Is English the mutual language between Euro players from differing countries?

[arnaldo]

Just watched the 1000-point 14.1 challenge match between Niels and Stephan Cohen (generously youtubed by Dennis Walsh):
Day one: http://youtu.be/i-iPbE6H1F8
Day two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjMvE7Asxns

. . . and I'm just curious if anyone happens to know: do Niels and Stephan generally communicate by speaking English to each other?

Same question has occurred to me re: Stephan and other top French players verbally communicating with German players in European 9-ball and 14.1 tournaments.

They all speak very good English as do some of the top Italian players and players from Spain, so I wondered: is English is frequently the mutual language between players in such tournaments held within continental Europe?

Might also apply as to communicating when Europeans play in Asian tournaments and vice versa?

Arnaldo

 

[dnschmidt]

This is completely normal. There are 40 languages spoken in Europe and nobody can possibly learn all of them. The way it works is that they learn their native language in school plus English.

During my working career I worked for a French-Italian company STMicroelectronics. ST employed people from all over the world and it would be not uncommon for an engineer from France to be talking with an engineer from Germany. The Frenchman didn't know German and the German didn't know French but they both knew English. This is the only way it can all work. If each state of the United States spoke it's own unique language, which is pretty much a description of Europe, we would need to do something similar.

 

[Poolmanis]

Yea. English is used worldwide. Even we Finnish use normally English when talking with Swedish people. Swedish is Finland second official language and we have to learn it also at school...

 

[macguy]

This is completely normal. There are 40 languages spoken in Europe and nobody can possibly learn all of them. The way it works is that they learn their native language in school plus English.

During my working career I worked for a French-Italian company STMicroelectronics. ST employed people from all over the world and it would be not uncommon for an engineer from France to be talking with an engineer from Germany. The Frenchman didn't know German and the German didn't know French but they both knew English. This is the only way it can all work. If each state of the United States spoke it's own unique language, which is pretty much a description of Europe, we would need to do something similar.

Thats my experience, the younger people can all speak English. I was playing in a pool room in the Netherlands and when they learned we were American everybody in the room switched to English to make us feel comfortable.

My wife and I used to go to Europe for months at a time. Just traveling around in rental cars going where ever we wanted. It is sad now, I would be afraid to do that today. We used to think nothing of it.

 

[KRJ]

Thats my experience, the younger people can all speak English. I was playing in a pool room in the Netherlands and when they learned we were American everybody in the room switched to English to make us feel comfortable.

My wife and I used to go to Europe for months at a time. Just traveling around in rental cars going where ever we wanted. It is sad now, I would be afraid to do that today. We used to think nothing of it.

Why would you be afraid to do that today? The crime rate is still very low, heck, the city of Chicago has as many murders as the entire country of Germany. That's one city in the US, verse an entire country that has 25 times the population as Chicago.

 

[macguy]

Why would you be afraid to do that today? The crime rate is still very low, heck, the city of Chicago has as many murders as the entire country of Germany. That's one city in the US, verse an entire country that has 25 times the population as Chicago.

I would not go wandering around many US cities in the middle of the night but in Europe I thought nothing of it. We may be wandering around Paris at 3 am walking to our hotel and not give it a second thought. I felt safer in Europe then in the US. Today I do not feel that way especially as an American.
Thats just how I feel.

 

[arnaldo]

I was playing in a pool room in the Netherlands and when they learned we were American everybody in the room switched to English to make us feel comfortable.

That is so beautiful, Mac. It perfectly captures the essential niceness, civility, hospitality, and decency of these wonderful Netherlands folks. I had the same experience all over Denmark as well, when I traveled around Europe, always stopping to play some pool in all the countries I visited in the mid-1990s.

Arnaldo

 

[Black-Balled]

I worked in dc and quite a few people there speak English.

 

[KRJ]

I would not go wandering around many US cities in the middle of the night but in Europe I thought nothing of it. We may be wandering around Paris at 3 am walking to our hotel and not give it a second thought. I felt safer in Europe then in the US. Today I do not feel that way especially as an American.
Thats just how I feel.

What has changed exactly? you have not answered the question. you could still walk around paris or berlin at 3am. oh, because you are believing the MSM that everyone hates Americans... how silly.

 

[gehawe]

English is THE language in Europe, that's for sure.
As a rule of thump: The smaller the European country, the better they speak English.

The bigger countries like Germany, France, Spain and Italy are still lagging a bit behind, but Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Finnland, Belgium and so on are very strong in English.

Partially because the smaller countries (by headcount) don't bother to synchronize their films for television in the local language. Also at university, many school books are used in English language. Exception: Portugal (they use Brazilian films).

... and the crime rate is indeed a bit smaller. :thumbup:

Best regards from a tiny country

Gerhard

 

[arnaldo]

English is THE language in Europe, that's for sure.
As a rule of thump: The smaller the European country, the better they speak English.

The bigger countries like Germany, France, Spain and Italy are still lagging a bit behind, but Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Finnland, Belgium and so on are very strong in English.

Partially because the smaller countries (by headcount) don't bother to synchronize their films for television in the local language. Also at university, many school books are used in English language. Exception: Portugal (they use Brazilian films).

... and the crime rate is indeed a bit smaller. :thumbup:

Best regards from a tiny country

Gerhard

-------------------------------------------------------
Thanks Gerhard for providing these very informative insights and the social/cultural reasons behind them.

Arnaldo

 

[bdorman]

If each state of the United States spoke it's own unique language, which is pretty much a description of Europe, we would need to do something similar.

Each region of the US has it's own language. I need an interpreter when I visit Nawlins and Bosstin. No one can understand Queens, New Yawk.

 

[pt109]

What has changed exactly? you have not answered the question. you could still walk around paris or berlin at 3am. oh, because you are believing the MSM that everyone hates Americans... how silly.

Something has changed in the big cities, RJ.

In the 80s, London UK felt as safe as my hometown...and it was pretty clean..
...by 1995, it was much messier, and I had to walk with an attitude...you know...
...letting them know there were easier pickings.

 

[ctyhntr]

Apparently the folks at Duffel blog feels the same as you do, and came up with this...

FORT MCCLELLAN, Ala. – The United States Marine Corps is poised to resurrect its legendary Code Talker Program by attaching several native Alabamians to Marine infantry units currently deployed to Afghanistan, sources have confirmed.

“Ahm jus’ tickled as a dern coon in ah ‘shine bucket!” hooted Pfc. Bobby Joe Carson. “Bout to hitch ah scoot ta that there whachacallit Ganderstan an hand out a hidin’ ta thems Towelie-bans.”

Made famous in the Pacific Theater of World War Two, the original Code Talkers used the Navajo language as a form of encrypted communication during a number of critical engagements. The use of Navajo was an exercise in wartime ingenuity that kept the Japanese guessing and saved countless American lives. With so many of America’s modern enemies taking the time to learn English, the call was again sounded for American citizens who speak their own indecipherable dialects.

“Cain’t never coulda seent this kinda catawampus ‘bout the way I talked ma words out,” Carson marveled. “Used ta be them Yankee fancy talkers’d get madder’n a wet hen ‘bout the way I talked and that’d just dill my pickle sumthin’ fierce.”

Military Intelligence specialists have worked for several months with a handful of America’s most incomprehensible citizens to ensure their smooth integration into the Marine Corps. They have also undertaken the laborious task of training specialized linguists to decipher the new Code Talker transmissions.

The program has overcome a series of serious hurdles, including complaints from Equal Opportunity offices over the Code Talkers’ frequent utilization of homophobic slurs and the N-word.

“Who are we to impose our cultural norms on these proud people?” Maj. William Thompson, the Intelligence Liaison for the Code Talkers asked in response to the criticism. “If their only way to describe the night sky is ‘negro freckles,’ who are we to judge 200 years of social evolution?”

Further complications arose early in the program when officers realized that the Code Talkers simply did not have words for mission-critical vocabulary such as “GPS,” “computer” or “integration.” Fortunately, once the terms were explained, dialectic equivalencies were generated. “Spaceship maps,” “boring televisions” and “the devil’s work,” respectively.

“I’m plumb si-gogglin’ rightch yonder dem goldern peckerwood airish in tha poke oh flower wit them wharf rats,” asserted Carson. “Roll Tide!”


Read more: http://www.duffelblog.com/2015/03/usmc-deploys-alabamian-code-talkers/#ixzz3WGwAUEJN

Each region of the US has it's own language. I need an interpreter when I visit Nawlins and Bosstin. No one can understand Queens, New Yawk.

 

[Ron Swanson]

Something has changed in the big cities, RJ.

In the 80s, London UK felt as safe as my hometown...and it was pretty clean..
...by 1995, it was much messier, and I had to walk with an attitude...you know...
...letting them know there were easier pickings.

I'm sorry but crime rates have been falling in the UK for decades. You were FAR more likely to be a victim of crime in the 80s than you are today.

The fear of crime has gone through the roof, however...

 

[Ron Swanson]

I would not go wandering around many US cities in the middle of the night but in Europe I thought nothing of it. We may be wandering around Paris at 3 am walking to our hotel and not give it a second thought. I felt safer in Europe then in the US. Today I do not feel that way especially as an American.
Thats just how I feel.

I find myself asking again, what ARE you on about?

 

[bdorman]

English usage in Europe is just another thing to p*ss off the French

 

[GaryB]

Over 50 years ago when I went to Germany for the 1st time while in the Army when I wanted to try my meager German out while off base all of the Germans wanted to practice their English on me. My wife and I went to Germany regularly for over 20 years and always felt safe but we mostly avoided the big cities which I feel are less safe then they were decades ago. English as mentioned previously seems to be a 2nd language through out most of Europe.

 

[erriep]

you could still walk around paris or berlin at 3am

About Paris, i know some areas where i wouldn't walk alone at 3am ... except , perhaps,when you wanna try to buy crack , at your own risk ... (meth is almost unknown in France, crack -and other drugs- is a problem in some areas of Paris, for a while)
ok , those aren't the most popular areas of Paris , but i can't say than 100% of Paris is safe at 3am... even the police/army survey & protection is severely increased since the recent terrorist attacks.

When it comes to personnal safety/protection/rights, there is a little difference between the "old world" and the "new world" : in Europe, firearms are prohibited , and to wear any kind of weapon (like knives, tonfas, nunchakus ...) is a severe offence in almost all the european countries.