What made you smile recently?

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The Velvet Curtain said:
In Berlin everyone seemed to speak English all the time, and not to foreigners but with each other, as if German was a second class language
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As I’ve stated before, I love languages and cultural attitudes around languages.

We just got back from France (which, at least here, has a terrible reputation regarding speaking any language other than French), and in Paris, everyone in the hotel, in the shops, in the cafes and restaurants, spoke English with no issue. They spoke French until they realized I wasn’t very proficient in it, then happily switched to English.

The hotel in Paris conducted all of their customer interactions in English, but most of the guests were either British or US.

In Bayeux, most people spoke some level of English, but a little more haltingly at times, but no one seemed bothered by it.

In 2015, we were in Prague, and it seemed all the locals there spoke English first, whether to Americans, or to Italians, Germans, whatever. Even to each other, at least in public, they spoke English.

We had a 20-something student give us a private walking tour, and I asked about it, and he laughed a little, but said that Czechs were extremely proud to have moved out from under Soviet control, and they wanted to be very “Western,” and to them, that meant speaking English, so everyone was quick to make it a co-first language.
 
TastyReuben said:
As I’ve stated before, I love languages and cultural attitudes around languages.

We just got back from France (which, at least here, has a terrible reputation regarding speaking any language other than French), and in Paris, everyone in the hotel, in the shops, in the cafes and restaurants, spoke English with no issue. They spoke French until they realized I wasn’t very proficient in it, then happily switched to English.

The hotel in Paris conducted all of their customer interactions in English, but most of the guests were either British or US.

In Bayeux, most people spoke some level of English, but a little more haltingly at times, but no one seemed bothered by it.

In 2015, we were in Prague, and it seemed all the locals there spoke English first, whether to Americans, or to Italians, Germans, whatever. Even to each other, at least in public, they spoke English.

We had a 20-something student give us a private walking tour, and I asked about it, and he laughed a little, but said that Czechs were extremely proud to have moved out from under Soviet control, and they wanted to be very “Western,” and to them, that meant speaking English, so everyone was quick to make it a co-first language.
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My several experiences of Paris is that they like you to try French first and fail before giving you a superior smile and continuing in perfect English. It is a game I am happy to play, if you stride up and go full English on them then they will make you work for it.

I have always maintained that with commercial strength, and popular culture through films and music it is American that is the dominant language. The English banished our religious extremists to set up their own colony in the continent of North America. If the Spanish had decided to take over an under populated continent with the Catholic religion instead of heading south where the gold was then this would be a Spanish speaking forum, and 'Amigos' would be the World's most popular sit-com
 
The Velvet Curtain said:
In Berlin everyone seemed to speak English all the time, and not to foreigners but with each other, as if German was a second class language. This was strange, I sensed a willingness amongst the young to give up on their heritage. Tell me I'm wrong.
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Our education heads made sure that tax money ends up in our Englisch speaking skills. Though I've never experienced another German speak English with me, without having a reason.
Berlin invested another big sum of money in tourism and so everyone in the hotel has to speak at least English.
 
The Velvet Curtain said:
If the Spanish had decided to take over an under populated continent with the Catholic religion instead of heading south where the gold was then this would be a Spanish speaking forum, and 'Amigos' would be the World's most popular sit-com
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Up until 1836, Texas was actually part of Mexico. Parts of Texas are full of Spanish (Catholic) Missions. The Alamo of "Remember the Alamo" fame, was originally built by Spanish Catholic Missionaries. While war for independence in the Northern Colonies was fought against England, the Texas Revolutionary war of 1835-1836 was fought with Mexico.

BTW, I hear people speaking Spanish (Mexican) in public pretty much every day. Mexican Spanish is not exactly the same as the Spanish spoken in Spain, or even in the Caribbean.

CD
 
As someone who hates, loathes and despises receiving unannounced visitors, this seems handy to me :laugh:
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