Germanic people incline to speak English towards foreigners?

Question

I was told that, Germanic people (Germans, Dutches, Swedes, Dane, Norwegians) generally tend to talk in English with those foreigners who can actually speak Germanic languages. I mean that, if sombody can speak German fairly well, a native German still like to talk with him in English, and so do the other Germanic people such as Dutches, Swedes, Norwegians and Dane. Is that really true or false? Does it mean that it would be less useful to learn a Germanic language, such as German, Dutch, or Swedish, because they can speak good English?

Thank you very much!

Answer 1

I've known some German people and this is what they've told me. Most not all mind you but most do it because if make them feel superior. They take offense to most foreigners accents when speaking German so speak english because it makes us have to decipher their accents.

Answer 2

I mean Rosetta Stone still has all of these languages: Dutch, Swedish, etc. so no losing hope there, it's not pointless. Who said you can't switch between languages or wear one color shoe on one foot and another color on the other, etc lol

Answer 3

It's probably easier for people who speak Germanic languages to use English as a 'lingua franca' rather than speak to each other in their respective languages and more or less not quite understand each other. Just like Anglo-Saxon and Norse speakers in England pre-Norman Conquest.

A German for instance is most likely to have English as a second language unless they live near the Dutch border or the Danish border in which case they probably speak either of those languages as well. Some Germans living in North Germany speak a variant known as 'Platt' which is more like Dutch and older German people living in the Ostfriesen Islands speak Frisian which is more like Anglo-Saxon and virtually incomprehensible to modern German speakers...

Answer 4

Well. If you knew English and Spanish both fluently, and someone that spoke both Spanish and English fluently came to the US, would you prefer to speak English or Spanish? Of course, you'd choose Spanish because it is not something you get to use all the time. The same goes for those living elsewhere that speak different languages.

Answer 5

I assume many of us Germans do that just to be polite or because they like to speak English. But I don't think it would be less useful to learn German because it will be easier to meet Germans when you speak our language.