I've read multiple times while learning German that if you have the opportunity to practice with a native you've to make a effort to not switch to English because " they always want to practice their English with you". 😂 😂 😂
I work in Taiwan, I can speak Chinese. And I don't understand Hokkien(it's called Tai Yu here in Taiwan). They speak Mandarin with us and speak Hokkien with each other. Now I learn a little Hokkien and They start to speak Japanese!
Yeah I have this experience at my Rewe to all the time, cashiere are excited to speak English to students but students want to practice German...althought it's nice when you are tired to do all in English
@@mr.ambientsounds1291 a mixture of both. Even if someone is perfectly fluent, you don't really get often an opportunity to use it. So it's both practice of actively using it do it doesn't get too rusty but also just this moment of "hell yes, finally I can use this skill I practiced hard for!"
I'm guessing it goes both ways then "I'm speaking German to you! Why aren't you speaking German back? I'm trying to improve my german!" "Because I barely get to speak English! And im trying to improve my English! Why aren't you speaking English back?"
@@toodles6734 Bäckereifachverkäuferin. She actually only sells the baked goods and doesn't make them. The bakers work in the back or in a different location with a proper kitchen. :D
Trilingual english teacher here. If someone is earnestly trying to speak a language, it's really rewarding for them if you slow down and try and speak clearly in their target language. Confidence is super important in language learning, so having a good language experience can help them learn the language faster
Thank you! As a Brit, so many staff members try to rush the transaction along by switching to English, when I'm trying to practice their language. It's even worse when they think they're being helpful but their English isn't good, so now I have to try and decode their English as well as work out the local language. Some people also seem to use it as an opportunity to practice their English - I've come to your country to practice your language, if you want to practice English come to mine. It would be different if it was a casual interaction and they asked if they could practice their English, but usually it's something like in the video.
That’s so true, though less compatible with cultures that value speed / efficiency of service over anything else 😅 in their mind, they have customers waiting and it’s not fair to give you any more time than anyone else would get if they can use English to speed it along. At least, that’s what I’ve been told
. @@cloudmastr8105true in an emergency situation, not so applicable to buying bread. And efficiency is rarely the topmost language priority. Customer service staff exist to provide a service. This is not to say they must sacrifice their firstborn to the customer like I have seen in the American hellscape, but the customer service staff have a necessary social function. Other considerations here: - answering in English from the outset - staff doesn't have any strong evidence this interaction will take longer - cs staff do have to spend more time on customers sometimes. Think of an elderly customer or someone with allergies - is it rude to other customers to be patient with them? - different German standards such as Swiss German - people won't switch over unless there is a significant difficulty in the situation And perhaps the most important - German culture values bilingualism, and Germans understand the requirements for learning a language. No one in this situation needs to be told "I'm learning, and I'm trying to speak in practical situations.". They know very well. The real (primary) reason they switch is impatience.
In Berlin a waiter once came to our table and we thought he greeted us in English, so we ordered in English and proceeded to talk to each other infront of him in German. The look on his face was priceless 😂
this happens all the time to me and my husband here in France, the waiter speaks to us in English, me or my husband order in French, we talk to each other in like a weird form of Franglish/Franglais, and the waiter looks a little confused, lol I'm a native English speaker and my husband is French)
I wouldn't wonder in Berlin either. Here are so many internationals working in restaurants. It happens quite regularly, that they don't speak german. But in Germany people always recognise me as german 😅
As an English speaker, I can attest it's always us having trouble with the other language. Except sometimes when it's a foreign language speaker in an English-speaking country. But abroad, everybody seems to speak English far better than we ever speak their language. I was actually surprised when I met a German under 50 who didn't speak fluent English. I mean, good for them, but still. Surprising.
@@chubski2514 its not just that, Germans, French and Spanish learn English from a very young age in schools. Meanwhile in the UK they learn German, French , Spanish in Secondary/High School.
Just say, J'ai dit Boooonjooouuur, en France on parle français. Parle français ou tais-toi!1!! I am sorry for you, don't let anyone stop you learning French, it is a beautiful language and I at least do not have many problems learning it. Juste crois-y , tu vas le reùssir!
Whaaaaat I wish! My french is terrible, so I never catch what they're saying in French and they never do the switch and when I ask they all say they can't speak English
@@miskatonic6210 I've been through the situation of speaking in french to a waiter and being answered in english during the whole meal. By the end, we said goodbye while adding: "on ne parle pas anglais". 😂 He apologized, looking startled, finally in french! Hahaha
I went to a German restaurant and practiced my order over and over again until I got it perfect. The waiter came over patiently listened to my order and then said "would an English menu help sir?"
Her: “I just want to practice my German with someone who speaks German! Why can’t she just speak German 😩” Waitress: “I just want to practice my English with someone who speaks English! Why can’t she just speak English 😩”
this really do be the struggle of visiting other countries. i tried to practice my italian in italy and every time i said something they’d answer back in english. i was like damn, my american accent must be strong for you to just know immediately like that, but also just let me practice!!
This is me in Hungary. I've been with my Hungarian fiance for 4.5 years and everyone is teasing me for not knowing anything in Hungarian but whenever I try to practice it people want to speak English... And if they tell me something in Hungarian they don't say it in a simplified way but try to make it as complicated as they can... Then when I say something wrong they laugh at me... So I am stuck and started hating the language xD I learned more Portuguese on the toilet in 6 months than Hungarian in Hungary in 4 years
No one spoke to me in English when I was in Germany and I loved it!!! My German got really good very quickly. My best teachers were little kids. They were so sweet and would give me quizzes with the wrong answers to see if I really got it🥰🥰
There's 3 types of german speakers: - Will give you some german lessons on the spot - Wants to practise their english/other language with you or just wants to make things easier - 'My english is not the yellow from the egg'
Exactly and she did all three , because one time I kept speaking german to her because I wanted to show her my new german skills I've developed over the months and then she eventually spoke back to me in german and in english , because she said in da quote " english , english ! My brain is not working right now , I just woke up , its too early "lmao
And there's me: When I talk to people who are struggling in German, I ask them whether they like to try and speak in German or want to switch to a language we both speak (normally English). With people who talk to me in German well even though I hear they're not native, I respond in German.
@@brinkiTOgoPeople like you are the best. I had that experience at a hotel in Wien once. I was trying to check in and the lady asked if I wanted to continue in German or switch to English. It was very stressful to speak German, especially as sleep deprived as I was, but I wanted to practice, so I did my best and she did her best to make sure I understood everything.
THIS BROUGHT BACK A REPRESSED MEMORY. I was in Italy on vacation as a teen and was so proud I had learned some basic Italian words. In a store I asked the lady at the counter “how much does this cost?” With perfect pronunciation… but when she responded I realized I hadn’t learned numbers and couldn’t understand her response. 😂😂😂 Edit: to the people asking how I responded, I eloquently continued to show off my Italian by asking "Could you say that in English?" ALSO IN ITALIAN (it was a very old cash only store so there was no till display to read).
Living in Baden Baden , I had a group of german kids come to the door and ask for my daughter. I politely told them she was in a shoe 😂😂😂. I thought I said school.
Weil - zumindest bei Brasilianern - bei einem L, das auf ein U folgt, von Deutschen oft nur ein langes U rausgehört wird. Also, L am Wort- oder Silbenende klingt für uns wie U.
I had the same issue when I studied abroad in Berlin. Berliners are very efficient people, the moment they heard my slow German they spoke to me in English 😭
"Berliners are very efficient people" The BBI airport that took 120 years to build and cost 3 gazillion more than planned is rolling on the floor laughing. So is Hertha BSC.
An old German man told me to never admit that I can speak English coz most ppl want to practice their English so it'll take me longer to learn German. I followed his advice and kept saying No Englisch now my german is really good without accent and I forgot my English hihi👏🤣
@Dina Hassan It's still a good thing, I understand eng effortlessly but if someone comes suddenly and starts speaking in English, I will stutter at first( till my brain reconnects with the Eng Vocabulary🤣)and some German words will automatically jump in the conversation/ Same scenario with my mother language... It's good advice. I gained a lot from it to the extent of getting asked if I was born in Germany, so the pros are much bigger than cons😉
I'm English. I once walked into Spanish restaurant in a tiny village to ask if we could bring our dog in. A good excuse to practise my Spanish I thought. They went mad and physically threw me out of the door. I told my friends what happened and one who spoke Spanish went in to talk to them. Apparently I asked if they serve dog! We had a great night there, the staff thought it was hilarious! They loved our dog too!
My korean improved because a mature student from Korea at my dorm was speaking on the phone to his wife and I was drunk and had the confidence to speak broken korean to him and he sorta took me under his wing. He would cook for me every thursday and this was designated korean time but when I would see him in the smoking area I would help with his english. We both improved in each others language and he was a lovely friend to me despite the age difference :) he even came out to drink with me and my friends and everyone treated him like he was our age and he was loving it!🤣 Edit: this got way more likes than intended lol , but take this as your push to have some confidence and put your learning to practise!!
i am a student in korea who lives in a dorm and i need to find this kind of guy asap😂 you were so lucky cuz i think koreans are shy to speak with foreigners
Age differences are arbitrary imo. I don't have many friends I can talk to freely. But 2 of em are still teens and I genuinely enjoy talking to them more than I enjoy talking to most of my acquaintances of my age.
@@chloe.cordeiro of course, he brought his family over after he finished his masters and they all live down the road from my friends house so I see them every now and then ^^
This is my experience with French. I want to improve, but half the time I'm told to just speak English. Please, please just humor me and tolerate my mistakes and sleak slowly, I improve with every conversation. I can understand at least part of each sentence and then piece together the rest from context.
This is why it’s better to learn before you go to the country, people think you’ll just pick up the language when you go to a country but I’ve pretty much only heard of this problem with everyone who speaks English better than their target language.
@@paradoxelle481 not everybody has that luxury. You can also take classes while in the new country and use everyday interactions to practice. It's so much easier to learn a language living somewhere where it's spoken, I've done it. So you're wrong.
@@paradoxelle481 most countries I’ve been to are thrilled to try to help me learn their language, when I already know a good base of it. I agree going in knowing nothing is stupid, if you’re trying to learn. The only two exceptions I’ve seen to be happy to help me learn their language? Europe. I live in America, but I know America struggles with that too. Then again, I only have two accents when speaking a foreign language when I’m not repeating what’s been said to me before, Busan Korean or Southern American 😂😂😂
This is hilarious 😂 I remember leaving the grocery store late at night and a group of guys were eyeing me. I was trying to decide if I should go back inside or just quickly get to my car. But this older Mexican gentleman approached me and acted like he knew me, he pretended like he was catching up with me and waited till the guys left. We then talked a little longer so he could practice his English and I taught him a few words. He was really nice and said I reminded him of his granddaughter in Mexico :) I hope he's doing well
Aw, that was sweet of him and good on you for realizing the help he was giving. There are still honest people in this world! Also, great that you were able to have a good conversation afterwards ^_^
The way I learnt German was to hang out with my neighbour when I was in Germany on my gap year. I had enrolled in the local school but most of my learning was actually outside of class. My neighbour was an old retired man who loved the outdoors and could do with the company - but most importantly he didn't speak a lick of English. We often went hiking and exploring places on bikes. It was such a lovely experience and enriching for the both of us. We both had fun and I learnt a lot from him.
I know this probably isn't the case, but it would be so wholesome if he could actually speak English the whole time, but just wanted you to get your practice in 😅 what a lovely story though
I just started learning Korean and one time while my mom was at an appointment I was practicing outside the building and this older Korean lady overheard me and I guess she thought I could fully speak it and came up to me and started speaking sooo fast and I had to tell her I'm just learning. The sadness on her face made me feel so bad smh Apparently her husband doesn't speak Korean and her kids barely speak any and neither do her grandkids so she was really excited to hear someone speak Korean.... I left before I thought about getting her info, because it later occurred to me that she could teach/work with me. that way I learn Korean and she would get to speak in her native tongue. unfortunately I didn't think about it until after I left ...... Smh Edit: I do want to clarify that I do have ways to learn Korean now including language exchange partners. But it would have been a nice situation to talk more with this lady 😊
Oh no :( I wonder if there are any Korean American associations around you where you can visit and speak with native speakers. I had a very experience with an older Chinese lady at work. She was struggling with something and I went over to help her. Initially, she spoke to me in a dialect I’m not too familiar with, but once I told her which dialect I spoke it was a lot easier! But I still struggled a bit because I understand a lot more Chinese than I can speak. This was honestly the first conversation with someone who actually understood what I was saying. I guess my dialect is pretty unique because even my other Chinese friends don’t understand me. Either way, we were able to have a nice conversation where she talked feeling pretty lonely living in a big city away from her adult children. We talked about each other’s lives and she seemed genuinely pretty excited to come across someone she could speak to. This was almost two years ago and I’ve never seen her since. I’m hoping she moved in with her kids rather than staying alone in a retirement community.
The funny thing in Japan is that people (waiters, ...) nearly cry of joy when you answer their English in Japanese because they feel so uncomfortable speaking English 😂
It’s the same for Dutch city’s! In Amsterdam it’s oké to speak English. But in other parts of the country it’s often seen as pretty annoying when someone expects us to speak English. So try to learn some Dutch words or ask us to tel you the message in English and Dutch so you can learn and understand the language ❤ because in the countryside people often do not speak English very well 😅
@@stoertje2 Is it the same with German? I always had the feeling that nearly everyone spoke German. I can only speak a few words in Dutch. That suffices for buying stuff in the supermarket but not more. And people normally start speaking German to me, probably because they hear my accent.
This is the same for a lot of people of Asian countries, even if they’re not in their own country. I see it in a lot of Asian stores and restaurants that my husband and I go to here in America. My husband speaks a little Korean and Japanese so he tries to use it when we are at those locations. It always gets good responses from the employees.
Really? I live in Japan already for a year and the people in coffee shops, restaurants etc. will always try to speak to me in English (excluding the old woman from the ramen shop of course). So it’s always me speaking in (a broken) Japanese and they answering me in (a broken) English. Quite a comedy 😂
@@climentine8080 I found that it depends hugely on where you are. I lived in a town where hardly anyone spoke English. Not even at my university. So they were quite glad that I was able to speak Japanese. Even more so in villages. Less so in cities like Tokyo or Kyoto.
Same! But I work close to the German border, so most customers are German. When some Germans try to speak Dutch, I appreciate it but then I just switch to German or English to make it easier.
What I would find highly amusing is if the person didn't speak English. Maybe Spanish or Japanese or something. I get that it's easier to communicate in a language you can both speak, but what about when that's not an option? This also makes me wonder if tourists, sometimes, pretend not to speak English to force the locals to speak the native language with them.
My French teacher gave me a great tip when I have this problem in France: your resolve is stronger than theirs. If you keep trying they will switch to their native tongue because it’s more comfortable. You just have to keep speaking the foreign language and they will eventually give up and speak it with you. Worked every time!
@@bdnnijs192yeah I went to the South of France for a week and honestly communication was difficult. I'm fluent in English and I can understand some French, enough to ask something but not enough to understand what they say back to me. I always started a conversation in English and few people responded in English, they all spoke French 😂. When they realized I didn't understand they switched to English but yeah your right
@@KateJn That's the truth, and it should be like this everywhere. If you are in France, speak French ;-) If you can't then learn a few words or go to another country. This is how we should protect our languages and cultures. Here in Portugal, almost everybody speaks English and as a consequence almost nobody learns Portugueses. People don't respect their culture. This is a pity.
As a former exchange student in France a few years ago and lived there almost a year, it does work but not everytime. I mean it could work in bakery when you order but in restaurant? I don't think so :/
I'm German and when I was 14, I went on vacation to Spain with my family. Since I had been learning Spanish in school for one year at that time, I wanted to practice my Spanish skills by talking to people in Spanish. And like every second time or so I addressed someone to ask them about the way to go, they actually answered me in French. I was so confused. 😂 I don't know if my German accent sounded French to them or if they just heard that I wasn't a native speaker and decided to use French because it usually was the next best language they were able to speak. I did understand them most of the time because I had been learning French in school, as well. But heck, an answer in Spanish would probably still have been easier for me to understand than a heavily Spanish-influenced thickly accented French answer. 😅
French never being honest with me. I don't like male French, they are not good enough. I used to meet a French woman and she's good to me. She might be aggressive, a litter of angry. but she has taught me a lot of skills, she taught why these have to be sorted it out.
I understand the last part. In Hamburg I learned that I cannot understand German with a Vietnamese accent...at all ... as in not one word. I was quite embarassed.
I started working for a korean company here in Italy with just basic level of korean. In May I went to work in our French branch and I met this korean lady who was so excited to know I studied languages in uni and I could speak a bit of korean. Without realising it I was talking to her in korean with a level I didn't know I had, when usually around my korean-italian colleagues I feel so shy to speak in their language because I'm afraid to mess up. Turns out I can do more than what I thought lmao but honestly, she made my day back then. I'll treasure this memory forever❣️
@@vaxrvaxr I was raised here so I don't think Italians would ever talk to me in English anyway 😅 but in highly touristic cities, when I am travelling with my friends and I am usually the one who steps up to say anything first, they somehow assume I'm a foreigner (I'm of asian descent) and start using English. Oh I love to see their faces when they realise I'm actually Italian lol
@@vaxrvaxr I had American and British friends who experienced this same issue in Florence, Venice, Rome and other highly tourist destinations within Italy. They wanted to practice their Italian but everyone kept replying in English. So, it does happen in Italy as well.
may i ask which company is that? my italian and english is pretty good, Ive studied in italy in the past as well. Id be interested to work in companies like that.
born and raised for a few years in québec, but speak english as well as three other languages. i came back, was only spoken to in english until i got a little frustrated at a cafe and said “i just wanted to keep up with my french,” under my breath in french. the waiter laughed a little and then proceeded to speak with me in french. i was ecstatic.
YIKES. This reminds me of an interaction I had in Berlin. I had taken 3 years of formal German classes and when I went to Germany I was really excited to get to practice my German. Everyone was very polite and humored me - they also spoke beautiful English as well so I guess they were willing to indulge teenage me. I got to a bratwurst salesman and attempted to order lunch in German, got about two sentences in before he stopped me and said "My English is better than your German" (he wasn't wrong) and proceeded to ask me what I wanted in English.
As a Finn, I always start out convos with Finnish to give even some foreigners a chance to speak/practice Finnish. Some just automatically switch to English, but some want to practice. I think the "national language first" customer service is less discriminatory. Of course English switch happens when the customer initiates it or struggles a lot.
I think this may be a better approach to this type of situations. Of course, there's always the entitled tourists out there that are like "wHy aRre y0u N0t sPeakINg iN inGlisH to Me?!"
@@Gr95dc I think I have dodged these tourists just by making the switch really fast. When I see them speaking English, I switch right away with no fuss.
In my country no foreigner tourists actually even “try” to learn our language. They all expect us to just talk to them in English given that we are known to be proficient in it in Asia. Even other Asians choose to learn English to communicate with us than learning our actual national language o.o
when I was in japan and one night late at a 7-11, I had a chat with a cashier. The cashier told me it's a low-level job and mostly they put exchange students or immigrants into that kind of jobs, even if they fully speak japanese (need to mention japan has kind of an rassism problem) Anyway, most of them speak fluently English and most time better, than the japanese people themself. So they often switch, when they see tourists, because Japanes is for them also just a second-language
@@meljaxb reminded me of one time in Japan, this Japanese asked us if we can speak mandarin and started to converse in mandarin.. all I wana do is practice my Japanese 😢
a moment of thanks for all the old ladies who speak German with everyone because it’s the only language they speak 🙌🏼 my Oma single handedly kept my German alive until she died in 2022
I remember when I was in Germany, my mum left her reading glasses at a restaurant and sent me to go fetch them. I spent the walk to the restaurant practising how to say "my mum's lost her glasses, did she leave them here?", only to get to the restaurant and be recognised by the waitress who handed them over without me having to say anything 🤣
This is why it pays to become a regular customer. I bet the bakery staff would happily help you practice if you came in often during times they aren't busy. I've worked several places in retail and customers like that were some of my favorites.
i lived in poland in my teens for several years and it went exactly like this one too many times 😂 i was trying to improve my polish but my sentences were so fractured they probably find it impossible to understand 😭
(pole here) i honestly think the fact that you were trying to speak and try your best was admirable. this is one of the hardest languages in the world, i am proud of you!
@@klaudiso bardzo dziękuję 😆niestety nadal nie mogę mowić po polsku 😅😅 długo już nie mieszkam w polsce, zapomniałam wszystkiego czego nauczyć się... now i remember so little and the grammar is even further from my grasp!
@@srainy literally everything u said is natural except "umiem" instead of "mogę" would be more common and "się nauczyłam" instead of "nauczyć się" at the end. its all totally understandable so idk why they acted that way 😐 i think they might have wanted to make u more comfortable
I'm also trying to learn polish and have the exact same problem, so many people know English that it's impossible to practice. I swear one of these days I'll just say I speak Chinese since I doubt any Pols speak it 😂
"Blumensohnen" that was soo cute 😭♥️ it's actually Sonnenblumen (Sunflower) (she wants bread with sunflower seeds in it) but the word she said roughly sounds like she says she wants sons of flowers 😆
@@lenn939 I know what it would be, I am a native speaker. But she drags out the o sound, so it sounds exactly like a mistaken plural form that a lot of people who are still learning German use (-en is the correct plural for a lot of substantives, but Sohn/Söhne is kind of irregular).
My godfather is German, but his family moved to England when he was 4 because of WWII. Even though they spoke German at home, he unlearnt his accent so people wouldn’t ostracise him for sounding German. As an adult he moved back to Germany, and even though he speaks German fluently he says it all with an English accent so people assume he’s English and just talk to him in English 😂 he says he ends up speaking more German abroad than in Germany
it actually sounds nothing like that xD What she said was "Blumensonnen" (correctly pronounced roughly like "blue men" and "ssonan" as in "dissonance") with a heavy accent, which literally translates to "flowers suns". The correct word is "Sonnenblumen", so she just switched up the words. Either way, if this were real, it would be very obvious to any native speaker that she's not (yet) particularly fluent. However, Uyen is obviously better than that at speaking German, easily verifiable since she also plays the cashier. There's still an accent, of course, but it's otherwise pretty good German.
I work in an hotel and I'm always glad to help who tries my native language, Portuguese, instead of English or Spanish. I usually wait them to speak and listen to paciently while they try, I also love to give some tips of how they should pronunciate something or where they've committed a mistake and could improve. It gives me a great feeling when they show me their gratefulness.
I’m Filipino, but I’ve lived in Belgium all my life since I was a child. Now and then I still come across people in shops or on the street etc. who start in English with me. Then I just reply in Dutch in my heaviest local dialect to make clear that I’m definitely not a foreigner haha
You will always be a foreigner. I'm a white guy in Africa and either in response to my surname or face, people may often ask me where I'm from and speak English to me too.
I have a Scottish accent and live in Australia and back in the '80s went out a lot to explore the city with my Australian friend who has a strong Aussie accent while being Chinese in appearance. Whenever I asked anyone for directions, people assumed we were foreign visitors and were super helpful and friendly! We felt a bit annoyed at first as it seemed patronising and making assumptions, but decided to go along with it and have a nice time with people who were so pleased with themselves for helping the foreigners! My friend would just smile and nod, so as to not give away her Aussie accent! We had a good laugh afterwards and got lots of nice help.
@@peterc.1419 Well, its a little bit different, since 99% of white people in Africa do not speak the local language as there are very very very few of them who grew up there. (Apart from SA) The percentage of non-whites are way, way, way higher in any western European country than the percentage of whites in Africa apart from SA. So it is a much more reasonable assumption that a white guy in Africa is not native than assuming that a non-white guy in western Europe is not native. (Apart from in SA where half of white ppl speak English and half speak Afrikaans but Im guessing youre not from SA)
@@peterc.1419 What I wrote was just basic facts that are easily checked, so it's pretty weird to say you disagree with everything I wrote. The only thing that was my opinion is that it is "more reasonable", which looking at the facts I think it is - notice I didn't say it's reasonable or not, just that it's more reasonable than the other way around. You can say you wish people didn't make such assumptions, but you can't disagree with facts..
I'm a Southeast Asian and will work in Germany at the start of the next year. Currently, I'm still learning german from zero. Cant wait to remake this conversation later 🤣
@@Patti_-ns3qt If you don’t mind a stranger also asking questions- can you explain the number system? For example: I think another one of her videos shows German list numbers in an atypical order, is it true? And if so do you happen to know why? And does it ever making saying phone numbers or longer chains of numbers hard to understand even for native speakers or is it just a “I’m used to it so it makes sense to me” kind of thing? Sorry I rambled … and if they are dumb questions and you don’t want to answer I won’t be offended. I just heard it’s a thing yesterday and was curious but haven’t looked it up yet.
@@saorise28 Hi there, if you don't mind I'll answer. The german counting system is pretty similar to the english one but it does have two big differences that I can think of of the top of my head: The first one (and I think the one that you're talking about) is the fact that we say components of numbers in different order. For example Twentyfive in German would be Fünfundzwanzig (Literal: Five and Twenty). This applies to almost every number above twelve, since eleven and twelve have special words in german as well. 13 - 19 leave the and out and work the same as in english. In bigger numbers, it works like this: 347436 being Threehundred seven and fourty thousand fourhundred six and thirty. We are mostly used to it, so it rarely causes problems, but there is a slight risk of number reversal while writing numbers down that are dictated to you. The other difference is that the german "Billion" is the english "trillion" while the english "billion" is the german "Milliarde". So a pair of false friends there. Also also, germans use the european standard of writing the dates so the date looks like this here: day. month. year (22.06.2022) Hope this helped :)
I get it when people want to improve their language skills in this way but 90% of the time it's somehow always when the place is busy and the staff has no time or patience to deal with broken attempts at sentences. Just settle for any language that works T^T
My friend was doing this for a while every time he took public transport, to buy the ticket he'd try out the new language (I can't remember which language now I'll have to ask him) and I don't think he ever considered that the huge line of people behind him were trying to go places and just wanted to buy their tickets for their trips or work day 🙈 he is a fantastic person otherwise but I can imagine he made a few people late to their train a few times!
I live in Poland but I can speak Russian and whenever a Ukrainian/Belarusian asks me for help (especially when its in public transportation or somewhere busy) I tend to switch to Russian. Sometimes they are actually happy about it, but sometimes they insist that we speak in Polish. The thing is, sometimes I really can’t understand what they’re saying and it just leads to misunderstanding. Once I even had to intervene because the man who was talking to an official about getting a document proving that a family of refugees crossed Ukraine-Poland border gave the wrong information! Like I get it, the languages are similar, but you can still easily make a mistake. If he gave the information that he did it could cost them a lot of time and trouble (he said that they do have passports, when they only had Ukrainian IDs - the word for ID in Russian means passport in Polish). Also once a lady from Belarus was asking about tram stops and she ended up leaving at the wrong stop. I know that maybe sometimes they don’t want to speak Russian, but in some situations it helps so much! Better safe than sorry.
@@maybemablemaples2144 Not really. You can learn to speak in a lot more ways then by bothering someone who is at work. As long as they are not paid to do it, no one is obligated to help someone learn language. If they have time and patience cool, if not better just chat someone else up.
My 6 months Erasmus in Berlin in a nutshell.... Except for that one lady in a pharmacy who spoke German very slowly and very clearly because she understood I wanted to speak German 🥺
I don't know which part of Germany are you right now, but so far, the people from where I am currently, are very patient in understanding and waiting for my broken German, to the point that I feel so insecure and want to start speaking in English. 😅 But they always encourage me to speak more German, and if they think I don't understand it, they use easier words and speak slower for me to catch up. ❤️ PS. I worked as a waitress and even the customers were very nice and understanding too. ❤️
That is so me every time I go to Germany! After they finally switch to German and then I can’t understand a single word, I’m too socially awkward to say I don’t understand, so I just suffer in silence and say “Ja” until someone inevitably figures out I haven’t understood a thing.
for me i think an issue is people speak way too fast for me to comprehend it or they mumble a lot so i can't even hear what they've said. I feel like I could understand a lot better if they spoke more clearly :(
And this is the point where we Germans start to really despise you from the bottom of our hearts. Just saying "Ja" without understanding a thing wastes time and is just insulting to us, which we don't look kindly upon, especially in service. When I used to work in customer service I would use the opportunity to hand the insult back to you. "[In German] And thus your complex problem you can't solve on your own and which you called for in the first place is solved to your full satisfaction?" --> Just says "Ja" without understanding a singe word, a she did for the last three minutes while letting me talk like an idiot. "Great! Thank you for your call, M'am. Goodbye!" Click. Always sooooo satisfying :)
Speak for your own hateful self man 😐 I'm German and I would never despise anyone "from the bottom of my heart" because their German isn't that good! Wth
@@disnonn let it be a waste of time for you, but it’s this occasions that you need to learn a complicated language. In Italy the people repeated slow, with gestures, what they said and nearly everyone helped you with learning the language, I never was worried to make mistakes in the daily live. No one got ever annoyed.
Heya, I'm German and gotta say, your German is really darn good. I've been seeing many of your videos recently and know that you speak at least three languages which are very different in pronunciation and grammar, you're doing a great job!
I dont wanna be a bummer here, but its not "darn good". Yeah shes speaking it maybe for a short time and shes giving it effort but dont give an illusion. I know a lot of people are going to kill me here for saying this but i prefer the truth over a lie. Her german is ok but definetly not darn good. (At least from how far i've seen it in this video)
@@servus2252 It's not about an illusion, it's a way to encourage her. If I hadn't had kind people humouring me and speaking to me when I was teenager in English, I wouldn't have learnt half of the damn language. Someone was kind when I was struggling and that's what matters. She speaks THREE languages and maybe can't pay expensive private lessons and so what? She's darn good. Leave her alone.
....That's a lie. Just tell her that she's on a good way or that she'll improve greatly, which I'm indeed sure of, but don't say it's darn good when I had difficulty understanding anything.
@@anabotero9427 She's still not darn good, no matter if she already speaks other languages or can't afford extra tutoring or whatever. Also, you can encourage people whilst also giving them realistic assessment of their current skills. Imo, that's actually way more helpful. Why would you even practice if you're already "darn good"? And it's not a shame not to be good already, so I just do not see the point in lying here. If anything, lying about it to me makes it seem as if actually just being bad at German when you learn it is somewhat taboo, which is why you'd lie about it. But it's not taboo, it's normal and completely fine. I'd rather tell her her German is pretty hard to understand right now and that the phrases were also partly grammatically incorrect, but that I value her effort and that I am quite sure that she'll get the hang of it quickly.
@@servus2252 You sound bitter and entitled. I won't take my compliment back just because some randos on CZcams disagree while being really rude about it.
I went to a birthday party in Germany for my friends brother and I was excited to try and practice since I had just finished some language classes and they were all excited to practice their English with a native speaker lol
This happened to me! I went to a summer party with my husband and everyone just spoke English to me lmao like I got surrounded by Germans and no one spoke German to me even though I tried! They just all switched over automatically to English lmaoooo It was sweet of them though because they were just trying to make me feel comfortable.. But this kind of thing still happens to me even after living here for three years!! It’s gotten better but mostly still having people automatically switch and be like,”Where are you from?”
@@Liv-eb9yv Yeah, getting native in German can be hard, there are subtleties many people never get rid of. The most glaring ones are gendered adjectives and verb cases, I know people who lived here for three decades and still don't get them right. Then again, most languages don't even have those concepts, so I get how his might be really difficult.
@@Dr.JulieJamesI'm German and I really do not understand? "Bathroom" would be "Toilette" or "Klo"...? (Literally, it would be "Bad", "Badezimmer" oder "Waschraum" - but that's when you only actually want to clean yourself.)
This is me with my Chinese! I get frustrated when my Chinese friends only speak English with me because I also want to practice my mandarin, but when they actually speak Chinese to me I’m completely dumbfounded most of the time hahaha mostly because of the different dialects and some are Cantonese speakers too. It’s so confusing and difficult 😂
I was in a manderin class in highschool and some college, I went to a chinese store recently and bought my food in manderin. Since we werent in china and I am white the lady checking me out was incredibly surprised but responded to me in chinese as well. She made sure to speak not too quickly and very clearly which I appreciated.
I'm glad that in italy they actually listen to you and sometimes wven guide you whenever you get ir wrong.. Maybe not all italians but most of the people I came across helped me.
Can confirm. I love when people try to speak italian, so i like to explain them everything they want to understand better! Imo it's a good thing that foreigners want to learn our language, so :) Of course you can ask me anything too, if you want! 😊
This happens in Italy as well. Native speakers of Italian think they’re being kind by speaking to you in English because they’re accommodating you and allowing you to speak the language you’re most comfortable with, but learners of the language who don’t understand this at first (like me when I first came here) find it discouraging
@@Blynxe I know what it sounds like in English. I'm just saying I don't know how this is supposed to be translated in a way that DOESN'T make it sound like that in German as well.
As a German, I can say, it's not only the part of understanding, but of being polite and wanting to help the other feel comfortable in the language which is spoken at that point. Als eine Deutsche, kann ich sagen, dass es nicht nur am Verstehen liegt, sondern auch aus Höflichkeit und weil wir möchten, dass der Gegenüber sich wohl fühlt in der Sprache die man gerade spricht.
Interesting. Never interacted with this politeness. People talk about French and how they refuse to use English. I actually faced that on a daily basis in Germany. I always heard "but do you live here? How long have you been here? You should be talking in German, already". Public services, even worse. AND i support the idea that if you will live in a different country, learn the language. But my interactions with germans only made me quit that.
@@Fernando-dt8je public Services really is another thing. There is this law in nearly every country, which language is the official and public language. In Germany most people working in public services are focusing more on that law, than the differences it can make if you are trying to help whichever language is spoken. I am one of the few at my work (registrars office) who is eager to help no matter what. I was even called out for taking to much time with a costumer where we tried to speak in 4 different languages and used Google to get together. After I explained my view it was okay, but I shall watch the time more. I think there are regional differences as well. Places with more tourists are more open to other countries and languages than other places. And if someone is not speaking English or not as well as they'd wish, they would be more harsh towards ppl living in that country for a longer time but not knowing the language. I am as well thinking that one should know the language of the country they are living in. But I also see the differences in learning speed and ability of each individual.
Once I had a medical emergency while in Germany...They didn't accept my European insurance card and the woman in the reception was shouting at me, that the doctor won't speak with me in English, fortunately the doctor was more civilised.
Ja, das ist so wahr! 😂😂😂 Wie soll man eine Sprache üben, wenn niemand sie mit einem spricht?! Ich frage die Leute, von denen ich annehme, daß sie von außerhalb zugezogen sind, ob sie mich verstehen. Oder ich quatsche direkt auf Deutsch los, nur nicht so schnell. Wenn jemand Probleme hat, sagt er oder sie es schon. Als Lernender rechnet man ja schließlich damit und weiß um den eigenen Kenntnisstand. Dann wird das Tempo langsamer, vielleicht die Wörter einfacher und vielleicht ab und zu nachfragen und gegebenenfalls noch einmal den Satz in andere Worte fassen. Und wenn es gar nicht geht, dann eben Englisch oder eine andere gemeinsame Basis, und das eine oder andere Wort auf Deutsch beibringen. Deine Videos sind großartig! ❤
Same when I was in Vietnam speaking Vietnamese and they refused to speak Vietnamese with me. I wanted to practise my Vietnamese and they, their English! 😂😂😂
OMG… I just found your channel and you make me laugh so hard… I was in the US military and was stationed in Germany for 3 years and at first I tried to learn German but so quickly gave up because I would just say Hello and they would immediately speak English. Instead I learned a few phrases of Italian, French, Spanish, Polish, Etc because we traveled a lot while we were there… This is so spot on! 😂
LOL I go through this with Spanish. I finally feel confident and then someone brings me back down with something I don’t understand lol it’s ok, it’s how we learn
shes right. if you talk german i respond in german, cause even if its a bit rough or broken i want to support your work by responding. the more broken it is the more i probably simplify to make it easier for you. if you talk english i respond in english to the best of my ability. talking to you in english might also help me to improve my own skills therefore i like both. either way if we have a conversation we can learn from each other. quite a lesson for life. no matter the language
i’ve started just telling people i need to practice with french, and they help me through it! in my experience if they think you’re trying to accommodate them, they’ll switch. if they know you want to improve the language, they’ll help you out!!! this is the only way i’m able to be fluent in french, despite taking it in school for years. conversation matters!
True! People tell me the more I drink the better my other languages get. Also, if you're really angry with a person and you want to tell them off the words just flow.
Inhibitions makes you uncomfortable about pronunciation but it greatly hinders your memory: you probably know more than you think but can only that into that knowledge when you are tipsy.
This is why when people come and speak to me in English (and I know for a fact that they know Spanish), I let them talk. It's how I wanted to practice (and still do), and I found I had this issue, too, especially in Spain. Unfortunately, not everyone feels the same way. Someone's daughter reprimanded me for "making" her mom practice her English with me (checking in for an appointment) when I could have just spoken to her in Spanish.
Screw that daughter. If her mother was struggling that much, she could have tried Spanish and you would have accommodated. Thank you for being willing to help.
I moved to Spain years ago and never had anyone speak to me in english, even at the airport help desk when they had lost my bags and I asked them if they could speak spanish slower or switch to english 😭 Maybe it depends on which part you live in.
@@AngelofPaz Oh no!!! I'm sorry you had so much trouble! This was back in 2011 if that helps. I got lost near Gran Vía and most places I wandered to also spoke English.
Good for you for trying, just keep at it you will get there!🌷 I found that even if it's quite obvious you're trying to learn, if you actually say it people are much more accomodating and friendly! p.s I'm still practising saying Streichholzschächtelchen (small box of matches) from your other video,😉 my Swedish mum who speaks german had no problem with the word! I was quite jealous!😂 Greetings from Sweden!🇸🇪
I have no clue why your shorts keep popping up on my feed but I absolutely adore them and have no complaints, as a danish born person who grew up in Austria I can relate to a lot of them. Keep it up please
I have this same experience every time I speak Spanish w native Spanish speakers. I’m Mexican American so I grew up speaking Spanish at home but overtime it’s gotten worse so I try my best to speak it whenever I can. Then ppl respond to me in English like cmon now, how am I supposed to get better🙃
over the summer in germany most people I met were pretty patient after a "langsamer, bitte!" and spoke slowly enough that I could practice. and then it was crazy how much I understood. just needed them to slow down and repeat the unfamiliar words
Yeah, I’ve noticed that I have a better time understanding people when they give me time to process what they just said or if they say it clearer/slower (especially in Spanish). Sometimes I just need a bit more speech clarity.
I LOVE your channel so much, I'm a westerner living it Vietnam and you're a vietnamese girl living in the west so it's so funny to see the shoe on the other foot 🤣🤣 I often get frustrated when practicing thinking "there's nothing wrong with my Viet she's just not listening to me!" Hahaha ❤️
“ it’s broken because you guys don’t speak German with me“ 😭 never heard a truer sentence for language learners LMFAOO
I've read multiple times while learning German that if you have the opportunity to practice with a native you've to make a effort to not switch to English because " they always want to practice their English with you". 😂 😂 😂
At this point we should all just speak English since we understand each other 😂 why make it harder?
My problem was the fact, that when I have been in Germany, my german was better than my english 😬
I had been baffled by why this adventure has been in English, but I guess I found my answer.
I work in Taiwan, I can speak Chinese. And I don't understand Hokkien(it's called Tai Yu here in Taiwan). They speak Mandarin with us and speak Hokkien with each other. Now I learn a little Hokkien and They start to speak Japanese!
I don't get the chance to speak English often, so I take every chance I take
Yeah I have this experience at my Rewe to all the time, cashiere are excited to speak English to students but students want to practice German...althought it's nice when you are tired to do all in English
Yeah, a lot of people just get excited to speak english instead.
Is it for practice or do you just enjoy speaking english?
@@mr.ambientsounds1291 a mixture of both. Even if someone is perfectly fluent, you don't really get often an opportunity to use it. So it's both practice of actively using it do it doesn't get too rusty but also just this moment of "hell yes, finally I can use this skill I practiced hard for!"
I'm guessing it goes both ways then
"I'm speaking German to you! Why aren't you speaking German back? I'm trying to improve my german!"
"Because I barely get to speak English! And im trying to improve my English! Why aren't you speaking English back?"
The waiter is there like, "This bitch-"
Baker
"Waiter"
@@toodles6734 Bäckereifachverkäuferin.
She actually only sells the baked goods and doesn't make them. The bakers work in the back or in a different location with a proper kitchen. :D
Cashier
@@EmpressOfTatertot Finally someone who said it 😭
Trilingual english teacher here. If someone is earnestly trying to speak a language, it's really rewarding for them if you slow down and try and speak clearly in their target language. Confidence is super important in language learning, so having a good language experience can help them learn the language faster
Dankeschön für ihr comment!
Thank you! As a Brit, so many staff members try to rush the transaction along by switching to English, when I'm trying to practice their language.
It's even worse when they think they're being helpful but their English isn't good, so now I have to try and decode their English as well as work out the local language.
Some people also seem to use it as an opportunity to practice their English - I've come to your country to practice your language, if you want to practice English come to mine. It would be different if it was a casual interaction and they asked if they could practice their English, but usually it's something like in the video.
Alkohol is the Key, a well oiled tounge speaks any Language 😅
That’s so true, though less compatible with cultures that value speed / efficiency of service over anything else 😅 in their mind, they have customers waiting and it’s not fair to give you any more time than anyone else would get if they can use English to speed it along. At least, that’s what I’ve been told
. @@cloudmastr8105true in an emergency situation, not so applicable to buying bread. And efficiency is rarely the topmost language priority. Customer service staff exist to provide a service. This is not to say they must sacrifice their firstborn to the customer like I have seen in the American hellscape, but the customer service staff have a necessary social function.
Other considerations here:
- answering in English from the outset - staff doesn't have any strong evidence this interaction will take longer
- cs staff do have to spend more time on customers sometimes. Think of an elderly customer or someone with allergies - is it rude to other customers to be patient with them?
- different German standards such as Swiss German - people won't switch over unless there is a significant difficulty in the situation
And perhaps the most important
- German culture values bilingualism, and Germans understand the requirements for learning a language. No one in this situation needs to be told "I'm learning, and I'm trying to speak in practical situations.". They know very well.
The real (primary) reason they switch is impatience.
In Berlin a waiter once came to our table and we thought he greeted us in English, so we ordered in English and proceeded to talk to each other infront of him in German.
The look on his face was priceless 😂
this happens all the time to me and my husband here in France, the waiter speaks to us in English, me or my husband order in French, we talk to each other in like a weird form of Franglish/Franglais, and the waiter looks a little confused, lol I'm a native English speaker and my husband is French)
Waiters in my city almost never speak our local language, so we just order in English every time😊
I wouldn't wonder in Berlin either. Here are so many internationals working in restaurants. It happens quite regularly, that they don't speak german.
But in Germany people always recognise me as german 😅
You devil😂😂
Wtf
The woman: Is my German that bad?? ;_;
The cashier: Is my English that bad?? ;_;
As an English speaker, I can attest it's always us having trouble with the other language. Except sometimes when it's a foreign language speaker in an English-speaking country. But abroad, everybody seems to speak English far better than we ever speak their language. I was actually surprised when I met a German under 50 who didn't speak fluent English. I mean, good for them, but still. Surprising.
I can’t imagine any german thinking their English was bad. It’s always immaculate lmao
Me: I can barely speak
@@randomobserver8168 tbh probably helps when most of media is in English
It’s like learning to paint a wall by watching Michelangelo
@@chubski2514 its not just that, Germans, French and Spanish learn English from a very young age in schools. Meanwhile in the UK they learn German, French , Spanish in Secondary/High School.
This happened when I was in France, as soon as they’d hear me say “bonjour” with the most obvious accent I’d get a “hello” back 😭
Just say,
J'ai dit Boooonjooouuur,
en France on parle français.
Parle français ou tais-toi!1!!
I am sorry for you, don't let anyone stop you learning French, it is a beautiful language and I at least do not have many problems learning it.
Juste crois-y , tu vas le reùssir!
Whaaaaat I wish! My french is terrible, so I never catch what they're saying in French and they never do the switch and when I ask they all say they can't speak English
Never on earth can you expect frenchies to talk back in english.
@@miskatonic6210 I've been through the situation of speaking in french to a waiter and being answered in english during the whole meal. By the end, we said goodbye while adding: "on ne parle pas anglais". 😂 He apologized, looking startled, finally in french! Hahaha
Go to Mexico speaking broken Spanish. It seems nobody there speaks English and they will engage you in Spanish no matter how bad you are.
The cashier wants to practice her English 😂
Plot twist
Is no one going to mention how they communicated to each other telepathically?
😂👌🏼
😂😂😂😂😂
we already communicated that to one another telepathically
@@KnowvaKnowsThings the amount of facial expressions they made could not convey the conversation they had in detail over a short period of time
Nonverbal communication
I went to a German restaurant and practiced my order over and over again until I got it perfect. The waiter came over patiently listened to my order and then said "would an English menu help sir?"
I would die right there lmaoo
that hurts 😂
I would have stated let me speak German. I parctised dude.
HAHAHAH
😩He might as well have just stabbed you with the steak knife. 😀😆
Her: “I just want to practice my German with someone who speaks German! Why can’t she just speak German 😩”
Waitress: “I just want to practice my English with someone who speaks English! Why can’t she just speak English 😩”
this really do be the struggle of visiting other countries. i tried to practice my italian in italy and every time i said something they’d answer back in english. i was like damn, my american accent must be strong for you to just know immediately like that, but also just let me practice!!
This is me in Hungary. I've been with my Hungarian fiance for 4.5 years and everyone is teasing me for not knowing anything in Hungarian but whenever I try to practice it people want to speak English... And if they tell me something in Hungarian they don't say it in a simplified way but try to make it as complicated as they can... Then when I say something wrong they laugh at me... So I am stuck and started hating the language xD I learned more Portuguese on the toilet in 6 months than Hungarian in Hungary in 4 years
Lol, thats cute. You think germans only speak 1 language as if they dont learn english in school since they were small.
Haha it’s definitely German mindset
Malambot katawan ni minajellieyeye
Your cardigan is ADORABLE!!!
Ugh
Ugh.
@@maryamkim1281 what???
No one spoke to me in English when I was in Germany and I loved it!!! My German got really good very quickly. My best teachers were little kids. They were so sweet and would give me quizzes with the wrong answers to see if I really got it🥰🥰
So cute 🥰
I love your handle
♥️
@@johnsone9396 thank you!
haha
There's 3 types of german speakers:
- Will give you some german lessons on the spot
- Wants to practise their english/other language with you or just wants to make things easier
- 'My english is not the yellow from the egg'
Exactly and she did all three , because one time I kept speaking german to her because I wanted to show her my new german skills I've developed over the months and then she eventually spoke back to me in german and in english , because she said in da quote " english , english ! My brain is not working right now , I just woke up , its too early "lmao
And there's me: When I talk to people who are struggling in German, I ask them whether they like to try and speak in German or want to switch to a language we both speak (normally English). With people who talk to me in German well even though I hear they're not native, I respond in German.
gossiping adoptable omas in your apartment complex for the win XDDD
@@brinkiTOgoPeople like you are the best. I had that experience at a hotel in Wien once. I was trying to check in and the lady asked if I wanted to continue in German or switch to English. It was very stressful to speak German, especially as sleep deprived as I was, but I wanted to practice, so I did my best and she did her best to make sure I understood everything.
What does “my English is not the yellow from the egg” mean?? This sentence makes no sense to native English speakers 😂😂
THIS BROUGHT BACK A REPRESSED MEMORY. I was in Italy on vacation as a teen and was so proud I had learned some basic Italian words. In a store I asked the lady at the counter “how much does this cost?” With perfect pronunciation… but when she responded I realized I hadn’t learned numbers and couldn’t understand her response. 😂😂😂
Edit: to the people asking how I responded, I eloquently continued to show off my Italian by asking "Could you say that in English?" ALSO IN ITALIAN (it was a very old cash only store so there was no till display to read).
LOOOL
😂
Oh what did u say then? 😂
deadass expression amrilato protag vibes right here
Understandable why it's repressed 😂
Living in Baden Baden , I had a group of german kids come to the door and ask for my daughter. I politely told them she was in a shoe 😂😂😂. I thought I said school.
tbf schuhe vs schule is p close
@@heheheiamasuperstarcatgirl8485 I was close but those kids left laughing so hard. Better than crying though lol.
Ist deine Muttersprache vielleicht Portugiesisch? Oder Chinesisch?
@@thedeadscientist warum Portugiesisch? Wir haben L auf Portugiesisch
Weil - zumindest bei Brasilianern - bei einem L, das auf ein U folgt, von Deutschen oft nur ein langes U rausgehört wird. Also, L am Wort- oder Silbenende klingt für uns wie U.
I had the same issue when I studied abroad in Berlin. Berliners are very efficient people, the moment they heard my slow German they spoke to me in English 😭
How was your experience studying there?
Berlin is also very multinational so It’s almost expected you communicate in english to some degree; you can’t escape it!
@@MiMiLaXMiMi not always. I came across a middle aged woman in Berlin who couldn't speak English (obviously that's ok) soo yeah
> Berliners are very efficient people.
Haha, no.
"Berliners are very efficient people"
The BBI airport that took 120 years to build and cost 3 gazillion more than planned is rolling on the floor laughing. So is Hertha BSC.
1) Hallo
2) das da (*pointing finger*)
3) Danke
works every time
For real
And at the end “Das war’s , Danke“😂
So true, in japanese you just Koreo kudasai lol
And then they ask you "This one?" and its always the wrong one like at this point I'm convinced they're doing it on purpose
I do that even in my native language 🤣
An old German man told me to never admit that I can speak English coz most ppl want to practice their English so it'll take me longer to learn German. I followed his advice and kept saying No Englisch now my german is really good without accent and I forgot my English hihi👏🤣
GENIUS
Yeah that's really smart.
my story hahahahah
Was tha considered good or bad 😂😅
@Dina Hassan It's still a good thing, I understand eng effortlessly but if someone comes suddenly and starts speaking in English, I will stutter at first( till my brain reconnects with the Eng Vocabulary🤣)and some German words will automatically jump in the conversation/ Same scenario with my mother language... It's good advice. I gained a lot from it to the extent of getting asked if I was born in Germany, so the pros are much bigger than cons😉
My greatest accomplishment in life was talking French at the Montreal store lady and her talking back at me in French 😭
I'm English. I once walked into Spanish restaurant in a tiny village to ask if we could bring our dog in. A good excuse to practise my Spanish I thought. They went mad and physically threw me out of the door. I told my friends what happened and one who spoke Spanish went in to talk to them. Apparently I asked if they serve dog! We had a great night there, the staff thought it was hilarious! They loved our dog too!
Oh no 😂😂😂 This is hilariousss
In Korea your dog ... uhm. 😢
This is soooo funny! 😂
you are english and also asian I think. That 's why they became physical.
@@jeanmartin963 No I am not Asian. I'm a big white dude.
My korean improved because a mature student from Korea at my dorm was speaking on the phone to his wife and I was drunk and had the confidence to speak broken korean to him and he sorta took me under his wing. He would cook for me every thursday and this was designated korean time but when I would see him in the smoking area I would help with his english. We both improved in each others language and he was a lovely friend to me despite the age difference :) he even came out to drink with me and my friends and everyone treated him like he was our age and he was loving it!🤣
Edit: this got way more likes than intended lol , but take this as your push to have some confidence and put your learning to practise!!
That's such a sweet story! Hope you are still friends ?
i am a student in korea who lives in a dorm and i need to find this kind of guy asap😂
you were so lucky cuz i think koreans are shy to speak with foreigners
Age differences are arbitrary imo. I don't have many friends I can talk to freely. But 2 of em are still teens and I genuinely enjoy talking to them more than I enjoy talking to most of my acquaintances of my age.
@@chloe.cordeiro of course, he brought his family over after he finished his masters and they all live down the road from my friends house so I see them every now and then ^^
That such a sweet 😄 감동적이에요
This is my experience with French. I want to improve, but half the time I'm told to just speak English. Please, please just humor me and tolerate my mistakes and sleak slowly, I improve with every conversation. I can understand at least part of each sentence and then piece together the rest from context.
Sameee
Exactly
This is why it’s better to learn before you go to the country, people think you’ll just pick up the language when you go to a country but I’ve pretty much only heard of this problem with everyone who speaks English better than their target language.
@@paradoxelle481 not everybody has that luxury. You can also take classes while in the new country and use everyday interactions to practice. It's so much easier to learn a language living somewhere where it's spoken, I've done it. So you're wrong.
@@paradoxelle481 most countries I’ve been to are thrilled to try to help me learn their language, when I already know a good base of it. I agree going in knowing nothing is stupid, if you’re trying to learn. The only two exceptions I’ve seen to be happy to help me learn their language? Europe. I live in America, but I know America struggles with that too. Then again, I only have two accents when speaking a foreign language when I’m not repeating what’s been said to me before, Busan Korean or Southern American 😂😂😂
Not them conversing telepathically 😂
This is hilarious 😂 I remember leaving the grocery store late at night and a group of guys were eyeing me. I was trying to decide if I should go back inside or just quickly get to my car. But this older Mexican gentleman approached me and acted like he knew me, he pretended like he was catching up with me and waited till the guys left. We then talked a little longer so he could practice his English and I taught him a few words. He was really nice and said I reminded him of his granddaughter in Mexico :) I hope he's doing well
Aw, that was sweet of him and good on you for realizing the help he was giving. There are still honest people in this world!
Also, great that you were able to have a good conversation afterwards ^_^
That man probably saved your life. Always include him in your prayers.
👵✌️🖖
"Tio Roberto, thank God!"
What a sweet guy to help you put like that! ^^
Few words could be confusing
The way I learnt German was to hang out with my neighbour when I was in Germany on my gap year. I had enrolled in the local school but most of my learning was actually outside of class. My neighbour was an old retired man who loved the outdoors and could do with the company - but most importantly he didn't speak a lick of English. We often went hiking and exploring places on bikes. It was such a lovely experience and enriching for the both of us. We both had fun and I learnt a lot from him.
Great idea in being forced to speak the language!
I know this probably isn't the case, but it would be so wholesome if he could actually speak English the whole time, but just wanted you to get your practice in 😅 what a lovely story though
What a great experience!
You just had to use Google translate 😂
@@frenchalien9108 that kind of defeats the purpose ^^
I just started learning Korean and one time while my mom was at an appointment I was practicing outside the building and this older Korean lady overheard me and I guess she thought I could fully speak it and came up to me and started speaking sooo fast and I had to tell her I'm just learning. The sadness on her face made me feel so bad smh
Apparently her husband doesn't speak Korean and her kids barely speak any and neither do her grandkids so she was really excited to hear someone speak Korean.... I left before I thought about getting her info, because it later occurred to me that she could teach/work with me. that way I learn Korean and she would get to speak in her native tongue. unfortunately I didn't think about it until after I left ...... Smh
Edit: I do want to clarify that I do have ways to learn Korean now including language exchange partners. But it would have been a nice situation to talk more with this lady 😊
Oh no :( I wonder if there are any Korean American associations around you where you can visit and speak with native speakers.
I had a very experience with an older Chinese lady at work. She was struggling with something and I went over to help her. Initially, she spoke to me in a dialect I’m not too familiar with, but once I told her which dialect I spoke it was a lot easier! But I still struggled a bit because I understand a lot more Chinese than I can speak. This was honestly the first conversation with someone who actually understood what I was saying. I guess my dialect is pretty unique because even my other Chinese friends don’t understand me. Either way, we were able to have a nice conversation where she talked feeling pretty lonely living in a big city away from her adult children. We talked about each other’s lives and she seemed genuinely pretty excited to come across someone she could speak to. This was almost two years ago and I’ve never seen her since. I’m hoping she moved in with her kids rather than staying alone in a retirement community.
Poor thing
Go to a Korean church
@@barbieblue3336 no. that shit is toxic asf lmaoo
honestly i dont recommend learning korean from a non professional teacher.
learning english as a german is extremely easy compared to the other way around ngl
Why’s that? And also how do you know haha
@@kurt7937 i am german and have a few originally english speaking friends who learned german
@@Afurolypse Ja, aber lernen Sie in der Schule als ein Kind? Oder nicht. Das auch macht es einfach.
@@kurt7937 ich hab durch CZcams mehr englisch gelernt als durch unser Schulsystem
@@Afurolypsethats easy ,nowadays learning english is not some skill
The funny thing in Japan is that people (waiters, ...) nearly cry of joy when you answer their English in Japanese because they feel so uncomfortable speaking English 😂
It’s the same for Dutch city’s! In Amsterdam it’s oké to speak English. But in other parts of the country it’s often seen as pretty annoying when someone expects us to speak English. So try to learn some Dutch words or ask us to tel you the message in English and Dutch so you can learn and understand the language ❤ because in the countryside people often do not speak English very well 😅
@@stoertje2 Is it the same with German? I always had the feeling that nearly everyone spoke German. I can only speak a few words in Dutch. That suffices for buying stuff in the supermarket but not more.
And people normally start speaking German to me, probably because they hear my accent.
This is the same for a lot of people of Asian countries, even if they’re not in their own country. I see it in a lot of Asian stores and restaurants that my husband and I go to here in America. My husband speaks a little Korean and Japanese so he tries to use it when we are at those locations. It always gets good responses from the employees.
Really? I live in Japan already for a year and the people in coffee shops, restaurants etc. will always try to speak to me in English (excluding the old woman from the ramen shop of course). So it’s always me speaking in (a broken) Japanese and they answering me in (a broken) English. Quite a comedy 😂
@@climentine8080 I found that it depends hugely on where you are. I lived in a town where hardly anyone spoke English. Not even at my university. So they were quite glad that I was able to speak Japanese. Even more so in villages. Less so in cities like Tokyo or Kyoto.
"Hallo, kann ich haben Brett?" - "Tut mir leid, das hier ist eine Bäckerei und kein Baumarkt."
🥨
🤣🤣
😂😂😂😂
Underrated xD
Im wheeeeezing, thats the most german thing someone could reply.
We Dutch are also highly guilty of this! If a person tries to speak Dutch but it’s very broken I just automatically switch to English 😂
Same. Which is weird because one of our dialects is so different from average Dutch that is became its own language (Friesch)😂
Same! But I work close to the German border, so most customers are German. When some Germans try to speak Dutch, I appreciate it but then I just switch to German or English to make it easier.
last time I was at Amsterdam I didn't even try to speak dutch,im bad at both tho (dutch and english)
@@someonesping8293 last time I was in Amsterdam I got a weird look because I ordered in Dutch. Turns out the waiter didn't speak any dutch
What I would find highly amusing is if the person didn't speak English. Maybe Spanish or Japanese or something. I get that it's easier to communicate in a language you can both speak, but what about when that's not an option? This also makes me wonder if tourists, sometimes, pretend not to speak English to force the locals to speak the native language with them.
The confused face she made when she was asked cash or card was the same as the "confused emoji" 😕
😂😂
My French teacher gave me a great tip when I have this problem in France: your resolve is stronger than theirs. If you keep trying they will switch to their native tongue because it’s more comfortable. You just have to keep speaking the foreign language and they will eventually give up and speak it with you. Worked every time!
Lies. I don't buy the premise of a mative French speaker not using french.😂
@@bdnnijs192yeah I went to the South of France for a week and honestly communication was difficult. I'm fluent in English and I can understand some French, enough to ask something but not enough to understand what they say back to me. I always started a conversation in English and few people responded in English, they all spoke French 😂. When they realized I didn't understand they switched to English but yeah your right
@@KateJn That's the truth, and it should be like this everywhere. If you are in France, speak French ;-) If you can't then learn a few words or go to another country. This is how we should protect our languages and cultures. Here in Portugal, almost everybody speaks English and as a consequence almost nobody learns Portugueses. People don't respect their culture. This is a pity.
As a former exchange student in France a few years ago and lived there almost a year, it does work but not everytime. I mean it could work in bakery when you order but in restaurant? I don't think so :/
it's all in the accent
I'm German and when I was 14, I went on vacation to Spain with my family. Since I had been learning Spanish in school for one year at that time, I wanted to practice my Spanish skills by talking to people in Spanish. And like every second time or so I addressed someone to ask them about the way to go, they actually answered me in French. I was so confused. 😂
I don't know if my German accent sounded French to them or if they just heard that I wasn't a native speaker and decided to use French because it usually was the next best language they were able to speak.
I did understand them most of the time because I had been learning French in school, as well. But heck, an answer in Spanish would probably still have been easier for me to understand than a heavily Spanish-influenced thickly accented French answer. 😅
French never being honest with me. I don't like male French, they are not good enough.
I used to meet a French woman and she's good to me. She might be aggressive, a litter of angry.
but she has taught me a lot of skills, she taught why these have to be sorted it out.
THATS hilarious
You have amazing deductive skills! I would have been lost...literally 🤣
This is pretty hilarious
I understand the last part. In Hamburg I learned that I cannot understand German with a Vietnamese accent...at all ... as in not one word. I was quite embarassed.
I started working for a korean company here in Italy with just basic level of korean. In May I went to work in our French branch and I met this korean lady who was so excited to know I studied languages in uni and I could speak a bit of korean. Without realising it I was talking to her in korean with a level I didn't know I had, when usually around my korean-italian colleagues I feel so shy to speak in their language because I'm afraid to mess up. Turns out I can do more than what I thought lmao but honestly, she made my day back then. I'll treasure this memory forever❣️
At least in Italy you don't have that problem. People hardly speak English.
@@vaxrvaxr I was raised here so I don't think Italians would ever talk to me in English anyway 😅 but in highly touristic cities, when I am travelling with my friends and I am usually the one who steps up to say anything first, they somehow assume I'm a foreigner (I'm of asian descent) and start using English. Oh I love to see their faces when they realise I'm actually Italian lol
@@vaxrvaxr I had American and British friends who experienced this same issue in Florence, Venice, Rome and other highly tourist destinations within Italy.
They wanted to practice their Italian but everyone kept replying in English.
So, it does happen in Italy as well.
may i ask which company is that? my italian and english is pretty good, Ive studied in italy in the past as well. Id be interested to work in companies like that.
born and raised for a few years in québec, but speak english as well as three other languages. i came back, was only spoken to in english until i got a little frustrated at a cafe and said “i just wanted to keep up with my french,” under my breath in french. the waiter laughed a little and then proceeded to speak with me in french. i was ecstatic.
😊
YIKES. This reminds me of an interaction I had in Berlin. I had taken 3 years of formal German classes and when I went to Germany I was really excited to get to practice my German. Everyone was very polite and humored me - they also spoke beautiful English as well so I guess they were willing to indulge teenage me.
I got to a bratwurst salesman and attempted to order lunch in German, got about two sentences in before he stopped me and said "My English is better than your German" (he wasn't wrong) and proceeded to ask me what I wanted in English.
We just want to communicate efficiently 😅
Also I’m happy if I can practice my English speaking.
That is just extremely rude.. I live in Germany and since I had the same problem when I was in Portugal I at least try to let people practice!
@@aylinkartoffel617 This kind of being rude is literally one of the things Berlin is known for. Its basically part of the tourist attractions.
@@ubrot7995 That conversation sounded like the salesman was from Brandenburg!! Berliners are definitely straight faced blunt but not rude..
Lmao ouch
As a Finn, I always start out convos with Finnish to give even some foreigners a chance to speak/practice Finnish. Some just automatically switch to English, but some want to practice. I think the "national language first" customer service is less discriminatory. Of course English switch happens when the customer initiates it or struggles a lot.
I think this may be a better approach to this type of situations. Of course, there's always the entitled tourists out there that are like "wHy aRre y0u N0t sPeakINg iN inGlisH to Me?!"
@@Gr95dc I think I have dodged these tourists just by making the switch really fast. When I see them speaking English, I switch right away with no fuss.
@@AzathothTheGreat aight then
PERKELE OPETTELE SITÄ SUOMEA
Finnish is the funniest language ever to me
In my country no foreigner tourists actually even “try” to learn our language. They all expect us to just talk to them in English given that we are known to be proficient in it in Asia. Even other Asians choose to learn English to communicate with us than learning our actual national language o.o
This is actually amazing. The JD team has really upped themselves and I’m so proud of them all. Well done guys!
Reminds me of my trip to Korea: everyone would let me practice my Korean except for this one 7-11 clerk that always spoke English to me haha
I bet that 7-11 guy wanted to practice his English with you, not “not let you” practice Korean
@@Laura-Yu I bet. English schools are expensive. This customer is free.b
@@Laura-Yu Haha, that may be true, I didn’t think about that
when I was in japan and one night late at a 7-11, I had a chat with a cashier. The cashier told me it's a low-level job and mostly they put exchange students or immigrants into that kind of jobs, even if they fully speak japanese (need to mention japan has kind of an rassism problem) Anyway, most of them speak fluently English and most time better, than the japanese people themself. So they often switch, when they see tourists, because Japanes is for them also just a second-language
@@meljaxb reminded me of one time in Japan, this Japanese asked us if we can speak mandarin and started to converse in mandarin.. all I wana do is practice my Japanese 😢
a moment of thanks for all the old ladies who speak German with everyone because it’s the only language they speak 🙌🏼 my Oma single handedly kept my German alive until she died in 2022
Wo hat sie gegangen?
I remember when I was in Germany, my mum left her reading glasses at a restaurant and sent me to go fetch them. I spent the walk to the restaurant practising how to say "my mum's lost her glasses, did she leave them here?", only to get to the restaurant and be recognised by the waitress who handed them over without me having to say anything 🤣
XD
Well at least you had a plan b 😅
"Meine Mutter hat ihre Brille verloren, könnte es sein, dass sie es hier in ihrem Restaurant vergessen hat?"
Nobodies talking about how they just argued mentally through English tho lol
Me, whenever someone gives in and speaks back in Spanish, but a different dialect:
👁️👄👁️
@@oldmanconklin Causa q dices q si te vas a la Amazonia no va a entender nada. Y no me digas q no conoces ni uno de los dialectos españoles?
Kamaoaks, si hablas de Amazonia en Brasil, ellos hablan Portugues Brasileiro.
@@monimonica9529 hablo de los países hispanohablantes que tienen gran parte de selva como perú, Venezuela, Colombia y bolivia
This is why it pays to become a regular customer. I bet the bakery staff would happily help you practice if you came in often during times they aren't busy. I've worked several places in retail and customers like that were some of my favorites.
“It’s broken because you won’t speak German with me” GOD THIS IS THE MOST TRUE THING IVE EVER HEARD
The word “Verschlimmbesserung” is so relatable
i lived in poland in my teens for several years and it went exactly like this one too many times 😂 i was trying to improve my polish but my sentences were so fractured they probably find it impossible to understand 😭
(pole here) i honestly think the fact that you were trying to speak and try your best was admirable. this is one of the hardest languages in the world, i am proud of you!
@@klaudiso bardzo dziękuję 😆niestety nadal nie mogę mowić po polsku 😅😅 długo już nie mieszkam w polsce, zapomniałam wszystkiego czego nauczyć się... now i remember so little and the grammar is even further from my grasp!
@@srainy bardzo dobrze ci idzie. Może warto uczyć się odrobinę poprzez seriale? Od czasu do czasu!
@@srainy literally everything u said is natural except "umiem" instead of "mogę" would be more common and "się nauczyłam" instead of "nauczyć się" at the end. its all totally understandable so idk why they acted that way 😐 i think they might have wanted to make u more comfortable
I'm also trying to learn polish and have the exact same problem, so many people know English that it's impossible to practice. I swear one of these days I'll just say I speak Chinese since I doubt any Pols speak it 😂
"Blumensohnen" that was soo cute 😭♥️ it's actually Sonnenblumen (Sunflower) (she wants bread with sunflower seeds in it) but the word she said roughly sounds like she says she wants sons of flowers 😆
Flower sons would be Blumensöhne. To me it just sounds like she’s saying “Blumensonnen” but sort of dragging out the nn.
@@lenn939 I know what it would be, I am a native speaker. But she drags out the o sound, so it sounds exactly like a mistaken plural form that a lot of people who are still learning German use (-en is the correct plural for a lot of substantives, but Sohn/Söhne is kind of irregular).
I once made a reference to Werferschein and my friend laughed so hard he couldn't even speak.
Thank you! As someone learning german this was a nice little thing to learn :)
@@darcyperkins7041 of course. I assume she does. And I didn't explain it to her, obviously. But thanks for the thought I guess
My godfather is German, but his family moved to England when he was 4 because of WWII. Even though they spoke German at home, he unlearnt his accent so people wouldn’t ostracise him for sounding German. As an adult he moved back to Germany, and even though he speaks German fluently he says it all with an English accent so people assume he’s English and just talk to him in English 😂 he says he ends up speaking more German abroad than in Germany
That's kind of funny and sad 😅
Upon rewatching, the german word for sunflower sounds like "bloomin sol (sun)" and i love that for them
it actually sounds nothing like that xD
What she said was "Blumensonnen" (correctly pronounced roughly like "blue men" and "ssonan" as in "dissonance") with a heavy accent, which literally translates to "flowers suns".
The correct word is "Sonnenblumen", so she just switched up the words. Either way, if this were real, it would be very obvious to any native speaker that she's not (yet) particularly fluent.
However, Uyen is obviously better than that at speaking German, easily verifiable since she also plays the cashier. There's still an accent, of course, but it's otherwise pretty good German.
@@pixelmaster98To me, it sounded like "Blumen-Sohn", how she pronounced it. That would be "son of a flower".
I work in an hotel and I'm always glad to help who tries my native language, Portuguese, instead of English or Spanish. I usually wait them to speak and listen to paciently while they try, I also love to give some tips of how they should pronunciate something or where they've committed a mistake and could improve. It gives me a great feeling when they show me their gratefulness.
That's very nice of you!
@@Dora-rr3hw thank you! :)
Vc trabalha aonde?
@@marceloluo3666 em São Paulo, pq?
@@inanutshell3832 a tá só queria saber se era fora ou no brasil, tem muitos forasteiros no hotel q vc trabalha?
this is me with japanese in japan 😭 im trying to practice my japanese but they want to practice english instead 😂✋️
I’m Filipino, but I’ve lived in Belgium all my life since I was a child. Now and then I still come across people in shops or on the street etc. who start in English with me. Then I just reply in Dutch in my heaviest local dialect to make clear that I’m definitely not a foreigner haha
You will always be a foreigner. I'm a white guy in Africa and either in response to my surname or face, people may often ask me where I'm from and speak English to me too.
I have a Scottish accent and live in Australia and back in the '80s went out a lot to explore the city with my Australian friend who has a strong Aussie accent while being Chinese in appearance. Whenever I asked anyone for directions, people assumed we were foreign visitors and were super helpful and friendly!
We felt a bit annoyed at first as it seemed patronising and making assumptions, but decided to go along with it and have a nice time with people who were so pleased with themselves for helping the foreigners!
My friend would just smile and nod, so as to not give away her Aussie accent!
We had a good laugh afterwards and got lots of nice help.
@@peterc.1419 Well, its a little bit different, since 99% of white people in Africa do not speak the local language as there are very very very few of them who grew up there. (Apart from SA)
The percentage of non-whites are way, way, way higher in any western European country than the percentage of whites in Africa apart from SA.
So it is a much more reasonable assumption that a white guy in Africa is not native than assuming that a non-white guy in western Europe is not native.
(Apart from in SA where half of white ppl speak English and half speak Afrikaans but Im guessing youre not from SA)
@@Spacemongerr I don't agree with anything you wrote. Waste of time. Sorry bud.
@@peterc.1419 What I wrote was just basic facts that are easily checked, so it's pretty weird to say you disagree with everything I wrote.
The only thing that was my opinion is that it is "more reasonable", which looking at the facts I think it is - notice I didn't say it's reasonable or not, just that it's more reasonable than the other way around.
You can say you wish people didn't make such assumptions, but you can't disagree with facts..
Hahahahahaha Du hast das so toll auf den Punkt gebracht! 😅🙌🏼☺️
This women is a national treasure and must be kept alive at all costs.
I'm a Southeast Asian and will work in Germany at the start of the next year. Currently, I'm still learning german from zero. Cant wait to remake this conversation later 🤣
May i help you? I'm a german native speaker 🙂
@@Patti_-ns3qt If you don’t mind a stranger also asking questions- can you explain the number system? For example: I think another one of her videos shows German list numbers in an atypical order, is it true? And if so do you happen to know why? And does it ever making saying phone numbers or longer chains of numbers hard to understand even for native speakers or is it just a “I’m used to it so it makes sense to me” kind of thing? Sorry I rambled … and if they are dumb questions and you don’t want to answer I won’t be offended. I just heard it’s a thing yesterday and was curious but haven’t looked it up yet.
@@saorise28 Hi there, if you don't mind I'll answer. The german counting system is pretty similar to the english one but it does have two big differences that I can think of of the top of my head:
The first one (and I think the one that you're talking about) is the fact that we say components of numbers in different order. For example Twentyfive in German would be Fünfundzwanzig (Literal: Five and Twenty).
This applies to almost every number above twelve, since eleven and twelve have special words in german as well. 13 - 19 leave the and out and work the same as in english.
In bigger numbers, it works like this: 347436 being Threehundred seven and fourty thousand fourhundred six and thirty.
We are mostly used to it, so it rarely causes problems, but there is a slight risk of number reversal while writing numbers down that are dictated to you.
The other difference is that the german "Billion" is the english "trillion" while the english "billion" is the german "Milliarde". So a pair of false friends there.
Also also, germans use the european standard of writing the dates so the date looks like this here: day. month. year (22.06.2022)
Hope this helped :)
@@tannemin6758 this reminds me of latin 😭😭 having to remember that mille is not million breaks my brain every time
I get it when people want to improve their language skills in this way but 90% of the time it's somehow always when the place is busy and the staff has no time or patience to deal with broken attempts at sentences. Just settle for any language that works T^T
^This
There is time and place for everything, one can practice their language and not waste some poor cashier's time.
My friend was doing this for a while every time he took public transport, to buy the ticket he'd try out the new language (I can't remember which language now I'll have to ask him) and I don't think he ever considered that the huge line of people behind him were trying to go places and just wanted to buy their tickets for their trips or work day 🙈 he is a fantastic person otherwise but I can imagine he made a few people late to their train a few times!
I live in Poland but I can speak Russian and whenever a Ukrainian/Belarusian asks me for help (especially when its in public transportation or somewhere busy) I tend to switch to Russian. Sometimes they are actually happy about it, but sometimes they insist that we speak in Polish. The thing is, sometimes I really can’t understand what they’re saying and it just leads to misunderstanding. Once I even had to intervene because the man who was talking to an official about getting a document proving that a family of refugees crossed Ukraine-Poland border gave the wrong information! Like I get it, the languages are similar, but you can still easily make a mistake. If he gave the information that he did it could cost them a lot of time and trouble (he said that they do have passports, when they only had Ukrainian IDs - the word for ID in Russian means passport in Polish). Also once a lady from Belarus was asking about tram stops and she ended up leaving at the wrong stop. I know that maybe sometimes they don’t want to speak Russian, but in some situations it helps so much! Better safe than sorry.
No you just deal with it. That's how you learn to speak. Jeez even as a food service worker you still have to be patient 👀.
@@maybemablemaples2144 Not really. You can learn to speak in a lot more ways then by bothering someone who is at work. As long as they are not paid to do it, no one is obligated to help someone learn language.
If they have time and patience cool, if not better just chat someone else up.
I think it's so respectful that you are trying so hard to learn German
My 6 months Erasmus in Berlin in a nutshell.... Except for that one lady in a pharmacy who spoke German very slowly and very clearly because she understood I wanted to speak German 🥺
I don't know which part of Germany are you right now, but so far, the people from where I am currently, are very patient in understanding and waiting for my broken German, to the point that I feel so insecure and want to start speaking in English. 😅 But they always encourage me to speak more German, and if they think I don't understand it, they use easier words and speak slower for me to catch up. ❤️ PS. I worked as a waitress and even the customers were very nice and understanding too. ❤️
Awww im happy they are nice
I loved how kind you were with your humour. No mocking just lovely situation humour. Beautiful 💓
When you went to full German it sounded really good to me! You are doing great! ❤
That is so me every time I go to Germany! After they finally switch to German and then I can’t understand a single word, I’m too socially awkward to say I don’t understand, so I just suffer in silence and say “Ja” until someone inevitably figures out I haven’t understood a thing.
for me i think an issue is people speak way too fast for me to comprehend it or they mumble a lot so i can't even hear what they've said. I feel like I could understand a lot better if they spoke more clearly :(
And this is the point where we Germans start to really despise you from the bottom of our hearts.
Just saying "Ja" without understanding a thing wastes time and is just insulting to us, which we don't look kindly upon, especially in service.
When I used to work in customer service I would use the opportunity to hand the insult back to you.
"[In German] And thus your complex problem you can't solve on your own and which you called for in the first place is solved to your full satisfaction?"
--> Just says "Ja" without understanding a singe word, a she did for the last three minutes while letting me talk like an idiot.
"Great! Thank you for your call, M'am. Goodbye!"
Click.
Always sooooo satisfying :)
Speak for your own hateful self man 😐 I'm German and I would never despise anyone "from the bottom of my heart" because their German isn't that good! Wth
Sorry but the way you talk to these people sounds so condescending and mean and I hope they don't judge all Germans to the likeness of yours 😕
@@disnonn let it be a waste of time for you, but it’s this occasions that you need to learn a complicated language.
In Italy the people repeated slow, with gestures, what they said and nearly everyone helped you with learning the language, I never was worried to make mistakes in the daily live. No one got ever annoyed.
The biggest boost to my confidence is whenever they don’t switch to English
Same 😊😂❤
Heya, I'm German and gotta say, your German is really darn good. I've been seeing many of your videos recently and know that you speak at least three languages which are very different in pronunciation and grammar, you're doing a great job!
I dont wanna be a bummer here, but its not "darn good".
Yeah shes speaking it maybe for a short time and shes giving it effort but dont give an illusion.
I know a lot of people are going to kill me here for saying this but i prefer the truth over a lie.
Her german is ok but definetly not darn good. (At least from how far i've seen it in this video)
@@servus2252 It's not about an illusion, it's a way to encourage her.
If I hadn't had kind people humouring me and speaking to me when I was teenager in English, I wouldn't have learnt half of the damn language. Someone was kind when I was struggling and that's what matters. She speaks THREE languages and maybe can't pay expensive private lessons and so what? She's darn good. Leave her alone.
....That's a lie.
Just tell her that she's on a good way or that she'll improve greatly, which I'm indeed sure of, but don't say it's darn good when I had difficulty understanding anything.
@@anabotero9427 She's still not darn good, no matter if she already speaks other languages or can't afford extra tutoring or whatever. Also, you can encourage people whilst also giving them realistic assessment of their current skills. Imo, that's actually way more helpful. Why would you even practice if you're already "darn good"? And it's not a shame not to be good already, so I just do not see the point in lying here. If anything, lying about it to me makes it seem as if actually just being bad at German when you learn it is somewhat taboo, which is why you'd lie about it. But it's not taboo, it's normal and completely fine.
I'd rather tell her her German is pretty hard to understand right now and that the phrases were also partly grammatically incorrect, but that I value her effort and that I am quite sure that she'll get the hang of it quickly.
@@servus2252 You sound bitter and entitled. I won't take my compliment back just because some randos on CZcams disagree while being really rude about it.
The way their inner monologues could still hear each other 😂😂
I went to a birthday party in Germany for my friends brother and I was excited to try and practice since I had just finished some language classes and they were all excited to practice their English with a native speaker lol
This happened to me! I went to a summer party with my husband and everyone just spoke English to me lmao like I got surrounded by Germans and no one spoke German to me even though I tried! They just all switched over automatically to English lmaoooo It was sweet of them though because they were just trying to make me feel comfortable.. But this kind of thing still happens to me even after living here for three years!! It’s gotten better but mostly still having people automatically switch and be like,”Where are you from?”
@@Liv-eb9yv Yeah, getting native in German can be hard, there are subtleties many people never get rid of. The most glaring ones are gendered adjectives and verb cases, I know people who lived here for three decades and still don't get them right.
Then again, most languages don't even have those concepts, so I get how his might be really difficult.
The ending is so true! None of the guidebooks tell you 'bar' means 'cash' so I had to pick that up while I was in Germany already
Duolingo teaches it!
Water cooler is bathroom..just in case!!!
@@Dr.JulieJamesI'm German and I really do not understand? "Bathroom" would be "Toilette" or "Klo"...? (Literally, it would be "Bad", "Badezimmer" oder "Waschraum" - but that's when you only actually want to clean yourself.)
@@wrmsnicketi came here to post this exact thing about Duolingo 😅
This is me with my Chinese! I get frustrated when my Chinese friends only speak English with me because I also want to practice my mandarin, but when they actually speak Chinese to me I’m completely dumbfounded most of the time hahaha mostly because of the different dialects and some are Cantonese speakers too. It’s so confusing and difficult 😂
Dein Deutsch ist sooo gut ❤
Just when you think you have it down they hit you with a 'Do you have the Deutschmarkt loyalty card?' or some other complicated question lmao
Yep
I was in a manderin class in highschool and some college, I went to a chinese store recently and bought my food in manderin.
Since we werent in china and I am white the lady checking me out was incredibly surprised but responded to me in chinese as well. She made sure to speak not too quickly and very clearly which I appreciated.
*Mandarin
I'm glad that in italy they actually listen to you and sometimes wven guide you whenever you get ir wrong.. Maybe not all italians but most of the people I came across helped me.
Can confirm. I love when people try to speak italian, so i like to explain them everything they want to understand better! Imo it's a good thing that foreigners want to learn our language, so :)
Of course you can ask me anything too, if you want! 😊
This happens in Italy as well. Native speakers of Italian think they’re being kind by speaking to you in English because they’re accommodating you and allowing you to speak the language you’re most comfortable with, but learners of the language who don’t understand this at first (like me when I first came here) find it discouraging
I would say in german "can you repeat that slower?" so they can understand you need to practice, and they might say it both ways english and german.
in germany we dont say: can i have the sunflower with milk and your seeds?
we say: Das Da bitte
Your seeds sounds really naughty in English lol
@@Blynxe It would sound just as weird in German, I (a native speaker) have no idea what "your seeds" is supposed to translate to in this context.
@@pixelmaster98 well in English it sounds like they are taking about sperm. A man's seed
@@Blynxe I know what it sounds like in English. I'm just saying I don't know how this is supposed to be translated in a way that DOESN'T make it sound like that in German as well.
As a German, I can say, it's not only the part of understanding, but of being polite and wanting to help the other feel comfortable in the language which is spoken at that point.
Als eine Deutsche, kann ich sagen, dass es nicht nur am Verstehen liegt, sondern auch aus Höflichkeit und weil wir möchten, dass der Gegenüber sich wohl fühlt in der Sprache die man gerade spricht.
Interesting. Never interacted with this politeness. People talk about French and how they refuse to use English. I actually faced that on a daily basis in Germany. I always heard "but do you live here? How long have you been here? You should be talking in German, already". Public services, even worse. AND i support the idea that if you will live in a different country, learn the language. But my interactions with germans only made me quit that.
@@Fernando-dt8je public Services really is another thing. There is this law in nearly every country, which language is the official and public language. In Germany most people working in public services are focusing more on that law, than the differences it can make if you are trying to help whichever language is spoken. I am one of the few at my work (registrars office) who is eager to help no matter what. I was even called out for taking to much time with a costumer where we tried to speak in 4 different languages and used Google to get together. After I explained my view it was okay, but I shall watch the time more.
I think there are regional differences as well. Places with more tourists are more open to other countries and languages than other places. And if someone is not speaking English or not as well as they'd wish, they would be more harsh towards ppl living in that country for a longer time but not knowing the language.
I am as well thinking that one should know the language of the country they are living in. But I also see the differences in learning speed and ability of each individual.
Once I had a medical emergency while in Germany...They didn't accept my European insurance card and the woman in the reception was shouting at me, that the doctor won't speak with me in English, fortunately the doctor was more civilised.
Ja, das ist so wahr! 😂😂😂
Wie soll man eine Sprache üben, wenn niemand sie mit einem spricht?!
Ich frage die Leute, von denen ich annehme, daß sie von außerhalb zugezogen sind, ob sie mich verstehen. Oder ich quatsche direkt auf Deutsch los, nur nicht so schnell.
Wenn jemand Probleme hat, sagt er oder sie es schon. Als Lernender rechnet man ja schließlich damit und weiß um den eigenen Kenntnisstand. Dann wird das Tempo langsamer, vielleicht die Wörter einfacher und vielleicht ab und zu nachfragen und gegebenenfalls noch einmal den Satz in andere Worte fassen.
Und wenn es gar nicht geht, dann eben Englisch oder eine andere gemeinsame Basis, und das eine oder andere Wort auf Deutsch beibringen.
Deine Videos sind großartig! ❤
Same when I was in Vietnam speaking Vietnamese and they refused to speak Vietnamese with me. I wanted to practise my Vietnamese and they, their English! 😂😂😂
Same in Thailand..I am grateful to speak English with them.
OMG… I just found your channel and you make me laugh so hard… I was in the US military and was stationed in Germany for 3 years and at first I tried to learn German but so quickly gave up because I would just say Hello and they would immediately speak English. Instead I learned a few phrases of Italian, French, Spanish, Polish, Etc because we traveled a lot while we were there… This is so spot on! 😂
LOL I go through this with Spanish. I finally feel confident and then someone brings me back down with something I don’t understand lol it’s ok, it’s how we learn
Yep
They would both be happy if they spoke their own languages and tried to communicate that way
shes right. if you talk german i respond in german, cause even if its a bit rough or broken i want to support your work by responding. the more broken it is the more i probably simplify to make it easier for you. if you talk english i respond in english to the best of my ability. talking to you in english might also help me to improve my own skills therefore i like both. either way if we have a conversation we can learn from each other. quite a lesson for life. no matter the language
i’ve started just telling people i need to practice with french, and they help me through it! in my experience if they think you’re trying to accommodate them, they’ll switch. if they know you want to improve the language, they’ll help you out!!! this is the only way i’m able to be fluent in french, despite taking it in school for years. conversation matters!
The best way to speak fluently in a newly acquired language is to get really tipsy then let yourself go 😂
True! People tell me the more I drink the better my other languages get.
Also, if you're really angry with a person and you want to tell them off the words just flow.
Inhibitions makes you uncomfortable about pronunciation but it greatly hinders your memory: you probably know more than you think but can only that into that knowledge when you are tipsy.
SO TRUE
I think you’re on to something lol
😂😂😂 I just love how honest she is & seeing her daily adventures in a new country
This is why when people come and speak to me in English (and I know for a fact that they know Spanish), I let them talk. It's how I wanted to practice (and still do), and I found I had this issue, too, especially in Spain. Unfortunately, not everyone feels the same way. Someone's daughter reprimanded me for "making" her mom practice her English with me (checking in for an appointment) when I could have just spoken to her in Spanish.
Screw that daughter. If her mother was struggling that much, she could have tried Spanish and you would have accommodated. Thank you for being willing to help.
I moved to Spain years ago and never had anyone speak to me in english, even at the airport help desk when they had lost my bags and I asked them if they could speak spanish slower or switch to english 😭 Maybe it depends on which part you live in.
@@AngelofPaz Yup, my experience too
@@AngelofPaz Spain is not very english-friendly unlike Germany
@@AngelofPaz Oh no!!! I'm sorry you had so much trouble! This was back in 2011 if that helps. I got lost near Gran Vía and most places I wandered to also spoke English.
A queen who knows 3 languages
😭 One of the reasons why I can't speak German but can write,read, and understand. They did this all the time
You're so adorable I swear!
Why speak German or English when you can speak telepathically 😭
PLEASE THIS IS ME AT WORK I KNOW YALL TRYING TO PRACTICE BUT I'M FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE HERE AND JUST WANNA HELP U 😭😭
Kai 🥰
Lol!!!
As a Canadian, this is what it's like going to Quebec and trying to speak French. They just won't let you
Good for you for trying, just keep at it you will get there!🌷
I found that even if it's quite obvious you're trying to learn, if you actually say it people are much more accomodating and friendly!
p.s I'm still practising saying Streichholzschächtelchen (small box of matches) from your other video,😉
my Swedish mum who speaks german had no problem with the word! I was quite jealous!😂
Greetings from Sweden!🇸🇪
I have no clue why your shorts keep popping up on my feed but I absolutely adore them and have no complaints, as a danish born person who grew up in Austria I can relate to a lot of them. Keep it up please
Because you watch them, that is. CZcams does kinnda invisibly subscribe you to channels you respond to without telling you.
I have this same experience every time I speak Spanish w native Spanish speakers. I’m Mexican American so I grew up speaking Spanish at home but overtime it’s gotten worse so I try my best to speak it whenever I can. Then ppl respond to me in English like cmon now, how am I supposed to get better🙃
over the summer in germany most people I met were pretty patient after a "langsamer, bitte!" and spoke slowly enough that I could practice. and then it was crazy how much I understood. just needed them to slow down and repeat the unfamiliar words
Yeah, I’ve noticed that I have a better time understanding people when they give me time to process what they just said or if they say it clearer/slower (especially in Spanish). Sometimes I just need a bit more speech clarity.
Ich finde es sehr mutig, in der Öffentlichkeit die Sprache zu sprechen, die man gerade lernt 😊
I LOVE your channel so much, I'm a westerner living it Vietnam and you're a vietnamese girl living in the west so it's so funny to see the shoe on the other foot 🤣🤣
I often get frustrated when practicing thinking "there's nothing wrong with my Viet she's just not listening to me!" Hahaha ❤️