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Languages in the EU (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by jennwiththesea@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

I'm about to sound like the ignorant American I am, so I apologize in advance! We're looking at a trip to Germany, and possibly Prague, and we've noticed that a lot of the hotel names are French and a couple hotels that aren't named in French have replied to comments with things like "Bonjour! etc etc" What's up with this? Is French just the most commonly spoken common language, even in Germany and Czechia? (I know that Germany and Czechia have their own languages, of course.) Or is it something else?

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[-] Redredme@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago

You're American. Marketing data says that you like all things French and Italian.

Guess what happens next in this salesforce driven industry?

:)

East of Munich you're best bet is German, but English is also spoken widely. West of Munich you're more or less fine with English. In the northern countries we are used to the fact no one speaks our language so we all speak English, a lot of people French and a lot of German because it's close to our own.

Italians try English. As do most Spanish. Try is the magic word here, it's like your Spanish after high school or my French. :)

French don't try. They speak French. Period. In hotels etc. (tourist spots) English is spoken by few employees. But they are there. :)

In the balkans the situation is mixed. Some parts English, some German, some French, some Russian. I get by with an English/German mix in Croatia. my German is better then my French... But not a lot). Here in the Netherlands my level of German is widely called "steenkolen Duits" (coal German) because it's course, harsh, hard and dirty)

Anyway you'll be fine. Have a great vacation.

[-] EuclidsLemmy@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 1 year ago

I have been to France in 2000, 2010 and last year, and this last time I was unable to use French with waiters and cashiers in Paris. They realized my French was not exactly fluent and immediately switched to English. Very surprising, but at least in Paris youngish people seemed positively eager to use English instead of French. And the skills were passable, too - generally way better than my French.

[-] Jay@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

The last time I was in France, which was around 2009, everyone answered me in English.

Even though French is my second language.

[-] Redredme@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Large cities, big tourist spots? Yes. Go in land and it's game over. I've been in cajarc (beautiful spot, really!) this year, it's on one of the compostela routes so they get a lot of pelgrims from al over the world. 1 waiter spoke good enough English to have a conversation with. 1.

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this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023
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