When You try to Speak GERMAN in GERMANY

Is it really worth learning German?

[yaboi]

solution: you speak german, he speak english so you both practice

[hueywallop]

This is exactly what happens. In my experience, conversing with elderly Germans was the best way to learn. Old people will talk to you all day long.

[zephyrna]

I solved this once by pretending I didn't speak English at all.

[Phoenix_Films]

This is everywhere the second they figure out you're a native English speaker

[anneb.]

It's the very same when you're German and you try to speak Dutch in the Netherlands. ;)

[ylysergic]

You gotta hit them with the "lo siento no hablo nada en inglés solo alemán"

[CobinRain]

As many have commented: don’t tell them you speak English! I spent 4 months in a university language class in Oslo…in Norwegian..a small class and there was a French girl in the class and we all got along in our broken Norwegian, getting better week by week. We socialised etc etc. And it was literally on the last day saying goodbye when she revealed, in flawless English and in the nicest possible way, that not only could she speak English…she actually was an English teacher in Paris! The(clever girl)had acquired not only Norwegian but also 11 Norwegian speaking friends, by the time to course ended.

[treedmustermann]

When I were in an exchange Programm. My partner talked in German to me(he was English) and I talked in English to him. I think this helps both to get better and both understand a lot

[animalmother]

Thus for all native English speakers.
We try to learn other languages but they won't let us!

[lemsip]

It's getting like that in Paris now when you try to speak French. When I was much younger and going abroad not as many people spoke English. It was mostly people in the Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavia and even then people old enough to be my parents and living in the countryside would get their child out to interpret.

More people are learning English at school from compatriots whereas in Italy even in the 80's they either learned German, French or English in school depending on the availability of teachers and it was a way to keep those who had studied German or French at degree level in a job. Plus in northern Italy they would want to learn German or French since they are so close to France and Austria. There was probably a shortage of Italian teachers of English so they learned English outside of school from native speakers. In the UK there aren't many British people with degrees in German or Italian so we learned from native speakers outside of school. French and Spanish is more popular.

One thing I wish I had known when younger is to always take a phrase book or dictionary even when visiting the Netherlands or the Flemish speaking parts of Belgium to be able to understand street signs and to know the difference between an exit and an entrance.

[seifenspender]

We love it when people try to improve their German.
Saying "bitte in Deutsch antworten" should be more than enough.

[EleBuvy]

Best way to practise German is going to the Job Center, even if you don't have the requirements to apply

[allesmeins]

Das Deutsch ist doch schon sehr gut. Weiter so.

[-nfvt]

For fluency I'd recommend you watch movies with subtitles. Immersive translate works quite well in generating the subtitles for those movies that lack them

[werothegreat]

Exact same situation trying to speak French in France.

[GaganKPolska]

Same here in Poland while trying to speak Polish.

[mrrandom]

I've met a German guy living in the Philippines who just wouldn't speak German to his cousin visiting from Canada. She was so happy to finally speak some German and he would answer every single question in English.

[swarley]

English is not even my native language, so if a german were to start speaking english with me because of my norwegian accent, i would genuinely get annoyed.

[knokekc]

Just came back from Koln ... this is EXACTLY how it went down !!!

[remaguire]

I lived in Germany for around 6 years and I found that once Germans found out that I spoke German pretty well, they wanted to stay with German. I rarely had anyone demand to speak in English.