Ditiris wrote:
Really, any big city anywhere, the people speak English. Most secondary schools in other countries require that their children learn Enlgish plus another foreign language.
Just one more reason America sucks.
Don't beat yourself up. The Brits are just as bad. It's an old joke that to make themselves understood abroad, brits just shout in English, but sadly often true.
By luck/judgement I speak a number of languages (fluent in 3+English and conversationally passable in 3 others) I despair when I hear Brits (or americans) calling foreigners 'stupid' for not speaking english, when they only speak one language themselves.
That said, most Europeans are fluent in english from an early age; partly through school and partly through watching english language TV & movies.
Debalic. Don't let it stop you travelling, and make the effort to pick up a few words - the locals are often delighted to see us have a try no matter how much we mess it up. On that note, in my experience (and these are generalisations I know):
In Spain, as long as they can catch the gist of what you're saying they'll be really complimentary and help out with advice
In Germany they'll correct your German, usually politely
In France they'll rip the p'iss out of you for the slightest mistake.
In the Netherlands I've found most people prefer to speak English if your dutch doesn't sound confident.
In Portugal they'll simply interrogate you about Manchester United in any language.
Edited, Tue Aug 31 16:06:20 2004 by Nobby
