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I know the author mentioned this, but I just got nervous imagining this as a tourist who doesn't speak German at all. This shouldn't be like this. Why they don'
by 101008 9mo ago
I know the author mentioned this, but I just got nervous imagining this as a tourist who doesn't speak German at all. This shouldn't be like this. Why they don't help at all?
It's also funny considering how here in South America we look at Germany trains (and Switzerland trains) as always on time, and the best train system, etc. But I am sure if this happens here it would be on the cover of newspapers.
- flexagoon 9mo agoI recently moved to the Netherlands to study, and I experience that a lot. Despite almost all official information everywhere being written in both Dutch and English, in-train announcements are only done in Dutch. I have to constantly listen to the announcements and try to understand based off their vibe if they sound like something critical or not.
- derfniw 9mo agoYep, only semi-consistent exception is that Amsterdam Central & Schiphol are usually also announced in english. Including delays related to these stations. But, for example, Rotterdam or Utrecht are already a lot less likely to be announced in english.
- mcv 9mo agoI was once in a train that announced Schiphol in 5 languages. That's how you announce an international airport.
- nephihaha 9mo agoDutch announcements in the Netherlands. Fancy that. Almost like it's the national language or something.
- tzs 9mo agoThe Netherlands is in the EU. English is the most widely spoken language in the EU, even after the UK left, because it is by far the most common second language. Nearly half of the people in the EU can speak it. In Northern Europe the percentage is even higher. In the Netherlands there are almost as many people who speak it as there are Dutch speakers. Taking into account people from other EU countries who are there on business plus tourists there is a good chance that if only one language was to be used for train announcements more people on the train would understand if it was in English then if it was in Dutch.
- prmoustache 9mo agoThanksfully, dutch is reasonnably easy to understand (not to speak) if you know english and the actual context. Or maybe that is just me having grown to understand dutch and flemish as a cyclocross rider and spectator.
- trvz 9mo agoIdeally announcements should be bilingual, but if there’s only one language, it’s better to inconvenience any number of foreigners than even a single native who doesn’t speak English.
- mort96 9mo agoNobody suggested that dutch announcements should be removed. You can make announcements in two languages.
- nephihaha 9mo agoWhy have Dutch at all? "They all speak English."
- mort96 9mo agoNot everyone speaks English though. The point of an official language is that the government makes it as convenient as possible living your life knowing only that language. It wouldn't be that unreasonable IMO to switch official language to English, but seeing as NL is a democracy, that ought to be a democratic decision. A referendum of some kind would probably be best. It's not a small decision to be taken lightly. But it's still nice to offer information in other languages in certain situations. Infrastructure used heavily by tourists and recent immigrants who don't speak the language yet should be made as usable as possible to people who don't know Dutch. Making important announcements in both English and Dutch on trains is an example of that.
- flexagoon 9mo agoYes, I'm obviously not mad with them using their own language, and I am studying it since I live there. But it's in the EU, and there is a lot of international tourists on the train, who shouldn't be expected to learn the national language of every country they visit just to navigate it.
- nephihaha 9mo agoYeah, why bother using their own language at all? They all speak English and are just pretending. I want all the people in all the places I visit to be just like me.
- integralid 9mo agoSince you moved to Netherlands is understandable they speak Dutch. You should consider learning it off you want to get by in the society.
- bradley13 9mo agoIn Switzerland, the major train lines announce in English (as well as German and French). Minor train lines often only announce in the local language. Honestly, I don't see the problem. As a tourist, you have to be prepared with apps, or you can ask someone for help. Happens all the time, and most people are happy to help. Someone living here needs to learn the local language.
- hexbin010 9mo ago> Why they don't help at all? If it's anything like the UK, the staff have incredibly secure jobs and recently secured some good changes to their working conditions/pay. It's probably not in their contract to announce in other languages, so they do exactly what their contract says
- graemep 9mo agoI have found station and train staff in the UK to be very friendly and helpful. They do have very good pay (drivers can earn as much as some airline pilots) and a very good pension scheme on top of that.
- pjerem 9mo agoIdk how it is in Germany but my wife is currently trying to became a train driver in France and there are far more requirements that what you would imagine. Even if the job is actually opened to basically everyone (and that’s pretty nice), you have to be in perfect physical and psychological shape with pretty strict tests, you have to be intellectually apt enough to follow the training which is pretty intense. You have to accept work conditions such as not knowing your work hours until the day before. You have to accept sleeping who knows where at least 2 times a week. You have to accept having only one weekend off per month. So what happens is that when you have that much filters and you still want to hire train drivers, you can’t afford to expect your drivers to know another language on top of all of the rest.
- flr03 9mo ago
- mosura 9mo agoGerman trains, as recently as the 90s, were phenomenal, and integrated superbly with the Swiss and others. It is in the 21st century that Germany has gone off the rails.
- mnmalst 9mo ago"Off the rails" hehe
- nephihaha 9mo agoGerman trains were great twenty years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if things went haywire after lockdown. Many things did. It gave people a licence not to work and introduced a sloppiness into everything.
- Deukhoofd 9mo agoI'm fairly certain it was before that, as someone living in The Netherlands we'd always get warned to make sure there was at least 30-60 minute transit time between each stop in Germany when travelling international, as the expectation was that the train would be (extremely) late. This was already the case around 2015.
- slow_typist 9mo agoWhile it is true that that many problems where already visible 10 years ago, it is also true tat during the pandemic more trains were on time because having very few passengers speeds up the boarding/offboarding at stations enormously. So the pandemic somehow delayed the already inevitable fall into the abyss.
- CaptainZapp 9mo agoTrains are still great. Especially the newer generation ICEs are beautiful trains and very comfortable. Just don't count on them that they bring you to your destination in a timely manner.
- 9mo ago
- tonfa 9mo ago> Germany trains (and Switzerland trains) as always on time, and the best train system, etc It's true of Switzerland and probably Austria. Germany is famous for having infrastructure issues that will take some time to resolve. Eg see https://chuuchuu.com/2025wrapped https://chuuchuu.com/2025wrapped for some stats
- creichenbach 9mo agoI'm a heavy public transport user in Switzerland, and even though it's almost a meme how reliable the trains are, reality is different. Yes, they operate in a way that make the stats look good (x% on time), but they take tradeoff to get there. E.g. they won't await connections if another train is a few minutes late. So you might have to wait for 30 minutes for the next one, or even longer if you're unlucky. And there's the occasional big incident, where you get stuck for several hours. I missed flights that way, even though planning in 3 hours of buffer. There is zero compensation in such cases as long as they bring you to your destination on the same day. Plus, several trains are regularly way too crowded.
- comrade1234 9mo agoThey changed the policy maybe 5-years ago about a train waiting for a late train to come in because they found that it added additional delays to the entire system. I prefer the new way.
- creichenbach 9mo ago> it added additional delays to the entire system Yes, obviously. And that hurts statistics. That's like killing sick cattle to be able to say that 100% of yours are healthy.
- ragall 9mo agoNo, it means they contain the damage and run the system in a healthy manner.
- junon 9mo agoGerman trains do typically announce in English. If they don't, that's the exception. Just ask around. Most people here speak English and will be able to repeat what was said, especially if they're under 40 or so.
- b3orn 9mo agoAnnouncements in English aren't done for every station. Usually only for central stations and airports.
- reddalo 9mo ago> Most people here speak English Germany is the country where I found the highest number of people not being able to speak English, even people working in accomodation! French people probably know English but they refuse to speak it; Italians don't know English that well, but they try their best using rolling R's and gestures. (I'm a bit ironic)
- hdgvhicv 9mo agoEnglish people can speak Italian though, just add a vowel-a on-a every-a word-a
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- nephihaha 9mo ago[flagged]
- ragall 9mo agoColonial my arse.
- ludicrousdispla 9mo agoI've learned they very quickly switch to English if you speak to them in German :)
- microtonal 9mo agoIt's also funny considering how here in South America we look at Germany trains (and Switzerland trains) That's very outdated, DB has been terrible for a long time though. Switzerland is still the best though. Here are some stats for 2025: https://chuuchuu.com/2025wrapped https://chuuchuu.com/2025wrapped Since you have to scroll down quite a bit to get the list of most reliable European trains (with percentage on time): 1. Switzerland 97.8% 2. The Netherlands 93.9% 3. Belgium 88.6% 4. Austria 82.2% 5. France 79.7% 6. Italy 62.0% 7. Germany 58.5% (Not sure why these are the only countries in the list.)
- foxrider 9mo agoAfter living in Italy for a few years - if you're doing worse than Italy with your train schedule it's time to reflect hard.
- apexalpha 9mo agoGermany and Italy should gang up together to make the trains run on time and... wait a minute.
- ergocoder 9mo agoHey Japan wants to join. I know we are a bit far away but we can form some sort of a tri-something axis.
- hulitu 9mo agoI heard that Japan's trains cannot compete with the Germany's trains. /s
- tauchunfall 9mo agoI think, the joke about Germany and Italy should team up is a reference to the new CEO of Deutsche Bahn, Evelyn Palla, who is from Italy. The "to make the trains run on time" gives a hint here, because this is her declared task. Not about Germany, Italy, and Japan, forming some sort of axis, I guess.
- timthorn 9mo agoI did learn German at school but it didn't help much when trying to get to Munich airport last year. I could understand what was going on with the cancelled trains at the station I boarded at, but the train I did catch end up tipping us all out after a few stops. I could make out a bit of what the driver said, but not enough to be sure of the detail, which is what really mattered. I expected to miss my flight, but just made it in the end.
- hiq 9mo ago> Germany trains (and Switzerland trains) Other commenters have already set the record straight, pointing out that these are clearly not in the same cluster. See also https://www.thelocal.de/20250430/switzerland-suspends-deutsche-bahn-trains-due-to-chronic-delays https://www.thelocal.de/20250430/switzerland-suspends-deutsc... Pay-walled, but the title says it all: "Switzerland suspends Deutsche Bahn trains due to chronic delays". DB is so unreliable that it impacts the networks of neighboring countries.
- em500 9mo agoI'd reverse the question ask why Germany (or any other country where English is not an official language, and does not majorly rely on tourism for income) would provide any public information in English? Commercial services can choose to do so a matter of self interest, but why would state financed services?
- stevage 9mo agoYou're really wondering why a state-funded service would consider the needs of tourists?
- em500 9mo agoYes. AFAICT, catering to the needs of tourists ranks very low among German voter priorities.
- Avamander 9mo agoBut catering the needs of the tourism sector ranks where?
- johnisgood 9mo agoI do not see the relation, mate.
- larnon 9mo agoBecause the State wants to attract well educated international workers to fix it's failing economy?
- YouAreWRONGtoo 9mo ago[dead]
- rixed 9mo agoA "well educated" international worker willing to relocate in Germany would probably learn the language.
- CaptainZapp 9mo ago> we look at Germany trains (and Switzerland trains) as always on time When taking an international train from Germany to Switzerland, don't count on it that it will run through to the final destination. SBB (Swiss National Railways) started to block German trains if their delay is more than 15 minutes (so, basically every DB train) and won't allow the train on their network. This is only peripherically educational. Constantly delayed DB trains completely fouled up the scheduling on the extremely dense Swiss network. So they just won't allow it anymore. On a sidenote: In 2024 SBB trains were 93.2% punctual. Connectivity punctuality (where you have to catch a connecting train) was 98.7%. A train is counted as punctual if the delay is less than 3 minutes (half the German figure).
- cardanome 9mo agoGermany had a great train system but Germany also has a big automobile industry that spends a lot of money on lobbying. In the end of the 90s with neoliberalism being very popular, it was decided to privatize the trains. The effect was only minimal investments in the infrastructure and a gradual rotting away of the train network. Now we a reaping what we have sown. The enshitification of the German trains was done on purpose so they don't compete with cars.
- ExoticPearTree 9mo agoFunny thing, but the Swiss are looking at banning DB trains because they are never on time and messes up Switzerland’s public transport schedule.
- mcv 9mo agoI thought they already rejected delayed trains. Trains that are on time are still allowed. But I'd love to see Switzerland take over some of those international connections.
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- bionade24 9mo ago> But I'd love to see Switzerland take over some of those international connections. The Giruno EMUs of the SBB serving the Eurocity from Hamburg to Basel are having technical malfunctions causing delays & aborted trainrides for the last few weeks. The Eurocity(Express) Zurich-Munich is the most delayed long-distance train route in Germany. Most of the German route is only single-tracked and overcrowded.
- mcv 9mo agoSwiss trains are always on time. I've heard they've start to refuse delayed German trains entry to the country because their delays disrupt the system too much. The Swiss train system is excellent. The German train system is a joke.
- ludicrousdispla 9mo agoIt's not so bad, with luck you'll eventually end up at a station outside of Germany.
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- lmm 9mo ago> I know the author mentioned this, but I just got nervous imagining this as a tourist who doesn't speak German at all. This shouldn't be like this. Why they don't help at all? How much help does your home country give to German tourists who don't speak English?
- symbogra 9mo agoSwiss trains are very civilized. On an ordinary intercity train can sit at a table with a white tablecloth and have a beer or wine and a proper dinner. It really makes the time fly by. The SBB also has merch store with their own line of watches.