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Getting people not to speak English | ||
Tags: Language Banditry | Convincing native speakers | Immersion | Swedish | Learning Technique/Method | Accent | English | German | French | Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| JokePro Groupie United States animalsites.com Joined 6400 days ago 58 posts - 60 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 105 of 169 30 October 2007 at 4:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
In Beijing and Shanghai, the staff at our western style hotels definitely spoke better English than I speak Mandarin. However, in Xian, Chengdu, and Chongqing, this situation was often reversed. Except for our guides, very few Chinese people spoke English very well. This is completely different than when travelling in Europe. Although my German is much better than my Chinese, many (if not most) Germans speak much better English than I speak German. During an exchange program in high school, I started conversations in German, but they often switched to English when I hit a wall. Our local guide in Shanghai received her masters in management from Stockholm University. Oddly enough she doesn't speak Swedish, but she does speak some German. All of her courses at SU were taught in English, and she said almost everyone in Sweden speaks English. The cruise director on our Yangtze River cruise was German. He spoke fluent Mandarin and flawless English. Often I would speak to him in Chinese, switching to German and eventually to English as the conversation became more advanced. He would address me in Chinese, but more complicated questions were posed in German. It was great. Obviously he didn't need to practice Chinese or English, so he focused on helping me practice. Anyone considering a Yangtze cruise should check out the Victoria Empress. Edited by JokePro on 29 July 2008 at 5:14pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Grammaticus Hexaglot Newbie Norway Joined 5753 days ago 36 posts - 40 votes Speaks: FrenchC2, Norwegian*, EnglishC2, GermanC2, Italian, Russian | Message 106 of 169 23 February 2009 at 7:59am | IP Logged | |||||
Sehr ärgerlich, nicht wahr? I've had the same experience in Germany and Austria. Germanic people are terrible at this, it's like if we have some aversion for our own languages. And all these annoying uncultured people showing off their English...(often, they're not even the ones who speak it the best). I've witnessed the situations you're describing time and again. Even though my German is C2 level and well above the English spoken by most Germans, your compatriates still sometimes switch to English for no apparent reason, right in the middle of a conversation. I am not surprised you're witnessing the same in Norway. These days, most people just assume English is the only valid foreign language. Btw. it's not the slightest of paradoxes how we push non-western immigrants to learn our languages, but do everything possible to impede other westerners from learning them. Fortsatt lykke til! 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Martien Heptaglot Senior Member Netherlands martienvanwanrooij.n Joined 7105 days ago 134 posts - 148 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, German, Spanish, Turkish, Italian, French Studies: Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian, Latin, Swedish, Arabic (Written) | Message 107 of 169 23 February 2009 at 9:22am | IP Logged | |||||
Germany and Austria are two countries where I never got such experiences, if they answer in English to my German (what they rarely do) I just tell them that my native language is Dutch and that I speak better German than English. Since you are obviously not a native speaker of English (and your foreign accent in German will not necessarily sound like an English accent) I think you could try to do the same. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| QiuJP Triglot Senior Member Singapore Joined 5855 days ago 428 posts - 597 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Czech, GermanB1, Russian, Japanese | Message 108 of 169 08 March 2009 at 1:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi, I am in France now and everyone in the city seems to want to speak English to me also. I think the reason is that there are too many people in my country who came here and speak only English! this is really frustrating for me as I liked French more than English( despite my level) and I would like to increase my oral and listening skills( which are very diffcult to master)
Lucky for me, I know Russian and I will reply in Russian to them. Sometimes I tell them this: Les états-unis sont l'ennemi de la Russie et vous me parlez en Anglais? Vous me rebaissez? For those who know French, this is a bit rude but it really frigthens them and make sure they speak French! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| jimbo baby! Senior Member United States Joined 5977 days ago 202 posts - 208 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* | Message 109 of 169 08 March 2009 at 7:12pm | IP Logged | |||||
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If you're struggling to express yourself in a language then they are right in trying to be helpful by switching to English. Sometimes people are pressed for time and they can't be patient and humor you with a free language lesson. But if you are a fluent speaker and someone still tries to force their English on you then that person isn't worth your time and should just be ignored. It should also be an indication that you have more work to do to try to pass for an advanced speaker. The accent might be hard to get rid of but as long as you speak fluently and confidently people will be less likely to switch to English during a conversation.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Alvinho Triglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 6234 days ago 828 posts - 832 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish | Message 110 of 169 12 March 2009 at 4:05pm | IP Logged | |||||
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the same thing happens in Brazil.
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 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6703 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 111 of 169 12 March 2009 at 4:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I have just visited Alsace, and nobody tried to speak English to me (not even German).
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Lindsay19 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5821 days ago 183 posts - 214 votes Speaks: English*, GermanC1 Studies: Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic | Message 112 of 169 12 March 2009 at 10:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I haven't had the experience of people only speaking English to me yet, but I'm guessing it might happen when I go to Germany this Summer. I suppose if it so happens that someone insists using English with me, I'll start talking super-fast, with an overload of slang. That might disscourage them. I might add a funny accent as well. But hopefully it won't come to that ;)
1 person has voted this message useful |
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