That’s one advantage of being German. You do just hear it when a German speaks English.
A few weeks ago, we had a meeting at work and it was like 20 Germans, but one guy greeted in English, so I guess, this meeting is gonna be in English then. And like, us Germans were all doing extremely fine, but it was still just absolutely fucking comical when the native English speaker responded. In comparison, we all just sounded like shitty robots.
German natives speaking English usually makes for one of my favourite accents, it’s very pleasant.
I love Germans for a million reasons. there’s nothing I don’t like about them. Particularly impressive that most of them speak five languages fluently.
Yeah, I think you are confusing the German with the Dutch. (Which happens a lot…)
Dutch generally speak several languages. Germans in general speak only German and rudimentary English (if you’re lucky).
(A common Dutch gripe with visiting German tourists is that Germans just assume the Dutch speak German (which they mostly do, so okay, they’ve got a point, but still) and just start speaking German without asking first)
Wish I could speak another language besides high school Spanish
I like to imagine that’s your only language. Not even a first language, only high school spanish
“I can’t do shit but I can always find a bathroom or library”
This happens to me pretty frequently.
I think is alright, language is a bridge and sometimes we feel more comfortable speaking our native language than others. But I don’t really mind speaking in English or Spanish with people I meet in Brazil. But the moment of realization that you are talking with another native speaker is always full of joy.
#feels-nice to speak with other bilingual or polyglots :)
It’s hard for Brazilians to speak Spanish? Whenever I heard someone speak Brazilianese I feel like I’m having a stroke because like 25% of it is just spanish, but the rest is like French Spanish.
Brazilian portuguese has all the phonems spanish has, but not the other way around. half of the words have same root so brazilians understand spanish for the most part and can infer meaning.
the other way around is tougher, because what might be a “hard t” becomes a “soft t” in portuguese, a “e” sound like “i” on certain words, etc. So spanish speakers get really confused.
Just being aware of these differences can remove those “blockers” and make spanish speakers understand brazilian portuguese much more easily (since, as said before, the root of many words is the same).
I’m so confused. But thank you and I love you for helping try and understand.
hey I got a story like that. I was in japan. my japanese was alright, I had attended two intensive courses before that, so I got around. But obviously i’m not japanese and everyone heard and saw that. I sat in a small eatery and ordered some Gyoza. This guy in a business suit next to me was all excited in japanese “oh you like Gyoza! how do you know about it?” and we started talking a bit, where he asked where I was from. I said that I’m from germany, where he immediately switched and we talked in German… weird experience.
My wife and I were stationed in Germany for a couple years with the US military. Her only experience with a foreign language was some classes in French in high school, which came in useful since we were stationed near the French border. But while we were living in Germany, we decided to learn some German so we could get around easier.
We took a trip up to Berlin one week and my wife was trying her best to speak to a vendor in German, but she was really struggling. The vendor decided to switch to French instead. Apparently, her German had a heavy French accent, since that was the only other foreign language she had practiced. She was able to finish the conversation in French.
I always wonder what mixes of languages other than american english sound like. Like, i know what a french guy speaking english sounds like, and I know what a german guy sounds like speaking english sounds like… but I wonder what a german guy speaking french sounds like? Or spanish, or chinese?
While backpacking in Europe I spent a week in France. I got in the habit of starting conversations with “parlez-vous anglais?”
Next stop was Germany. After getting off an early train and trying to book the next leg, I asked the ticket attendant, “sprechen sie anglais?” She stared at me for a moment and responded in crystal clear English, “You mean, do I speak English?”
For anyone like me who doesn’t speak German, and thus were unable to follow the implied humiliation: the German word for English is “Englisch” not “Anglais”
Went to a pub in Iceland. English brother-in-law had been living there a while, trying to learn some basic Icelandic.
He orders the drinks, slowly, trying to remember the words as he goes. Finishes the order. Looks at the barman.
“Sorry mate, I dunno what you’re saying”, he replies in an Australian accent.
Buying beer from a man in Iceland
He was six-foot-four and full of muscle
I said, “Do you speak-a my language?”
And he just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich
Sometimes I can’t think of a word, so I give a terrible definition of the word I am looking for and my saddest face in the hopes that the person I’m talking to will take pity on my feeble mind.
I’ll never forget one of my coworkers asking me what my first language was because, “I speak English as a second language I know what it sounds like, so what’s your first language?”
My first language is English, I just speak it really poorly
