Mycernius
The Hairy Wookie
Just a curious question that came to me today. As some of you might know I am a lorry driver. The company I haul for is sub-contracted to a Swedish/German company, hence we get a lot of European drivers delivering or picking up. I also find the same at the larger companies I deliever to. I am often struck by how Danish and Dutch drivers invarible speak good English. Yet German and Fench drivers either speak very little English or none at all. The Belgian drivers seem to fit in between the two. The same goes for european tourists. If they are from Scandinavia, The Netherlands, Denmark and greece the English is very good or they can speak it with some proficency. Yet the same cannot really be said for French, German, Spanish and Italian tourists. Why is this? Are there differences in the way English is taught in these countries? I would have thought The Dutch and Danes would be better off speaking good German, as that is the nearest country to them and German is probably closer the their languages than English.