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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 |  | |
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4612 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 9 of 51 15 March 2014 at 3:49pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Actually, it does still work. I go to Brandenburg and Saxony every year and most people over 35 are relatively poor at English. If you speak at least some German, you will get a very favourable response. And once you get into the smaller towns and more rural areas, you'll find that English doesn't really take you that far at all. I'm sure things are changing but it will take time. Germany is very much a German-speaking country, they publish more books than any other EU nation, films and TV shows are all dubbed. English is there for international business and tourism but doesn't play a major role in everyday life. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5756 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 10 of 51 15 March 2014 at 6:28pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
You don't even need to sound confident or speak without stuttering. You just need to be friendly and respectful and often enough people are willing to help you out when you need the help. Oh, and it helps to listen, ask the other person about what they care about, what's important in their life. Apart from that generally being a good thing when building a relationship, you can pick up the way they naturally talk about such topics. Edited by Bao on 15 March 2014 at 6:32pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Falkenstein Triglot Newbie Germany Joined 3913 days ago 20 posts - 38 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Modern Hebrew Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 11 of 51 15 March 2014 at 7:14pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Yes, because they still had Russian in school instead of English. In terms of proficiency they're similar to West Germans 50 years and older.
True. Usually tourists only visit cities (and more specifically the tourist areas of cities) or rural touristy places (e.g. Castle Neuschwanstein) and professionals are often surrounded by an exclusively academic environment, so most of them are not able to evaluate the reality of English proficiency in Germany. I think that's probably the reason why German English proficiency is overrated by foreigners. People also constantly tell me "why Hebrew? Everyone in Israel speaks English"... obviously they have never been to a grocery store, home depot or some other random places where regular Israelis linger. It's the same in almost any country: the majority is not fluent or not even close to fluent (especially in written form) in a second language.
In my opinion the internet is the main reason why the younger generation (<25) seems to be better at English. It's easier to immerse yourself from home. It's certainly not because teachers suddenly improved. 20 years ago they started teaching English in schools between the ages of 8-10. Nowadays they start at 6. Maybe that's a reason as well. In terms of movies, TV etc. there's no English at all, but there's a lot of English music, although I'm pretty sure that most people don't understand most of it. You can definitely live your whole life in Germany or Austria without knowing any English and depending on your job it won't cause you any problems. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Falkenstein Triglot Newbie Germany Joined 3913 days ago 20 posts - 38 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Modern Hebrew Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 12 of 51 15 March 2014 at 7:40pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Of course you can speak German to anyone even if their English is much better than your German but there's not even an option when you speak to someone who really doesn't understand English and who's just not able to answer in English. I'm someone who doesn't like to speak English when in Germany although I'm perfectly comfortable in it. I don't need practice in English, so when I know that someone speaks German I speak German to them, even when I know that their English is probably much better. Just happened to me last week with a student from Pakistan. He told me his studies are in English and during our conversation he didn't get any of my questions correct but I would have never switched to English. It was just a random conversation anyway. Nothing important. I figure he's in need of some practice, after all he lives here (and maybe he also wants to stay here after graduating) and I think it's rude to dismiss someone's effort of reaching a level around B1 or higher by just switching to English at the hint of an accent or a wrong declension. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4072 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 13 of 51 16 March 2014 at 8:00pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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What would be a minimum recommended German level to reach before attempting to engage a
German native to speak in German? Would only having completed B1 be enough? I guess from the first post, the listening comprehension level needs to be at least B2. Edited by Gemuse on 16 March 2014 at 8:01pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4697 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 14 of 51 16 March 2014 at 8:29pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
A1 is enough. Not speaking English is an attitude. I've never had problems with getting anyone to speak German to me, even when my German was terrible. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5756 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 15 of 51 16 March 2014 at 8:52pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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No minimum level required, despite what the OP says. Some minimal social/cross-cultural interaction skills are required though, and no language skills can replace them. Edited by Bao on 16 March 2014 at 8:54pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4612 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 16 of 51 16 March 2014 at 10:09pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Don't believe the popular notion that "everyone speaks excellent English" in Germany. Many Germans do of
course speak to a decent level but there are millions of people in ordinary jobs who didn't get high qualifications at school who have little appetite for speaking any other language than their native tongue. If your experience of visiting the country is confined to an academic or international business bubble, then it can be easy to get the impression that everyone has fluent English as a second language, but it certainly isn't the case among the general working population. There are also highly-qualified peope from older generations (or from the former GDR) who have a poor command of English. But people often judge the language situation in foreign countries from their personal experiences. A friend of mine is a soil specialist and he recently came back from an assignment at an exclusive golf club in Estonia. When I enquired about the language situation he immediately asserted "oh they all speak English over there". I'm standing there thinking, hmmm, a country that belonged to the Soviet Union for decades and only very recently joined the EU. Really? 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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