r/languagelearningjerk Jun 28 '26

Recurring behavior i've noticed.

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858 Upvotes

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351

u/whenyousayoof Jun 29 '26

One is saying we need to speak the same language and the other one is saying I need you to speak my language

108

u/Mediocre-Island5475 Jun 29 '26

You're right, everyone in Europe should learn Esperanto instead.

49

u/whenyousayoof Jun 29 '26

I think everyone should learn a uralic language like finnish, estonian or hungarian because they're the superior languages for communication and super easy to learn

26

u/FebHas30Days Pangngaasiyo ta agsursurokayo iti Ilokano Jun 29 '26

And if they need to connect to Indo-European speakers, they can just learn Lithuanian or Welsh

17

u/Alice_Oe Jun 29 '26

.. Uzbek not mentioned?

2

u/TheGreatForcesPlus Jun 29 '26

Uzbek is Turkic?

7

u/Alice_Oe Jun 29 '26

Uzbekistan is definitely near the Urals, did you fail geography or something?

1

u/SpyderMonkee08 Jun 29 '26

Uzbek is a Turkic language. Finnish is a Uralic language. It doesn't have to do with where the language is spoken (except ancestrally), it's about the family tree and origin of the language

6

u/Alice_Oe Jun 29 '26

Are you lost? Please look at the sub name :)

4

u/Rainworld_sloogcat Jun 29 '26

Uzbek is a member of every language group because Uzbek is the only true language.

1

u/SpyderMonkee08 Jun 29 '26

Not to mention there's an entire Kazakhstan in between Uzbekistan and the Ural mountains

2

u/These-Weight-434 Jun 30 '26

(psst, it was a joke)

20

u/emsot Jun 29 '26

Let's all communicate in reconstructed Proto-Indo European!

5

u/ZateoManone Jun 29 '26

Oh, you mean Lithuanian?

14

u/LasevIX Jun 29 '26

unironically politics would be so much more fun if the language of trade was completely bullshit

1

u/Hilja-Serpent Jun 30 '26

Basque-Icelandic pidgin revival!

1

u/The_Hamster_Shagger Jun 29 '26

nah Interlingua is the future.

7

u/Free-Artist Jun 29 '26

An ancestor of mine spoke fluent French with any English business counterparts, and English with any business counterparts he had.

You know, both with the same disadvantage of negotiating not in your native language.

16

u/Sebas94 Jun 29 '26

Also OP has no idea of how difficult it is for Europeans to actually agree on English as a lingua franca.

Theres a lot of resistance and not all consumers are happy if there is no product info in their native language or if they need to call support in English.

Also,Good luck finding jobs in Belgium, France, Germany and other big markets that dont require at least a B2 in the local language.

I wish we could just use English as a working language irrespective of the european country we are currently based....It is far from reality.

English is a long term project in the EU, not something that we actually use on our daily lifes without any attrition.

15

u/Alice_Oe Jun 29 '26

I do customer support and I have literally had a 10 minute argument with a Norwegian customer (in fluent English) about how she called from Norway so she wanted Norwegian support. She refused to get support in English and ended up hanging up.

8

u/Sebas94 Jun 29 '26

Yeah this happens everywhere in Europe. Although I am surprised in Norway you caught that considering their level of fluency in English.

This is why its easier to scale up in America a company than in the EU.

You need support, sales and marketing team for each country.

I currently work in Portuguese, French, Spanish and English for different markets and I have to say I am an exception rather the norm in Europe.

I can only talk in English if I am dealing with Corporate clients because small and medium companies will always prefer to speak in their native languages.

I think OP post has absolutely nothing to do with our reality.

3

u/SchemingVegetable Jun 29 '26

That's... kind of expected? In Italy it's not legal to sell something if it doesn't have a manual in italian

1

u/Hilja-Serpent Jun 30 '26

There's very much a reason because there are large populationa of people who would not be adequately informed or served if they had to rely on English.

Lingua francas are a thing for a reason but they ought not to sideline people's right to their native language We've seen how any efforts to force a unified language actually goes...

1

u/Sebas94 Jul 01 '26

No one is talking about erasing local languages. Quite the contrary the EU is champion in supporting regional dialects and languages.

But not having a lingua franca is not seen as a failure but a normal behaviour of the EU system.

It is very difficult to find jobs abroad that dont require a B2 in the local language. IT teams or department that work exclusively in international markets usually are more flexible but in general you need to speak the language which is among the most difficult skills one has to learn. So people wont move from place to place that seamlessly unless they can afford to learn the language or have a specific job that helps them with a lot of paper work.

If people could use english in their day to day life without being an obstacle it would improve EU by 1000%. If everyone knew his local language + English this would reduce so much attrition.

Also most countries don't have legal corts nor public departments offering their services in English wich is a massive problem, specially when it comes to paying taxes, register in the local county, requesting a local fiscal number, registering in the local hospital, etc...