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How to get Germans to speak German to you | ||
Tags: Convincing native speakers | German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5711 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes  Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 42 of 51 22 March 2014 at 11:41pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Actually, there's often enough confusion between people who use the word Straßenbahn and those who use the word Tram. I guess when you live in a city that has a tram and tourists you get used to hearing different terms for it, but many people live in cities that have an underground system or buses, but no tram, and I think they may know only one term?
And, yes, Germans sometimes ask "do you know what xxx is" when they mean to say "do you know what I mean by saying xxx" 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Avid Learner Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4607 days ago 100 posts - 156 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: German | Message 43 of 51 29 March 2014 at 7:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
I'm late, but I've just read this. Before leaving for Paris, someone had warned me that the French would speak to me in English because of my Quebec accent. It seemed unreal and ultimately, it didn't happen to me. I slowed down a little and made sure to articulate all the syllables a bit more than usual. But later, a coworker who lived there for a couple of years told me how he was often addressed in English too. He said that they seemed to have trouble dealing with any kind of foreign accents. A relative who was with a Belgian friend told me that they asked for information somewhere and the lady kept telling them how they would have no problem at some other place because they would be able to use English, even if they kept remarking that they were currently speaking French. Another relative told me they had trouble understanding him for some reason, but not his wife. They both sound the same to my ears! I honestly can't explain this, but none of them seemed to think of the French as impolite. They were all very confused though. Edited by Avid Learner on 29 March 2014 at 8:00pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Darklight1216 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5045 days ago 411 posts - 639 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German | Message 44 of 51 30 March 2014 at 1:26am | IP Logged | |||||
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People who claim to have visited Germany report that the Germans tend to speak German. Even if that is not the case, I think I'm ready for them. Anyone who tries to speak English to me will be assaulted with my best French... which isn't that good, but will hopefully be better than theirs. Edited by Darklight1216 on 30 March 2014 at 1:27am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5711 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 45 of 51 30 March 2014 at 3:05am | IP Logged | |||||
Don't, unless you have a near perfect accent. It's much easier to spot a foreign accent in a language you don't speak well than grammar mistakes. Do you really want to start off your interactions by lying to people and them knowing you're lying to them, when you could simply tell them that you enjoy learning their language [if possible mention interests that dig slightly deeper into our culture than beer/Oktoberfest, WW2 or Rammstein] and that you would love it if they could talk to you in German? Most will do so, and the ones who don't ... well, there are millions of other potential conversation partners, and more, potential friends? 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4235 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 46 of 51 30 March 2014 at 3:27am | IP Logged | |||||
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It depends on the person. Some are more comfortable pretending or would rather risk
being discovered as not a native speaker of whichever language wherein they purport to be native. For example, despite growing up in an Anglophone country and being a native Anglophone, none of my forename, second (middle) name, nor surname are Anglophone. People often cannot guess wherefrom I come, it could be from Spain to Singapore (or both). I have a Spanish forename which helps also by being at least C1 in Spanish, so pretending to be Hispanophone is more efficient than trying to explain to each person who switches that practise is desired. They might not even care and insist on English anyway. Pretending to have English lower than A1 would force them to not switch to English because it would waste more time. If they do it anyway, well. Waste their time. They would switch back to German (or any language of the country) quickly. Edited by 1e4e6 on 30 March 2014 at 3:34am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5711 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 47 of 51 30 March 2014 at 1:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Well, if you know you can pull it off - after all it's your decision. But I do think that if you can safely assume you will see that person again, or you hope you do, other strategies might work better because you then won't end up having to explain yourself. Yes, we use white lies, but there's just a slight difference between using one for the sake of another person, or to get out of a situation in which you would have to ask for assistance, convince the other person or insist on being treated a certain way.
2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Darklight1216 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5045 days ago 411 posts - 639 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German | Message 48 of 51 30 March 2014 at 3:04pm | IP Logged | |||||
I wasn't really planning on lying, but simply speaking French and letting them make of that what they will. If asked, I would tell my country of origin. For what it's worth, I'm told I have an excellent accent. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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