English lessons have been obligatory in schools for decades here. I’ve heard (not sure how true that is) that this way the local dictator wanted to put some space between himself and the overlords in Moscow. AFAIK all the other communist countries were teaching Russian to their children.
Is it more spoken in Bucharest than in other large mainland European cities?
I got a strong impression that it is, although I haven’t checked the statistics.
Also, I think that the impact of tourism on English fluency is very limited—only people working directly with the tourists would be affected (waiters, guides, hotel staff, taxi drivers), and even then to a limited degree (you might master the vocabulary and grammar necessary to wait tables, but be unable to discuss the dissertation that you are writing).
English lessons have been obligatory in schools for decades here. I’ve heard (not sure how true that is) that this way the local dictator wanted to put some space between himself and the overlords in Moscow.
English lessons alone don’t result in people speaking English over their native language on a day to day basis which does happen in Berlin and Nordic countries.
Also, I think that the impact of tourism on English fluency is very limited—only people working directly with the tourists would be affected
No. Living in Berlin I do speak English with tourists in my free time. That both goes for rationalist events and for Salsa dancing.
Expats matter more then normal tourists but tourists who don’t speak German attending events is a factor for events I attend being run in English.
English lessons have been obligatory in schools for decades here. I’ve heard (not sure how true that is) that this way the local dictator wanted to put some space between himself and the overlords in Moscow. AFAIK all the other communist countries were teaching Russian to their children.
I got a strong impression that it is, although I haven’t checked the statistics.
Also, I think that the impact of tourism on English fluency is very limited—only people working directly with the tourists would be affected (waiters, guides, hotel staff, taxi drivers), and even then to a limited degree (you might master the vocabulary and grammar necessary to wait tables, but be unable to discuss the dissertation that you are writing).
English lessons alone don’t result in people speaking English over their native language on a day to day basis which does happen in Berlin and Nordic countries.
No. Living in Berlin I do speak English with tourists in my free time. That both goes for rationalist events and for Salsa dancing.
Expats matter more then normal tourists but tourists who don’t speak German attending events is a factor for events I attend being run in English.