In which European countries would an English only person have no trouble communicating?

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GPapenburg

During my time as soldier in the German army I have spent three years at the military NATO Headquarters in Mons/Belgium working with comrades of all NATO countries. I therefore can pretty well assess the language capabilities of the western European countries.

I would consider all Scandinavian nations, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the Dutch speaking part of Belgium the best to communicate in the English language without problems.

As having an average knowledge of the English language I would name Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and the German speaking part of Switzerland and Northern Italy.

Below average are Belgium (France speaking part), France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey.

Why this assessment?

The Northern and Central European countries to include Great Britain and Ireland have the same Germanic language roots. It is much easier to learn English having a Germanic mother language than it is for the countries having Romance language roots.

Why the difference between nordic languages or Dutch speaking language countries and German speaking countries?

The German television broadcasts all foreign movies overdubbed with the German language. The Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway don't do that but broadcast the movies in their original language and add national subtitles. Since movies in the English language are still mostly seen the people of above mentioned countries are able to learn English by watching TV and therefore are much better able to pronounce the English terms than German speaking countries.

I have no practical experience how the former Eastern European countries are performing since I am of older age and during my military service we still had the iron curtain but I can assume that it will be the same. Countries of Germanic roots are better off speaking English than countries of Romanic or Slavic roots.

This is a general assessment only and it is not my intend to offend anybody by my statements. There are certainly many excellent English cummunicators in Romanic or Slavic language countries, too.

Younger people are more often able to cummunicate in English because of their better education. In my country, Germany, you will still find a lot of people of older age above 60 years who have not learned English at school at all since they have attended a secondary school and started their occupational training combined with a vocational school at an age of 14 years without having had any English language lesson and I guess that can be assumed for Eastern Europe countries, too.

So if you are traveling through Europe today and need information approach younger people, they'll be certainly able to help you.

If you should however plan to stay in a European country for good you should either learn their language or go to the United Kingdom or Ireland.

Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubbing_(filmmaking)#Europe

dart

England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland. Wait. I take that back. Scotland can be quite a challange! As can downtown London!

Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland are famous for having lots of people who are fluent in many languages. You'll find English Speakers, in those countries.

Lots of people who are fluent in English in the German countries...And you shouldn't have too much trouble in most of the other countries, at least, you'll find ways to communicate, if you are only traveling for short periods...you'll really want to learn the language if you plan to spend extended periods in any country.

You should also learn a few phrases in every country you are going to. It's really not difficult to learn how to say Hello, goodbye, please and thank you, How much, and where is? in a bunch of languages.

What sort of traveling are you planning?

jess b. simple

1- United Kingdom and Ireland
2- Netherlands and Germany (not the rural parts)
3- Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark (again not the rural parts)
4- Touristic regions and urban parts of Turkey, Greece, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Croatia
5- Dutch speaking regions of Belgium (and Brussels to a certain extent)

added:

Daforce, as a matter of fact, I'm living in Europe.
Whenever I go to Germany (big cities generally, like Berlin and Frankfurt), I speak English with them. We communicate as good as it gets. In my answer I said Germany but in the paranthesis I also added "not the rural parts". So, I belive my answer is accurate. I guess you should re-evaluate your research. Because in big cities in Germany, an English person will have no trouble communicating.

Jim R

Netherlands, German cities, Slovenia in the cities and anywhere toruisty I guess. Coastal Spain is heavily english speaking.

Crogiolo dei Mondi

German and Scandinavian people have a very good English level...

Debra G

The United Kingdom of Great Britain would be my first choice.

richrozwalka

And don't forget England, Amsterdam, Belgium. I was stationed in Germany for 5 years and found that most places have english speaking people.

Daforce

jess b. simple>Have you ever been to europe?

It is commonly known across europe that Germany has big problems with english as they dub their movies. i personally study with about 50 young Germans in Denmark, and i would not rate Germans much higher then french people, or spanish for that matter.

1. The english speaking countries (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales)
2. Holland, Denmark and Sweden.
3. Norway, Finland.
4-5 Most of eastern europe,together with Germany
6 France, Spain and Italy.

Maria I

Romania is a copuntry where a lot of people speak english as a second language

Smoke da Bong

English only person would have no trouble communicating only in the english speaking countries therefore:
United Kingdom & Ireland

Here are some other countries with a good english speaking population percentage:

Netherlands
Sweden
Denmark
Malta

Hardhat

There is a difference between a country having "English-speaking personnel" and people who speak English.

Here is a list -- best to worst

A. Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Holland
B. Norway, Estonia. Latvia
C. Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland
D. Spain, Portugal, Italy
E. Greece, the Czech Republic, etc.

Well, roughly in that order. Generally, hotels, restaurants, etc.
always have somebody who speaks English. I am talking about
talking on the street.

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