@0xabad1dea This was practically every conversation I had with a German when I lived there.

@0xabad1dea bless you for your patience. I have that happen to me in Italy. I speak Italian from having lived there, but I look like a northern European and some always answer me in English. I once even lied and said (in Italian) to an old lady who rented out an apartment to me, that I don't speak English. But that didn't help.

@0xabad1dea In Belgium, Dutch comes in endless Flemish dialects. On a good day it’s Dutch — on a bad day it sounds like Danish being spoken with a mouthful of waffles.

@0xabad1dea In Belgium, Dutch comes in endless Flemish dialects. On a good day it’s Dutch — on a bad day it sounds like Danish being spoken with a mouthful of waffles. 😃

@0xabad1dea A few years ago I was talking to someone on top of a mountain in Norway. She apologised for her English not being very good, so I asked where she was from: Germany. So I switched to speaking German.

Then she asked where I'm from, and I said I'm from the UK.

"I thought your accent sounded British, but then I thought, British people don't speak other languages!" She said 😅

@0xabad1dea now you *must* switch to English

@0xabad1dea and you just noticed she can speak English.

@0xabad1dea I had a work colleague who was Dutch, and when he was really tired he'd switch back to speaking Dutch without thinking. I can just about understand enough Dutch to follow someone speaking it, but I can't speak it myself, so I'd answer him back in English when that happened. This was fine until my other monolingual colleague thought he was having a stroke because half of the conversation sounded like word salad to him.

@0xabad1dea Isn't that the default for all Dutch speakers?

@0xabad1dea Achievement unlocked!

@0xabad1dea but maybe it's good for them to keep using English :)