I’m about to sound like the ignorant American I am, so I apologize in advance! We’re looking at a trip to Germany, and possibly Prague, and we’ve noticed that a lot of the hotel names are French and a couple hotels that aren’t named in French have replied to comments with things like “Bonjour! etc etc” What’s up with this? Is French just the most commonly spoken common language, even in Germany and Czechia? (I know that Germany and Czechia have their own languages, of course.) Or is it something else?
Could it be that the places you’re looking at are the most popular destinations of French tourists? 🤔
That’s certainly possible! I’m not sure how I would find that out. We’re just looking at the places with decent reviews on available sites in the US, like Expedia and TripAdvisor.
Definitely not. While some people in Germany learn a bit of French as a third language in school, you’ll definitely be better off with English.
I never noticed hotel names being often French. It might come from an attempt to sound more exotic or luxurious within Germany. The comments might have just been French tourists. It’s the biggest neighbouring country after all.
This is great context, thank you! That would make sense about the comments. The hotel owners were responding to folks, but I admit I was reading through things quickly and could have missed someone identifying themselves that way before the hotel responded.
You’re American. Marketing data says that you like all things French and Italian.
Guess what happens next in this salesforce driven industry?
:)
East of Munich you’re best bet is German, but English is also spoken widely. West of Munich you’re more or less fine with English. In the northern countries we are used to the fact no one speaks our language so we all speak English, a lot of people French and a lot of German because it’s close to our own.
Italians try English. As do most Spanish. Try is the magic word here, it’s like your Spanish after high school or my French. :)
French don’t try. They speak French. Period. In hotels etc. (tourist spots) English is spoken by few employees. But they are there. :)
In the balkans the situation is mixed. Some parts English, some German, some French, some Russian. I get by with an English/German mix in Croatia. my German is better then my French… But not a lot). Here in the Netherlands my level of German is widely called “steenkolen Duits” (coal German) because it’s course, harsh, hard and dirty)
Anyway you’ll be fine. Have a great vacation.
Here in the Netherlands my level of German is widely called “steenkolen Duits” (coal German) because it’s course, harsh, hard and dirty)
That’s actually not the etymology. Steenkolenduits (spelled without a space) is a riff on steenkolenengels, which was the basic/broken English spoken by dockworkers with sailors on incoming British coal ships (steenkolenboten).
Thank you for clearing it up
I mean, I feel like I’ve been seen, but also called out. 😂 Thank you for all of this info!
Yep, we try English. We are not very good at it (thanks Mussolini) and the situation is not gonna improve. But you’ll survive, even here. Last time I was in a hotel here a foreigner was communicating with the receptionist via Google Translate ;p
I’ve been to Italy multiple times (actually on a plane to leave for Milan right now). I never had any problem communicating while there.
Lucky you. Sometimes I have issues understanding other people’s incorrect Italian…
Could it be that your (real) name is possibly of French origin, or at least it sounds French to them? Maybe they wrongly assume that you are of French origin, so they try to be more friendly.
Shh, not too loud. Our plan to take over Europe is slowly unfolding
I’m from Czechia, and we use our own language. Hotels have some fancy names to attract tourist imho.
If you can speak fluent english, you’ll be fine.
Oh yeah, we know that! Between the three of us we can do survivable German, Spanish, and French, as well. I think. 😂
I lived there for two years, and I think I met one french speaking expat during that time. Czech is the official language (surprise!), and “everyone” speaks it (apart from yours truly).
One thing I found interesting while living there was that it was usually a safe bet to assume everyone older than me knew russian as a second language, while everyone my age or younger spoke english.
I lived in Brno, which doesn’t have much tourism (just a bunch of expats), but in Prague you’ll have no problem with English, I’m sure.
