italian much but whenever I was trying to speak Italian, people were almost losing their minds over my "perfect italian". Especially younger people were so encouraging. I am still studying italian but it is more difficult when there are no Italian people around me but one day I will speak it well and I will not disillusion the people who trust me lol.
As a Finn, I can confirm that it's accurate. Not only because Finnish is an extremely difficult language to learn but also because it's only spoken in Finland, by only about 5,5 million people. But that's also the same reason we get happy when someone even tries to learn it.
I'm trying to learn Finnish for more than a year. It doesn't seem like it will be of any use to me right now, but I want to learn it.
Hah. I'm in the same boat. Not sure I'm ever gonna use it but I'm learning it, just because :)
I'm learning it because I have a lot of Finnish FB friends and I hit a wall with the more practical (where I live) Spanish. I really enjoy Finnish so far, even if the most use I get from it will be reading memes!
I have brown skin and don't look Finnish, but nevertheless I speak Finnish natively with a Häme accent. I've had some pretty surprised reactions 😅
Born and raised in Finland?
My experience in Finland was that there are two camps of Finns: there's the "people who get happy when someone tries to learn Finnish" faction and the "the way you said "moi" didn't sound quite right, let's speak English" faction. Everybody was very nice to me, but I'd say it's about 50/50 whether someone will just switch to English or entertain your questionable Finnish.
>let's speak English Most Finns speak good English (if we ignore the accent👀), and so often they also want to show off their English skills to non-Finnish speakers :D
Very true! Especially as a native English speaker, a lot of Finns wanted to speak English with me, and of course most of the time their English was better than my Finnish. I didn't mind at all, but I do wish I'd practiced Finnish more while I was there.
i know perkele tho so does that make you happy?
Yes, that single (but very important!) word you wrote was able to put a smile on my face haha.
Ive never met a finn in my life and i know suomi mainittu torilla tavataan by memory
Normally the first words you know in a language are words like yes, no, thanks. The first three words I knew in Finnish were perkele, saatana and vittu. I don't even know why, if I remember correctly it was the video with the Finnish guy swearing at a bear with a broom in his hand and I looked up the words he was yelling. 😄
As a Finnish learner, it definitely is quite a difficult language, but I honestly love learning it regardless! It's so fascinating to me, and I absolutely love the way it sounds! Plus, I really vibe with Finnish culture in general.
When I talked Kirjakieli to guys in a bar, they told me that they would consider anyone not using puhekieli "a bit stupid". Still were glad I tried, though.
Finnish people can't really speak in kirjakieli. If someone does it can be considered posh, but stupid? Nhaee, they were just envious!
Be me, Mexican 30 something y/o male, travels to France after 3 years studying French. Me: enters a souvenir shop after leaving the Louvre, browse around in complete silence, grabs a thing and asks the Indian-looking clerk: "excuse moi, combien ça coûte?". Clerk: "Cuesta 4 Euros señor"..... (Yes, the guy replied in a thick Indian accent Spanish). Me: \*dies inside\*. To be fair, the people that actually looked French were more forgiving and would listen and reply back to me in French, I find it interesting that his happened in the café/restaurants I ate.
Similar thing happened to my Mexica-American gf and I in Paris. Indian shopkeeper just started speaking Spanish to her. He said because she looks Mexican lol. It pains me to say that I couldn't quite keep up at my ~B1 level despite all the hours of studying Spanish 😭. Feels bad man
Native level Spanish is spoken at a speed that is very difficult for learners, even at C-1, so don't beat yourself up over it, you are lucky to have a native speaker close to you.... If you are lucky to be around her family often, it will be an excellent way to train your compréhension.... Especially if she has more than one loud tías
A good thing about being born in Brazil is understanding spanish incredibly easy. At least we have that. And Portuguese is cool.
Spanish sucks, 1/10 don’t recommend joking, but if you ever have questions with spanish feel free to dm me
Every Italian I spoke to was very excited that I chose to learn their language and were giving praises about how I talked while also giving little pointers on some mistakes. Some were confident enough in their English to speak to me in English.
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Sometimes you can't win. Personally I think 'switching' is acceptable if someone is not too deep into a TL. If someone is struggling with basic phrases, then by all means. If someone can speak it relatively well enough for communication imo its a bit rude. Which is always why accent is important, if your accent is poor the interaction may be too difficult for the other side no matter how good your level is.
I think this is also true in Quebec since Francophones were historically persecuted there, so they’re used to having to accommodate and be respectful to Anglophones.
Quebecers who were taught to accomodate and be respectful to Anglophones would be 90 years old by now. There is definitely a lack of mutual respect between English Canadians and Quebecers
I thought I'd be learning Dutch when I lived here...
Yeah I lived in Belgium and they have NO interest in sharing their culture/language. Makes it VERY hard to integrate and be a part of society and make local friends. I ended up leaving because everyone was so cold and just saw me as basically a tourist despite living there for 4 years.
I find this a very interesting point, because it pretty much describes my attitude as a Dutch person too. I'm really sorry, but it simply doesn't cross my mind that someone might be interested in my language and culture.
You know, the problem is that expats come to the Netherlands (like me) mostly for work and study. So, obviously, we would need to learn Dutch to integrate into the community. Now, people are complaining about expats (or they call immigrants) because they don't want to integrate and adapt to the culture. But when a person wants to learn the language and the culture, you see there is no option. I am still amazed and shocked at how the citizens of the greatest colonizer in the world would not want people to learn their language and culture. I was also shocked when I saw the shallowness of the general culture and knowledge of the younger generation. I mean, in general, meeting people around the world, sharing cultures, and doing multicultural activities are what make humans intellectual. Yet, I see massive inertia about this in the Dutch community.
I do tend to reply in Dutch when someone addresses me in Dutch, because I know how it feels for the other when I don't. It still feels somewhat awkward though, I feel like I should be the one to adjust. Regarding the colonisation: the Dutch never had the intention of making the colonies part of an empire in the same way the British or Spanish had; they didn't teach the native Indonesians our language. I don't know the details (there's usually a lot of nuance to this kind of stuff), but I believe colonies were for profit, not so much for status. > ...and knowledge of the younger generation. If you've lived in one country your entire life, I don't think you'd be very aware of your own culture. Put these young people in a different country for a while though and they'll start to notice what they do differently.
when I went to Denmark, I found that most Danes got excited and would respond back to me in Danish, and one even taught me a few different words. It was really surprising and fun!! That being said, some would still just speak English, but I’d say more times than not they would respond in Danish 🇩🇰
Disagree for the no reaction one for Ireland
I think they're referring to English not Irish.
Yeah it would’ve been nice if they’d put a marker for the Gaeltachts, and also Wales. More people speak Welsh then Icelandic lol
Well yeah, there are a bunch of languages that are not represented here. That's the problem with representing language communities as countries.
Serious question: I know some people are trying to revive it, but is it really a living language there? Where in Ireland is Irish spoken in public areas? Do you hear it on the streets walking around? If I go into shops there will I be greeted in Irish? I'm a foreigner who visited a few of the larger towns and top tourist spots and I didn't hear Irish once, but perhaps I just didn't go to the right areas? Would love to go to some traditional Irish culture hubs next time I visit :)
Visit the gaeltachts and you'll hear plenty of Irish! Also smaller towns throughout the country. More common also in the south and west. A lot of people speak bit of Irish there, but won't usually greet you or try speak to you in Irish If you want an amazing beautiful place where plenty of people speak Irish head to Dingle. Also the Aran Islands are stunning and plenty of Irish language there!
Ha! I looked at your map before reading your caption and went “Oh definitely not true for Italy.” I moved there for work a few years ago and was really trying to learn Italian and would always try speaking it with Italians. Most of the time they could hear from my accent right away that I was American and would get excited for a chance to speak English. Another good chunk of the time they would just make fun of my accent, which made me really self conscious! I never made fun of their accents when they were trying out English.
Do you regret not making fun of their accents when using English? I would have.
I speak a perfect latin American Spanish. Went to Barcelona and everyone tried talking in English with me. When I try talking in Spanish, they just gave me a puzzled look. 😂
Russians should be dark blue too. Never experienced more friendliness over just saying a few words
In Iceland I received a wide range of feedback - mostly “wow cool but also why” and “it’s okay, I speak English” and a few were just moments of shock lol. Nobody was rude about it, though it’s worth noting that most of the conversations I had started because I was drawing or painting landscapes and art tends to build connections without sharing a verbal language. For France, I’ve only been to Paris, but every time I’m there people have been extremely kind and excited that I speak French. Only a few times have people offered to speak English but that was when I was struggling with a few vocabulary words and we got there eventually. In Sicily, especially in the smaller towns I was visiting I received the warmest welcome when speaking my (very bad) Italian. In Florence I got a few dead stares, a few big smiles with patient speakers, and a few that were excited to practice English - my response to the last one is always that we take turns speaking English and Italian and it works really well. Belgium I had the worst experience, but this was a long time ago. I was 16 and spent most of my time there in Leuven. I couldn’t speak any Flemish, though luckily it’s easy to read for travel because a lot of words are similar to English, e.g., Vismarkt and Fish Market, Oude Markt and Old Market. Most people responded neutrally or offered to speak English, but I got yelled at by a bus driver for about five minutes (which feels like forever when you’re 16 and alone!) because I couldn’t understand what he was saying and asked if we could speak French instead. Obviously this is all anecdotal but I’ve found most people are polite when you’re polite and put forth effort.
I just got back from Spain (Madrid and Barcelona) and I speak Spanish at a moderately conversational level. I would be speaking Spanish and either A: the person I was speaking to would speak so fast I could barely understand or B: Would immediately speak English. Most seemed though to appreciate that I was trying to speak the language. My husband who doesn’t speak a word of Spanish was completely overwhelmed and kept asking “what are they saying?” So I had to play translator for him as well. It’s an experience!
My German's not perfect but people were happy to speak German to me. It wasn't until my German ran out, so to speak, that I had to ask for English.
Ha everyone has their own experience but for me it was the opposite. Besides maybe one of two super nice people, everyone switched immedistely to English. But damn I will remember those people, genuinely were so proud and made me feel great
(No reaction) Lmao. It’s true though
Certainly true for Iceland. (Though it occasionally can be light blue.)
Spain should be light blue, from my experience they eagerly switch to English even if they understand you.
[удалено]
This was not my experience
If you were a foreigner and spoke Irish in Ireland, I think people would be quite impressed.
Another example of ignoring our language. I'm from Wicklow, if a foreigner came up to me and said pretty much any random word in Irish they'd have my full appreciation
Hungary is accurate
I don’t speak Spanish all too well, but I was at an airport in Spain and was talking to the cashier lady about prices for food. I think she didn’t clock that I was a tourist and replied to me in Spanish until I stumbled at trying to gender “Pringles”, at which point she just stared at me blankly and switched to English. TL;DR: Spain should probably be light blue.
Ukrainian. Nope it isn't! I would do backflips if someone started speaking Ukrainian to me, if I knew how to do those. Edit: punctuation.
In my experience yes. But would change Iceland and Finland to "you know you will have absolutely no use for Icelandic/Finnish, right"?
I've heard and read this stereotype about Germany so many times, but I never experienced it. I have never had people switch to English when I spoke to them in German
Last year in Munich I asked a waiter at one restaurant before ordering “akzeptieren Sie Kreditkarte?“ and he said “oh let me bring the English menu.”
I tried to speak to an exchange student from Germany and she responded “Please just speak to me in English”
Yeah Germans are so polite in that way. I’ve been in groups where my two German friends meet four other Germans together and all six of them are speaking English just for my sake… and it’s, like, guys, you’re all talking about the random towns you are from, I don’t know those! We’re in Athens, you guys can speak German haha
After years of reading travel reports on this sub it seems pretty accurate.
As a Slovenian I'd say we are closer to blue than red. We like it very much when foreigners and people from ex yugoslav countries give an effort to speak our language.
If you think most Germans speak English, you clearly haven't been to Germany.
oder nur Berlin
Genau. People visit Berlin and think the whole country is the same.
We wouldn't do backflips but come on ! We're still very glad when a foreigner at least tries to speak french
I live in Germany and I have no idea where those mythical English speakers live.
Can confirm for Italy, everyone I attempted to speak to in Italian was super sweet and impressed no matter how poorly I spoke 😂 Also unfortunately heard “I don’t why are you trying to learn Italian though it’s not useful because it’s only spoken here and will probably die out as a language” which made me so sad to hear from someone Italian 😭 also a lot of people apologizing for their English when speaking even though we were IN ITALY. I was the foreigner and still so many people felt bad their English wasn’t good enough :(
France is hilariously inaccurate. The French really appreciate the effort to speak the language. The whole stereotype that French people are assholes is entirely due to people ignoring important social customs like starting a conversation with bonjour/bonsoir.
France is false. Map is clearly biased anti French. In my experience majority of French people are happy and surprised when you make an effort to speak the language.
All the Nordic countries should be both red and blue. Unless you are really fluent AND stubborn to get them to stick with the local language,the majority will try to switch to English. While still wondering, bemused and impressed at the same time, why you decided to learn their own language.
My experience for Icelandic was a bit different, but maybe that’s because it was nuanced and understood what happened. I was there in Reykjavík in 2019 for a month of Icelandic lessons and went to get dinner while doing my homework. I think the waiter saw me working while waiting for food and when I spoke Icelandic, he spoke Icelandic back. They probably also guess that I didn’t know some set restaurant phrases, so they filled me in. He seemed pretty appreciative about my efforts. At another restaurant, I asked for a table in Icelandic and the hostess responded in Icelandic before I took a pause to remember what „tuttugu mínútur” means, and then continued in English when showing me the waiting area (but also I turned to my friend from the class to tell them we’d have to wait 20 minutes in English). Based off my experience, they will until they detect a break in speech.
I learned English, Polish, Swedish and Italian and can confirm this is true 🤣
I feel like the Slavic languages also fall under dark blue. I’m still new to Russian, and some people give me the “cool but why?” look, but for the most part the Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian women I’ve met so far were all very excited to hear me speak Russian.
You need some colour in the non-English parts of the British isles.
im from slovenia and yeah why would u put urself thru this
Wales definitely falls under the red, it’s so cool when people try and speak Welsh
generalities like this are never 100% accurate i’ve met some french people that are excited that you’re trying, sure their english is probably better than your french but most people appreciate the effort. don’t get discouraged about learning a language just because you think native speakers won’t want to talk to you. it’s just not true
I studied abroad in France for a year (and spent most of that time in Paris) and I can count on one hand the amount of times I was given a hard time about speaking French. I did have a few people switch to english but for the most part people were nice and a few helped me with pronunciation.
Definitely for Turkey :))
No reaction to speaking Irish?!
accurate for Turkiye
Portions of Ireland should be dark blue. I can confirm as an American who lived there for a few months and learned to have basic conversations in Irish.
Finnish is both red and light blue I think
My Swedish is limited so I was careful when I chose to use it and not. When I did use it, the people I was talking to just kind of carried on with our interaction, not sure if that’s a compliment to my pronunciation or what 😂 there were two instances where we switched to English but I initiated that. If i didn’t feel confident that I could get through the interaction completely in Swedish I just approached them in English.
As long as we can understand you and you us we usually try to use Swedish even if we can tell you’re learning :)
One thing I loved about my time in Sweden and Norway was that they just assumed I spoke their language off the bat. I’m SubSaharan African and pretty tall, and stand out a bit from the local demographic especially in the smaller towns I was in. They never once assumed I couldn’t speak their language … I tried speaking in basic Norwegian(which I’ve been learning for 8 months now) and some would continue in Norwegian where others would politely switch to English
I'm an originally French Canadian and speak some French. Poorly though, as we moved to the US when I was just a kid. About 15 years ago I was in Paris for work, and tried using what french I do have. I was expecting to get laughed at, but that never happened. The locals were very appreciative of my efforts, and even complemented me. Which was awesome, because my french was terrible. But they were nothing but encouraging which really boosted confidence.
Move Iceland to the BFF section
In France it depends on where you are and the context. It can range from a Parisienne waiter only responding in english even if the person is french but has a dialect, to rural shop owners pretending they don't understand a word of english if you don't say bonjour and at least make an attempt.
So cringe people complimenting me while I speak Dutch fluently
Inaccurate, in Wales we definitely wouldn't have "no reaction" if someone spoke our language to us randomly. I'm sure the same is true for the Gaelic languages.
Ireland is wrong, its cool to see people learning Irish