A rant about overly-entitled English Speaking Travellers

Communicating in another language is hard. But I've noticed that English-speaking travellers in particular have an expectation that anywhere they go people should speak English. Today's video is a quick rant about why this mindset should be changed.

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As always, I'm Dan from The New Travel. Thanks for watching!

[thoughtsontravelandlife]

*Question of the Day: Are you learning a language right now? If so, what language?*

[markasdievovaikas]

Been working on Español for the last year and using Spanish With Paul online... on Level 6 of 9 now, it's awesome and have learned so much....

[edcarlson]

Spot on, Dan, as usual! When I travel to another country, I always try to learn a few words words and phrases in their language. It's good for my brain, and it is a super polite gesture which most of the people appreciate more than we possibly realize. I applaud you, Dan, for not being afraid to use French or Spanish even though you are not fluent and (truthfully) you speak them with a very heavy English accent :-) But the point is... you are trying, you are respectful, and you are appreciated. Also, it is super important for everyone to remember that if you are communicating in English with someone who has a different first language, speak SLOWLY, use simple words, avoid slang/idioms. It is convenient to go almost anywhere in the world and be able to communicate, at least a little bit, in English. We are spoiled, and I try to repay their kindness with kindness and respect.

[toddruth]

Thank you for that. An Uber driver here in Merida told me that an American lady went into a full meltdown when she realized that he ...the driver.. didn't speak English. She said that she was going to report him.

[m.g.]

OMG! I could never thank you enough for this video! thank you for being so considered of us. I didn't have to choose my mother tongue. I'm so tired to be mock by english speakers for my accent. I was born and raise in a little isolated french speaking east coast village in Quebec during the pre-internet era. So, unfortunatly I didn't have the chance to practice english properly enough to be perfectly fluent. I have so many bad experience with english speakers, especially the Canadians! Why they hate us like this? It's very hurtful. If they don't agree with the government actions, I don't have to pay for their frustration. I did nothing to them. I was called "French bootleg" "French wannabe" "French carbon copy" 'ignorant" "stupid" "you should learn english better". "english is the global language so stop clinging to french " and blah blah blah. So anyway thank you for called them out !

[anne]

When I was 5-6 years old, I went on vacations to the US (I think Florida) with my parents. A lady asked me a question in English and obviously I couldn’t answer back since I’ve learned English yet (French is my first language). So, my parents made the translation. The lady was offended that I didn’t speak English.

[imhotep]

I wish all english speakers living in Quebec especially in Montreal greater area should watch this video and learn from it ..

[katrinajosephson]

I do a lot of traveling throughout Europe, and I'm frequently told to "just speak English" when I make an attempt to communicate in their native language. And people keep responding to me in English as soon as they detect an accent, even though I speak French and German fluently. I feel this video is unfair to anglophones, because there are some like me who are genuinely trying and still get rebuffed. I'm not saying anglophones shouldn't make an attempt to speak the native language. We definitely should, but I think there needs to be a realization that both sides bear responsibility for this situation. You can't constantly discourage people from trying to speak the language, and then get angry when they finally give up trying. It hurts to not get encouragement and enthusiasm in response when making an attempt to speak the language and instead be met with an impatient attitude.

[neofils]

English may be one of the official language of Hong-Kong, there are still half of the population who do not speak english .

[carloscesaralmendra]

Rant is a new word for my vocabulary. Thank you Dan.

[pcts]

In retrospective, how did you fell when you were living in a foreign country where English wasn't their first language? How did you struggle on a daily basis? As you mentioned, English for some reason, is considered to be a global language. Even though, it's on the third place of most common languages spoken in the world. I totally agree with you, we should stop expecting everyone else speak English, and become more open to learn even the basics of a foreign language. Cheers!

[francisrobindaine-duchesne]

I'm a Quebec native with french as first language. When I went to France, people would start to speak to me in english just because I pronounced a word in english like "hamburger". So then I went on saying "quoi" (what) until the person went back to french. I worked as a barman before the pandemic and I always welcomed the customers with a welcoming "bonjour", not the hideous "bonjour/hi". If then the customer answered in english I would switch to english. The thing that annoys me the most is that more and more I can't get service in french in Montreal. When I don't receive service in french, I don't switch to english because I'm home here. When I offer a service as a barman, I welcome with a "bonjour" and if the person speaks english, I'll gladly speak english with it. It's a matter of respect. I don't expect people to speak french or english in Spain, same for here in Quebec. When I went to Spain I learned a few words to get by at the grocery, the bar, the coffee shop or else, I didn't just throw english words at them like I assumed they knew english.

[quirkygal]

You don't need to go far to witness that behaviour. So many people 'living' in Montreal do not bother to learn french despite it being the official language and it being used daily by the majority of the population. Yes, you can get by easily without it but it's a poor excuse. People are also missing out so much by being lazy; they are limiting their experience and I find that very unfortunate. **I am learning some korean at the moment.

[robertorodela]

Well my first language is spanish then i learned english by books and old dictionary hahah and now im learning italian just the basic phrases friend, arriverderci amicos.

[MrRedre]

What you Sayed it should be obvious, but for some reason I don't know why they don't understand. Anyway tips:

1) Speak slowly when you are abroad
2) If you go to the European Union try to use more British word and less American
3) When you speak don't think that the person has an obligation to understand your local accent or whatever, people abroad tend to study more the "standard English" of the school system, so in addition of speaking slowly you have to use simple words, and understand the differences.

This is how it works and by the way remember also this if you don't speak about "turistic things", basically things that you can speak and understand related to tourism it will be harder. And for God's sake Europe people tend to speak better even because Is "lingua franca", but in other places even if it's the same thing, knowing English is directly related to the Power of the language (empires behind it), the geographical location, geopolitics and also tourism, the more visited is a place, the more English is spoken.

[francis]

So true... One only needs to look at reviews on TripAdvisor to see how big a problem this is. So often I see 1 star reviews and the main complaint is staff doesn't speak English. Saw a guy yelling at staff at a Westin in Xian were I was staying upset cause no one spoke English yelling this is American company! I was so mad I had to intervene and gave a similar rant to him!!

[impostorel]

I dont know why i see this video because im mexican nice video amigo =)

[raimundosouza]

That’s an amazing topic. Thank you for bringing it up. People in Canada and UK use to be less arrogant than Americans.

[timothydouglas]

This attitude is not limited to Anglophones. Many who have learned English as a second language display the same entitled attitude

[jjmanly]

Not just English speaking, but we Americans are perceived the worst. Sometimes I tell people initially I’m from Canada lol. In my travels, I’ve found if we know more culture and history of a country, we will get a better perception. More so than a better knowledge of language.