# Reverting to English in conversation (or threads)



## Hockey13

I have noticed this phenomenon in the Italian-English forum. Someone will post a question in Italian, I will respond in Italian, they will respond back in English. I have not yet made any conclusions about this other than that it's just a bit frustrating. I can think of a few possible explanations:

1) My Italian is dismal.

2) They want to practice English.

3) The common language in the I-E forum is English, despite it clearly being for both.

I would like to hear some opinions of non-native English speakers to this:

Why do things on these forums tend to more naturally flow back into English? Do you feel more comfortable speaking to a non-native in his language than you do speaking to him in your own language?

Just one last question that you don't have to answer if you don't want to:

I feel like whenever I'm abroad or in a multi-language setting, no matter how hard I try to speak the other language (such as Italian), the native will almost always revert to English. That is all fine and understandable, but why is it, then, that there seem to be so many people who complain that English-speakers do not know any other languages despite being world travellers? I'm a bit confused about this one.

Thanks everyone.


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## Philippa

Hi Hockey (cool sport by the way  )

There used to be a sticky at the top the the Spanish-English forum (and probably the others too) about answering in the same language as the thread starter used, but I think it's been replaced now by the rules and new stickies. I even quoted it at a very nice moderator (who possibly wasn't a mod at the time) who had answered me in English when I'd spent ages writing my question in Spanish, but I cannot find the thread at all Grrrr! Personally I think it should still be a foro guideline - I still try to follow it!

You may also be interested in this thread: What might make people switch to English when I speak to them in Spanish?!! 

Saludos
Philippa


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## LV4-26

I've just had a look at the recent threads in the Fr/En forum. It seems most questions are asked in Englisn, even by French natives.
It's true that many posters answer in English, even when the initial post is in French. I'd say it's because we're so much used to type in English. I'd think it's more like a reflex.
Sometimes, even questions asked in French by French natives are answered in English by other French natives.

PS : I have no idea what your Italian sounds like, therefore 1) might also be a possibility.


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## Victoria32

Hockey13 said:


> I have noticed this phenomenon in the Italian-English forum. Someone will post a question in Italian, I will respond in Italian, they will respond back in English. I have not yet made any conclusions about this other than that it's just a bit frustrating. I can think of a few possible explanations:
> 
> 1) My Italian is dismal.
> 
> 2) They want to practice English.
> 
> 3) The common language in the I-E forum is English, despite it clearly being for both.
> 
> I would like to hear some opinions of non-native English speakers to this:
> 
> Why do things on these forums tend to more naturally flow back into English? Do you feel more comfortable speaking to a non-native in his language than you do speaking to him in your own language?
> 
> Just one last question that you don't have to answer if you don't want to:
> 
> I feel like whenever I'm abroad or in a multi-language setting, no matter how hard I try to speak the other language (such as Italian), the native will almost always revert to English. That is all fine and understandable, but why is it, then, that there seem to be so many people who complain that English-speakers do not know any other languages despite being world travellers? I'm a bit confused about this one.
> 
> Thanks everyone.


As someone who takes part in IT/EN I can answer as to why I always ask questions in English - because I am embarrassed that my Italian is as yet so awful! That is, I can read it, but if I try writing in it, I make more mistakes than I even know I am making! (Which is okay for emails to friends - though at least one corrects me) but I don't want to say anything in Italian on the forum unless I am certain it is correct.

Vicky


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## DearPrudence

Personally I often answer in English for everyone to understand. Some English foreros may have a very good French but I'm never sure if I overestimate their mastery of French so to be on the safe side I write in English (though sometimes I have the feeling it's even harder to understand  (as this sentence)).
I do that also because I think it can also be useful for other English forer@s who would like to read the thread without being put off by too much French.
Well, I suppose it's a bit discrimatory for our fellow French people but it is a truth generally ackowledged, that a single man in possession of good fortune ... that almost everyone can understand English rather well, while I think it's not the case for French.


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## confusion

Personally I've noticed that sometimes I switch to English (in En/It section) without even thinking about it! It's almost automatic! 

Writing in English is a challenge for me as it is writing in Italian for you, Hockey. I do really appreciate when you or other foreigners write in Italian and I sometimes feel "mean" correcting you because - even if I know this is one of the purpose of this forum - I know how much effort all of you put in using my language, because frankly it's the same effort I put in writing in English! And I also find it difficult sometimes to correct others' mistakes because I'm not so confident in my language neither (shame on me!)  

Aside from this, I joined this forum to improve my English and this is the reason why I usually write in that language - hoping that English speakers correct my mistakes! 

I promise I'll try to do my best not to switch to English every time and try to correct others' mistakes! 

(I hope everything I wrote is clear and you're not going to misunderstand..)


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## Paulfromitaly

Well...here is my personal humble opinion:
Hockey, your Italian is quite good and you wouldn't have any problems to grab the meaning of most of the posts, even though they were written in Italian.
The point is that we (Italians, or at least I) are used to speaking English with native English speakers because very often they can't speak Italian or they don't want to, although they could.
Why is it so? maybe I shouldn't try to give an answer to this question as I'm not an English speaker, but my impression is that the aforementioned attitude is due to:
- The fact that most people speak or at least understand English, therefore you natives don't actually need to work your *rse off and learn or speak another language:
- You seem to feel more uncomfortable when you make some mistakes than how we feel, because we have developed a better attitude towards speaking a different language from our mother tongue and therefore we are not too bothered by making mistakes. 
You can prove me wrong, if you don't agree with me..


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## Victoria32

Paulfromitaly said:


> - The fact that most people speak or at least understand English, therefore you natives don't actually need to work your *rse off and learn or speak another language:
> - You seem to feel more uncomfortable when you make some mistakes than how we feel, because we have developed a better attitude towards speaking a different language from our mother tongue and therefore we are not too bothered by making mistakes.
> You can prove me wrong, if you don't agree with me..


I disagree with you Paul, because it seems to me that you assume all native English speakers have the same attitude - that you lot can just jolly well learn English for our benefit! That isn't so, although I have benefited as a language teacher from the many Asians who come to NZ to learn English. (I had an Italian student too, but that's another story and not a happy one.) 

I learned other languages as a child, which is a whole other matter from learning as an adult. Now I am far more conscious of errors and far more embarrassed by them, as I said below, which is why I usually use English in IT/EN, because as I learn more, I am more conscious of errors I didn't even know I was making 5 months ago, when I began learning.

Vicky


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## ziu

Hockey13 said:


> I feel like whenever I'm abroad or in a multi-language setting, no matter how hard I try to speak the other language (such as Italian), the native will almost always revert to English.


In that situation, I would say to the other person/people "Do you mind if we carry on talking in [X]?" (and I would say it in their language), unless I thought that my skills in that lanugage were so dismal that it could lead to either a significant misunderstanding or serious unease for them.

Imagine how great it would be (and how much more you'd learn) if the lingua franca of these forums, and in a million other multi-language settings, was whatever language you were learning... well, that's how lucky non-native English speakers learning English have it . I also think they take full advantage of the situation, and rightly so.

For that reason, whenever possible I always persist in talking in the language I'm learning, and don't feel that I'm being rude when doing so.


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## Paulfromitaly

Victoria32 said:


> I disagree with you Paul, because it seems to me that you assume all native English speakers have the same attitude - that you lot can just jolly well learn English for our benefit! That isn't so, although I have benefited as a language teacher from the many Asians who come to NZ to learn English. (I had an Italian student too, but that's another story and not a happy one.)
> 
> I learned other languages as a child, which is a whole other matter from learning as an adult. Now I am far more conscious of errors and far more embarrassed by them, as I said below, which is why I usually use English in IT/EN, because as I learn more, I am more conscious of errors I didn't even know I was making 5 months ago, when I began learning.
> 
> Vicky



I'm sorry Vicky if what I said seemed to be addressed to all the natives: of course it's not, especially bearing in mind that foreros here are more than willing to speak a foreign language.
My apologies


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## danielfranco

Bueno, lo que pasa es que cuando uno empieza a hablar en español, luego uno siente ganas de que el resto del público, sin importar en cual idioma uno haya empezado la discusión, even if it's something specific to their language, they might involve more people to participate in their message if they are write in English, because...

Erm...


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## Markus

I usually try to respond in the same language the question is asked. As an English native I always find it irksome when I speak to people in French and they respond in English (happened all the time in Montreal, which is one of the reasons I came to France instead, so I could actually learn the language ). Therefore I've developed it as a habit, and also because I _like_ practicing my French so I use it whenever possible.

I think that English natives are probably naturally more mindful of this than others, who also enjoy the opportunity to speak in a foreign language (English) and likely don't realize that it can be off-putting.

On the other hand, if I can tell that the poster's level of fluency in French isn't very high by their post or from past history, I will try to respond as simply as I can.


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## cas29

This is an interesting discussion.  I usually participate in the IT-EN forum.

First off, Hockey, I don't think your Italian is dismal - far from it.

I can only speak for myself - but here goes.

I write in Italian when I'm feeling brave. When I feel that I can say what I want to say without messing it up too much.
When I'm feeling chicken I write in English.

That goes for starting a thread or replying in one.

Sometimes I write in English simply because it is faster and I can be sure that I know I'm saying exactly what I mean to say.

In conversations, my experience is that anyone who speaks English will try to speak English with me.  It isn't because my Italian is so pathetic - though I know I can, should, and hopefully will improve! -  but that my interlocutors are proud they are able to speak English (maybe to be helpful!) - or they want to "take advantage of me" as a native speaker, and practice.
I take it as a compliment that they feel comfortable enough to do so, though at times,with friends, I insist on speaking Italian.

I'm not offended if people reply to me in Italian if I've written in English  - or vice versa -- I like the challenge of trying to figure out their answers.
I love all the help I get when I'm brave enough to write in Italian....

so... why do posts tend to flow back into English-- fear, pride, enthusiasm, laziness... lots of reasons.
Should it be a rule to reply in the language of the orignal post? No, I don't think so --but maybe it could be a challenge!


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## BlueWolf

Hockey13 said:


> I have noticed this phenomenon in the Italian-English forum. Someone will post a question in Italian, I will respond in Italian, they will respond back in English. I have not yet made any conclusions about this other than that it's just a bit frustrating. I can think of a few possible explanations:
> 
> 1) My Italian is dismal.
> 
> 2) They want to practice English.
> 
> 3) The common language in the I-E forum is English, despite it clearly being for both.
> 
> I would like to hear some opinions of non-native English speakers to this:
> 
> Why do things on these forums tend to more naturally flow back into English? Do you feel more comfortable speaking to a non-native in his language than you do speaking to him in your own language?
> 
> Just one last question that you don't have to answer if you don't want to:
> 
> I feel like whenever I'm abroad or in a multi-language setting, no matter how hard I try to speak the other language (such as Italian), the native will almost always revert to English. That is all fine and understandable, but why is it, then, that there seem to be so many people who complain that English-speakers do not know any other languages despite being world travellers? I'm a bit confused about this one.
> 
> Thanks everyone.



Hi Hockey13.
As cas29 said it's not your Italian's fault. I think the problem is an other. We Italians are inclined to think that our language is very difficult, while English is very simple (I said we think, since our English could even be horrible). So we speak in English to help the foreigns. (In fact we often speak English with people of other nationalities too, even if they are trying to speak Italian).


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## Paulfromitaly

One more consideration:
If I want to be absolutely sure that English speakers understand what I write or say, I address them in English, because when I don't overdo, my simple English can be understood by anyone, whereas I'd need to know how well my conversation partners could speak Italian to be sure they get what I say or simply in order to adapt my Italian to their language knowledge.
(By the way, this some English speakers fault: they seem not to be bothered dumbing down their language even when they don't know how well foreigners speak English).


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## xarruc

Some possible reasons for the predominance of Englsh:

English is undeniably the "new latin". Although Spanish and Chinese are among the most widely spoken languages (I'm ignorant of the latest figures) the United States speak predominantly English, (allbeit closely followed by Spanish) and Europe is more 'centred' on English than any other European language. WRF is seems to be populated predominantly by Europeans and North Americans, followed by South Americans. Hence a multilingual discussion naturally finds English as the standard language. The second most comon language in the cultural forum is probably Spanish and this is borne out in the cutltural discussion.

Secondly when someone asks for a translation of slang, an idiom, rare or technical word, often it is easier to explain the word using the language of that word, than it is to translate, especially when no literal translation exists.  The dominance of English may be related to the number of people translating English to another language (and hence people answering in English, (that is English being the most common language of the forum users).

Thirdly, I have made the empirical observation, and you may all disagree with me and I can't defend it as I have no evidence... that English is an easy language to get half-way good at but a difficult language to to get 100% good at, (and I would say the opposite of several other languages). If this is true then it would imply that if you take two learners of equal ability, one starts in Italian and the other in English, and teach them the other, then halfwaythrough the learning process, the Englishmen will struggle to be understood in Italian, but the Italian, though full of errors, can be understood to a good degree in English. - hence supporting the dominance of English

Just a theory. but what the hell.

It's a shame as I would prefer to write more in Spanish but I' as guilty as everybody else


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## Hockey13

It is interesting to hear the theories about how it is easy to get to an intermediate level in English, and therefore it is easy to understand what people are saying. When a person who is at a low level of English tries to tell me something, I almost always know what he is trying to say.

LV4-26...two French people will speak English to each other??? Now I'm completely bewildered.

p.s. Thanks to everyone who complimented my Italian.


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## Trina

*To Hockey13*: Perhaps if we want the responses in a particular language we should ask for it. However, on a purely selfish note... that may exclude some of us who are interested in your question but whose language skills aren't up to understanding responses in the other language. 


confusion said:


> [...]I do really appreciate when you or other foreigners write in Italian and I sometimes feel "mean" correcting you [...]I promise I'll try to do my best not to switch to English every time and try to correct others' mistakes!


 Please don't feel mean correcting mistakes. I decided on a signature requesting corrections to be made and as I was at the time concentrating on French, I had attempted my own in French. It was there for a couple of weeks before some kind person told me that there were at least four mistakes in it and helped me do a correct one.   (by the way - it was a lot longer than my current 4 word one)
I'm sure most of us are only too happy to be corrected.



Paulfromitaly said:


> [...]
> The point is that we (Italians, or at least I) are used to speaking English with native English speakers because very often they can't speak Italian or they don't want to, although they could.
> Why is it so? maybe I shouldn't try to give an answer to this question as I'm not an English speaker, but my impression is that the aforementioned attitude is due to:
> [...]- You seem to feel more uncomfortable when you make some mistakes than how we feel, because we have developed a better attitude towards speaking a different language from our mother tongue and therefore we are not too bothered by making mistakes.[...]


You have hit the nail right on the head! This is exactly my problem. On my first trip to Italy I felt extremely uncomfortable and embarrassed making mistakes and it took all my willpower to make the effort. I have now adopted the attitude that "the only people who don't make mistakes are those who don't do anything."



Markus said:


> [...] if I can tell that the poster's level of fluency in French isn't very high by their post or from past history, I will try to respond as simply as I can.





Paulfromitaly said:


> One more consideration:
> If I want to be absolutely sure that English speakers understand what I write or say, I address them in English, because when I don't overdo, my simple English can be understood by anyone, whereas I'd need to know how well my conversation partners could speak Italian to be sure they get what I say or simply in order to adapt my Italian to their language knowledge.[...]


In my humble opinion, I wish more people would adopt these policies...*before replying assess the forero/a's ability and respond accordingly. 
*


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## MarcB

Why not respond in both languages if it is a short answer?


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## confusion

> I'm sure most of us are only too happy to be corrected


 
Could you explain this sentence, please? I'm not sure I understand it.


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## Grop

Well, in French-English I often answer in English if there is at least one post in English, even if the original post is in French.

It is a bit silly (especially since my post would probably be more clear in French), but I suppose the people who posted in English might not be easy about it.

I heard a funny story once: a US citizen complaining that the French were very intolerant about language: Even though he thought his French was good, people in Paris would answer in English whenever he makes a gender error.

I understand it may be frustrating. And it may make things harder for English speakers who try to learn a foreign language.


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## LV4-26

Hockey13 said:
			
		

> LV4-26...two French people will speak English to each other??? Now I'm completely bewildered.


In the Fr/En forum, yes. I've seen that a few times. I wasn't that bewildered : for some, it's become like an automatism to write in English in that forum.
I try not to. When the question is asked in French, I'll answer in French. If an English-speaker misses something, (s)he usually asks for complementary information. 
But I used to write more in English before. That's because I 've only been recently aware that English speakers (or some of them) do want to be answered in French (or whatever the language they're learning).

In the actual world, when people see a foreigner, say, asking for directions and trying to do it in the other language, they tend to think "oh look, that gentleman is in a foreign country, doesn't know his way, let's speak to him in his own language, he'll be relieved and he'll find there are some helpful (and bilingual) people here". 
I know. I've been thinking that myself. 

Now, if the same happens to me again, I'll change my attitude. If I reckon they've got a reasonably good mastery of my language, I'll answer in French and  resort to English only if they ask.


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## Etcetera

The same thing occurs from time to time in the Slavic Languages Forum. Someone asks a question in Russian, for example, and the first reply is also in Russian; but then the discussion somehow switches to English! I've noticed quite a number of time that it was me who started to write in English, although I'm a Russian native. I did it almost automatically! 
But quite often I answer in English simply because I'm not sure if the thread starter knows Russian well enough to understand quite complicated explanations.


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## SPQR

My 2 centesimi....

I'm on the IE forum to (1) learn more Italian and (2) help others with English. Being what I am, I hope I do more (2) than (1).

If someone asks a question in Italian, I try to answer it in Italian (as best I can). If the person is asking a question in Italian, they are probably most comfortable in Italian, and I'd like to keep them comfortable. My exception is if the person is a native English speaker, then I generally respond in English.

If someone asks a very complex, long, technical question in Italian, I will often switch to English (as I did today), since they most likely understand English quite well, and obviously I'm more comfortable in English. I can give more subtleties in English than I can in Italian.

If someone asks a question in English and the English is less than optimal, I'll often switch to Italian, in hopes of understanding the question better.

Often I will respond in Italian, knowing that I shouldn't, in hopes of making a series of mistakes that I know will be corrected by natives. This way, they learn something about English, I learn something about Italian, and we don't have to go through the process of creating a new thread.


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## Etcetera

SPQR said:


> If the person is asking a question in Italian, they are probably most comfortable in Italian, and I'd like to keep them comfortable.


You're right... but sometimes it's clear that the person have thought very much about the precise wording of their question and they aren't really confident in Russian... 
Of course, there are quite few learners of Russian, so we know them better.


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## englishman

LV4-26 said:


> In the Fr/En forum, yes. I've seen that a few times. I wasn't that bewildered : for some, it's become like an automatism to write in English in that forum.
> I try not to. When the question is asked in French, I'll answer in French. If an English-speaker misses something, (s)he usually asks for complementary information.
> But I used to write more in English before. That's because I 've only been recently aware that English speakers (or some of them) do want to be answered in French (or whatever the language they're learning).



It's worth bearing in mind that most English speakers can read to a much higher standard than they can write. I almost always ask questions in English in Fr/En since I can write it far more quickly, but I much prefer it if French natives respond in French, since I can read it more-or-less fluently. 

Maybe there should be a rule that natives always answer in their own language regardless of the language used in the post, unless the poster makes a request to the contrary.


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## Pedro y La Torre

Grop said:


> I heard a funny story once: a US citizen complaining that the French were very intolerant about language: Even though he thought his French was good, people in Paris would answer in English whenever he makes a gender error.



_In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them    in French. We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own    language.

_Mark Twain


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## Philippa

englishman said:


> Maybe there should be a rule that natives always answer in their own language regardless of the language used in the post, unless the poster makes a request to the contrary.


 Why? This is a language forum for learning as well as discussing languages. How would I practise and actually use my Spanish if we had a rule as you say? If I start a thread in Spanish it's because I think I'll be able to cope with explanations in Spanish. That's why if it's to do with grammar I'm already confused about, I'd probably put the question in English.
Saludos
Philippa


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## Estiben

Buenos dias a todos! The nice thing about a written discussion is that I have many resources to help me decipher the message (on-line lexicon, friends and family, or I can just reply and ask for clarification). For this reason, I would prefer that people answer my question in the language it was posed in, unless I request otherwise. 

In spoken conversation, I don't have that luxury. I totally understand when a native Spanish speaker responds to me in English when I am clearly struggling to express myself in Spanish. 

Meanwhile, I continue to learn, even about my native language.  That's what it's all about isn't it?


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## cas29

SPQR said:


> My 2 centesimi....
> 
> If someone asks a question in English and the English is less than optimal, I'll often switch to Italian, in hopes of understanding the question better.
> 
> Often I will respond in Italian, knowing that I shouldn't, in hopes of making a series of mistakes that I know will be corrected by natives. This way, they learn something about English, I learn something about Italian, and we don't have to go through the process of creating a new thread.


 
If I see a post where the English is less than optimal, I might switch to Italian or a mixture with examples in English - partly to be more helpful, and partly because if someone with mediocre writing skills in English is willing to try in English, I feel encouraged to write in Italian.

I too respond in Italian sometimes --- looking for those much appreciated corrections.

As per the suggestion from Englishman about a rule for native speakers to always reply in their own language....my vote would be  .
I think we need certain rules to keep a forum running smoother - but not that kind of rule.
If the original poster really wants a reply in a specific language, they could ask for it, and I'm sure we'd all make the effort to oblige.


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## Victoria32

Paulfromitaly said:


> I'm sorry Vicky if what I said seemed to be addressed to all the natives: of course it's not, especially bearing in mind that foreros here are more than willing to speak a foreign language.
> My apologies


That's fine Paul!  I understand how you felt...

Vicky


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## drei_lengua

Hockey13 said:


> I have noticed this phenomenon in the Italian-English forum. Someone will post a question in Italian, I will respond in Italian, they will respond back in English. I have not yet made any conclusions about this other than that it's just a bit frustrating. I can think of a few possible explanations:
> 
> 1) My Italian is dismal.
> 
> 2) They want to practice English.
> 
> 3) The common language in the I-E forum is English, despite it clearly being for both.
> 
> I would like to hear some opinions of non-native English speakers to this:
> 
> Why do things on these forums tend to more naturally flow back into English? Do you feel more comfortable speaking to a non-native in his language than you do speaking to him in your own language?
> 
> Just one last question that you don't have to answer if you don't want to:
> 
> I feel like whenever I'm abroad or in a multi-language setting, no matter how hard I try to speak the other language (such as Italian), the native will almost always revert to English. That is all fine and understandable, but why is it, then, that there seem to be so many people who complain that English-speakers do not know any other languages despite being world travellers? I'm a bit confused about this one.
> 
> Thanks everyone.


 
Hello Hockey13,
Good to hear from you again.  I have some advice on this if I may humbly offer it.  Whenever I go abroad and speak the tongue of the country and someone responds in English I pretend not to understand.  This has tended to work quite successfully.  Another thing you could do is reply back in Italian, in this case.  So you write in Italian, someone responds in English, then you write back in Italian.

Regardless of the rules, my rule of thumb is to reply in the same language and not switch, regardless of where someone is from even if an American starts in German, I will reply in German.  

I hope this helps.  I feel your pain.  Been there, done that.    

Drei


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## mytwolangs

In some countries, they find it "cool" to speak in English. 
It is like this - us Anglophones want to practice our new lang, and they want to practice English. This is what some of my on-line French speaking friends have told me. 

One way around this - pretend you don't know any English, that is, if you are fluent enough in your studied language to get by most situations.


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## ziu

mytwolangs said:


> One way around this - pretend you don't know any English, that is, if you are fluent enough in your studied language to get by most situations.


Haha, that seems like a pretty good solution actually. I'm sure that not many people could pass themselves off as native speakers in the language they have studied, but at least they could make out that their native language was something other than English.


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## Benjy

DearPrudence said:


> Personally I often answer in English for everyone to understand. Some English foreros may have a very good French but I'm never sure if I overestimate their mastery of French so to be on the safe side I write in English (though sometimes I have the feeling it's even harder to understand  (as this sentence)).
> I do that also because I think it can also be useful for other English forer@s who would like to read the thread without being put off by too much French.
> Well, I suppose it's a bit discrimatory for our fellow French people but it is a truth generally ackowledged, that a single man in possession of good fortune ... that almost everyone can understand English rather well, while I think it's not the case for French.



But why DearestPrudence why? It is just not true! As someone who has tried to get by on almost no French at all in France I can assure you that not everyone understands English rather well. While I understand that you would write almost exclusively in English out of kindness I would submit that it might be at least slightly patronising for the person on the receiving end of such kind consideration.


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## Hockey13

drei_lengua said:


> Hello Hockey13,
> Good to hear from you again. I have some advice on this if I may humbly offer it. Whenever I go abroad and speak the tongue of the country and someone responds in English I pretend not to understand. This has tended to work quite successfully. Another thing you could do is reply back in Italian, in this case. So you write in Italian, someone responds in English, then you write back in Italian.
> 
> Regardless of the rules, my rule of thumb is to reply in the same language and not switch, regardless of where someone is from even if an American starts in German, I will reply in German.
> 
> I hope this helps. I feel your pain. Been there, done that.
> 
> Drei


 
What a great idea! I could play the German side of me when I'm in Italy! However, I think I have an American English accent in Italian, not a German one..do any natives think that would give me away?

But I don't think this kind of ruse wouldn't work on the forum!  I think from now on I'm going to make a request to respond in Italian if I am writing in Italian or use your switch back to Italian trick.


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## drei_lengua

Or even better... when they speak back to you in English just talk extremely fast in a Boston accent.  "I pahked the cah at the hahbah." "I parked the car at the harbor." That'll teach them to mess with us.     

Drei


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## DearPrudence

Benjy said:


> But why DearestPrudence why? It is just not true! As someone who has tried to get by on almost no French at all in France I can assure you that not everyone understands English rather well. While I understand that you would write almost exclusively in English out of kindness I would submit that it might be at least slightly patronising for the person on the receiving end of such kind consideration.


 
Hum, hum. Yes, our understanding of oral English is almost nonexistent (and I include myself). But due to the similarities of some words and all that, our understanding of written English is not SO bad, though our writing is dismal (as you can see).
But in France at least we're obliged to learn a foreign language, which 99% of the time is English. To learn a foreign language is not even compulsory anymore in England! I think that there is not a single forero who doesn't speak English at all. Or in other word the universal language on this forum seems to be English. So if you write in English everybody is more or less able to understand (sorry for being so redundant).
I don't know, maybe I'm overestimating the difficulty of French but I really have the feeling it's a very hard language and answering questions on my own language on this forum got me thinking (even more) that it's a very tough language to learn so I would like not to add difficulties by answering in French to explain something. 
And even with advanced learners, I'm afraid of making them uncomfortable if I say something in French and they don't understand ...  
But now, I suppose I will then, and add extra posts if some people (which had not taken part in the conversation yet but were interested in the thread) are a bit lost...
Personally it happened to me when I asked a question in the German forum, forer@s answered in German and I was completely lost and it's not really pleasant, though I suppose it was nice to write in German for me to practice ... I suppose it was then addressed to people with a more advanced level ... Note I'm not complaining, I could have asked to be told what they were saying but just that I experienced the feeling of being completely lost and it's not great.

D'ac, Ben, comme tu déchires grave dans la langue de Molière, j'te causerai la France alors.

ps: petite note et pub : il y a un magnifique forum "français seulement" qui n'attend que vous  
There is a wonderful "French only" forum waiting for you all (sorry for being so patronizing  )


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## Paulfromitaly

DearPrudence said:


> Hum, hum. Yes, our understanding of oral English is almost nonexistent [..]



Mmm..not sure about that 
On the other hand your pretending of not understanding English is really good 
What always amuses me quite a lot is the fact that in Paris where I'd expect many people to understand and speak English it seems that there's none (chauvinism at the highest rate?), whereas in other smaller cities or towns the number of folks who can have a conversation in English is higher..


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## Etcetera

mytwolangs said:


> It is like this - us Anglophones want to practice our new lang, and they want to practice English. This is what some of my on-line French speaking friends have told me.


That's partly the case with me. When I discovered this forum and decided to register here, it was mainly because I wanted to practise my English in a good company.
And one more reason why I often answer questions in English even if the poster wrote their question in Russian is that it's much easier for me to speak about grammar, syntax and so on in English. I'm too used to the English linguistic terminology!


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## drei_lengua

DearPrudence said:


> ...
> Personally it happened to me when I asked a question in the German forum, forer@s answered in German and I was completely lost and it's not really pleasant, though I suppose it was nice to write in German for me to practice ... I suppose it was then addressed to people with a more advanced level ... Note I'm not complaining, I could have asked to be told what they were saying but just that I experienced the feeling of being completely lost and it's not great.
> ...


Guten Abend DearPrudence,
With all due respect, don't worry about not understanding something, especially if it is written.  You have all the time in the world to re-read and then respond appropriately.  Plus there usually is a context.
Bon nuit (Ich hoffe, dass ich das richtig geschrieben habe.)
 

Drei


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## Etcetera

drei_lengua said:


> With all due respect, don't worry about not understanding something, especially if it is written.  You have all the time in the world to re-read and then respond appropriately.  Plus there usually is a context.


And above all, you can always ask for an explanation if you don't understand something!


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## gaer

Hockey13 said:


> I have noticed this phenomenon in the Italian-English forum. Someone will post a question in Italian, I will respond in Italian, they will respond back in English. I have not yet made any conclusions about this other than that it's just a bit frustrating. I can think of a few possible explanations:
> 
> 1) My Italian is dismal.
> 
> 2) They want to practice English.
> 
> 3) The common language in the I-E forum is English, despite it clearly being for both.
> 
> I would like to hear some opinions of non-native English speakers to this:
> 
> Why do things on these forums tend to more naturally flow back into English? Do you feel more comfortable speaking to a non-native in his language than you do speaking to him in your own language?
> 
> Just one last question that you don't have to answer if you don't want to:
> 
> I feel like whenever I'm abroad or in a multi-language setting, no matter how hard I try to speak the other language (such as Italian), the native will almost always revert to English. That is all fine and understandable, but why is it, then, that there seem to be so many people who complain that English-speakers do not know any other languages despite being world travellers? I'm a bit confused about this one.
> 
> Thanks everyone.


Look at my signature. It works about 90% of the time. Even in PMs, once Germans realize that I read German very fluenty, they often relax and prefer to write in German.

Simply request, in Italian, that people answer you in Italian when possible. I'll bet it will work. 

The exception, which is true in all forums, is that the language will default to English when people are involved who can't read the non-English language involved. If you are reading a conversation in Italian and jump in English (as I do in German), it will flip the thread to English unless the people in the forum know you are not comfortable writing in Italian but prefer to read it.

Just a suggestion. 

Gaer


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## Etcetera

gaer said:


> Look at my signature. It works about 90% of the time.
> [...]
> OOPS! Suddenly I noticed that I see no signatures! If they are no longer being displayed, forget half of what I just said. My signature used to say:
> 
> *Antwortet mir bitte auf Deutsch! Ich schreibe nur auf Englisch, weil ich meine Gedanken so präziser ausdrücken kann.*


Signatures aren't displayed by default if you're logged in. But if you view the Forums as a guest, you can see all signatures. Signatures are also displayed in your profile.
If you want to see signatures even when you're logged in, go to your Control Panel, Edit Options, and tick "Show signatures".


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## gaer

Etcetera said:


> Signatures aren't displayed by default if you're logged in. But if you view the Forums as a guest, you can see all signatures. Signatures are also displayed in your profile.
> If you want to see signatures even when you're logged in, go to your Control Panel, Edit Options, and tick "Show signatures".


Thaks. I forgot where that toggle is. I never deliberately turned it off, but I may have accidentally clicked on it at some time recently while reviewing settings.

I always like to see signatures, so I must have done it recently. 

At any rate, that's my suggestion for reminding people to answer in a language other than English!

Gaer


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## Benjy

DearPrudence said:


> Hum, hum. Yes, our understanding of oral English is almost nonexistent (and I include myself). But due to the similarities of some words and all that, our understanding of written English is not SO bad, though our writing is dismal (as you can see).
> But in France at least we're obliged to learn a foreign language, which 99% of the time is English. To learn a foreign language is not even compulsory anymore in England! I think that there is not a single forero who doesn't speak English at all. Or in other word the universal language on this forum seems to be English. So if you write in English everybody is more or less able to understand (sorry for being so redundant).



Mouais, je te l'accorde. Ce forum constitue un milieu particulier ou les membres ont les mots pour passion et rare sont ceux qui passent qui n'ont aucune comprehension de la langue de Shakespeare (mais y'en a quand-même).



> I don't know, maybe I'm overestimating the difficulty of French but I really have the feeling it's a very hard language and answering questions on my own language on this forum got me thinking (even more) that it's a very tough language to learn so I would like not to add difficulties by answering in French to explain something.



For the bloke that wants to know how to say "I miss you, merry christmas" fine, but I don't see French as any harder than any other SVO or romance language. But having scaled the mountain as such, I guess that's quite easy for me to say.



> And even with advanced learners, I'm afraid of making them uncomfortable if I say something in French and they don't understand ...
> But now, I suppose I will then, and add extra posts if some people (which had not taken part in the conversation yet but were interested in the thread) are a bit lost...



I prefer to flatter people by assuming they know more and going too far than by assuming they know less and patronising them.  That's probably because I would put myself in the advanced learner club and sometimes to feel slightly patronised by French people answering me back in English if I have made an effort to talk to them in French. See this post in ¿De dónde es su acento? by Kate Nicole for a summary of this syndrome.  



> Personally it happened to me when I asked a question in the German forum, forer@s answered in German and I was completely lost and it's not really pleasant, though I suppose it was nice to write in German for me to practice ... I suppose it was then addressed to people with a more advanced level ... Note I'm not complaining, I could have asked to be told what they were saying but just that I experienced the feeling of being completely lost and it's not great.



Its funny how I always exclusively look at things from my own personal experiences (probably because they are the only kind I have ). This never really happens to me so I guess I can't really identify with that 



> D'ac, Ben, comme tu déchires grave dans la langue de Molière, j'te causerai la France alors.



ha! tu crois que tu m'aura par la flatterie, hein? 



> ps: petite note et pub : il y a un magnifique forum "français seulement" qui n'attend que vous
> There is a wonderful "French only" forum waiting for you all (sorry for being so patronizing  )



J'y passe tout le temps rien qu'à cause de ça  pas besoin de vous excuser  Si moi j'y vois une quelconque offence alors qu'il y en a pas c'est moi qui suis en tort.


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## El intérprete

Hi, everyone.  I wasn't sure what to title this thread, so I just put "Responding to people in a different language than they use."  What I mean by this is when a Hispanic person in the US, for example, tries to speak to someone in English, and the other person responds in Spanish.  Hispanics often get angry in the US if you try to speak to them in Spanish after they have asked you a question in English.  If their English is very limited and they have just arrived or something like that, then sure it's understandable to try to change languages, but most of the time they take it as an insult, and I know why.  Here in Chile, sometimes people respond to students in awful English after they have asked them a question or said something to them in Spanish.  Why is it so hard for people to understand that responding to someone in their native language while they are studying another language is not courteous?  I guess people think they are being friendly by trying to speak the person's native language, but unless that person who asked a question is a tourist or someone on vacation, it is rude to respond to him in English for example.  It's like saying, your English or Spanish is so bad that I'm not even going to respond.

Has anyone else noticed this?


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## Primal

The same thing happens when an English person learning a second visits anywhere else and tries to practise with the locals.  When I go to Quebec, and try to order food, or rent a hotel room in French, the employees often respond in English.  I don't consider this rude, just frustrating because I am trying to practise my French.  I would imagine that it would be the same if I started learning Spanish and went somewhere like Mexico, where many people know English as well as their native language.

Prymal


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## Nunty

I find this very rude. Most of us in Jerusalem speak two or three languages and my sense is that people usually respond in the language in which they are addressed. The only time I choose a different language is if someone in a shop, for example, addresses me in French but I hear from their accent that they are Israeli or American. I will then ask if we can continue in Hebrew or English (accordingly) because I speak both of those languages better than I do French. But I make sure to state it is because of my own language problems.

When someone speakes to me and I hear that they are having obvious trouble with the language, I just try to speak slowly and in short sentences. If it becomes really impossible, I ask lightly if they want to switch to some other language. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. But I would not presume to change it myself.


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## Cagey

There certainly are cultural differences in this.  My experience has been when have I tried to practice my high-school Spanish with native speakers.  It was never very fluent, and is now very rusty.  However the native speakers with whom I have tried to speak Spanish have always been very courteous and encouraging.  This has been true even when their English was far better than my Spanish, and the conversation would gone much more smoothly in English.  My experience is with native speakers from Latin America; I have always appreciated their courtesy in this respect.


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## Paulfromitaly

I've found myself in that situation a few times and I believe there isn't just one answer/solution.
It definitely depends on the situation, as well as on the people involved in the conversation.
Am I having a casual conversation with a foreigner about the weather? 
In this case I have no problem trying to speak plain and simple Italian, if I guess that's what the other person wants me to do.
Am I working at a customer care desk, trying to solve a customer's problem?
Well, in this case, no matter what language they address me in, I'll switch to English if they can speak English and if I have the impression they wouldn't understand me if I spoke Italian.
Is speaking in someone else's language rude, if done to make them feel comfortable or to avoid misunderstandings?
I don't think so.
What I believe is rude is replying in your own language when the other person has made it clear they can't speak your language.
Example(happened to me a couple of times) - I (Italian speaker) ask for information in English, they reply in French..I kindly point out that I don't speak French and they get back to me again in French..so I wonder: If you can understand my question in English, it mean you can also speak English, so why don't you bloody do it?? Whatever!


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## Sidjanga

Hi,

Yes, it is indeed a quite widespread phenomenon, and I, too, am not at all happy about it.

My impression is that people who answer you in a different (maybe "your") language mostly want to do you a favour and maybe think that you just "try to" speak in their local/national language because you assume they don't speak English (or "your" language).
So they just answer you in English (or "your" language), and think you'll be very happy about it.

And then there are certainly those who just prefer to practise your language and won't give you the opportunity to practice theirs, which you have been studying (this version being quite widespread in Germany..).





Paulfromitaly said:


> ...
> Is speaking in someone else's language rude, if done to make them feel comfortable or to avoid misunderstandings?...


That's just the point. I think you normally won't make them feel comfortable.

"Rude" might be to hard a word, but I do find it at least disesteeming/looking down on the efforts to learn the language or the resulting language skills of the person addressing you in that language, and definitely frustrating for that person.

Be it a student, a tourist or a customer, the person might have been studying very long and hard and really looking forward to finally being able to use the language with natives, and be of the opinion that their level is actually quite acceptable (and might have been told so by others, even natives).
So they will probably have a "good reason" to use the local/national language (this reason probably not being to provoke misunderstandings ).
Receiving an answer in English (or "their" language) in such a situation will certainly not make them feel comfortable.

And I generally don't think it an adequate starting point for any conversation in any language to assume that there will (probably) be (considerable) misunderstandings.* In case there really should arise considerable misunderstandings in the course of the conversation, you can still switch to a language you and your interlocutor find more appropriate. 

_____________
* in communication theory, (slight) misunderstandings are considered the norm and not the exception (the brain of the sender is obviously just not exactly the same as the one of the receiver of the message); but that applies to any type of communication in any language, even between two native speakers of a language; in other words, to a certain degree they are practically impossble to avoid


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## sokol

It depends very much on the situation; and we had already a similar topic here (which however has been closed because personal opinions were offered instead of cultural views ... therefore I'll try to stick to the topic).

In Austria you will find that at university it might be quite hard to get Austrians to speak to you (if you are foreign) in German; many will switch to English almost immediately, and even though the same is not so likely in other context (on the street, in the supermarket, etc.) it may happen there as well. But there are several reasons for this behaviour, there isn't a single one:

Firstly, 'positive' ones that is cases where the switch is not intended as an insult at all:
- many Austrians don't like to try and speak clearly standard language, and of course they don't expect foreigners to understand colloquial Austrian or even dialect; this therefore may cause Austrians to switch to English even if addressed in German
- because, further, even if they do and try keep speaking German (and if they try to speak standard language) nevertheless foreigners often have problems with understanding Austrian accent; if you've made this experience once (and I have) then you come to the conclusion that switching to English is much less complicated

And now, 'negative' ones where the insult is present:
- it may be that Austrians switch from German to English because they think that the foreigner is speaking German with a lower level of proficiency than they think they themselves speak English
- it may be that Austrians switch to English to show off their proficiency in the foreign language; this of course too isn't too nice if the foreigner wants to learn German

The problem now is that foreigners won't know which applies in a certain context. Strangely, when I went to Ljubljana in the late 1990ies for two months everyone spoke to me Slovenian at first, and kept on speaking Slovenian until communication failed which was the point at which they switched to English - because there's no point in continuing in Slovene if you can't communicate.
Austrians definitely don't act like that; Slovenians - those that I met - really tried to help me learn Slovenian. (And they did so even more that I wished for - because they also permanently corrected my errors, of which there were many, which however over time made communication really difficult, with all the commentaries on the errors I made ...)


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## Philippa

sokol said:


> It depends very much on the situation; and we had already a similar topic here (which however has been closed because personal opinions were offered instead of cultural views ... therefore I'll try to stick to the topic).


Hello,
Just thought I'd add a link to 'my' related thread from a while ago What might make people switch to English when I speak to them in Spanish?!! which hasn't quite been closed, but it's probably better to reply with nice cultural views in this thread! 
Saludos desde Reading
Philippa


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## Ynez

Portuguese are normally good at languages (at least compared to Spanish) and it is really hard to practice Portuguese with them. It is not my case because I haven't studied the language, but I have friends who have this problem. 

I think that, in general, people who have studied a language (really studied, not just learnt by use) will be more conscious about the need others have to practise their langauge.


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## mirx

Philippa said:


> Hello,
> Just thought I'd add a link to 'my' related thread from a while ago What might make people switch to English when I speak to them in Spanish?!! which hasn't quite been closed, but it's probably better to reply with nice cultural views in this thread!
> Saludos desde Reading
> Philippa


 
I knew we had the same thread before!!!

This has never happened to me, however I think I might have done it to some people, I think I don't need to say that I don't consider it rude.

Why?
Well, even though I love French and how it sounds, my speaking ability for this language is none. I have been so relieved when distressfully asking for directions the French person responded to me in English, to this day few things have felt as liberating and relieving as having someone who understands the same language I speak.

I of course understand those ones who calmly planned to practice their language skills, only to be frustrated because the locals won't "cooperate".


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## Ynez

mirx said:


> Well, even though I love French and how it sounds, my speaking ability for this language is none. I have been so relieved when distressfully asking for directions the French person responded to me in English, to this day few things have felt as liberating and relieving as having someone who understands the same language I speak.
> 
> I of course understand those ones who calmly planned to practice their language skills, only to be frustrated because the locals won't "cooperate".



That is my experience in Germany, it was nice to use the few words I knew but then be able to finish in English...

In France I am afraid I don't have good linguistical experiences apart from an older woman with whom I could communicate perfectly with hand gestures and drawings. 

I forgot to say my friends have a very good level of Portuguese: they have the University degree that qualifies you as a teacher. So I think Portugal and France are just the opposite, in Portugal it is difficult to practise their language and in France it is difficult to speak a language other than French.


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