Laurae Diglot Groupie Germany Joined 5036 days ago 51 posts - 67 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Dutch
| Message 25 of 31 12 September 2013 at 11:15am | IP Logged |
Given my location, the tourists I meet on a regular basis, my own interests and with a view to career opportunities, I would choose the following languages, in no particular order:
1. German
2. Russian
3. French
4. Spanish
5. Italian
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jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6907 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map
| Message 26 of 31 12 September 2013 at 4:14pm | IP Logged |
tarvos wrote:
Germans learn English, but they are not as accustomed to using it. Germans dub for example.(...)Even though the daughter does speak fluent English (albeit with a morse code German accent). |
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In the thread Multilingual Europeans, I wrote:
Quote:
It may depend on where in Germany you are (I assume you meet higher skill in areas where people are more likely to meet English speakers). However, I was really surprised to find out that people from say 15 to 35 years of age didn't speak English that well. I came to wonder when people start learning English, and at what level. I'm aware of that films are usually dubbed into German which I believe is the strongest reason why people don't speak good English - they never hear it! ;) |
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(2006 13 August)
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tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 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 27 of 31 12 September 2013 at 4:39pm | IP Logged |
Yeah, it's always easier if you speak German. But nowadays good English is found in some
places. Germany is a bit hit and miss, but it's better than France f. ex.
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beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4620 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian
| Message 28 of 31 12 September 2013 at 4:54pm | IP Logged |
The old East Germany is not a fertile ground for finding English speakers. Lots of people over 35 will seriously struggle with English, and may not speak it at all. This includes people with good levels of education. The situation is somewhat different with younger folk but, even then, many are reluctant to speak English unless they absolutely have to (which is no bad thing if you are over there learning German).
Edited by beano on 12 September 2013 at 4:57pm
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wanderingbird Diglot Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4133 days ago 16 posts - 21 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Mandarin, French, Japanese, Portuguese, German
| Message 29 of 31 12 September 2013 at 6:33pm | IP Logged |
Based on my location in central California, the languages I would consider most useful to know here are:
Spanish
Vietnamese
Khmer
Arabic (not sure which dialect)
Tagalog
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lachat Triglot Newbie Joined 5561 days ago 23 posts - 26 votes Speaks: English*, Dutch, French Studies: Italian
| Message 30 of 31 16 September 2013 at 9:10pm | IP Logged |
I have found French to be a very usefull language in much of Europe, I have used it as a lingua franca with
many people who simply do not want to learn English.
For my town it would have to be Polish, a large percentage are unable to speak English or speak with such a
stong accent it is not possible to understand them and its use is increasing.
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languagenerd09 Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom youtube.com/user/Lan Joined 5098 days ago 174 posts - 267 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Thai
| Message 31 of 31 20 September 2013 at 2:02am | IP Logged |
Thai was extremely useful for me when living/working in Thailand, even in Bangkok quite a
few of the locals could not speak English very well, so I used Thai to help quicken
answers to problems basically.
Even saying สวัสดีครับ or ขอบคุณครับ to people made them really grateful.
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