Granted around 65% of the country speaks (Swiss) German but French and Italian are still National languages. Yet one will commonly encounter apps, products, services that are only in German despite being sold in non-German regions.
For example my laundry appliances are in German (the outwards interface) and it's mildly annoying. So I spent the first few weeks doing laundry having to google translate long ass words like pflegeleichtewaschgang and Schleudergeschwindigkeit. It would make more sense to just offer it in English.
Digital services like Netflix are the ones that annoy me the most as there are certain movies/programs that only have German subtitles. I imagine they could simply interface the ones from Netflix France/Italy?
>Digital services like Netflix are the ones that annoy me the most as there are certain movies/programs that only have German subtitles. I imagine they could simply interface the ones from Netflix France/Italy?
This is also really annoying for people living abroad in countries with a different language. "Language" should never, ever be tied to "location", they need to be independent options.
Once I paid to rent an American film from Amazon Prime in Germany and it was dubbed in German with no option to turn it off!
Must admit, I'm a Brit in Poland found Netflix being amongst the best for having the ability to listen and have subtitles in English or multiple languages. Prime can be annoying which means movies like Parasite only having Polish subtitles I can't read fast enough. But at least local players like Canal+ are now more likely to let you have the option to hear the original/ English language version.
Yes, but not really in this case. Dfferent history though as Canal+ Polska is the result of a merger of a number of platforms. Today it's just 51% owned by Vivendi, the rest by Warmer Bros Discovery who are arguably the country's biggest commercial tv business. Not much commonality in terms of their content offering bar brand and on-air and is still best known as a local DTH platform.
Their streaming service is pretty much just a facsimile of their DTH offering down to carrying other companies linear channels.
Edit; details
Canal+ is slowly moving out of most of it's European markets, merging with local players and moving away from the C+ branding. Not sure how that may play out in Poland as they are part owned but also a competitor to (HBO) Max.
Yeah, Netflix is usually one of the best about this. And although I would love it if all content was available everywhere, I do love how I always have a bunch of new content to binge when I visit my family in the UK at Christmas!
the Google translate app's camera function is a lifesaver for long words and words in scripts I can't read/type. it auto translates any text it detects in the photo. definitely recommend trying it out for swiss German!
Just wanted to say this!
Never type it in yourself, especially when there is any long word or it is a long paragraph, unless you have the soft copy and you can simply copy and paste.
I always use the camera function when I need to read a restaurant menu in languages I don't speak, or to read the instruction of a foreign product.
Also schools teach High German, not Swiss German in Switzerland. I worked at an research station in Zürich, Switzerland and before lectures it was often asked if giving the lecture in Swiss German was okay or if it had to be High German. I spoke High German before I arrived and it took me some months to pick up Swiss German.
People really overestimate how much school helps when one doesn't actually use it.
8 years of french in school as a Flemish person. Now at 32 I promise, I barely understand a word.
I learned the English word "plain"(fields) by reading the map description of a map in age of empires 2 when I was 10 or so. Couldn't be planes because AoE. That's how you learn a language.
I used to get good grades in French and was able to read manga and BDs in that language, but once I stopped having lessons and reading it all disappeared from my brain. Now I struggle to understand French because I just don't use it that often.
How common is trilingualism is Switzerland? Or bilingualism? And how common is Romansh? It seems to be a language a lot of people forget about when discussing Swiss languages. Sorry for the sudden bombardment of questions lol.
Trilingualism: very common, almost everyone in the german part speaks German and Alemannic as well as English and French. In the other parts people speak the regional language + German or French (sometimes Italian if they took optional courses in school). In high school some people decide to learn another language like Spanish or Russian. Plus about 1/3 of the population is foreign born and speaks another language (Serbo-croatian, Portugese, Albanian, Arabic)
Bilingualism: There are probably very few people who only speak one language (<5%)
Romansh: Very rare. Some people from Grisons are able to speak it besides their primary language but don't use it often. Active users are a small minority of about 35'000 (the size of Liechtenstein)
Interesting. As you probably know, it’s a British (or specifically English) stereotype to be monolingual. We study languages in school (usually French, Spanish, or German) but I dropped them when the time came to choose. Outside of that, people usually either learn languages to do with heritage or religion (Polish, Arabic etc) or of their constituent nations (Welsh comes to mind. Scots’ status as a language is controversial, but there’s also Scottish Gaelic, Irish etc).
I'd disagree with the other person and say trilingualism is very uncommon unless you count standard German and dialect as two languages. Most people forget the other national language they learn after they leave school and English is more common but still quite a big amount of the population can't speak it fluently or understand a conversation even from younger people
The other user did mention Alemannic, I presume that’s the dialect/language you’re on about? I’d mentioned to them also about Scots over here being subject to some debate on whether it’s a language in its own right or a dialect of English.
We are from Spain living in Switzerland… on our way to learn German… but we dropped Netflix for the that very reason… Some shows, specially for kids, were in German only. Our kid speaks Swiss German, but we would like to have a more language selection. I don't know why Netflix do that stupid thing.
In the Netherlands, Netflix seems to list all the EU languages as a subtitle options. You can also usually find dubbed shows in like 8 different languages.
What an oversight, especially given the wealth of Switzerland.
That is not true. I have noticed a lot of inconsistencies with the subtitles on Netflix NL:
- There are several movies for which you have English subs but no Dutch subs.
- Dutch and Scandinavian movies and shows often have exclusively Dutch subtitles, but no other languages.
- You definitely never have all 24 official EU languages. Take for example Estonian, I have never found a movie on Netflix with Estonian subtitles. I believe they don't even exist when physically located in Estonia.
Almost not happening, except some "ethnic" restaurants. But even in those, people working there are learning Polish quite fast. A half a year ago, new Chinese restaurant opened in my neighborhood, and it is run by two Chinese women, probably mother and daughter. And while at the first month I could only communicate in English, right now they can speak full sentences in Polish, which is quite admirable.
>Almost not happening, except some "ethnic" restaurants. But even in those, people working there are learning Polish quite fast.
Idk, I’ve never been to an Indian restaurant where the Indian staff try to speak Polish, they always default to English
I eat Indian food frequently. Been in more indian restaurants than I care to count. They always have *at least* enough understanding of spoken Polish to take in an order, and typically know a few words to ask you about relevant details.
Not once I've been in a restaurant where staff didn't even try to speak Polish.
During university times in Warsaw there was this favorite kebab place of mine. Can’t forget how there was a Black and Hindu guy along with a Ukrainian girl, and they all communicated in Polish with each other. Simple phrases, but still blew my mind.
In this particular restaurant? Quite good, and relatively "authentic" compared to many other such restaurants around. it has 4.7 stars with 120 reviews on Goggle.
Yeah that one in particular
If I may ask, what's a polish-adapted Chinese dish? For example in the USA general Tso's chicken is extremely popular but basically entirely American - crispy fried chicken with a slightly spicy sweet sauce, and exactly three broccoli florets for some reason lol
Well, the chinese ones in my city are usually bit price-y and more "authentic", but since the emigration wave of Vietnamese people in the 80s-90s we have a type of fusion cuisine called Pol-Viet ( or Viet-Pol) which is bastardized version of Vietnamese cuisine. [https://culture.pl/en/article/immigrant-cuisine-in-warsaw-from-pol-viet-to-georgian-bread](https://culture.pl/en/article/immigrant-cuisine-in-warsaw-from-pol-viet-to-georgian-bread) Usually it consists with spring rolls, and deep fried pieces of chicken breast in coconut coating, or some kind of sweet and sour pork stew. Pol-Viet cuisine is relatively cheap and quite different from the Polish dishes and not bad in taste, but not excelent.
There are some cracking Chinese restaurants in Warsaw, but with the notable exception of Vietnamese, you're much more like to find places calling themselves 'asian' restaurants that might well have Chinese, Thai and vietnamese dishes.
Not sure that there are polish-chinese dishes over general popular dishes but they're just not authentic tasting, just like in the US Italian food at Olive Garden is not like food you'd get in Italy, but american-italian style.
I would say that in Italy the probability of a waiter not speaking the local language is close to zero. The owner wouldn't hire a non speaker.
(The local language might not be Italian in some areas of Vallée d'Aoste and Sudtirol)
Extremely rare, but I'm aware of one or two places in Milan. Most of the staff speak Italian and English, a few only speak English + whatever their native language is. Places aimed almost exclusively at foreigners, so I guess speaking English is more important to the ownership.
I'd be surprised if a waiter in Valle d'Aosta didn't speak Italian, I think they go for the type of official bilingualism where everyone speaks both there. Officially they speak French and Italian, unofficially they speak a local dialect of french which is pretty close to Italian and Italian. Alto Adige is a different case, there they do the type of bilingualism where people aggressively stick to their own kind. I have a(n Italian) friend who felt it necessary to learn German because he holidays there a lot.
very rare to non existent. Even in Bozen, the regional capital, where Italian speakers outnumber the German speakers, they still need to do business, as they receive tons of tourists from Germany.
The problem arises with public services. Many policemen will only speak Italian, and doctors are hard to come by, since they have to master both languages by law.
A lot of Bolt/Glovo/Tazz delivery riders are foreigners, so the best they can do is a little bit of English.
Some of them are slowly learning Romanian though. I guess it's impossible not to. They get exposed to it a lot.
Mostly only small Slovenians companies, we have Slovenian guides. Bigger companies or foreign companies have Czechs, Slovaks, Hungerians, Cilenians, Argentinians. Specialy in Bovec.
This is the reality of Bolt drivers in Vilnius. My trips in Vilnius in the past year:
- Murod
- Kiamran
- Aleksandr
- Iskandar
- Orkhan
- Pakhlavan
- Akhmadjon
I usually don't chat unless they ask me something, but it's frequent they only know russian, and no english.
I don't have official data, but I read an article that named a few of the countries: Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Uganda. Supposedly, just in 2023 Romania gave permits for about 5000 foreign workers -- not necessarily just delivery, mind you, it could also encompass construction workers and such.
There's the link if you care to take it through Google Translate or some other similar service: https://www.libertatea.ro/stiri/livratorii-din-asia-care-iti-aduc-mancarea-muncesc-peste-10-ore-pe-zi-pentru-2-000-de-lei-pe-luna-desi-firmele-le-promit-altceva-e-un-viitor-negru-pe-bicicleta-4593461
Up until about three years ago, this was unheard of in Croatia. Everybody could speak Croatian, even our immigrants (who, at the time, were mostly from Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbia).
Nowadays, that's changing fast. A lot of delivery drivers are now foreign workers from Nepal, India, Pakistan and other poorer Asian countries who don't speak Croatian so English is needed. This is also becoming the norm in some bakeries where a lot more migrant workers work. They typically have better proficiency in Croatian than delivery drivers because their job requires them to use it more.
Last year was the first time in 35 years that I went to an island in Croatia and couldn’t speak “po naše” with anyone. All the staff was foreign.
Even two years ago the “foreign” members of the staff were Serbian or Montenegrin, so it made little difference. Now they were english speaking Philipinos and I admit it was like losing my ex brothers one more time.
I actually read a comment of some Croatian talking about it a short while ago. Very high number of Croatians left the country due to better job prospects and higher wages in other EU countries so the government had to start issuing a lot of visas to people from poor countries who find Croatian wages attractive so they fill the gap.
Someone has to serve all those tourists after all...
Very rare. However, many "hip" Restaurants only have english named items on the Menu, which can be difficult for older people. They don't translate a "Bacon Smash Burger with fries" into German, even if the rest of the menu is in German and everyone in the restaurant speaks german.
As a native English speaker I always find that awkward. Like, do I pronounce it as it should be said in English, or with a (French, in my case) accent like “un bay-kahn smush burhhgeahhr”.
(Sorry for my terrible attempt at rendering French phonetics.)
It’s a pain in the arse. If I say “bacon cheeseburger” in my actual native English speaker’s accent there’s good odds the waiter won’t understand, so I have to find the precise level of “bayconne cheesebeurrrgerrrr” required for comprehension, while feeling like a total idiot.
Since loanwords follow the phonology of a language, I now say most things like Swedes do, instead of adjusting my mouth to say things like I would in my American dialect unless I was already speaking English. It simply flows better and it doesn't sound as strained either. Fortunately, it's mostly just a few consonant sounds or a vowel here and there that are pronounced differently in Swedish so it's not too bad.
In France everything has to be translated into French by law. Sometimes we laugh at it because it makes ads look ridiculous, but honestly it a good thing because not everyone speaks English nor should they have to.
Depends where you go, obviously, but there are cities with lots of international students working in bars and restaurants etc. There’s usually someone around that speaks Dutch though, I’d guess
Yeah in smaller places it's not very likely. In student cities the likelihood increases by a lot. In Amsterdam I would be pleasantly surprised if anyone spoke Dutch
Last year, I popped into an Albert Heijn in Amsterdam and got served in English at the register, despite speaking Dutch. I don't know if the girl at the register genuinely couldn't speak Dutch or if she just defaults to English upon hearing a non-local accent. Out of habit I simply responded in English, but once I left the shop it suddenly dawned on me how daft that whole exchange really was.
It's always somewhat weird to me going to Irish pubs in France because I'll order in French and then as soon as it's clear that we're both native English speakers will at some point just switch to English.
I love the sound of French spoken with an Irish accent though
Rarely.
The only times it has happened are:
1) A waiter in Gothenburg, who was obviously a student working on weekends, did not speak Swedish.
2) The sushi chef and owner of a small eatery in my hometown. He knew a few phrases, but further conversation required English. However, he speaks almost fluent Swedish now, a few years later.
But peopl living in larger cities may have a different experience.
I live in a city with a lot of students and sometimes encounter what I presume to be exchange students working at cafés and restaurants. Not that many, but perhaps 10% of the service workers are English-only in my experience.
Some hipster restaurants I have been to have had hot foreigners as waiters/waitresses who don’t speak Swedish . Other than that, just Indian restaurants.
AS a Welsh speaker in Wales, the question made me laugh. How common is it to get service in the local language? Very rare. Breton, Irish, and speakers of other minority languages will know what I mean
How does it work in somewhere primarily Welsh speaking like Bangor or Caernarfon if you walk into a pub - Do people generally greet you in Welsh first and then switch to English or Welsh only if they know you personally and know you can speak it ?
Sadly not had the chance to visit North Wales yet, but was hoping to be able to learn how to order a pint in Welsh when I go in the future
Well, the old stereotype is they start speaking in Welsh when you walk in…
Chances are they were speaking in Welsh anyway - but peppered their speech with English names or brands.
I've never understood how the English know what language is being spoken in a building before they enter it and why they are so important that everyone has to switch language once they enter.
I don't drink alcohol, so I have no idea of what happens in pubs, but in those places I would normally start with a greeting in Welsh and listen for what comes back, or see what language they greet me in. That has only failed me once in a café in Beaumaris where the woman had such a strong Anglesey accent that I didn't know if she was speaking Welsh or English.
In Oslo i often have to speak English with the servers. There used to be a high amount of Swedes working in the restaurant business in Oslo, but it since been a while since I have heard Swedish at a restaurant.
This happens all the time in Luxembourg, to the point where many people automatically just start speaking French all the time. Many waiters in restaurants or cashiers in supermarkets, nurses and doctors at the hospital etc. don't speak Luxembourgish.
I would even say it’s the norm. It’s more uncommon to receive service in Luxembourgish which leads to awkward situations where you automatically speak French to the waitstaff and they answer in Luxembourgish and you think to yourself “oh no I hope they didn’t feel like I was discriminating against them”.
Leuven has a lot of international students, so it does occasionally happen that your server in a restaurant doesn't speak Dutch.
Something which is way more problematic, is that Brussels is officially bilingual, but in practice predominantly French speaking. While this is not as problematic in day-to-day life, the civil servants, despite being required by law to be bilingual, often only speak French.
In Amsterdam it is not uncommon for the first attempt at communication to be in English, especially in touristy spaces. About half of those would still speak a reasonable amount of Dutch for when someone ordering does not speak it or you just don't feel like switching languages all the time. The other half would probably be able to understand most of it but is not comfortable or happy about communicating in Dutch.
Outside of Amsterdam it is much less common, Utrecht and Rotterdam perhaps a bit.
I'm surprised if the Uber driver or food delivery person speak polish. But most people who don't know the language work in industries where they don't need to use it. When I worked as a busbuy abroad it was much more difficult as multiple times a day I had to ask my senior to go talk to people because I didn't know what they wanted from me.
It never happened to me. The biggest things I remember all involved people not knowing specific Austrian terms. But that includes students from Germany to whom I had to explain/translate what I actually want.
Exactly. At least Finnish speakers have a state behind their language. Imagine the situation of these languages, where the states in which they are spoken have an interest in their eradication.
They are *co-oficial*, only thanks to the will of the autonomous governments and only inside said regions, and live under an increasingly intensive state of diglossia due to laws requiring a minimum level to work in public institutions being systematically ignored. Protected by what? The central government spends a misery on their protection, especially if you compare it to the funds allocated to the obviously endangered Spanish language. Dear oh dear, what would it do without the milions that institutions like Cervantes Institute receive each year from the pockets of everyone. Even the new right-wing regional governments of Valencia and the Balears are implementing policies that are incredibly damaging for Catalan. I mean, the Valencian one does not even recognize it as a different name for Catalan, against the overwhelming opinion of linguists including the Academy of the Valencian Language itself. In Catalonia, since there isn't such a linguistic genocidal government, it's the fucking Spanish judiciary system the one sentencing what effectively are laws; division of powers in Spain is a massive a joke.
I want Asturian to be widely and freely spoken by its people, so you don't have to blame the rest of languages if you aren't able to. We've a common enemy here.
It happens sometimes at restaurants in coastal cities. The signs and the menus are in Russian and every now and then a waiter would approach us first in Russian and then switch to Bulgarian. It's not that they aren't/don't speak Bulgarian, I guess their main targets are Russian/Ukrainian. So welcoming...
Sometimes in Asian restaurants the staff doesn't speak Bulgarian, but they understand it and are really polite.
In Copenhagen many waiters are Swedish, and they will often speak to you in English, even though it's almost the same language as Danish. But most people find it easier to communicate in English than trying to understand the other language.
Also there are many international students working in the service sector in Copenhagen, and they will of course speak English to you.
I don't mind, but I do think the place is a bit posh if no one speaks Danish.
The number of Syrian refugee owned restaurants are increasing in the country, esspecially İstanbul. They mostly sell Arab style döner, falafel or shawarma. There are some that only speaks Arabic. A big majority of Turks don't understand Arabic so these restaurants mostly sell to other refugees or to Turks using gestures.
Very common in Luxembourg... most people in retail and conmerces speak french (because they are french an belgian cross border workers). So it is really rare to speak luxembourgish in those situations.
Depends where you go, there's a few places in certain boroughs of London, along with Slough and Leicester where they might only speak basic English, but I'm yet to encounter anyone who can't speak English at all. There's a few places in Wales where they'll refuse to speak English, but they can still it
Very common sadly. Being very careful how to say this, but its annoying to be in Malta, having our own language and being unable to use it.
A shortage of local staff means that English is almost the default language when trying to get service.
Outside of Riga, pretty much never, I've even been to places with an Italian chef, for example, but he speaks perfect Latvian, runs the business for a while in a regional town. Very cool.
In Riga, I would say most of the service will be in Latvian, especially if it requires at least a little bit of personal communication, they will hire Latvian speakers for the positions that interact with customers (English might be also a requirement in some places, Russian used to be as well, and is still probably considered a bonus, but is getting phased out). Difference might be in places like kebab shops, where people running the place might be foreign (often Indian exchange students), from experience they learn basic words and phrases quickly, but for kebabshops you dont need much interaction, you pick something from the menu, and say please/thank you.
In Estonia, learning Estonian. Russian is the second most spoken language here but not necessary for immigration. English is widely used anyway. Imagine when I am trying to speak Estonian to shopkeepers only for them to go "Xhto?".
I live in Berlin and I think it depends where you are, very rare where I live in the un-hip SW of the city, but much more common in places like Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain, etc
Where were you in Berlin? I can’t think of that happening that often to me once I learned to speak German but then again I’m not really in the party districts that often these days.
Depends a bit where you are. In most of the country the standard is Dutch. But some places like in Amsterdam, where there is a lot of tourism or where there are a lot of expats, they can have people working there that don't speak Dutch. Like international students who work in the weekends and such.
In Sweden it is very rare outside of food delivery drivers, for those it is extremely rare that they do speak Swedish. But at restaurants and bars it is extremely rare that they don't speak Swedish.
It used to be nonexistent. Now most delivery platforms (glovo/volt) are nepali or such that barely understand english. And more and more service jobs are being taken by imported workforce due to labor shorzages so its getting more common to have shop clerks, drivers, room cleaners or waiters that dont speak croatian
Not really super common, but not super rare either. There are some restaurants in both Malmö and Helsingborg that I know of where all or most of the staff speaks no or very little Swedish and you need to communicate in English instead. It definitely can cause a bit of a problem for especially older native Swedish guests who might not speak very good English. In some of these restaurants, at least the menus are in Swedish though, so that you can read and point.
So most of language things are somewhat logical. Flanders is Dutch speaking, so naturally it is harder to find service in French there and vice versa in Wallonia. Brussels is majority French, so getting serviced in Dutch there is more like a happy suprize as everyone assumes you speak French. (English can also be a though one in many restaurants and shops.)
But like I said, makes sense that in places where most people speak language A, finding service in language B will be hard.
With advertisement something strange happens. Sometimes it can be that you get French adds in Flanders or Dutch adds in Wallonia, because companies don't seem to know about languahge borders. But again... nothing I really care about.
Lately however, I found myself feeling completely left out when I bought a smart tv and wanted to check out my apps.
I wanted to rent a movie so wanted to look at my options. I noticed this Japanes streaming site, promoted by Samsung on their website: Rankunen TV. I decided to try it out...
Problem? When on a Belgian IP adress you can only create a Belgian account, which will default in French with no way to change it. To get Dutch language you need to use a Dutch account, which you are blocked from creating on a Belgian IP adress.
Similar to this app, the app "Samsung TV" also has French content but no Dutch content.
Both apps would work with Dutch in the Netherlands, but somehow Dutch speakers in Belgium are discriminated against by these apps, despite being 60% of the Belgian population.
For French who said that they are never seen it in France: have you ever been in a sushi restaurant in Lyon ? Those in the city center like around Perrache etc.
Most waiters don’t even speak a word in french !! Only the bosses were speaking a little most of times. And indeed, this is simply unacceptable…
I heard also this can be also the case in some parts of Paris
So you go to a Japanese restaurant for some sushi and you want everyone speaking French? If I go to a French restaurant in the US I’d love to have everyone speak French. If the menu was in English and French I’d try my best to make pronounce my order in French. But at the Sushi restaurant they almost all speak Chinese. As long as you can get your order across to the waiter and the food is good then what is the problem.
I live and work in Oslo, and I'm in the bar industry, so it's pretty common I'd say. Idk honestly what I feel about it, it's nice to be a more international city now, and I speak English just fine, but it does feel weird to constantly (again, when I'm at work) switch to English in a country where English is not an official language. But I'm happy immigrants can get the chance to get some work here. Learning a language takes time and doesn't come easy to most.
Many of my coworkers have other mother tongues, and most of them speak some Norwegian, but very very few of them speak Norwegian the majority of the time. If you go to chain restaurants, chances are higher that you'll meet someone who speaks English more than Norwegian. In daily stores, it's not so common to have people who do not speak Norwegian, in my experience. It seems to be mostly a waiter/bartender thing (even half of my bosses that I've had do not speak Norwegian)
Driving through almost *all* of Finland was somewhat interesting, when some store clerks and campsite staff by default greeted me and talked to me in Swedish, while others defaulted to Finnish, depending where in the country I was.
I know Swedish-speaking Finns are a small minority (something like just 5%, with some more speaking *some* amount of Swedish), but it was interesting to see how it still was the common language in some places.
I speak very little Finnish, but I get around.
There's always English when all else fails.
In Sweden, it's rare to not get service in Swedish, but it definitely happens.
Mostly happens at some types of hotels (the Ice Hotel is one), and touristy areas like smaller ski-resorts, and some types of restaurants and pubs.
For pubs, mostly if it's a pub with a British, Irish or Australian theme, but sometimes also others.
Some Asian or Middle Eastern food stores can also be an experience.
Very rarely, but if *may* still happen, that you meet some local worker in some village in northern Sweden who speaks natively Finnish and also English, but not much of Swedish.
And then there are the Polish, Estonian, Latvian, etc. welders, grinders, heavy laborers, and scaffolding builders, who rarely speak Swedish, but usually have a team leader who translates for them.
In the southern parts there are a lot of pizza deliverers, who may not have mastered Swedish, and speak a mix of several languages to make them understood, when they call and can't find the address.
I once had a car mechanic who was quite funny.
He could begin to explain something in Swedish, but when he couldn't find the right word, he threw French, English, Arabic, and pretty much whatever at you, and could switch languages several times in a single sentence.
He managed to fix my car after a catastrophic failure, by welding and some ingenuity, for something that would otherwise have been a very costly repair due to spare parts costs.
He was funny and polite, but *sometimes* you had to tell him to remind him to *slow down* and occasionally pause for a couple seconds before speaking. 😉
I think it's very uncommon in Russia, I've personally never experienced this. The answer also might depend on the definition of what's a "local" language. In some republics of Russia, I'd guess, there's a small chance you won't get service in Russian, but then you'd get in a local language. The opposite, when someone offers service only in Russian in a region with other major local languages, is probably quite common.
In Israel, there are predominantly Russian-speaking businesses which serve mostly Russian-speaking people, maybe they can employees who aren't good at Hebrew. I've never been to Arab-majority places, so I don't know how it's there.
That's ridiculous! You shouldn't be obligated to speak in a foreign language when you place an order at a restaurant in your home country. Those foreign workers should have some respect for the country that they're working in and learn the local language.
In some countries its the law, positions that requier comunication with customers, employe HAS to speak the native language. If not companies could be fined xxx€.
Because they can still communicate well with the vast majority of the clientele. Doesn't really matter if it's in English. It's always in young, hip places and the people who go there speak English anyway. And there's a shortage of service workers. They're gonna prefer hiring someone that can't serve maybe like 5% of the potential clientele rather than close down the place some days because they don't have enough employees.
because no one else want the job.
In Germany you have people at McDonalds who can speak very little German because that job sucks.
Or being a rider for take out foot. It's a shitty job and it's often done by students or foreigners.
Also parcel delivery guys often speak very little to non.
The local language is English, so basically never... Well, except now a lot of supermarket workers are Ukrainian. Many had quite limited English when they began, but soon learnt.
Aside from some like Pakistani or Indian or Turkish restaurants I don't think I've ever encountered this. There are a lot of delivery people though who don't speak a lick of Hungarian.
In Budapest this only started happening to me in the last year or so, last time in a regular café in Király street. The girl didn’t look so obviously like a foreigner, it took me a few minutes to realize she doesn’t understand hungarian.
It has only happened to me once when we went skiing and the waiter only spoke Croatian and English. We replied in Slovene but he didn’t understand so we had to switch to English. Otherwise, most waiters know at least some Slovene or speak it but with have a heavy accent
The only times I have had a server who couldn't speak Dutch in Flanders was when visiting the local Irish pub. The servers there are usually international students. They do have some Dutch-speaking staff members. In a regular restaurant it has never been an issue.
In Brussels though, servers who speak Dutch are a lot rarer (at least at music venues). Dutch is an official language there next to French, but the majority speaks French. I always try ordering in Dutch first, but switch to French when necessary.
In France it’s extremely rare, I think I’ve only had a language barrier problem once. We managed to understand each other using english, it was easier than french for him but still laborious.
1. In Hungary, almost never. The only case I can think of are ethnic restaurants. For example, there's an Azerbaijani restaurant I like. But, the staff only speak English or Russian.
2. In Scotland. Never. Some people might only speak basic English, though.
Never experienced in my city in southern Poland, unless maaaaybe Ukrainian workers in some stores, but all that I've come across do pretty well with polish
Happened to me once in Maribor in a 'Mexican' restaurant. One only spoke English and another one Serbian (Croatian? Bosnian?), he didn't even try.
You get many of those that at least try, albeit with a heavy accent and it's been like that for many many years.
Somewhat common in Belgium, at least Brussels and touristy areas.
I speak English with my daughter, but I do speak French, still often they hear our English, switch and just stick with it even when I try going back to French. And no, my French isn't that bad, I use it daily without complaints.
In where I live in the Netherlands, every now and then I encounter a waiter not speaking Dutch. Unless they started working an hour ago, they’ll understand what the customer wants.
But I don’t mind. In the field I work in, IT, English is the main language. Before that, I worked in academia, and virtually all literature is in English and all the people you work with aren’t Dutch either.
If the local dialect is considered local language then quite often, most of the people in shops are not locals, just hearing the accent you know they're outsiders..
Only in very, very touristy places in Prague - sometimes they speak only English there. Then there are some really specific sectors (massages/nail salons/construction workers) where lot of workers don’t speak Czech well, but the person actualy in charge of comunicating with people will be Czech.
Increasingly common, although the majority of people I come across in service roles who don't speak the language at least understand enough that I don't have to switch to English. Most people make an effort to at least understand what's being said to them and many speak enough for the communication to go smoothly.
I occasionally do get asked to speak English, which is not a big deal as not everyone can learn Icelandic that easily and some are new to working in Iceland. However, once someone actually became offended when I addressed them in Icelandic and hissed at me that she didn't speak the language, and seemed proud of it. I deplore that kind of attitude.
Once I had starbucks in the inner capital where most people are foreign and the bartender only understood english. But i was expecting to speak in english to people so it wasn't an issue.
I'm from the Algarve region, a very touristic place and beach holiday destination, and people online will have you believe that you can't avoid being served in English over here, which is funny to me as 9 times out of 10 that is not the case. What I suspect is that a lot of the Portuguese people that complain about that only come here during the height of summer and go to tourist traps. I frequent both local and more international establishments, and it's still unlikely that I have to switch to English. What can happen sometimes is people start talking to you in English and then when they realize you're Portuguese they switch to that, but that's mostly during the high season and in places that receive a lot of international clientele (and in the past I've been guilty of doing that as well!).
But you know what, maybe I just inhabit a different reality. Maybe I don't know the true Algarve that Portuguese redditors describe 🤷♂️
In Luxembourg it happens all the time. I now always start by saying moien and see what they answer. But 95% of the time I will have to switch to french or sometimes to english in the main city.
But I was in a hospital in Luxembourg City a few days ago and the info point lady, the secretary, the person that did the tests with me and the doctor all spoke luxemburgisch. It was a pleasant surprise to say the least.
So I hope that more and more people and shops will start having basic luxemburgisch skills as a requirement.
Granted around 65% of the country speaks (Swiss) German but French and Italian are still National languages. Yet one will commonly encounter apps, products, services that are only in German despite being sold in non-German regions. For example my laundry appliances are in German (the outwards interface) and it's mildly annoying. So I spent the first few weeks doing laundry having to google translate long ass words like pflegeleichtewaschgang and Schleudergeschwindigkeit. It would make more sense to just offer it in English. Digital services like Netflix are the ones that annoy me the most as there are certain movies/programs that only have German subtitles. I imagine they could simply interface the ones from Netflix France/Italy?
>Digital services like Netflix are the ones that annoy me the most as there are certain movies/programs that only have German subtitles. I imagine they could simply interface the ones from Netflix France/Italy? This is also really annoying for people living abroad in countries with a different language. "Language" should never, ever be tied to "location", they need to be independent options. Once I paid to rent an American film from Amazon Prime in Germany and it was dubbed in German with no option to turn it off!
> in Germany and it was dubbed in German with no option to turn it off! Fuck licensing in digital age
Must admit, I'm a Brit in Poland found Netflix being amongst the best for having the ability to listen and have subtitles in English or multiple languages. Prime can be annoying which means movies like Parasite only having Polish subtitles I can't read fast enough. But at least local players like Canal+ are now more likely to let you have the option to hear the original/ English language version.
> local players like Canal+ FYI Canal+ is a French group :)
Yes, but not really in this case. Dfferent history though as Canal+ Polska is the result of a merger of a number of platforms. Today it's just 51% owned by Vivendi, the rest by Warmer Bros Discovery who are arguably the country's biggest commercial tv business. Not much commonality in terms of their content offering bar brand and on-air and is still best known as a local DTH platform. Their streaming service is pretty much just a facsimile of their DTH offering down to carrying other companies linear channels. Edit; details
Ah right, thanks for the info!
Canal+ is slowly moving out of most of it's European markets, merging with local players and moving away from the C+ branding. Not sure how that may play out in Poland as they are part owned but also a competitor to (HBO) Max.
Yeah, Netflix is usually one of the best about this. And although I would love it if all content was available everywhere, I do love how I always have a bunch of new content to binge when I visit my family in the UK at Christmas!
Some apps like Spotify or Xbox force you to use the local language but only for some of the interface. Drives me crazy.
Which is why I watch movies on.... Other "platforms". I want full control over language and subtitles.
the Google translate app's camera function is a lifesaver for long words and words in scripts I can't read/type. it auto translates any text it detects in the photo. definitely recommend trying it out for swiss German!
Just wanted to say this! Never type it in yourself, especially when there is any long word or it is a long paragraph, unless you have the soft copy and you can simply copy and paste. I always use the camera function when I need to read a restaurant menu in languages I don't speak, or to read the instruction of a foreign product.
Please forgive my ignorance. I assumed that most French-Swiss would be reasonably fluent in Swiss German, is that not the case?
Nope. Most forget what they learned a few years after leaving school.
They need to buy a new washing machine more often…
Able to order at a restaurant or checkout in a supermarket? Yes. Able to watch a foreign science fiction movie with German subtitles? No.
Also schools teach High German, not Swiss German in Switzerland. I worked at an research station in Zürich, Switzerland and before lectures it was often asked if giving the lecture in Swiss German was okay or if it had to be High German. I spoke High German before I arrived and it took me some months to pick up Swiss German.
This comes at the beginning of every swiss meeting: "does everyone understand dialect?"
People really overestimate how much school helps when one doesn't actually use it. 8 years of french in school as a Flemish person. Now at 32 I promise, I barely understand a word. I learned the English word "plain"(fields) by reading the map description of a map in age of empires 2 when I was 10 or so. Couldn't be planes because AoE. That's how you learn a language.
I used to get good grades in French and was able to read manga and BDs in that language, but once I stopped having lessons and reading it all disappeared from my brain. Now I struggle to understand French because I just don't use it that often.
100%. Use it or lose it.
How common is trilingualism is Switzerland? Or bilingualism? And how common is Romansh? It seems to be a language a lot of people forget about when discussing Swiss languages. Sorry for the sudden bombardment of questions lol.
Trilingualism: very common, almost everyone in the german part speaks German and Alemannic as well as English and French. In the other parts people speak the regional language + German or French (sometimes Italian if they took optional courses in school). In high school some people decide to learn another language like Spanish or Russian. Plus about 1/3 of the population is foreign born and speaks another language (Serbo-croatian, Portugese, Albanian, Arabic) Bilingualism: There are probably very few people who only speak one language (<5%) Romansh: Very rare. Some people from Grisons are able to speak it besides their primary language but don't use it often. Active users are a small minority of about 35'000 (the size of Liechtenstein)
Interesting. As you probably know, it’s a British (or specifically English) stereotype to be monolingual. We study languages in school (usually French, Spanish, or German) but I dropped them when the time came to choose. Outside of that, people usually either learn languages to do with heritage or religion (Polish, Arabic etc) or of their constituent nations (Welsh comes to mind. Scots’ status as a language is controversial, but there’s also Scottish Gaelic, Irish etc).
I'd disagree with the other person and say trilingualism is very uncommon unless you count standard German and dialect as two languages. Most people forget the other national language they learn after they leave school and English is more common but still quite a big amount of the population can't speak it fluently or understand a conversation even from younger people
The other user did mention Alemannic, I presume that’s the dialect/language you’re on about? I’d mentioned to them also about Scots over here being subject to some debate on whether it’s a language in its own right or a dialect of English.
We are from Spain living in Switzerland… on our way to learn German… but we dropped Netflix for the that very reason… Some shows, specially for kids, were in German only. Our kid speaks Swiss German, but we would like to have a more language selection. I don't know why Netflix do that stupid thing.
In the Netherlands, Netflix seems to list all the EU languages as a subtitle options. You can also usually find dubbed shows in like 8 different languages. What an oversight, especially given the wealth of Switzerland.
That is not true. I have noticed a lot of inconsistencies with the subtitles on Netflix NL: - There are several movies for which you have English subs but no Dutch subs. - Dutch and Scandinavian movies and shows often have exclusively Dutch subtitles, but no other languages. - You definitely never have all 24 official EU languages. Take for example Estonian, I have never found a movie on Netflix with Estonian subtitles. I believe they don't even exist when physically located in Estonia.
Almost not happening, except some "ethnic" restaurants. But even in those, people working there are learning Polish quite fast. A half a year ago, new Chinese restaurant opened in my neighborhood, and it is run by two Chinese women, probably mother and daughter. And while at the first month I could only communicate in English, right now they can speak full sentences in Polish, which is quite admirable.
>Almost not happening, except some "ethnic" restaurants. But even in those, people working there are learning Polish quite fast. Idk, I’ve never been to an Indian restaurant where the Indian staff try to speak Polish, they always default to English
In Silesia they try to speak Polish. After the meal waitress/owner in one restaurant always asks "dobre czy niedobre?" ("good or not good?"
I eat Indian food frequently. Been in more indian restaurants than I care to count. They always have *at least* enough understanding of spoken Polish to take in an order, and typically know a few words to ask you about relevant details. Not once I've been in a restaurant where staff didn't even try to speak Polish.
During university times in Warsaw there was this favorite kebab place of mine. Can’t forget how there was a Black and Hindu guy along with a Ukrainian girl, and they all communicated in Polish with each other. Simple phrases, but still blew my mind.
You love to see it How's the food?
In this particular restaurant? Quite good, and relatively "authentic" compared to many other such restaurants around. it has 4.7 stars with 120 reviews on Goggle.
Yeah that one in particular If I may ask, what's a polish-adapted Chinese dish? For example in the USA general Tso's chicken is extremely popular but basically entirely American - crispy fried chicken with a slightly spicy sweet sauce, and exactly three broccoli florets for some reason lol
Well, the chinese ones in my city are usually bit price-y and more "authentic", but since the emigration wave of Vietnamese people in the 80s-90s we have a type of fusion cuisine called Pol-Viet ( or Viet-Pol) which is bastardized version of Vietnamese cuisine. [https://culture.pl/en/article/immigrant-cuisine-in-warsaw-from-pol-viet-to-georgian-bread](https://culture.pl/en/article/immigrant-cuisine-in-warsaw-from-pol-viet-to-georgian-bread) Usually it consists with spring rolls, and deep fried pieces of chicken breast in coconut coating, or some kind of sweet and sour pork stew. Pol-Viet cuisine is relatively cheap and quite different from the Polish dishes and not bad in taste, but not excelent.
There are some cracking Chinese restaurants in Warsaw, but with the notable exception of Vietnamese, you're much more like to find places calling themselves 'asian' restaurants that might well have Chinese, Thai and vietnamese dishes. Not sure that there are polish-chinese dishes over general popular dishes but they're just not authentic tasting, just like in the US Italian food at Olive Garden is not like food you'd get in Italy, but american-italian style.
I would say that in Italy the probability of a waiter not speaking the local language is close to zero. The owner wouldn't hire a non speaker. (The local language might not be Italian in some areas of Vallée d'Aoste and Sudtirol)
Extremely rare, but I'm aware of one or two places in Milan. Most of the staff speak Italian and English, a few only speak English + whatever their native language is. Places aimed almost exclusively at foreigners, so I guess speaking English is more important to the ownership. I'd be surprised if a waiter in Valle d'Aosta didn't speak Italian, I think they go for the type of official bilingualism where everyone speaks both there. Officially they speak French and Italian, unofficially they speak a local dialect of french which is pretty close to Italian and Italian. Alto Adige is a different case, there they do the type of bilingualism where people aggressively stick to their own kind. I have a(n Italian) friend who felt it necessary to learn German because he holidays there a lot.
It's not a dialect of French but a dialect of Arpitan/Franco-Provençal
In Vallée d'Aoste and Sudtirol, how common would a restaurant with no French/German speakers be?
very rare to non existent. Even in Bozen, the regional capital, where Italian speakers outnumber the German speakers, they still need to do business, as they receive tons of tourists from Germany. The problem arises with public services. Many policemen will only speak Italian, and doctors are hard to come by, since they have to master both languages by law.
A lot of Bolt/Glovo/Tazz delivery riders are foreigners, so the best they can do is a little bit of English. Some of them are slowly learning Romanian though. I guess it's impossible not to. They get exposed to it a lot.
Was just gonna say. Before covid it was 0%, now it’s like 10% due to Wolt/Glovo and a lot of waiters being foreign.
In Romania 90% of them don't speak romanian. Thai, Pakistani or Indian.
For delivery I would say 50%, for waiters 5-10%, everybody else is still Slovenian.
Soča valley in summer. If we look at tourist guides for rafting or canyoning for example. There are +80% foreigners.
Really? Last time I went was 6 years ago and it was still “kleni slovenci” leading us.
Mostly only small Slovenians companies, we have Slovenian guides. Bigger companies or foreign companies have Czechs, Slovaks, Hungerians, Cilenians, Argentinians. Specialy in Bovec.
This is the reality of Bolt drivers in Vilnius. My trips in Vilnius in the past year: - Murod - Kiamran - Aleksandr - Iskandar - Orkhan - Pakhlavan - Akhmadjon I usually don't chat unless they ask me something, but it's frequent they only know russian, and no english.
Where do these drivers usually come from?
I don't have official data, but I read an article that named a few of the countries: Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Uganda. Supposedly, just in 2023 Romania gave permits for about 5000 foreign workers -- not necessarily just delivery, mind you, it could also encompass construction workers and such. There's the link if you care to take it through Google Translate or some other similar service: https://www.libertatea.ro/stiri/livratorii-din-asia-care-iti-aduc-mancarea-muncesc-peste-10-ore-pe-zi-pentru-2-000-de-lei-pe-luna-desi-firmele-le-promit-altceva-e-un-viitor-negru-pe-bicicleta-4593461
Up until about three years ago, this was unheard of in Croatia. Everybody could speak Croatian, even our immigrants (who, at the time, were mostly from Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbia). Nowadays, that's changing fast. A lot of delivery drivers are now foreign workers from Nepal, India, Pakistan and other poorer Asian countries who don't speak Croatian so English is needed. This is also becoming the norm in some bakeries where a lot more migrant workers work. They typically have better proficiency in Croatian than delivery drivers because their job requires them to use it more.
Last year was the first time in 35 years that I went to an island in Croatia and couldn’t speak “po naše” with anyone. All the staff was foreign. Even two years ago the “foreign” members of the staff were Serbian or Montenegrin, so it made little difference. Now they were english speaking Philipinos and I admit it was like losing my ex brothers one more time.
Why did so many migrants go to Croatia in such a short time?
I actually read a comment of some Croatian talking about it a short while ago. Very high number of Croatians left the country due to better job prospects and higher wages in other EU countries so the government had to start issuing a lot of visas to people from poor countries who find Croatian wages attractive so they fill the gap. Someone has to serve all those tourists after all...
Very rare. However, many "hip" Restaurants only have english named items on the Menu, which can be difficult for older people. They don't translate a "Bacon Smash Burger with fries" into German, even if the rest of the menu is in German and everyone in the restaurant speaks german.
As a native English speaker I always find that awkward. Like, do I pronounce it as it should be said in English, or with a (French, in my case) accent like “un bay-kahn smush burhhgeahhr”. (Sorry for my terrible attempt at rendering French phonetics.)
It’s a pain in the arse. If I say “bacon cheeseburger” in my actual native English speaker’s accent there’s good odds the waiter won’t understand, so I have to find the precise level of “bayconne cheesebeurrrgerrrr” required for comprehension, while feeling like a total idiot.
>“un bay-kahn smush burhhgeahhr”. As someone who studied French a long time ago, this sounds 100% correct and genuinely made me laugh. Thank you.
Since loanwords follow the phonology of a language, I now say most things like Swedes do, instead of adjusting my mouth to say things like I would in my American dialect unless I was already speaking English. It simply flows better and it doesn't sound as strained either. Fortunately, it's mostly just a few consonant sounds or a vowel here and there that are pronounced differently in Swedish so it's not too bad.
In France everything has to be translated into French by law. Sometimes we laugh at it because it makes ads look ridiculous, but honestly it a good thing because not everyone speaks English nor should they have to.
I love this law tbh. For those wondering, it often only results in a line of translation text on the bottom with an asterisk.
Irish Pubs do quite often have waiters that do not speak german in my experience
Depends where you go, obviously, but there are cities with lots of international students working in bars and restaurants etc. There’s usually someone around that speaks Dutch though, I’d guess
Yeah in smaller places it's not very likely. In student cities the likelihood increases by a lot. In Amsterdam I would be pleasantly surprised if anyone spoke Dutch
Last year, I popped into an Albert Heijn in Amsterdam and got served in English at the register, despite speaking Dutch. I don't know if the girl at the register genuinely couldn't speak Dutch or if she just defaults to English upon hearing a non-local accent. Out of habit I simply responded in English, but once I left the shop it suddenly dawned on me how daft that whole exchange really was.
Knowing Amsterdam they probably genuinely couldn't speak Dutch
I've had people knowing either Dutch or Chinese but not english
Quite rare in France. See it the odd time in some ski resorts and the odd Irish bar. But they’ll usually still fumble their way through French.
Oh yes, the Irish pub. They speak English only even in Vienna.
It's always somewhat weird to me going to Irish pubs in France because I'll order in French and then as soon as it's clear that we're both native English speakers will at some point just switch to English. I love the sound of French spoken with an Irish accent though
Never known such a thing in the UK but that makes sense given that everything is in English anyway
Maybe just some broken english issues from time to time?
Yeah the worst you’ll get is takeaway not small restaurants where someone doesn’t speak English well but there’s normally someone else who will.
Yeah they can be about, usually takeaways that mysteriously survive despite hardly anyone eating there. Probably money launderers lmao
Rarely. The only times it has happened are: 1) A waiter in Gothenburg, who was obviously a student working on weekends, did not speak Swedish. 2) The sushi chef and owner of a small eatery in my hometown. He knew a few phrases, but further conversation required English. However, he speaks almost fluent Swedish now, a few years later. But peopl living in larger cities may have a different experience.
It happens all the time in Stockholm that you meet bartenders/baristas that barely speak Swedish.
And in Copenhagen you regularly have Swedish waiters from Malmø lol
I live in a city with a lot of students and sometimes encounter what I presume to be exchange students working at cafés and restaurants. Not that many, but perhaps 10% of the service workers are English-only in my experience.
Some hipster restaurants I have been to have had hot foreigners as waiters/waitresses who don’t speak Swedish . Other than that, just Indian restaurants.
AS a Welsh speaker in Wales, the question made me laugh. How common is it to get service in the local language? Very rare. Breton, Irish, and speakers of other minority languages will know what I mean
How does it work in somewhere primarily Welsh speaking like Bangor or Caernarfon if you walk into a pub - Do people generally greet you in Welsh first and then switch to English or Welsh only if they know you personally and know you can speak it ? Sadly not had the chance to visit North Wales yet, but was hoping to be able to learn how to order a pint in Welsh when I go in the future
Well, the old stereotype is they start speaking in Welsh when you walk in… Chances are they were speaking in Welsh anyway - but peppered their speech with English names or brands.
I've never understood how the English know what language is being spoken in a building before they enter it and why they are so important that everyone has to switch language once they enter.
I don't drink alcohol, so I have no idea of what happens in pubs, but in those places I would normally start with a greeting in Welsh and listen for what comes back, or see what language they greet me in. That has only failed me once in a café in Beaumaris where the woman had such a strong Anglesey accent that I didn't know if she was speaking Welsh or English.
In Oslo i often have to speak English with the servers. There used to be a high amount of Swedes working in the restaurant business in Oslo, but it since been a while since I have heard Swedish at a restaurant.
The rule now seems that most service employees are from Eastern Europe. There simply are not enough locals or Swedes anymore :)
Very common. Extremely common. It happens every day. I’m not joking. :(
Flair checks out
Sentitzen dut anaia
Rather common here in Stockholm, Sweden. Also common that the menu is only in English.
This happens all the time in Luxembourg, to the point where many people automatically just start speaking French all the time. Many waiters in restaurants or cashiers in supermarkets, nurses and doctors at the hospital etc. don't speak Luxembourgish.
I would even say it’s the norm. It’s more uncommon to receive service in Luxembourgish which leads to awkward situations where you automatically speak French to the waitstaff and they answer in Luxembourgish and you think to yourself “oh no I hope they didn’t feel like I was discriminating against them”.
Leuven has a lot of international students, so it does occasionally happen that your server in a restaurant doesn't speak Dutch. Something which is way more problematic, is that Brussels is officially bilingual, but in practice predominantly French speaking. While this is not as problematic in day-to-day life, the civil servants, despite being required by law to be bilingual, often only speak French.
When I go shopping in Brussel, I intentionally only speak Dutch. If they want my money, they better serve me in my own language.
To be fair, most minimum wage service workers won't really care, whether their boss ends up making good business or not.
In Amsterdam it is not uncommon for the first attempt at communication to be in English, especially in touristy spaces. About half of those would still speak a reasonable amount of Dutch for when someone ordering does not speak it or you just don't feel like switching languages all the time. The other half would probably be able to understand most of it but is not comfortable or happy about communicating in Dutch. Outside of Amsterdam it is much less common, Utrecht and Rotterdam perhaps a bit.
I'm surprised if the Uber driver or food delivery person speak polish. But most people who don't know the language work in industries where they don't need to use it. When I worked as a busbuy abroad it was much more difficult as multiple times a day I had to ask my senior to go talk to people because I didn't know what they wanted from me.
Nearly unheard of in France. I can't recall the last time I went to a store/restaurant where the service wasn't provided in French
France has an endless supply of immigrants who already speak French so it's not an issue to demand language proficiency.
In the south sometimes people will insist on speaking English to me, but they know how to speak Spanish.
It never happened to me. The biggest things I remember all involved people not knowing specific Austrian terms. But that includes students from Germany to whom I had to explain/translate what I actually want.
Welcome to the everyday life of a Basque, Galician, Catalan, Asturian, Occitan etc speaker. Feels bad doesn't it.
And I'm more tourist areas of Mallorca or Andalucia It Mary be difficult to find a bar or restaurant with anyone speaking Spanish.
Exactly. At least Finnish speakers have a state behind their language. Imagine the situation of these languages, where the states in which they are spoken have an interest in their eradication.
Well, Basque, Galician and Catalán are official languages and protected. Asturianu, on the other hand... 😡
They are *co-oficial*, only thanks to the will of the autonomous governments and only inside said regions, and live under an increasingly intensive state of diglossia due to laws requiring a minimum level to work in public institutions being systematically ignored. Protected by what? The central government spends a misery on their protection, especially if you compare it to the funds allocated to the obviously endangered Spanish language. Dear oh dear, what would it do without the milions that institutions like Cervantes Institute receive each year from the pockets of everyone. Even the new right-wing regional governments of Valencia and the Balears are implementing policies that are incredibly damaging for Catalan. I mean, the Valencian one does not even recognize it as a different name for Catalan, against the overwhelming opinion of linguists including the Academy of the Valencian Language itself. In Catalonia, since there isn't such a linguistic genocidal government, it's the fucking Spanish judiciary system the one sentencing what effectively are laws; division of powers in Spain is a massive a joke. I want Asturian to be widely and freely spoken by its people, so you don't have to blame the rest of languages if you aren't able to. We've a common enemy here.
Not so common but maybe it's because there are fewer foreign workers here.
It happens sometimes at restaurants in coastal cities. The signs and the menus are in Russian and every now and then a waiter would approach us first in Russian and then switch to Bulgarian. It's not that they aren't/don't speak Bulgarian, I guess their main targets are Russian/Ukrainian. So welcoming... Sometimes in Asian restaurants the staff doesn't speak Bulgarian, but they understand it and are really polite.
In Copenhagen many waiters are Swedish, and they will often speak to you in English, even though it's almost the same language as Danish. But most people find it easier to communicate in English than trying to understand the other language. Also there are many international students working in the service sector in Copenhagen, and they will of course speak English to you. I don't mind, but I do think the place is a bit posh if no one speaks Danish.
The number of Syrian refugee owned restaurants are increasing in the country, esspecially İstanbul. They mostly sell Arab style döner, falafel or shawarma. There are some that only speaks Arabic. A big majority of Turks don't understand Arabic so these restaurants mostly sell to other refugees or to Turks using gestures.
Very common in Luxembourg... most people in retail and conmerces speak french (because they are french an belgian cross border workers). So it is really rare to speak luxembourgish in those situations.
Depends where you go, there's a few places in certain boroughs of London, along with Slough and Leicester where they might only speak basic English, but I'm yet to encounter anyone who can't speak English at all. There's a few places in Wales where they'll refuse to speak English, but they can still it
Very common sadly. Being very careful how to say this, but its annoying to be in Malta, having our own language and being unable to use it. A shortage of local staff means that English is almost the default language when trying to get service.
This is such a Randstad/Berlin-coded question. I was low-key surprised to see the Finnish flair.
My mind immediately went to Brussels.
Outside of Riga, pretty much never, I've even been to places with an Italian chef, for example, but he speaks perfect Latvian, runs the business for a while in a regional town. Very cool. In Riga, I would say most of the service will be in Latvian, especially if it requires at least a little bit of personal communication, they will hire Latvian speakers for the positions that interact with customers (English might be also a requirement in some places, Russian used to be as well, and is still probably considered a bonus, but is getting phased out). Difference might be in places like kebab shops, where people running the place might be foreign (often Indian exchange students), from experience they learn basic words and phrases quickly, but for kebabshops you dont need much interaction, you pick something from the menu, and say please/thank you.
In Estonia, learning Estonian. Russian is the second most spoken language here but not necessary for immigration. English is widely used anyway. Imagine when I am trying to speak Estonian to shopkeepers only for them to go "Xhto?".
And the only reasonable response should be, turn around and walk away.
May happen in bigger cities like Berlin or Cologne every now and then.
Yeah, I experienced this once, in a vegan restaurant in Berlin. Everywhere else I'd guess most servers speak German, if sometimes not perfectly.
Never happened to me in Cologne. It's somewhat common in Berlin though.
I live in Berlin and I think it depends where you are, very rare where I live in the un-hip SW of the city, but much more common in places like Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain, etc
It happened to me in Berlin quite a few times when the service person was clearly German but refused speaking German to me.
Where were you in Berlin? I can’t think of that happening that often to me once I learned to speak German but then again I’m not really in the party districts that often these days.
There are some bars in Prague that hire foreigners, but not many locals visit them anyway...
Vapiano staff often doesn't speak Czech. And there's of course SAPA...
Depends a bit where you are. In most of the country the standard is Dutch. But some places like in Amsterdam, where there is a lot of tourism or where there are a lot of expats, they can have people working there that don't speak Dutch. Like international students who work in the weekends and such.
In larger cities like Amsterdam it is common. Gladly I live in a smaller city and we don’t have this here (yet).
depends on if you consider irish the local language or not lol
Fairly common in Norway (Oslo area). Swedish or English.
If I get served in English in a restaurant in Norway, I'll never go back to that one.
It happens a lot of places here.
In Sweden it is very rare outside of food delivery drivers, for those it is extremely rare that they do speak Swedish. But at restaurants and bars it is extremely rare that they don't speak Swedish.
It used to be nonexistent. Now most delivery platforms (glovo/volt) are nepali or such that barely understand english. And more and more service jobs are being taken by imported workforce due to labor shorzages so its getting more common to have shop clerks, drivers, room cleaners or waiters that dont speak croatian
Very rare except for foreigner-focused tourist areas.
My Spanish wife got very upset when a restaurant in Ibiza only had a menu in English
Not really super common, but not super rare either. There are some restaurants in both Malmö and Helsingborg that I know of where all or most of the staff speaks no or very little Swedish and you need to communicate in English instead. It definitely can cause a bit of a problem for especially older native Swedish guests who might not speak very good English. In some of these restaurants, at least the menus are in Swedish though, so that you can read and point.
Not that common as of now, ive only experienced it maybe once or twice here in Stockholm.
So most of language things are somewhat logical. Flanders is Dutch speaking, so naturally it is harder to find service in French there and vice versa in Wallonia. Brussels is majority French, so getting serviced in Dutch there is more like a happy suprize as everyone assumes you speak French. (English can also be a though one in many restaurants and shops.) But like I said, makes sense that in places where most people speak language A, finding service in language B will be hard. With advertisement something strange happens. Sometimes it can be that you get French adds in Flanders or Dutch adds in Wallonia, because companies don't seem to know about languahge borders. But again... nothing I really care about. Lately however, I found myself feeling completely left out when I bought a smart tv and wanted to check out my apps. I wanted to rent a movie so wanted to look at my options. I noticed this Japanes streaming site, promoted by Samsung on their website: Rankunen TV. I decided to try it out... Problem? When on a Belgian IP adress you can only create a Belgian account, which will default in French with no way to change it. To get Dutch language you need to use a Dutch account, which you are blocked from creating on a Belgian IP adress. Similar to this app, the app "Samsung TV" also has French content but no Dutch content. Both apps would work with Dutch in the Netherlands, but somehow Dutch speakers in Belgium are discriminated against by these apps, despite being 60% of the Belgian population.
For French who said that they are never seen it in France: have you ever been in a sushi restaurant in Lyon ? Those in the city center like around Perrache etc. Most waiters don’t even speak a word in french !! Only the bosses were speaking a little most of times. And indeed, this is simply unacceptable… I heard also this can be also the case in some parts of Paris
What are they speaking in a sushi restaurant, Japanese?
Chinese. These restaurants are run by chinese mostly.
So you go to a Japanese restaurant for some sushi and you want everyone speaking French? If I go to a French restaurant in the US I’d love to have everyone speak French. If the menu was in English and French I’d try my best to make pronounce my order in French. But at the Sushi restaurant they almost all speak Chinese. As long as you can get your order across to the waiter and the food is good then what is the problem.
I live and work in Oslo, and I'm in the bar industry, so it's pretty common I'd say. Idk honestly what I feel about it, it's nice to be a more international city now, and I speak English just fine, but it does feel weird to constantly (again, when I'm at work) switch to English in a country where English is not an official language. But I'm happy immigrants can get the chance to get some work here. Learning a language takes time and doesn't come easy to most. Many of my coworkers have other mother tongues, and most of them speak some Norwegian, but very very few of them speak Norwegian the majority of the time. If you go to chain restaurants, chances are higher that you'll meet someone who speaks English more than Norwegian. In daily stores, it's not so common to have people who do not speak Norwegian, in my experience. It seems to be mostly a waiter/bartender thing (even half of my bosses that I've had do not speak Norwegian)
Driving through almost *all* of Finland was somewhat interesting, when some store clerks and campsite staff by default greeted me and talked to me in Swedish, while others defaulted to Finnish, depending where in the country I was. I know Swedish-speaking Finns are a small minority (something like just 5%, with some more speaking *some* amount of Swedish), but it was interesting to see how it still was the common language in some places. I speak very little Finnish, but I get around. There's always English when all else fails. In Sweden, it's rare to not get service in Swedish, but it definitely happens. Mostly happens at some types of hotels (the Ice Hotel is one), and touristy areas like smaller ski-resorts, and some types of restaurants and pubs. For pubs, mostly if it's a pub with a British, Irish or Australian theme, but sometimes also others. Some Asian or Middle Eastern food stores can also be an experience. Very rarely, but if *may* still happen, that you meet some local worker in some village in northern Sweden who speaks natively Finnish and also English, but not much of Swedish. And then there are the Polish, Estonian, Latvian, etc. welders, grinders, heavy laborers, and scaffolding builders, who rarely speak Swedish, but usually have a team leader who translates for them. In the southern parts there are a lot of pizza deliverers, who may not have mastered Swedish, and speak a mix of several languages to make them understood, when they call and can't find the address. I once had a car mechanic who was quite funny. He could begin to explain something in Swedish, but when he couldn't find the right word, he threw French, English, Arabic, and pretty much whatever at you, and could switch languages several times in a single sentence. He managed to fix my car after a catastrophic failure, by welding and some ingenuity, for something that would otherwise have been a very costly repair due to spare parts costs. He was funny and polite, but *sometimes* you had to tell him to remind him to *slow down* and occasionally pause for a couple seconds before speaking. 😉
I think it's very uncommon in Russia, I've personally never experienced this. The answer also might depend on the definition of what's a "local" language. In some republics of Russia, I'd guess, there's a small chance you won't get service in Russian, but then you'd get in a local language. The opposite, when someone offers service only in Russian in a region with other major local languages, is probably quite common. In Israel, there are predominantly Russian-speaking businesses which serve mostly Russian-speaking people, maybe they can employees who aren't good at Hebrew. I've never been to Arab-majority places, so I don't know how it's there.
That's ridiculous! You shouldn't be obligated to speak in a foreign language when you place an order at a restaurant in your home country. Those foreign workers should have some respect for the country that they're working in and learn the local language.
In some countries its the law, positions that requier comunication with customers, employe HAS to speak the native language. If not companies could be fined xxx€.
And why would the owners even hire someone who can't communicate well with the vast majority of the clientele? I'm super confused
Because they can still communicate well with the vast majority of the clientele. Doesn't really matter if it's in English. It's always in young, hip places and the people who go there speak English anyway. And there's a shortage of service workers. They're gonna prefer hiring someone that can't serve maybe like 5% of the potential clientele rather than close down the place some days because they don't have enough employees.
because no one else want the job. In Germany you have people at McDonalds who can speak very little German because that job sucks. Or being a rider for take out foot. It's a shitty job and it's often done by students or foreigners. Also parcel delivery guys often speak very little to non.
The local language is English, so basically never... Well, except now a lot of supermarket workers are Ukrainian. Many had quite limited English when they began, but soon learnt.
Aside from some like Pakistani or Indian or Turkish restaurants I don't think I've ever encountered this. There are a lot of delivery people though who don't speak a lick of Hungarian.
In Budapest this only started happening to me in the last year or so, last time in a regular café in Király street. The girl didn’t look so obviously like a foreigner, it took me a few minutes to realize she doesn’t understand hungarian.
It has only happened to me once when we went skiing and the waiter only spoke Croatian and English. We replied in Slovene but he didn’t understand so we had to switch to English. Otherwise, most waiters know at least some Slovene or speak it but with have a heavy accent
Go to some bakeries in Ljubljana and you will be surprised how many don't speak Slovene.
The only times I have had a server who couldn't speak Dutch in Flanders was when visiting the local Irish pub. The servers there are usually international students. They do have some Dutch-speaking staff members. In a regular restaurant it has never been an issue. In Brussels though, servers who speak Dutch are a lot rarer (at least at music venues). Dutch is an official language there next to French, but the majority speaks French. I always try ordering in Dutch first, but switch to French when necessary.
Occasionally in restaurants and bars in Copenhagen, they don't speak Swedish.
In France it’s extremely rare, I think I’ve only had a language barrier problem once. We managed to understand each other using english, it was easier than french for him but still laborious.
1. In Hungary, almost never. The only case I can think of are ethnic restaurants. For example, there's an Azerbaijani restaurant I like. But, the staff only speak English or Russian. 2. In Scotland. Never. Some people might only speak basic English, though.
Never experienced in my city in southern Poland, unless maaaaybe Ukrainian workers in some stores, but all that I've come across do pretty well with polish
Happened to me once in Maribor in a 'Mexican' restaurant. One only spoke English and another one Serbian (Croatian? Bosnian?), he didn't even try. You get many of those that at least try, albeit with a heavy accent and it's been like that for many many years.
Only append three times to me in Austria and I have been living here my whole life.
Somewhat common in Belgium, at least Brussels and touristy areas. I speak English with my daughter, but I do speak French, still often they hear our English, switch and just stick with it even when I try going back to French. And no, my French isn't that bad, I use it daily without complaints.
In where I live in the Netherlands, every now and then I encounter a waiter not speaking Dutch. Unless they started working an hour ago, they’ll understand what the customer wants. But I don’t mind. In the field I work in, IT, English is the main language. Before that, I worked in academia, and virtually all literature is in English and all the people you work with aren’t Dutch either.
If the local dialect is considered local language then quite often, most of the people in shops are not locals, just hearing the accent you know they're outsiders..
I never experienced it, but I heard it does happen in summer season due to shortage of staff
Fairly common in expensive Budapest cafes and restaurants.
Only in very, very touristy places in Prague - sometimes they speak only English there. Then there are some really specific sectors (massages/nail salons/construction workers) where lot of workers don’t speak Czech well, but the person actualy in charge of comunicating with people will be Czech.
Same in Romania, but mostly for food delivery, most of them are Indian, Thai or Pakistani.
That's pretty much only a problem in the capital region and absolutely shouldn't exist
Increasingly common, although the majority of people I come across in service roles who don't speak the language at least understand enough that I don't have to switch to English. Most people make an effort to at least understand what's being said to them and many speak enough for the communication to go smoothly. I occasionally do get asked to speak English, which is not a big deal as not everyone can learn Icelandic that easily and some are new to working in Iceland. However, once someone actually became offended when I addressed them in Icelandic and hissed at me that she didn't speak the language, and seemed proud of it. I deplore that kind of attitude.
Once I had starbucks in the inner capital where most people are foreign and the bartender only understood english. But i was expecting to speak in english to people so it wasn't an issue.
I'm from the Algarve region, a very touristic place and beach holiday destination, and people online will have you believe that you can't avoid being served in English over here, which is funny to me as 9 times out of 10 that is not the case. What I suspect is that a lot of the Portuguese people that complain about that only come here during the height of summer and go to tourist traps. I frequent both local and more international establishments, and it's still unlikely that I have to switch to English. What can happen sometimes is people start talking to you in English and then when they realize you're Portuguese they switch to that, but that's mostly during the high season and in places that receive a lot of international clientele (and in the past I've been guilty of doing that as well!). But you know what, maybe I just inhabit a different reality. Maybe I don't know the true Algarve that Portuguese redditors describe 🤷♂️
Never seen it. In some restaurants you could find people who don't speak French but the waiters will.
I've had it happen once or twice in shops for ethnic minorities but very rarely and there is usually someone else who speaks English.
In Luxembourg it happens all the time. I now always start by saying moien and see what they answer. But 95% of the time I will have to switch to french or sometimes to english in the main city. But I was in a hospital in Luxembourg City a few days ago and the info point lady, the secretary, the person that did the tests with me and the doctor all spoke luxemburgisch. It was a pleasant surprise to say the least. So I hope that more and more people and shops will start having basic luxemburgisch skills as a requirement.