3 ms·

You wanted to open a bank account in Germany, yet couldn't ask even the most basic questions in German? And you characterise this as a failing of the other part

by phpnode 10y ago

You wanted to open a bank account in Germany, yet couldn't ask even the most basic questions in German? And you characterise this as a failing of the other party (the bank)? That is insane!

blub 10y ago
Basic language skills are quite useless in my experience, especially when interacting with people in some professional fashion. One can start seeing some positive results only after B1+ level. And some banks do offer services in English while others explicitly forbid this.
demonshalo 10y ago
> And you characterise this as a failing of the other party (the bank)? Yes. And not only that. I would go as far as saying that it is the failing of the German system in general. Heck I am being too nice here. The way everything is structured in Germany is based on one idea and one idea only. The German worker > all others. Nationalistic pride at its best. Why would bank employees speak English when dealing with foreign business consultants? its 2016, the world should speak German by now instead!!! It is beyond me that in 2016 English literacy in Europe's biggest economy is basically 0. In fact, I speak 4 languages and all of them were useless there. Go figure...
- darklajid 10y ago
  > its 2016, the world should speak German by now instead!!! In which other countries have you been and lived? Would you get a bank account easily in the UK if you speak German? Ignoring German: Are you certain that you'd get a bank account in France, Spain, Italy? You're coming off as rather agitated and aggressive here, plus these 'German pride' and 'Everyone should speak German' references are getting dangerously close to a rather painful and sensitive subject. I'm not sure if this is intended?
  - demonshalo 10y ago
    > In which other countries have you been and lived? Syrian, Sweden, Austria, Germany, USA and Turkey. I hold dual citizenship and speak 4 languages while learning a 5th (Spanish). > Would you get a bank account easily in the UK if you speak German? 1. You make it sound as if "all languages are born equal". What a Jeffersonian claim that is... 2. Yes much easier than it is to open one in Germany if you speak English. how do I know? I have done it 3 times so far... When I first migrated to Europe I didn't know any English yet it all worked out within days. 3. English the 2nd most spoken language in the world, only surpassed by Mandarin. Spanish is a 2nd if you only account for native speakers only and English falls in 3rd place at that point. German is 13th on a falling scale. 4. The finance world has English as the dominant language so YES, I do expect a freaking bank to speak it. > Are you certain that you'd get a bank account in France, Spain, Italy? Yes I do. Especially in Spain (where I currently hold one and got it literally over the phone). > You're coming off as rather agitated no shit... What you said prior to my reply is just flat out infuriating. > 'German pride' and 'Everyone should speak German' references are getting dangerously close to a rather painful and sensitive subject. I'm not sure if this is intended? It is not sensitive at all since it is the truth. That is how people act when they want to exclude you and make you feel un-welcomed. They put up bullshit barriers that should not exist in 2016 especially not in Europe's biggest economy. All of this is purely designed to piss people off who are not a part of the German culture. If you came over to Sweden and people acted like that toward you, I would be freaking ashamed and embarrassed. I would never make a ridiculous excuse such as "well you can't ask the most basic questions in my language"... It boggles my mind how you could even justify something like that in this day and age. It is 2016 ffs, if you are a middle-class European citizen and don't speak English, that means you have purposefully evaded learning it.

by phpnode 10y ago

You wanted to open a bank account in Germany, yet couldn't ask even the most basic questions in German? And you characterise this as a failing of the other party (the bank)? That is insane!

blub 10y ago

Basic language skills are quite useless in my experience, especially when interacting with people in some professional fashion. One can start seeing some positive results only after B1+ level. And some banks do offer services in English while others explicitly forbid this.

demonshalo 10y ago

> And you characterise this as a failing of the other party (the bank)? Yes. And not only that. I would go as far as saying that it is the failing of the German system in general. Heck I am being too nice here. The way everything is structured in Germany is based on one idea and one idea only. The German worker > all others. Nationalistic pride at its best. Why would bank employees speak English when dealing with foreign business consultants? its 2016, the world should speak German by now instead!!! It is beyond me that in 2016 English literacy in Europe's biggest economy is basically 0. In fact, I speak 4 languages and all of them were useless there. Go figure...

darklajid 10y ago
> its 2016, the world should speak German by now instead!!! In which other countries have you been and lived? Would you get a bank account easily in the UK if you speak German? Ignoring German: Are you certain that you'd get a bank account in France, Spain, Italy? You're coming off as rather agitated and aggressive here, plus these 'German pride' and 'Everyone should speak German' references are getting dangerously close to a rather painful and sensitive subject. I'm not sure if this is intended?
- demonshalo 10y ago
  > In which other countries have you been and lived? Syrian, Sweden, Austria, Germany, USA and Turkey. I hold dual citizenship and speak 4 languages while learning a 5th (Spanish). > Would you get a bank account easily in the UK if you speak German? 1. You make it sound as if "all languages are born equal". What a Jeffersonian claim that is... 2. Yes much easier than it is to open one in Germany if you speak English. how do I know? I have done it 3 times so far... When I first migrated to Europe I didn't know any English yet it all worked out within days. 3. English the 2nd most spoken language in the world, only surpassed by Mandarin. Spanish is a 2nd if you only account for native speakers only and English falls in 3rd place at that point. German is 13th on a falling scale. 4. The finance world has English as the dominant language so YES, I do expect a freaking bank to speak it. > Are you certain that you'd get a bank account in France, Spain, Italy? Yes I do. Especially in Spain (where I currently hold one and got it literally over the phone). > You're coming off as rather agitated no shit... What you said prior to my reply is just flat out infuriating. > 'German pride' and 'Everyone should speak German' references are getting dangerously close to a rather painful and sensitive subject. I'm not sure if this is intended? It is not sensitive at all since it is the truth. That is how people act when they want to exclude you and make you feel un-welcomed. They put up bullshit barriers that should not exist in 2016 especially not in Europe's biggest economy. All of this is purely designed to piss people off who are not a part of the German culture. If you came over to Sweden and people acted like that toward you, I would be freaking ashamed and embarrassed. I would never make a ridiculous excuse such as "well you can't ask the most basic questions in my language"... It boggles my mind how you could even justify something like that in this day and age. It is 2016 ffs, if you are a middle-class European citizen and don't speak English, that means you have purposefully evaded learning it.