stevepole Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romy Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffwilson99 Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowman_133 Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 Personally I don't care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juhnie Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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. Master of Attack ~ August 29th, 2010Proud to have served the awesome Tip.It Crew <3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pietdepiet Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azvareth Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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: 2257AD.TUMBLR.COM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffwilson99 Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 Too bad you're too young to get into the pub Littleboy haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racheya Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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. I edit for the [Tip.It Times]. I rarely write in [My Blog]. I am an [Ex-Moderator]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 Too bad you're too young to get into the pub Littleboy haha silence you! :razz: 2257AD.TUMBLR.COM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azvareth Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 Milk is cool :thumbup: Miten sinä, Azvareth? 2257AD.TUMBLR.COM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azvareth Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i_love_burritos Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 Just wait 3 more years LB. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffwilson99 Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 Or one and take a trip to Germany Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawks Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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 sig by Soa.....tip.it times.....art & mediadeviantart/flickr/last.fm/steam/twitter/tumblr/youtube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsavi Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzle229 Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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. Get back here so I can rub your butt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Gabe Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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. Three months banishment to 9gag is something i would never wish upon anybody, not even my worst enemy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJoe Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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. J'adore aussi le sexe et les snuff moviesJe trouve que ce sont des purs moments de vieJe ne me reconnais plus dans les gensJe suis juste un cas désespérantEt comme personne ne viendra me réclamerJe terminerai comme un objet retrouvé Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giordano Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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. "The cry of the poor is not always just, but if you never hear it you'll never know what justice is." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nadril Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zierro Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 Desperately trying to communicate to the locals about where a bathroom is with another language is the funnest part of being a tourist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastortoise Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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