Lingua Franca: "any language that is widely used as a means of communication among speakers of other languages." (dictionary.com)
German for foreigners class: we are broken up into small groups to discuss the apparent decline in the Austrian educational system. The Italian girl in my group, searching for a word, gives up quickly and says it in English, “base.” Although I am the only native English speaker in the group, we nod and move on. It is clear that everyone understands. I mean everyone speaks English, right?
The other day I went to a Christmas party with a friend at the Salzburg FH, a trade school about 30 minutes outside the city. As the announcer (a student) gets onstage and grabs the mike, he says “Welcome to the FH Salzburg Christmas party!.” In English, yes. And then he proceeds to continue in German.
In the hall, waiting to go to a lecture, two girls who sounds as if they are from Eastern Europe, speak English with each other as they wait for the doors to open. Neither of them are native speakers. Perhaps they both speak German, but they choose to speak English with each other.
At a restaurant with some friends, we speak English to each other while waiting for the waiter to get to us, “Do you speak English?” he asks and smiles.
In the cafeteria, as the American students speak English amongst themselves, an older man turns to us and says, in English, “Could you please speak more quietly.”
On the bus, after hanging up with my mom, I proceed to stand up, as my stop is coming up. “Your bottle,” an older Austrian woman says. In…guess? English.
English: nearly everyone speaks it. For an American living or traveling in a country where they don’t speak the language this is a godsend. We are spoiled: we can get along nearly anyone without even having to learn a foreign language. For those of living or traveling in a country where we are trying to learn or practice speaking the local language, this can be a nightmare for Americans. More often than not, the locals want to practice English with the native speaker. Either that, or they hear the American struggling with the local language and try to help them out by speaking English. After all, that’s easier, right?
Those from other countries have, in my eyes, an advantage. The locals most likely can’t speak their local language (or at least not as many speak it as they do English), and they have to try to talk in the local tongue. Although, as I said, English has become the lingua franca, and perhaps they do end up speaking English with the local shopkeepers.
English is essentially destroying language learning. Quite depressing.
Definitely true that English is the reason so many Americans don't learn another language or have a hard time doing so. One can easily survive in most places speaking only English. I, however, have not had the experience with so many people readily speaking English to me here (although, yes, you hear it all over the place). I find that as long as I speak German to them, most people will continue the conversation in German, even though it's obvious I'm not a native speaker and even if they hear me speaking English with someone else. I've never really had an experience where a German-speaker wants to speak English with me for practice. I also love my friends at the Mozarteum because most of them are too scared to speak English, other than maybe a word here and there (little do they know that I'm just as terrified of German :P)! In my DaF class, it is also rare for anyone to speak in English, even other native English speakers! Frau Renner is probably the biggest culprit of slipping in English words! I think it's interesting that we can be in the same city have two totally different experiences with English vs. German, but I'm also a full-time student at a uni and not in an exchange program.
ReplyDeleteI haven't had people speak English to me if I start in German either. I'm really talking about those whose language skills are at a lower level. They tend to not be able to practice their German skills because the waiter, clerk, whoever will begin to speak with them in English (trying to be helpful, of course). This is not a critique of Salzburg and I realize it is something that happens the world over.
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