• WanakaTree@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    I’m an American who speaks decent German. I’ve gotten this flak traveling in non-German speaking Europe - Stupid American only speaking English attitude thrown my way. Mother fucker I’m in France, a German would also be using English here. To some people the only way to not be “that American” is to speak all the languages.

    On the flip side, I’ve had a few Germans ask me why I bothered learning their language when I could just use English.

    • randint@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz
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      5 months ago

      I’ve had a few Germans ask me why I bothered learning their language when I could just use English.

      So, why? You can’t leave us hanging like this!

      • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I took German in high school (in the US) and I was really disappointed to learn that most people in Germany know English.

        I have used some German on the odd airport layover but it was never terribly useful even then. It made me sad

      • WanakaTree@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        Haha I’ve lived there for almost a year between two stints and had a lot of free time for one of them so seemed like a fun thing to learn.

        It very occasionally has been helpful traveling in more rural Germany speaking areas