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By Anonymous - 30/12/2012 19:21 - Germany - Neunkirchen

Today, I returned to Germany for a break from my studies abroad. I got lost while out for groceries, so I tried asking a guy for directions. I went totally blank and strained to think of the right words, prompting him to mutter about rude foreigners not bothering to learn the local language. FML
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Top comments

pheebs314 17

I'm friends with a girl who was an exchange student from Germany in high school and after a few months of being surrounded by English all the time, she even had a hard time talking to her parents on the phone.

232 1
DocBastard 38

I often fumble over my words when I've been studying broads.

184 10

Comments

jmacfan1 16

Well he is an asshole. My grandma is from Germany and she has been here for a very long time so when she speaks to her sisters on the phone that still live there she struggles to remember how to say things. It comes back after awhile

7 0
LavenderLunacy14 7

My best friend grew up in Berlin, English is his fourth language, and he often asks his brother how to say this word or that in his native tongue.

9 0
chris_a7x 11

Easy fix- call your parents at least once a week while abroad. Maintain contact and remember your language!

10 0
onorexveritas 23

I hate it when people make assumptions

3 0
owo_fml 9

After an hour of speaking German I find it difficult to immediately switch back to English, even though that's the language I think in

9 1
kathryn14 19

After spending a couple weeks in Ukraine and trying my best to learn the language, I come back to the States and find myself answering questions in my Spanish class in Ukrainian. It was hard to readjust.

5 0
xNephilim 18

I feel your pain. I moved to the US from Germany almost 3 years ago and have started to forget some of my German. I speak to my mom and sister every once in a while and it takes me a few minutes to warm up. Or sometimes, I'll try to explain something and I just simply don't know the German word for what I'm trying to say. It's quite irritating.

0 0
DonULFonso 22

So why didn't you simply speak English? That's the first foreign language EVERYBODY in Germany learns, starting in kindergarten!

0 10
fleur_de_fevrier_fml 22

#63 I don't think that you got the point. The guy got pissed off because of his prejudice against foreigners who wouldn't try to learn German. I doubt in that case that speaking in English to him would have produced the hoped for result...

5 0
miura_fml 17

Sure, everyone learns it, but that doesn't mean everyone uses it.

5 0
GhostChickens 17

I always feel like shit when I go abroad because I have an accent and I'm not that good at learning languages. I always mess up the language I'm trying to learn. I feel really guilty about it because the people I talk to must think I haven't tried at all. Luckily, most people I've talked to in other countries are really nice about it and happy to help. I guess OP just had bad luck and ended up asking a mean twat for directions. He could have been nicer about it, whether you were a foreigner or not.

1 0