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How I got Germans to speak German to me | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Immersion, Schools & Certificates |  | |
| astein Pentaglot Groupie Germany Joined 5276 days ago 80 posts - 134 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Italian, French, Mandarin Studies: Russian, Dutch | Message 25 of 32 23 July 2010 at 6:39am | IP Logged | ||
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I have certainly been lucky, and I have only been here for a few months, so I know that
things can go differently and that allowances have to be made for the arrogance of certain people. I was just trying to lend a view point that it can't be something that happens every day for people with a decent command of the language, as it hasn't really happened with me yet (and I'm not trying to say my German is better than the professors' by any means, haha). Of course, it could help that I have never really been with other English speakers since I have been here, as I am normally either alone or with friends from deep in the "Bayrischen Wald". 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Zeitgeist21 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5653 days ago 156 posts - 192 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 26 of 32 23 July 2010 at 12:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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Though to be fair, however good at German the literature specialist is, if her accent is bad then many people would probably assume the rest of her German is too. And in a shop or bar your hardly likely to be able to use your full linguistic prowess. So if I were to say "Ein Bier bitte" or something like that, I wouldn't be so shocked and pissed off if someone were to assume from my accent that my German wasn't that great and answered in English. I would just think, hmmmm I need to work on my accent =) That's actually what happened several times and what I did ^^
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| Romanist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5290 days ago 261 posts - 366 votes Studies: Italian | Message 27 of 32 23 July 2010 at 2:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't believe her accent is so bad, WillH :-0
But in any case, how many Germans or Austrians are there who have a pitch-perfect British (or American) accent when they speak English? (Unless you have a special talent, it is almost impossible for adults to speak a foreign language without any hint or trace of a non-native accent, IMO.) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Zeitgeist21 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5653 days ago 156 posts - 192 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 28 of 32 23 July 2010 at 2:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm not saying really bad, I just meant that if you have an easily noticable British or American accent most German's will assume that you don't know more than "Ein Bier, bitte" "Danke" "Hallo" and "Wunderbar" ^^ Which seems unfair to us guys but 99% of the time I think that assumption is a bit optimistic :D
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| noriyuki_nomura Bilingual Octoglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 5348 days ago 304 posts - 465 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Japanese, FrenchC2, GermanC2, ItalianC1, SpanishB2, DutchB1 Studies: TurkishA1, Korean | Message 29 of 32 23 July 2010 at 2:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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I live in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, and as a matter of fact, I have never encountered a situation whereby people in shops/on the street/in the office insist upon/continue to speak English with me, after I began my conversation with them in German.
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| Romanist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5290 days ago 261 posts - 366 votes Studies: Italian | Message 30 of 32 23 July 2010 at 2:35pm | IP Logged | ||
That is a good point. The Swiss are indeed very much more tolerant of second language speakers, and are therefore much less likely to ram English down a person's throat just because his/her accent doesn't sound like he/she was born in the same town! Of course Switzerland is a multilingual country - with some Swiss speaking German as their native language, others French, others Italian, etc. So if a person's German doesn't sound 100% native, it may just be assumed that he/she was born in (for example) the French-speaking part of Switzerland? Edited by Romanist on 23 July 2010 at 5:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| noriyuki_nomura Bilingual Octoglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 5348 days ago 304 posts - 465 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Japanese, FrenchC2, GermanC2, ItalianC1, SpanishB2, DutchB1 Studies: TurkishA1, Korean | Message 31 of 32 25 July 2010 at 6:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hmm...as a matter of fact, from my personal experience, I think that the Swiss are more ready to speak English with foreigners (esp when they see Asians like me, and especially they definitely don't expect foreigners to speak nor understand Swiss German) than the Germans. I have travelled quite abit in Germany - Constance, Munich, Freiburg and Black Forest regions in the South to Hamburg and Berlin in the North, and honestly, I have not yet encountered a situation whereby shopowners ram English down my throat when I speak German with them. Though I have to say that, my German is definitely still not as good as native speakers, but I don't think that the Germans in particular would insist upon speaking English with foreigners if the foreigners could manage to speak German in a manner which will not render meaningful conversation impossible. Especially like going to a bakery/bar/shop, how much German do we exactly need to speak? I mean, it's basically "ich haette gerne das Brot da", oder "ein Bier bitte" etc...perhaps a solution could be that, your friend could inform the other party that he/she would like to speak/practise German, and voila, I am sure that the other party would be happy to speak to your friend in German.
Imagine when there's someone trying his/her best to speak his/her best English with me which made a meaningful flowing conversation almost impossible (due to bad pronounciation or lack of too much vocabulary), AND if I do speak his/her mother tongue, I would be more than ready to switch to that language, u get me? Hence, I don't think it's particularly the Germans who would ram down English on others' throats... Having said that, when it comes to business negotiations, I would be more than happy to conduct the negotiation in English, rather than German myself. ;) Edited by noriyuki_nomura on 25 July 2010 at 6:33pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| LiquidTester Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5798 days ago 28 posts - 32 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Czech | Message 32 of 32 29 July 2010 at 2:33am | IP Logged | ||
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Since several people mentioned professors being responded to in English as proof of their point...
I have several professors who speak English with a very thick accent. I work with someone who has been in America 30 years who has a thick accent and can't correctly use "a" and "the". Judging someone by their accent isn't always accurate as to their overall command of a language. I know these professors publish papers and conduct technical seminars in English. Yet, if you met them in a tourist shop with a fanny pack, you might respond to them in another language if you thought it would help communication. I once had a professor ask the class "what this mean?". 1 person has voted this message useful |
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