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> English-speakers are notoriously bad at learning second languages My experience of learning German is that Germans would prefer to speak with you in English,
by okeuro49 3y ago
> English-speakers are notoriously bad at learning second languages
My experience of learning German is that Germans would prefer to speak with you in English, as they want to practise their language skills with a native speaker.
English speakers aren't bad at learning new languages, rather there is little incentive to do so, given everyone speaks or wants to speak English.
Trying to speak a foreign language is sometimes met with confusion "why are you bothering to learn another language? Everyone speaks English" or downright hostility "if you're English just speak English".
- hilbert42 3y ago"My experience of learning German is that Germans would prefer to speak with you in English,..." That's often true, and usually they're much more competent in English than the English-speaker is in the foreign language. From my observations many European countries pay much more attention to teaching foreign languages at a young age when it's easier to learn them than does the anglophone world. Seems to me if one speaks English then there's much less imperative to do so. I know I'm the 'victim' of this attitude, I should have been trained in at least one foreign language from kindergarten onwards but wasn't. Back then I'd have likely whinged about it but I'd have been damn grateful decades later. I think there's a certain level of cultural arrogance amongst English-speakers in that they don't have to put in the effort of learning a language when English is essentially a lingua franca. Reverse the situation you posed above about Germans preferring to speak in English. How many people in anglophone countries would prefer to speak to a visitor in say German? I think the answer proves my point.