I was thinking the other day that when I run into people from another country I have this expectation that they should be able to speak English well enough to to hold a basic conversation and I realize I'm probably not the only person that holds folks visiting their country to these kind of expectations so I was wondering how do you expect tourist from different countries/cultures to behave when visiting your own country? Should they learn basic greetings? Do you care? Whats are your expectations? Do you hold yourself to those expectations when visiting other Countries?

I guess many tourists that come to Israel are Jewish, or somehow related to Judaism, which leads to most of them knowing basic Hebrew.

But then many non-Jewish tourists visit Israel as well.

 

 

Honestly, at least basic English is what I expect from tourists.

Yeah, I find it really ironic that people (don't want to point the finger at just Americans)often go overseas, and expect people there to speak English. But they also expect them to speak English when they are overseas. I guess the English speaking world is lucky that so many people try and learn English.

Personally I don't care.

I expect every tourist to learn proper Finnish. Before that, this country is a no-go zone.

...

Just kidding, no-one's going to study a language for YEARS to just learn the basics. :P I expect tourists to have a basic knowledge of English in Finland, it's more than enough for a tourist to survive here since you're most likely going to meet someone English-speaking on the streets than not.

Even some of my colleagues don't speak Dutch and they have lived here for years. So no, I am not expecting tourists to speak Dutch (I love it if they try tho'). If the tourist knows some basic English, German, French or Spanish it is ok with me and I try to help him/her as good as I can.

I guess I expect them to know some basic English at least, which has (in my experience) always been the case; probably because they're usually from my generation. I met a guy from Azerbaijan once and he was able to speak English just fine. Being able to speak basic Swedish however? Ha. If they can say anything in my language I will buy them a pint.

I guess I expect them to know some basic English at least, which has (in my experience) always been the case; probably because they're usually from my generation. I met a guy from Azerbaijan once and he was able to speak English just fine. Being able to speak basic Swedish however? Ha. If they can say anything in my language I will buy them a pint.

 

Hej, Azvareth? :razz:

Too bad you're too young to get into the pub Littleboy haha

I don't really expect them to know English. They're tourists. If they were coming to live here then yeah, but otherwise why should they know the language? Do we go and learn French before going to France? No, we take a little guide book and hope we can get along.

 

Tourists are tourists. They don't 'need' to know the language at all. It might be useful for them, but that's about it.

Too bad you're too young to get into the pub Littleboy haha

 

silence you! :razz:

Too bad you're too young to get into the pub Littleboy haha

 

Hej, Azvareth? :razz:

 

Nice try, but "hej" is a bit too simple since it's bound to work in most countries with a Germanic language. But I guess I owe you a 1/2 pint (of milk)!

Milk is cool :thumbup:

 

 

Miten sinä, Azvareth?

Milk is cool :thumbup:

 

 

Miten sinä, Azvareth?

 

Haha swing and a miss. Finnish and Swedish originate from two completely different language trees. :-P

 

edit: not that only "miten sinä?" would make any sense. Needs a verb!

Just wait 3 more years LB. :-)

Or one and take a trip to Germany

To be honest, I really don't, they're just tourists. I do [have higher expectations] that most European tourists would be able to speak English, for some reason I don't think the same thing about Middle Eastern ones. (However, if you reside here or want a job, you better be able to speak English. If you can't go live in Canada or Mexico or something.)

 

Oddly, enough, I spent a week in a rather large tourist attraction and met a large British family, some Australian guys, a Japanese couple, a [probably German] couple, some (actually a lot of) vaguely Middle Eastern people, a giant Amish family, a bunch of Mennonites, plus all your random American tourists. It was pretty fun and interesting people watching. Just glad I wasn't downtown, where there were piles of drunken sailors. :P

I expect every tourist to learn proper Finnish. Before that, this country is a no-go zone.

...

Just kidding, no-one's going to study a language for YEARS to just learn the basics. :P I expect tourists to have a basic knowledge of English in Finland, it's more than enough for a tourist to survive here since you're most likely going to meet someone English-speaking on the streets than not.

I'm going into my tenth year of learning Finnish now, I still can't speak it. Hurray! :|

(Swedish took me about a year to learn fluently)

 

Milk is cool :thumbup:

 

 

Miten sinä, Azvareth?

 

Haha swing and a miss. Finnish and Swedish originate from two completely different language trees. :-P

 

edit: not that only "miten sinä?" would make any sense. Needs a verb!

You can say that about language trees again. Miten sinä is correct as a phrase (Or so I would think, although it's an unusual expression. Mitä sinä kuuluu is more generic but nobody says that either).

If someone comes to the US from another country, they should know at least basic English. If an American wants to go to another country, they should learn the basics in the required language.

I guess many tourists that come to Israel are Jewish, or somehow related to Judaism, which leads to most of them knowing basic Hebrew.

But then many non-Jewish tourists visit Israel as well.

 

 

Honestly, at least basic English is what I expect from tourists.

 

I remember when I visited Israel in June a lady came up to me in the central bus station in Tel Aviv and asked me if I spoke English and asked me for directions. Luckily I'm fluent in two languages. At least more people in Israel know or can hold a conversation in English also.

 

I don't expect tourists of anything really. There's guidebooks for this kind of stuff.

I think knowing a couple of phrases in language-x or atleast be able to say "excuse me, do you speak English?" but in Italian, Japanese or whatever. It's a nice thing. Since most people speak English, i think some basics of it at least.

If i live in Denmark, i don't expect an American tourist to speak basic Danish.

I don't expect people to speak English when coming here. As someone else said, they're tourists not residents. It doesn't matter if they speak the language. If they don't speak the language they would usually stay near the bi-ligual tourism hotels and areas.

Expecting people to know English to visit the US would be really hypocritical of me. I mean I lived in Germany for 2 years and only knew the basics of the language.

Desperately trying to communicate to the locals about where a bathroom is with another language is the funnest part of being a tourist.

It's mostly knowing the culture that truly matters. Lets say I visit South Korea; I don't need to learn their language to order a hamburger - I can just go to McDonalds and hold up three fingers. Or point at a picture on a menu in the restaurant. What's really important is, for example, giving and accepting money with both hands, or the youngest person in the party has to serve the drinks to all the others ect. If someone notices that you made an effort to understand and appreciate their culture you'll be much more accepted than if you learn a few words.