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Originally Posted by hamlet554  Hi,
I read through your discussion about second/third languages and was surprised when you said that in Germany people didn't speak English to you. I am German. We all have to learn English at school starting with fifth grade. Though, our school system divides into three different schools after elementary school. That's why the level of competence of speaking English differes quite a lot sometimes and some people therefore might not like to speak English. But in most big cities you always find someone who is happy to speak English.
I do have to agree that some English native speakers do expect too much by saying: we speak the world's language, you have to be able to communicate with us. It would do a lot of those people good if they once bothered to learn a second language themselves.
Another language which is also taught at the more advanced level schools in Germany is French, and lately Spanish has become quite popular. Only a few schools still teach Russian, there are more which still teach Latin, and some that teach Italian. Any other languages you have to study at univesity or teach yourself. |
When I say that it's not easy to find someone who will gladly speak English in Germany doesn't mean German people don't know English. I have had about 10 students from Germany in Moscow. They were mostly students of German school in Moscow. I must say they learnt English with pleasure. The only problem was they had to speak four languages regularly:German, Russian, English and French or Italian. They could speak English better than English people any other foreign language.