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Germany is the only country in which I’ve had 112 (emergency services) hang up on me because they couldn’t speak English. It’s worse than France in this regard

Germany is the only country in which I’ve had 112 (emergency services) hang up on me because they couldn’t speak English. It’s worse than France in this regard.

jhrmnn 2y ago
Sure, that’s bad, and a service dealing with train ticket machine failures not available in English isn’t as bad.
- f1shy 2y ago
  Go to any museum… just brutal.
- yxhuvud 2y ago
  Ticket machines are still something foreigners can be expected to interact and need help with.
  - aziaziazi 2y ago
    People visiting a foreign country can still expect to have to interact with local not speaking their language.
aziaziazi 2y ago
Yes, but it’s still fine to have a customer service only answering in the official language. The chance are high that a random German speaks english so you’ll probably be good but if that’s not the case, blaming the company seems unfair to me.
- kleiba 2y ago
  > The chance are high that a random German speaks English Not sure how random my selection process was, but that certainly wasn't my experience when I lived in Germany a few years ago. Maybe in big cities, yes. But even in the burbs, chances are you have to look for the metaphorical needle in the haystack to find someone speaking English. Your best bet might just be teenagers and young adults.
  - f1shy 2y ago
    Absolutely. There is a big myth that “germans (all?) speak good English“ and nothing can be further from the truth. There are good ones, sure, maybe even more percent than other places, but go out of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich… and good luck!!!
- f1shy 2y ago
  Please look my comment to the parent comment. If you do find a german that speaks understandable english (that you can differentiate “think” and “sink” or “g” and “she” or “zoo” and “sue” then may be the arrogant crap that got my friend. For that they receive years of “Ausbildung”…
  - LargoLasskhyfv 2y ago
    Jaa. Vell. Trai zamm Turkish or Arabic zen? What THE FUCK is it with the expectation that everybody has to understand and speak in-glitch? Employ a local guide. Too expensive? Bad luck. Entitled little .....
    - f1shy 2y ago
      Well... who won and who lost the war?
      - LargoLasskhyfv 2y ago
        Voult juh äsk zät in China, tu?
        f1shy 2y ago
        Just a troll
- bryanrasmussen 2y ago
  >The chance are high that a random German speaks english so you’ll probably be good What does high mean in this context? I experienced what I would call the inverse Danish maneuver, the German obviously understand English because they often answered our English questions correctly - In German. In Denmark if a Dane understands what you said in Danish but you have a definite accent they will often answer your question in English. Maybe Germanic cultures are geared towards the rude.
  - HighGoldstein 2y ago
    This sounds like a language education issue. It's easier to understand a language than to express yourself in it, so possibly Germans on average have good enough knowledge of English to understand you but not enough to adequately reply in English. Conversely, Denmark has some of the highest English literacy in Europe.
    - bryanrasmussen 2y ago
      I mean sure, that sounds plausible, until I point out in Germany that I don't speak German and they continue trying to explain to me in German the answer to my question. If I'm talking to an Italian and trying to explain to them in English and they don't understand then I try with a combination of my broken Italian and hand signals, not obdurate sticking to English because that's being a jerk. At the same time, yes Danes have a high English literacy, but switching to English when someone is talking to you in Danish is rude no matter how you slice it.
  - bmicraft 2y ago
    They might have been rude, but that's besides the point. Even if they could speak English you shouldn't expect them to be comfortable doing so. That actually seems pretty rude in itself to me.
    - bryanrasmussen 2y ago
      right, if I'm trying to get information from a guy at a train ticket agent and I don't speak German but he obviously understands what I am saying in English it is me being rude for expecting him to make some sort of attempt to explain to me where I need to get off at in a language we both evidently understand instead of me just learning his language in a couple minutes.
f1shy 2y ago
Yes sir. A friend of mine, the girlfriend passed out, being pregnant. In the moment of total stress, we called 112, and said “passed away“ instead of „passed out“. The guy on the other side “well, if she is dead, why are you calling?!” Very rude. He went on to explain, it was an error, an instead of just dispatch an ambulance, had to hear a 10 minute lesson in english (from a german) after which the ambulance was dispatched. When the ambulance finally arrived, she was “ok” so they had to pay couple of thousand Euros for a “negligent dispatch”… The level of arrogance and lack of empathy and service is beyond limits.
- bmicraft 2y ago
  > When the ambulance finally arrived, she was “ok” so they had to pay couple of thousand Euros for a “negligent dispatch” That part seems really hard to believe for me. The only time you should get charged at all is for prank calling. In fact, if you call and tell them and decide you don't need EMS after all they will in fact come anyways because they need to check on every call. And you will not get charged for that.
  - f1shy 2y ago
    Believe me, it was charged. I could not believe until I saw the papers. This is noones land.
chgs 2y ago
I tried speaking German to a random security guard in Arizona and he just walked off.

Germany is the only country in which I’ve had 112 (emergency services) hang up on me because they couldn’t speak English. It’s worse than France in this regard.

jhrmnn 2y ago

Sure, that’s bad, and a service dealing with train ticket machine failures not available in English isn’t as bad.

f1shy 2y ago
Go to any museum… just brutal.
yxhuvud 2y ago
Ticket machines are still something foreigners can be expected to interact and need help with.
- aziaziazi 2y ago
  People visiting a foreign country can still expect to have to interact with local not speaking their language.

aziaziazi 2y ago

Yes, but it’s still fine to have a customer service only answering in the official language. The chance are high that a random German speaks english so you’ll probably be good but if that’s not the case, blaming the company seems unfair to me.

kleiba 2y ago
> The chance are high that a random German speaks English Not sure how random my selection process was, but that certainly wasn't my experience when I lived in Germany a few years ago. Maybe in big cities, yes. But even in the burbs, chances are you have to look for the metaphorical needle in the haystack to find someone speaking English. Your best bet might just be teenagers and young adults.
- f1shy 2y ago
  Absolutely. There is a big myth that “germans (all?) speak good English“ and nothing can be further from the truth. There are good ones, sure, maybe even more percent than other places, but go out of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich… and good luck!!!
f1shy 2y ago
Please look my comment to the parent comment. If you do find a german that speaks understandable english (that you can differentiate “think” and “sink” or “g” and “she” or “zoo” and “sue” then may be the arrogant crap that got my friend. For that they receive years of “Ausbildung”…
- LargoLasskhyfv 2y ago
  Jaa. Vell. Trai zamm Turkish or Arabic zen? What THE FUCK is it with the expectation that everybody has to understand and speak in-glitch? Employ a local guide. Too expensive? Bad luck. Entitled little .....
  - f1shy 2y ago
    Well... who won and who lost the war?
    - LargoLasskhyfv 2y ago
      Voult juh äsk zät in China, tu?
      - f1shy 2y ago
        Just a troll
bryanrasmussen 2y ago
>The chance are high that a random German speaks english so you’ll probably be good What does high mean in this context? I experienced what I would call the inverse Danish maneuver, the German obviously understand English because they often answered our English questions correctly - In German. In Denmark if a Dane understands what you said in Danish but you have a definite accent they will often answer your question in English. Maybe Germanic cultures are geared towards the rude.
- HighGoldstein 2y ago
  This sounds like a language education issue. It's easier to understand a language than to express yourself in it, so possibly Germans on average have good enough knowledge of English to understand you but not enough to adequately reply in English. Conversely, Denmark has some of the highest English literacy in Europe.
  - bryanrasmussen 2y ago
    I mean sure, that sounds plausible, until I point out in Germany that I don't speak German and they continue trying to explain to me in German the answer to my question. If I'm talking to an Italian and trying to explain to them in English and they don't understand then I try with a combination of my broken Italian and hand signals, not obdurate sticking to English because that's being a jerk. At the same time, yes Danes have a high English literacy, but switching to English when someone is talking to you in Danish is rude no matter how you slice it.
- bmicraft 2y ago
  They might have been rude, but that's besides the point. Even if they could speak English you shouldn't expect them to be comfortable doing so. That actually seems pretty rude in itself to me.
  - bryanrasmussen 2y ago
    right, if I'm trying to get information from a guy at a train ticket agent and I don't speak German but he obviously understands what I am saying in English it is me being rude for expecting him to make some sort of attempt to explain to me where I need to get off at in a language we both evidently understand instead of me just learning his language in a couple minutes.

f1shy 2y ago

Yes sir. A friend of mine, the girlfriend passed out, being pregnant. In the moment of total stress, we called 112, and said “passed away“ instead of „passed out“. The guy on the other side “well, if she is dead, why are you calling?!” Very rude. He went on to explain, it was an error, an instead of just dispatch an ambulance, had to hear a 10 minute lesson in english (from a german) after which the ambulance was dispatched. When the ambulance finally arrived, she was “ok” so they had to pay couple of thousand Euros for a “negligent dispatch”… The level of arrogance and lack of empathy and service is beyond limits.

bmicraft 2y ago
> When the ambulance finally arrived, she was “ok” so they had to pay couple of thousand Euros for a “negligent dispatch” That part seems really hard to believe for me. The only time you should get charged at all is for prank calling. In fact, if you call and tell them and decide you don't need EMS after all they will in fact come anyways because they need to check on every call. And you will not get charged for that.
- f1shy 2y ago
  Believe me, it was charged. I could not believe until I saw the papers. This is noones land.

chgs 2y ago

I tried speaking German to a random security guard in Arizona and he just walked off.