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Most surprised reaction from natives? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4707 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 41 of 91 21 May 2012 at 1:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Have you ever been to the Netherlands and experienced it, then? Seems like this is your holy cow of some sort, but trust me, if someone speaks good Dutch I am more than willing to indulge them. And so would most people I know - those who don't are really also being lazy with the effort...
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| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5831 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English* | Message 42 of 91 21 May 2012 at 1:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The only country I've visited where the locals very rarely reply in English is Spain.
Even if your Spanish is poor, speak to a Spaniard in Spanish and you can almost guarantee a reply back in Spanish, even in touristy areas. I'm not sure whether it's because their English proficiency is typically poor, or whether its because they're so used to hearing all sorts of different Spanish accents both in Spain and from across the world that a foreign accent in Spanish doesn't phase them and nor does poor/different use of grammar, so they're prepared to keep the conversation going in Spanish. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5831 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English* | Message 43 of 91 21 May 2012 at 1:35pm | IP Logged | |||||
I suspect you'd have to be bordering on fluency or at least a solid advanced level for your typical Dutchman to speak to you in Dutch. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4707 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 44 of 91 21 May 2012 at 1:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Have you tried it, then?
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| Camundonguinho Triglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 4749 days ago 273 posts - 500 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish Studies: Swedish | Message 45 of 91 21 May 2012 at 1:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
That's why I recommend that people go to Flanders. In Flanders, the Dutch language is preferred to/over English, even by/among youngsters who speak excellent English (better than people in the Netherlands). Edited by Camundonguinho on 21 May 2012 at 1:45pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4622 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 46 of 91 21 May 2012 at 5:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I have bought train tickets and the Amsterdam Strippenkaart using the Dutch language and the person behind the counter spoke back to me in Dutch. Being Scottish and knowing German, I don't find the guttural Dutch sounds too difficult to replicate. So perhaps I sounded passably Dutch for a moment. Or maybe the person behind the counter was actually pleased to hear an outsider attempt Dutch in a comprehensible fashion. I think this idea that every Dutch person answers a query from a foreigner in English is something of an over-exaggeration, and when they do switch, it's probably nearly always a genuine attempt be inclusive and polite. Edited by beano on 21 May 2012 at 5:07pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Pisces Bilingual Pentaglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4622 days ago 143 posts - 284 votes Speaks: English*, Finnish*, French, SwedishC1, Esperanto Studies: German, Spanish, Russian | Message 47 of 91 21 May 2012 at 5:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
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People keep talking about how the Dutch answer back in English. One way of avoiding this would be to speak with a (for example) Russian accent and pretend not to understand English. (Obviously it could be anything besides an English, American, etc. accent.)
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| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4622 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 48 of 91 21 May 2012 at 5:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
So, how does it work for foreign people who live and work in Norway? I assume virtually nobody arrives in the country already fluent in Norwegian and newcomers will instead build initial relationships with local people via English. But what if someone decides to stay long-term and actually enjoys learning and using the Norwegian language? Do the local people welcome these efforts? Do they in fact expect people who spend years in the country to become proficient in Norwegian? After all, if an Italian came to the UK with poor English and 10 years later still hadn't improved it, nobody would take that person very seriously in the job market. You can't become a confident speaker overnight, and relationships already firmly established din English might be hard to reverse. There are probably people who move to Scandanavia who have absolutely no intention of ever learning the relevant language, but there must also be many who want to try and require support and encouragement. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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