And if you had signed up for tonight's curry in Bern you could have spoken English to me all evening! - yeah maybe that's why...
It was only when I met some Alsatians (people, not what the Brits call German Shepherds, and which are called ' Berger Allemand ' in French) at a bike meet in Mandello d. L., and was talking to one guy (who turned out to be a French professor in France) that it was pointed out that it's far better that I speak correct French with a crap accent, than crap French with a good accent!
Tom
- Does your English SOUND English ?
- Is your English understandable to people who learnt English in London ?
- At what speed do you speak, when speaking English ?
Tom
Indeed, the muscles around the vocal cords can sometimes struggle to make certain sounds if not trained/used regularly in that particular combination. I can speak French pretty fluently, to the extent that natives aren't sure where I am from. That said, I do sometimes stumble over certain words - although in my mind, I know exactly what they should sound like.
It is just that the French are particularly sensitive about "correct" French, which you see manifested whenever someone from Paris has to talk to someone outside of Paris, or, worse, someone from Canada...
Just had a phone call and thought "wow, look at how much Tagalog I've picked up" as I understood every 6th word the other person was saying.
But as I didn't quite get the whole context, I told her "sorry, could you repeat that in English please, as my Tagalog is lousy".
Her reply was " That WAS English!" ...
So, maybe OP just called me ..
I would agree that certain "foreign" accents are more familiar and easy to understand for many than others, particularly if they include a fast speaking style on top of it. For me, because of the areas where I've lived, it is easier for me to understand someone with a Spanish-language background speaking English than it is some of the other accents.
Also, when speaking to my sis-in-law vs conversing with my husband, I can tell that she took some language classes which were taught by someone from the UK vs someone from the US because of the way she says certain words or because she uses different words than most Americans I know would use. Meanwhile, hubby "perfected" his English playing games (including VOIP) with Americans. Seeing how many people here learn English from UK-originating teachers, it makes sense to me that a lot of the Swiss folks would have an easier time understanding that "RP" style of diction from UK than from other places.
No, but I often go to the US and wonder why no one speaks English there...
Alternative #2:
Alternative #3: After they say they don't speak English, ask "Isländisch?". You'd be amazed how fast they can learn English after that question...
I appreciate that some people have given me good advice and I think that its gonna help me a lot.
someone wrote that i should learn swiss german at migros school and I visited there, it really helped me a lot. sorry but as lot of people think that i am moaning about something and people do really speak english here.
sorry if u think so, i dont believe it. i have been traveling all around the europe and this is my 11th month of traveling and i have seen countries where people dont speak english but its not as bad as bern where you are trying to interact and people are not even interested.
I agree that there are all kind of people everywhere and maybe i have just met that one kind of people so far.
Anyways to live for 2 months in bern, i have realized that i have to learn some german to make my life a little easy.. btw..
Thank u everyone for replying once again..it really helped me..cheers
Rathore, perhaps some of the responses you have received were based on your initial post stating that you've been here for a mere two weeks . Now this more recent post says two months, which still really isn't long when looking for a job here in Switzerland (even less long when compared to some of the areas of the world with higher unemployment these days!) as some people spent many more months actively looking themselves.
Two months or two weeks really isn't very long to live someplace new either anyhow, generally not long enough for someone who is "immersed" in a new language to learn it fluently and also, really not long enough to get a good look at what is truly around you.
So, my advice would be to be patient. My experience with interacting with the local people in Basel is to start off interactions in German, even if it is poor, it still is better than starting off giving the idea that they "should" speak English. Start off with "Entschuldigung (however it is spelled ) , mein Deutsch ist nicht sehr gut" (Excuse me / I'm sorry, my German is not very good) as it goes a long way to helping the feelings brought when next asking "Sprechen sie English, bitte?" (Do you speak English please?)
Nine times out of ten, if I start off with that, the very polite Baslers tend to answer back with "I'm sure your German is better than my English...." and then we get on with things in English.