r/europe • u/MarktpLatz Lower Saxony (Germany) • Feb 21 '17

What do you know about... the UK?

This is the sixth part of our ongoing weekly series about the countries of Europe. You can find an overview here.

Todays country:

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The UK is the second most populous state in the EU. Famous for once being the worlds leading power, reigning over a large empire, it has recently taken the decision to exit the EU.

So, what do you know about the UK?

105 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

20

u/Slusny_Cizinec русский военный корабль, иди нахуй Feb 22 '17
  • They speak English, only English and nothing but English. It's like an oath of Englishmen, and they strictly follow it.
  • They drive on the wrong side of the road (unless it's one-way road, but I believe they are working on it).
  • They use so called imperial units, measuring roads in miles and money in pounds.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '17

They speak English, only English and nothing but English

Total myth... but we'll allow it. (At minimum french is mandatory) I speak 3 languages. My wife speaks 4. My sister speaks 3. My mother however, yes only English.

3

u/Slusny_Cizinec русский военный корабль, иди нахуй Feb 22 '17

I have only anecdotal evidence, but I know people from UK and US living here for ages (more than 5 years) and still not speaking the language other than "one beer please".

2

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '17

Yeah probably true for many (although at least they know the most important phrase eh? :D ). If they are over 40 they probably don't speak much of other languages. But I'm in my early 30s and French was mandatory. I chose to study German in addition and learned Russian as well.

the problem for us Brits is we aren't exposed to much foreign media. many of my eurofriends watch TV in English, listen to music in English etc etc but it's totally different for us. We are influenced by UK and US media only so we rarely get to speak it. But I know many English friends living in France and Spain and they speak excellent French/Spanish. Tourists on the other hand yeah they probably won't even try.

I also enjoy practicing my languages when abroad, I speak a little Dutch (well Nederlands, sorry) and enjoy using it. However, I've met a few rude parisians who look at me like WTF are you saying... what do you want... when I try to speak French yet my French colleague at work says he can understand me just fine... so many people are reluctant. But we do speak other languages :)