Quote:
Originally posted by Dreamer128:
56% of the EU population fluent in English? Is there some kind of hidden EU nation we don't know about?
Seriously, try visiting nations such as France, Italy or Spain and see how many people speak English there
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You have to allow for different cultural attitudes when explaining this.
For example, in the Netherlands the Dutch are *PROUD* of their english language skills and are never too shy to show it. For example, when I was learning Dutch, I would naturally want to speak in Dutch to shopkeepers etc. - but, as soon as they heard my english accent, they would almost always immediately launch into English. Result? The ridiculous situation where the englishman insisted on and continued to speak in Dutch, while the shopkeeper continued to insist on and continued to speak in English. Confusing or what??
In France, the attitude is generally different. For the most part, the French (for example) insist that, since you are in *their* country, that you try to speak French. As one French businessman put it (paraphrased):
"I can speak very good english (if I have to) when I am selling something to an english-speaker - but I see no reason to speak english to people who want something from me."
This summer, on my annual vacation I was in France. In one hotel, the land-lady didn't appear to speak any english (as far as I could tell). No problem for me, my french could easily stand the test - but my Dutch wife had to work very hard with her high school french to make herself understood. She asked the woman if she could speak in english, but the landlady would just carry on in French. On the last day at that particular hotel, I heard the landlady speaking perfect english to some other guests.
I asked her why she wouldn't speak in english to my wife and she responded that she'd rather not speak a foreign language
in France unless she really had to - and these (Romanian) guests really didn't speak any French at all.
Besides she said (beaming), it was good for my wife to practice her french.
When you are in France, remember that just because you do not get an answer in english, it doesn't neccessarily mean that they don't speak the language. More often than not, they can but choose not to.
Oh well, as they say,
When in Rome, do as the Romans do...