visiting european countries

[Natta Lmo]

can u visit france, spain, germany, czech republic, austria, netherlands, hungary and u can speak english to the people there? will they understand u? how do they think of foreigner visiting their country? do u get problems for being a foreigner?

[Stelio Kontos]

can u visit france, spain, germany, czech republic, austria, netherlands, hungary and u can speak english to the people there? will they understand u? how do they think of foreigner visiting their country? do u get problems for being a foreigner?

They all speak English to pretty high degrees, I'd wager. Europe needs tourism, they generally treat tourists well. And you're Thai, right? You won't have any issues with locals.

My crazy evil Thai ex married a Hungarian. I almost feel bad for the bloke.

[Deleted]

can u visit france, spain, germany, czech republic, austria, netherlands, hungary and u can speak english to the people there? will they understand u? how do they think of foreigner visiting their country? do u get problems for being a foreigner?

That's like half a dozen different countries from very varied parts of europe, with very different cultures, languages etc. I think you'd get better answers if you narrowed your questions down to singular countries instead.

[yetgdhfgh]

Touristy places will have signs and staff that speak English but its when you got out into the small villages thats where you start to need a small grasp of the language or maybe a app on a phone.

[Deleted]

Not France. Even when they do understand you, they will refuse to speak English.

Even in Paris.

[yetgdhfgh]

Not France. Even when they do understand you, they will refuse to speak English.

Even in Paris.

The reputation of French people being surly is not far from the truth.

I remember holidaying in France and in my holiday camp my dad ordered a batch of muscles to eat and take back and now this was 9pm and the chef behind looked at him like he had just murdered his wife. He threw the muscles into a pan and was shouting obscenity's that even us English could understand. Thing was the cook house didnt close until 11 pm so we didnt know why he was pissed. Was like that alot every where we went now this was back in the early 90s but back then French people didnt seem to like to work and certainly didnt do it with a smile.

[Deleted]

Not France. Even when they do understand you, they will refuse to speak English.

Even in Paris.

This.

Even near Eurotunnel where they get a lot of visitors from UK nobody speaks English. I had hard time ordering food there, ended up just pointing to random thing and nodding. They got me something made out of beef, which was quite good.

Also in Italy in many places people don't bother with learning English, even though they get lots of tourists. But its nowhere near as bad as in France.

In any other country you'll be fine.

[Azadina]

Many people in Europe can speak English. Some more, some less. However, the trick for people to understand English, is to first actually speak English to them. "y u no undertand me spek enlish? caramba!" is not the way to go.

[Lynarii]

Not France. Even when they do understand you, they will refuse to speak English.

Even in Paris.

Last time I was in France, I found the people in Paris to be kinda offputting. But once I got to small towns out near the German border, I found the people there to be very friendly and, while they didn't speak English very well, very willing to attempt to make communication work. So your mileage may vary, even different parts of the same country can have very different feels and personality.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Last time I was in France, I found the people in Paris to be kinda offputting. But once I got to small towns out near the German border, I found the people there to be very friendly and, while they didn't speak English very well, very willing to attempt to make communication work. So your mileage may vary, even different parts of the same country can have very different feels and personality.

My experience with the French (outside of the big cities) is that if you are clearly making an effort to speak some French, they will be more accommodating. It's basically just a sign of respect in my opinion that you at least try to integrate a bit when buying food and sitting in a restaurant.

[FuxieDK]

can u visit france, spain, germany, czech republic, austria, netherlands, hungary and u can speak english to the people there? will they understand u? how do they think of foreigner visiting their country? do u get problems for being a foreigner?

France, Spain and Germany speak very poorly English, at best..
Czech, Holland, Austria speak very good English
Hungary speak an understandable English.

[Deleted]

In France always start by a few words in French to explain you don't speak French. Only then speak English.
You'll still get assholes but this dramatically improves the reaction of people.

[Yunru]

You may have a problem a little in France (the pride thing), Italy (refusal to learn it), Spain (they talk to fast in english to understand or they never learned it) and Belgium (most problematic is french part)

[Rafoel]

My experience with the French (outside of the big cities) is that if you are clearly making an effort to speak some French, they will be more accommodating. It's basically just a sign of respect in my opinion that you at least try to integrate a bit when buying food and sitting in a restaurant.

Meanwhile France REFUSING to integrate with the rest of Western World is completely fine.

[belfpala]

Meanwhile France REFUSING to integrate with the rest of Western World is completely fine.

Meanwhile, the US refusing to integrate with the Americas is completely fine....?

[LoLcano]

can u visit france, spain, germany, czech republic, austria, netherlands, hungary and u can speak english to the people there? will they understand u? how do they think of foreigner visiting their country? do u get problems for being a foreigner?

I've been to few of those countries and out of all of them only french ppl been dick to foreigners .

[Deleted]

Last time I was in France, I found the people in Paris to be kinda offputting. But once I got to small towns out near the German border, I found the people there to be very friendly and, while they didn't speak English very well, very willing to attempt to make communication work. So your mileage may vary, even different parts of the same country can have very different feels and personality.

Yeah, you are right. But overall, the French have this very arrogant attitude towards language (and culture).
They even forced the EU to make a copy of EVERYTHING they put on record in French, even though all other countries are fine with it being in English.
And they still announce things in French at the Olympics and at the European Song Festival.

I have nothing against the French, they are often friendly people, but they are oh-so annoying when it comes to language barriers.

[XDurionX]

I have been to France twice as an exchange student and had no problems whatsoever (that was more than twenty years ago, though). It's not as bad as people make it to be.

[Arrkon]

Meanwhile France REFUSING to integrate with the rest of Western World is completely fine.

Why should any country be expected to use a language that is not their own for the simple convenience of those who are visiting? You've got it completely backwards. If anything you should learn abit of the culture and language of any country you want to visit. It's called being respectful ffs.

[bufferunderrun]

Around tourist area you won't have any problem, just speak slowly and try to avoid american slang, most peoples outside the circle of those working with tourists learn english (uk version) in school and didn't have a chance to use it for years so their accent maybe funny or clunky.

Just to point out one thing, in italy english is now a mandatory course since kindergarten school so most of us learn it since childhood (especially young generations) it's just peoples not using it for years on a daily basis that lead not being fluent or making lot of errors.