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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| fomalhaut Groupie United States Joined 4903 days ago 80 posts - 101 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 41 of 42 22 September 2011 at 11:40pm | IP Logged |
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this is my third week in Germany and so far it's been completely in German except for when i desperately ask if the person speaks English; and sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.
There are De Mother Languages who will sometimes speak to me in English but as soon as you say 'i prefer to speak in German!' there's no issue my biggest problem is the ex pat scene; We're at the same level so we can speak to eachother, but with my German Mitbewohner, zum Beispiel, ist es schwer ihn zu verstehen. He has a very heavy accent, the way he pronounced "Rohr Rohrzucker" almost made me give up and fly back to America because it sounded like sounds i aint never heard before 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4828 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 42 of 42 23 September 2011 at 1:38am | IP Logged |
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When I first went to (former) Eastern Germany (around 1997-98), it was still in the heady post-Wende days, and people were still getting used (at an impressive speed I have to say) to Western ways, and at that time, even among young people, there seemed to be few English speakers, for the obvious reason that in the DDR, Russian was taught preferentially as the second language.
This is still true to some extent, but in the last two or three years, I have noticed an increased tendency, especially among the young, for English to be spoken. The part of Eastern Germany I am most familiar with is Jena (Thuringen) and the towns and cities around. It's one of the more prosperous Eastern cities, and I don't know what the linguistic situation is like in the rest of the old East. I guess in places like Leipzig and Dresden, there is going to be a lot of English spoken for touristic reasons, but I haven't spent much time in those cities. "Body Language" - one thing I've noticed, and it surprised me, is that Germans seem to approach you physically much closer than British people do ... not just when they are talking to you, but walking past you in the street, etc. I'm always finding myself jumping back! In England, we keep our distance! :-) I would have thought that as we are all Germanic cousins, Germans and English would be the same in this regard, but apparently not. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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