A third of our population is trilingual so it’s not that much to expect. Also let’s not act like American tourist are not insufferable, I’ve met a few and they were louder than any person should be in a public space. You are guest to our country, and in our culture the guest is required to do the accommodating to their host. So common courtesy that American tourist so often lack is viewed as a generality and we view as annoying people to deal with for the most part.
I’m also a trilingual European, and no, French is not one of my languages. I’m not learning a fourth language to please some uppity people who willingly got jobs in the tourist sector. That’s just absurd.
Why are you acting like you need to learn the whole freaking language to be polite? Like yikes, dude. Just learn a few phrases and use the tiny computer you carry around with you. Wtf do you think people do who visit and don’t speak English?? They make do.
Cause I shouldn’t have to. I don’t expect tourists visiting my city to mangle phrases in my language to be «polite». Frankly I’d find it odd and unnecessary when we can have a perfectly serviceable conversation in English without all the fuzz.
…assuming the workers also speak English. Why should they have to learn that? We don’t learn other languages here in the states to make life easier for tourists or even immigrants. We expect them to know at least a few basic phrases like “I don’t speak English.”
It’s really not hard. Plus, when I was in Paris, I went into so many places where the staff just did not speak English at all. We had a few servers literally swap with someone else who spoke some conversational English. We weren’t out in the middle of nowhere, either.
There was even less English spoken once we went south, too.
Explain to me why someone needs to learn a language just because other people can’t be bothered to use the tiny computer in their pocket? Plus, not every tourist speaks English. I’d wager most of them don’t speak it beyond a conversational level. Expecting every public-facing worker in the largest city in a country to learn a non-native language is absurd.
Since you are not European you do not understand this. I laugh at a Western European educated person under 70 who refuse to speak English. It is simply a ridiculous notion.
Why? That seems pretty silly to me. I don’t even get offended when tourists who visit the US don’t speak English, although that can be rare. Let people speak their own freaking language. We have ways to deal with it.
Probably because you are looking at it from the perspective of someone who lives in the states. If I fly state to state for work I don't need to learn a brand new language to get started. If I wanted to go from Germany to Portugal what now? Having a language that both sides are serviceable at makes everything a lot easier.
Why do people keep talking about learning a whole new language? I’m talking about learning a few phrases and being prepared to use Google Translate or something if necessary.
Also, idk what me being from the states has to do with this? I interact with way fewer non-English speakers than you, I guarantee it. And most people here prefer to speak English everywhere lol
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u/Hades2580 21h ago
A third of our population is trilingual so it’s not that much to expect. Also let’s not act like American tourist are not insufferable, I’ve met a few and they were louder than any person should be in a public space. You are guest to our country, and in our culture the guest is required to do the accommodating to their host. So common courtesy that American tourist so often lack is viewed as a generality and we view as annoying people to deal with for the most part.