Even if you can work and get by in english, you should still learn the native language. At least here in Finland you can’t fully become part of the society unless you speak finnish or swedish. It doesn’t mean you need to be immediately proficient though, but if you don’t put any effort into it, you can ever only scratch the surface of the country.
As a personal anecdote, it is also incredibly rude to travel into places and expect them to cater to your culture at the expense of their own, just because yours spread wider. Doesn’t matter who or where - if you plan to stay permanently or even just long-time somewhere, be prepared to learn the local language(s)
Sorry for derailing! I’ve just seen a bit too many optimistic “oh you’ll do fine with only english” takes around (not just on lemmy) which I find misleading and in the need of a disclaimer
Yeah you can indeed get by, but essentially the longer you stay, the more issues you will face. It’s easy if it’s just stuff like going to a restaurant or your work, but trying to make friends that are not other immigrants? Dealing with the official bureaucracy hell? Just always being the outsider in every situation with the natives? There’s plenty of stuff you might not notice in the beginning but can be trouble later on
I totally agree. I feel sorry for these people, and I’m trying hard not to look down on them because I can understand that learning languages can be difficult.
Yeah but the country as a whole isn’t all that willing to accomodate non-German speakers, at least compared to the above mentioned.
Even if you can work and get by in english, you should still learn the native language. At least here in Finland you can’t fully become part of the society unless you speak finnish or swedish. It doesn’t mean you need to be immediately proficient though, but if you don’t put any effort into it, you can ever only scratch the surface of the country.
As a personal anecdote, it is also incredibly rude to travel into places and expect them to cater to your culture at the expense of their own, just because yours spread wider. Doesn’t matter who or where - if you plan to stay permanently or even just long-time somewhere, be prepared to learn the local language(s)
I get that, but the tenor of this thread is finding work.
Sorry for derailing! I’ve just seen a bit too many optimistic “oh you’ll do fine with only english” takes around (not just on lemmy) which I find misleading and in the need of a disclaimer
Sadly, it’s true for some foreigners as long as they stay in Helsinki.
Yeah you can indeed get by, but essentially the longer you stay, the more issues you will face. It’s easy if it’s just stuff like going to a restaurant or your work, but trying to make friends that are not other immigrants? Dealing with the official bureaucracy hell? Just always being the outsider in every situation with the natives? There’s plenty of stuff you might not notice in the beginning but can be trouble later on
I totally agree. I feel sorry for these people, and I’m trying hard not to look down on them because I can understand that learning languages can be difficult.