Languages with the Least Amount of English Speakers

[aokoye]

Like I said in codeswitching thread, this has literally nothing to do with the language and everything to do with the speakers. That said, I echo those who suggested going to a rural area or an area that just doesn't get a lot of tourists. Additionally go to a place that hasn't been a British or American commonwealth and where English isn't used as a medium of instruction in education.

In terms of Chinese and Arabic (what varieties of each of these languages?) that takes out, among other places, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the UAE .

[William Camden]

It is something I have commented on before, but Turkish speakers in Turkey, even including hotel employees who you would expect to have contact with tourists, are often quite ignorant of English. I have also known comedy skits to be performed on Turkish TV about locals encountering tourists and coming out with gibberish that they think is English. Foreign languages in general are not taught well in Turkey as a rule (there are a few, mostly elite, exceptions) and they even seem to be regarded as vaguely suspect.

[IronMike]

If you come to Russia, most people here will be only happy not to have to speak English. They will forgive you any number of mistakes as long as you don't ask the dreaded "Do you speak English?" question.

That is, unless you run into me, my friend Nadezhda or other Russian members of this forum

I can't go anywhere in Moscow without Russian speakers immediately switching to English. And that's with me speaking only in Russian (I'm not that bad) and never switching over to English. All they do is look at us and immediately speak English, or in restaurants, give us English menus. We actually have to ask them to please give us Russian menus. "No, we have English menus" is their retort, EVERY TIME!

[William Camden]

Years ago in Istanbul I helped a Spanish speaker (I don't know if he was from Spain or Latin America though his accent suggested the latter) who was trying to find out how to get to a destination on the metro. I translated his question to metro employees and then their response. I remember thinking, "Good luck with Spanish in Istanbul. You might have trouble finding someone who understands English, much less Castilian."

[William Camden]

In fact overall, I would say Turkey is definitely one place where it is worth it for a visitor to learn a smattering of the local language. It can help avoid problems in a place where English is not a reliable safety net.

[iguanamon]

Having recently traveled in Europe- Spain and Portugal primarily, I didn't have this problem much, but I do speak both Spanish and Portuguese reasonably well. When you establish that you can speak the language well, most people are happy to stay in it with you. Part of the problem stems from the fact that most people from outside that native-speakers meet in their country don't speak a foreign language well, including outsiders who have English as a second language.

Interaction on a tourist level tends to be highly concentrated in dealing with service people and asking directions. How many tourists are actually trying to meet and talk to people, actually trying to get to know them, in a visited country? Most that I have observed have the objective of just "seeing the sights". People get conditioned to this. If 95% of tourists don't speak the language beyond simple greetings, it's not unreasonable to expect that many native-speakers will draw the conclusion that foreigners don't/can't speak their language well enough to be useful. So, some of the frustration is due to this aspect. I once had a conversation in Spanish in Puerto Rico with a cab driver at 3 am about legendary salsa singers. The converstation started with me greeting him in Spanish, him looking at me and responding in English, then staying in Spanish when I had established my bonafides. He ended up shaking my hand and giving me a Hector Lavoe cd.

Some of the frustration also has to do with how we interact. I had a great conversation with Portuguese native-speakers in the Madrid airport waiting on a flight to Lisbon. I was trying to figure out what was going on with the gate changing for Easy Jet several times and just started to speak with the people sitting next to me. They knew by looking at me and hearing me that I was not a native-speaker, but nobody switched to English on me. They were curious about how I learned to speak Portuguese with a Brazilian accent and usage and things just opened up from there. I was even invited to dinner.

Frustration can come in one's native language when the conversation turns into an interview instead of a conversation. Closed-end questions tend to lead to simple responses, even with my kids: Q: "How's school going?" A: "Fine". A more open-end question tends to elicit a better response which tends to draw them into actual conversation. Q: "So, why do you like Mr. Smith as a teacher?" A: "Well, Mr. Smith teaches history as a story instead of as dates and events. I like that because it helps me to see these people from long ago as real." Perhaps Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People should be recommended to learners just as often as Boris Shekhtman's How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately is.

Confidence is very underrated in language-learning. Confidence in speaking can make up for a multitude of mistakes in grammar and pronunciation. Whereas pronunciation and grammar can be worked on and solved with hard work and study. Confidence is an intangible that is hard to quantify and difficult to teach, but it's not impossible to achieve.

I'm not saying that frustration with native-speakers switching isn't a real problem, especially for native English-speakers. A certain amount of this has to be expected and dealt with due to the very real experiences many native-speakers in TL countries have with their interactions with visitors conditioning them to believe that "English-speakers/foreign tourists don't speak their language or if they do, not well enough to be useful- you have to speak English with obvious foreigners". There's also the attitude that they may want to show that they can speak English or may want to practice their English as well. The thing is, that if you do speak a language to a useful level- good pronunciation, reasonable grammar and a pleasant attitude, you won't generally have a problem, in my experience. Despite this, there will still be native-speakers who will never be convinced no matter how glibly and perfectly you may speak. You can't always control what happens to you, but you can control your reaction to it. Accept it and move on to someone who will speak with you. That's what works for me.

[LinguaPony]

If you come to Russia, most people here will be only happy not to have to speak English. They will forgive you any number of mistakes as long as you don't ask the dreaded "Do you speak English?" question.

That is, unless you run into me, my friend Nadezhda or other Russian members of this forum

I can't go anywhere in Moscow without Russian speakers immediately switching to English. And that's with me speaking only in Russian (I'm not that bad) and never switching over to English. All they do is look at us and immediately speak English, or in restaurants, give us English menus. We actually have to ask them to please give us Russian menus. "No, we have English menus" is their retort, EVERY TIME!

Well, a couple of my British friends had exactly the opposite experiences. I guess it's the same thing as with Paris.

Ever been to Saratov?

[IronMike]

Ever been to Saratov?

Not yet. But I must admit, outside of St Pete and Moscow, every other Russian city I visit, I can happily get by on only my Russian w/o fear that my interlocutor will want to switch to English.

[LinguaPony]

And what about that "dedushka" who yelled at your son for his untied shoelaces? Did he yell in English?

[jeff_lindqvist]

Confidence is very underrated in language-learning. Confidence in speaking can make up for a multitude of mistakes in grammar and pronunciation. Whereas pronunciation and grammar can be worked on and solved with hard work and study. Confidence is an intangible that is hard to quantify and difficult to teach, but it's not impossible to achieve.

This reminds me of sessions in Irish traditional music. They are semi-informal gatherings where people (of varying skill levels) play music together, and sometimes put together sets of tunes on the fly. Like a target language conversation, where the topics change randomly. Show up looking like a tourist, and you’ll be treated like one. Show up like you’re one of them and you know your stuff, and you’ll have a great time.