4 ms·
Is there anywhere else where learning the local language doesn't play the same role?
by ido 10y ago
Is there anywhere else where learning the local language doesn't play the same role?
- sweezyjeezy 10y agoPretty much every young person in the western world speaks English, so I'd say anywhere where that is the local language.
- walterstucco 10y agoPretty much everywhere in the world english is a second language...
- dazc 10y agoHow are you defining 'western world'? I live in Spain and, outside of the tourist resorts, very few people speak English.
- kome 10y agoSorry, you are really deluding yourself here. Not even in Scandinavia or in the Netherlands - where literally everybody speaks good english - english alone is enough. You will always feel alienated without the local language.
- k-mcgrady 10y ago> "You will always feel alienated without the local language." My experience throughout Europe is that people generally have enough knowledge of English that you can get through a 2 week holiday without knowing the language. But even during those two weeks you start to learn little things to make life a bit easier. I don't understand people who go to a foreign country and expect to live without learning the local language. It's hard work but not impossible and just seems arrogant.
- SneakerXZ 10y agoYou cannot compare holidays with actually living there. In your everyday life you have problems that you don't experience as a tourist or did you order a plumber to fix your pipes? Or did you buy a television that you had to return because it was not working correctly? Try to figure out these problems with your A1 German.
- k-mcgrady 10y agoThat was my point. Maybe I wasn't clear enough. 1. You may be able to do 2 weeks there without learning the language. 2. That doesn't mean you can live there without learning the language.
- detaro 10y agoUnless I'm misreading the parent comment, he is saying that it is not as important in countries were English is the primary language, because most people moving there already know it as a second language and don't have to start from scratch?
- realusername 10y agoAs a French, I'm the only one who can speak/read English of my whole family (regardless of the age).
- maxxxxx 10y agoYou will always be an outsider if you don't speak the local language.
- ddorian43 10y agoNetherlands should be better. But you still need to learn the language to get really integrated. Though there are people that've lived for 10+ years and don't know it there.
- pcr0 10y agoMost big Asian cities.
- spyder 10y agoScandinavian countries: 80 - 90% of them speak English. http://www.fluentin3months.com/scandinavian/ http://www.fluentin3months.com/scandinavian/ http://www.thepolyglotdream.com/scandinavianenglish/ http://www.thepolyglotdream.com/scandinavianenglish/
- soft_dev_person 10y agoTrue, but you'll still not be completely integrated on a social level until you speak the native language.