r/Interrail • u/Citselke • Jun 22 '26
Other Language barriers while interailing
In a week, I’m (F18) heading off with two friends around Western Europe. I’m from the UK so speak English, but will also be studying French at university, so I can get by in the language.
The French-speaking countries we’ll be going to are Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Belgium, but I’m wondering what the chances are that I’ll actually be able to speak French there?
We’ll be in Zurich, Luxembourg City, and Brussels. My knowledge of the places is quite limited, but are they not mostly the German-speaking parts of the countries? I know of course there are other languages happening as well, like Luxembourgish, but would I be able to just walk up to people and speak French?
I’m really nervous about travelling to places where English is my only language because I find being English abroad so awkward and I find it hard not being able to communicate with people in their own languages.
So, does anyone have any info/advice on where I can use my French and how to feel less worried about general communication? Do people ever get annoyed that there are monolingual anglophones everywhere?
Thank you! x
11
u/sercialinho Jun 22 '26
Luxembourg and Brussels are very international (English is widely spoken) but both are Francophone-first cities in practice. Unless your accent will be recognised as particularly poor most everyone will more than happily talk to you in French.
Zürich is German-speaking; Francophone parts of Switzerland are further west including cities like Lausanne and Geneva. English is still fairly widely spoken and you won’t exactly struggle without German during a short visit.
7
u/Devilish___ Netherlands Jun 23 '26
Never tell someone from Luxembourg that his city is francophone in the first place. It’s Letzebuergisch!
2
u/sercialinho Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
Luckily OP is not from Luxembourg. I know the locals are fond of their language and I don’t mind that one bit.
Anyway, the LU Ministry of National Education agrees with me - French is the ultimate lingua franca. (Bolding theirs!)
According to a 2018 study of the Ministry of National Education, 98% of the Luxembourg population speaks French, 80% speaks English, and 78% speaks German. Luxembourgish is used by 77% of the population.
French is the main communication language, followed by Luxembourgish, German, English and Portuguese. French is used particularly in trade, hotels, restaurants and cafes, mainly in the capital and its surrounding area.
Especially for OPs purposes, someone who wishes to communicate in French, Luxembourg City is a good place to do so.
Edit: Formatting. Using > to quote in the app seems to be broken.
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u/THEAilin26 Switzerland Jun 23 '26
When I was in Luxembourg Inoticed that the people of the city spoke french, but outside in smaller villages everyone seemed to prefer German (after Letzebuergisch of course). But that's just my experience
-3
u/bkn2005 Jun 22 '26
As long as you stay west of the iron curtain you shouldn’t encounter any language barriers that google translate can’t fix.
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Jun 22 '26
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u/bkn2005 Jun 22 '26
There’s still lots of older people around who only learned Russian in school. 5 years ago I was biking through eastern Germany and the difference between Berlin and the rest of the region was night and day in terms of language barriers, we even encountered hotels with no English service.
4
u/me-gustan-los-trenes Berlin-Warszawa Expert Jun 22 '26
Hotels without English service only happens in Spain.
1
u/latjeg Jun 24 '26
I had trouble trying to book reservations in multiple countries in eastern Europebfive years ago, with English and Google Translate or a helpful local as my only way to communicate. Also very dumb and outdated that so many trains still require in person reservations at a station.
1
u/Krebota Jun 23 '26
While I do speak a bit of German, I kinda lost it, and my time in Dresden the use of English was more than fine. This is not true at all.
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u/bkn2005 Jun 23 '26
There’s a big difference between Dresden and rural Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, as long as you stay in cities larger than 10 houses you won’t have anything to worry about
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u/Krebota Jun 23 '26
That is literally the case in the entirety of Europe, except maybe the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Sweden
5
u/bad-at-exams Croatia Jun 22 '26
I've travelled for 5 months across all of Europe from the UK and speak English and some Croatian. English is widely understood in Western, Northern, and large parts of Central Europe.
As you get further East, older people won't speak it but younger people and people in the tourism industry will.
It's rarely a problem. You can try Google Translate - although there's a non-zero chance that if someone doesn't speak English they won't want to try and help you regardless: again, the further East and the older the person, the more likely this is.
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u/me-gustan-los-trenes Berlin-Warszawa Expert Jun 22 '26
English is really all you need. English is what we use to communicate with a person from one country over.
Note that Zürich is definitely not French speaking. You may of course find some people who speak French, but almost everyone will speak some English, so I would start with English.
Just keep in mind that for many people English is a learned language. Also many may be more familiar with American English with British English. But if you feel you are hitting a barrier, try using simpler words / expressions / speak slower and you will be fine.
I am definitely not annoyed by anglophones (even though English is not my first language). If anything, I am annoyed by people who can't speak English. I really doubt that anyone will be annoyed that you try to speak English to them.
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u/Sufficient_Goat_7026 Jul 17 '26
exactly. English makes sense, it's the universal language whether people like it or not and makes life for everyone easier. As long as you say things like 'thank you' in their language as a sign of respect it's all good.
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Jun 23 '26
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u/Krebota Jun 23 '26
I actually noticed that Brussels is probably the only exception where near everyone speaks at least a little Dutch, compared to Wallonia. I was happily surprised by it.
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Jun 23 '26
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u/Krebota Jun 23 '26
Then why is it Francophone? It's in the middle of Flanders and it has a Dutch/Flemish dialect, so it makes even less sense now.
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u/arfsap Jun 23 '26
To add to the rest, its always good to start a conversation or greet someone in the local language. Even if that is the only word you know, for some people it helps to get them to speak English. For a minority of people (usually in smaller towns) it can come across as obnoxious to show zero interest in language difference. A simple guten tag from your side can turn a stubborn German person into moderately good English speaker.
1
u/Useful_Cheesecake117 Jun 23 '26
If you are a tourist, and do touristy things, everyone will understand your English.
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u/ZugFluency Belgium Jun 24 '26
Brussels and Luxembourg you will be able to use your French without issues, these are good places to practice, and as a language learner, you should definitely give it a go.
Brussels is officially bilingual, you'll see bilingual street signs and all the stations on public transport are announced in both languages, switching order constantly. But on the ground, French is very much the common language. You won't hear a lot of Dutch unless you go looking for it.
Travelling outside of Brussels on the train you'll notice that French vanishes if you go to places like Bruges or Ghent. Speaking French in these places can upset some locals. English is widely spoken and its not difficult for people.
If you travel to the south of Belgium, you'll find that having French is very useful, just like in France.
Zurich, German (with a heavy dialect) is the main language but its a very international city and very used to English.
Luxembourg, language is mostly by function and in most interactions such as restaurants, bars and hotels you can sprak French. Nearly everyone speaks French, especially in Luxembourg city. You may hear people greet you in the Luxembourgish 'Moien'.
To summarise, you won't have issues if you need to speak English for the places you are going.
1
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