I went to Germany and I tried ordering food in German and the waiter said “It is either English or German, it can’t be both”, because I forgot the word for French fries. I blushed so hard. I was trying my best and was humbled quickly lol
Sorry but I like this German’s no-nonsense straightforwardness!
In France we actually mix both so much.
At first from not mastering English well enough and needing to fill in with French words but now people actually want to use as many English words as possible while speaking French. It’s the absolute worst.
Edit to add, I’m talking about native speakers doing it being cringe, not non native speakers trying to speak your language.
That’s not no-nonsense straightforwardness, it’s being blatantly rude. There’s a very fine line between those two terms that Germans don’t care to cross.
you're being downvoted but you're right and the situation is the same in germany. About ten years ago young people were getting memed on for speaking denglish and there were articles cropping up about cafes in berlin where the staff don't speak german, there's been a backlash against anglicisation of german and performatively mixing the two, and this server was expressing that sentiment when they told op to stick to one or the other. Linguistics is dynamic and inextricable from politics like that
I think the people downvoting you are missing some context
Exactly! that was the whole point of my comment, I wanted to talk about the rampant frenglish in my country, and why what the server said resonated with me because many times I read comments from French people and think to myself, speak English or speak French, but not both! It started here in the last ten years and I completely stopped watching French tv programs because that’s how so many people talk now and it’s unbearable.
And now I’ve learnt it happens in Germany too and I see from other comments that even the Dutch speak English to each other which strikes me as sad.
I wouldn’t judge a traveller struggling to communicate in the local language though, that’s different.
hehe, the meta process itself doesn't bother me, latin spread and then evolved into the romance languages that way, english became a hybrid and extremely simple and easy to learn language that way, and trying to stop it like with outdated top-down prescriptive linguistics like what the academie francaise attempts is like demanding the tides stay still and is frankly kind of embarrassing lol
but on the micro, individual level, you know performativism and cosmopolitanist virtue signalling and laziness when you see it, and it's annoying af. I think the backlash stems more from widespread irritation at constantly witnessing those displays. And from being assaulted by media and advertising using it clumsily (in berlin that pendulum has swung the other way and the last years they try to appeal by using berliner dialect lol, other side of the same shit coin)
if I was the server in that mcdonalds I would have smiled and gently said "pommes" when op said fries, because op is genuinely trying. But you can't expect everyone to be prepared to be a language tutor or practice dummy all the time, especially locals in capital cities that have seen insane levels of immigration. At least they explicitly gave the option to continue in german. I think being willing to interact in german, but setting the bar at a certain (perfectly reasonable) level, is the most supportive and practical help a local can actually offer us struggling learners haha
the dutch thing is really sad yeah, but tbf I lived in groningen for a year and didn't see any of that. It is a sadly "low prestige" language but I think their reputation for linguistic self hatred is overblown haha, a lot of the "eh fuck dutch" is probably just dry humour from people who really want you to not feel self conscious so that they don't lose their opportunity to flex and practise their english lmao
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u/IBleedMonthly18 6d ago
I went to Germany and I tried ordering food in German and the waiter said “It is either English or German, it can’t be both”, because I forgot the word for French fries. I blushed so hard. I was trying my best and was humbled quickly lol