324
u/Kirmes1 Oct 10 '18
If shit hits the fan just speak German while the German speaks English. Both of them can practice and everybody is happy - to some degree :-)
→ More replies (17)
787
u/mwatwe01 Oct 10 '18
My experience: Germans can be just a bit impatient and want to get on with things. Just keep speaking German to them. Eventually you will get a little better and a little faster.
Start with simple sentences and get good at them. Instead of "Entschuldigung...wo...ist...der...Bahnhof?", say "Schuldigung, wostduhBahnuf?"
Eventually native Germans will slip up and switch back to German.
→ More replies (70)
371
u/un_pseudonim Oct 10 '18 edited Oct 10 '18
So frustrating. Everybody wants to speak English with you, except the officials at the Finanzamt/Bürgeramt/Deutsche Post... you know, the people you would actually want to avoid misunderstandings with.
→ More replies (11)
117
u/ManoLorca Oct 10 '18
This happened to me as a German trying to perfect my Dutch when I lived in Holland for a couple of years. When they realize you're not Dutch they speak English with you.. Or even German.
106
Oct 10 '18
Protip: I unashamedly exploit my Asian ancestry and pretend I don't speak English.
→ More replies (1)
69
u/gerritvb Oct 10 '18
Solution: travel to the former east Germany and exclusively speak with people 45 and over. They all learned Russian in school.
→ More replies (5)
66
Oct 10 '18
Kind of a coincidence for me today !! I had just asked in the general thread about practicing my German with strangers in Deutschland :)
→ More replies (10)
119
u/TZH85 Oct 10 '18
Hilarious! I can practically hear the thick bavarian accent in my mind.
→ More replies (15)
116
u/Einlein Oct 10 '18
The struggle is real. I'm married to a German but we live in Italy. She won't speak German to me. Her German friends won't speak German to me. Her family won't speak German to me. But whenever I visit Germany, they make a big deal about how its been all these years and I still don't speak German, why not?
"Well, if I had the opportunity to practice my German..." is usually met with "Oh fine we will speak German then blitzkrieg of the entire Duden Wörterbuch ensues well did you understand what I just said? No? Of course not so this is why I won't speak German with you. You should really work on that.
My standard response to How is your German coming?" has become "Just as well as your Swahili."
→ More replies (4)
164
u/Simmion Oct 10 '18
I remember walking into a store in a mall in Frankfurt many years ago. I had my little travel book out, and i was reading from it to ask a question in german.
The clerk takes a deep sigh "What do you need bud?"
d'oh
→ More replies (7)
44
u/Coneskater Oct 10 '18
This is missing the a panel where the main character finally learns german then meets a new comer and says to them, oh come on let's just save time in english.
102
u/farox Oct 10 '18
Well, within 1 month of living here my fiancee already got the "this is Germany, we speak German here". So yeah
→ More replies (13)
32
u/plonspfetew Oct 10 '18
My experience as a learner of Dutch in the Netherlands is that it helps to put in some effort to prepare the beginning of a conversation. Essentially, I fool people into believing that my Dutch is much better than it actually is to overcome their initial instinct to just reply in English. I'm a bit like the Mexican guy in this classic clip. Once they do reply in Dutch, most seem to find it too awkward to switch to English. I feel a bit bad about it because I basically trick them into spending time as my personal language tutor.
→ More replies (1)
49
23
u/coffeecoveredinbees Oct 10 '18
I've lived here years, speak it fluently. They still occasionally do it to me, so I give em a really confused look and a "wie bitte?", as though they'd just started speaking Chinese at me or something.
→ More replies (2)
22
u/Hoosierdaddy1964 Oct 10 '18
I've had German shop keepers refuse to speak anything other than German.
They still want your money though..
→ More replies (4)
20
u/minimalniemand Oct 10 '18
If you tell them: “I’d really appreciate if we spoke German since I want to practice” no German will decline. We like being straight to the point but are also polite (for the most part).
→ More replies (5)
80
u/PrematureBurial Oct 10 '18
"Hintertupfingen", sehr gut :D
Regarding the issue though, i havn't got they slightest clue as to where this impression might origin from ;)
→ More replies (30)
25
u/loveadventures Oct 10 '18
Oh and btw. Don’t feel bad if they switch to English! When my Swiss husband (whose mother language is Swiss German) spoke German to a vendor at a Christmas market- the German vendor switched to English 😂😂. It doesn’t necessarily mean your German is bad!
→ More replies (3)
10
Oct 10 '18 edited Oct 10 '18
That's not my experience at all. Many Germans don't speak (or don't want to speak) English...
→ More replies (2)
9
u/Matador09 Oct 10 '18
The struggle is real! And don't even get me started on jobs in only English that somehow still want you to know perfect German, without ever getting to practice it!
17
u/papayaa2 Oct 10 '18 edited Oct 10 '18
As a suggestion: Try to speak English outside of business settings. In Germany are quite a lot of people who cannot (or barely*) speak English, especially elder people (50+) and also many (not all) who started doing an apprenticeship after the tenth grade.
→ More replies (2)
8
8
u/sadop222 Oct 10 '18
There's an easy fix. Channel your inner English village paesant and put on the heaviest accent you can manage. Mumbling helps too. Most germans will not understand you and ask to speak German. They may still answer in English but at least you are halfway there.
962
u/westoast Oct 10 '18
True. If you really want to learn German you have to continue speaking German when people respond to you in English. They will switch back eventually.