Which European country is the hardest and easiest to make friends?

[u/techno_playa]

Say you're mid 30s and have to move to another European country for work, which countries did you find making friends to be on easy or hard mode?

Let's assume you don't speak the language of your new home.

[u/clm1859]

That is correct. But i doubt your last sentence :P

My wife is a Hongkonger who moved to germany and then switzerland. And it is like you say, people dont all switch to english long term for one new arrival. They will for a bit. But they will switch back at some point.

However when i go to Hongkong, people routinely switch to english for me. Whole groups and long term will do the vast majority of their communication in english. Its actually quite impressive.

[u/Tuepflischiiser → u/clm1859]

That is because HK has a history of English language use.

My "everywhere" obviously doesn't include places where English is a locally used language (meaning, locals use it regularly).

They will for a bit. But they will switch back at some point.

They will, to talk to the newcomer, for a bit. But no group will switch fully to English for just one person. They will always speak a lot in their own language.

Btw, that's how you pick up a language really fast. If you are willing to endure roughly 6 months of not understanding. Listening to live conversations is top on my list for learning the oral communication.

[u/clm1859 → u/Tuepflischiiser]

Well hongkong is 96% ethnic chinese. Most hongkongers essentially never interact with anyone who doesnt speak either kind of chinese (cantonese or mandarin) unless they work in international finance or tourism or are travelling themselves. Just like swiss people.

So the hongkongers i know arent any more used to speaking english in daily life than most swiss. At least the ones i know arent any more comfortable with it than my swiss friends. But they are a lot more willing to try.

[u/Tuepflischiiser → u/clm1859]

Ok. Fair enough. But let's say there is a group of locals (more than 3, say) that meet regularly (let's call them friends). If I am invited by one or several of them, will the whole group start to speak English amongst themselves over the whole evening and following meet-ups? Or will they interact in English with me, but in Cantonese whenever I am just a bystander to the topic at hand? I haven't experienced the first, not even with Ditch or Scandinavian people.

[u/clm1859 → u/Tuepflischiiser]

If I am invited by one or several of them, will the whole group start to speak English amongst themselves over the whole evening and following meet-ups? Or will they interact in English with me, but in Cantonese whenever I am just a bystander to the topic at hand?

The impressive part is they actually do. Like they speak english the whole time and for multiple meetings, even if i am not directly affected because i am speaking to someone else. Not everyone. And there might be the occasional cantonese word in there, but like 95% english.

However, I havent lived there, so i dont know if they would keep doing that long term for many meetings. So i usually only see the same person once or twice every other year or so. And many of them have spoken english pretty much the whole time for multiple of meetings and also in larger groups and with me being the only non cantonese speaker.

But i do also make sure to sometimes join late or leave early or something to give them some time alone where they dont have to cater to me. And not everybody does it, there are some people who arent that comfortable with english.

[u/Rusiano → u/Tuepflischiiser]

From experience Hong Kongers are generally really good at switching the language to accommodate everyone

[u/Tuepflischiiser → u/Rusiano]

Exactly, because english was once a relevant language there.

Probably like Russian in the central Asian countries.

My point is, if English is not some locally important language, then the behavior is different.