In which country, ppl tend to speak their native language to

In which country,ppl don't speak their native language to foreigners?
For example,Swedish don't speak Swedish to foreigners.

In which country, ppl tend to speak their native language to foreigners?

United States of Americaland

It depends on where the learner is from. For instance, in Italy they may try to speak English to an America tourist, but will probably try to communicate in a mix of Spanish and Italian to a Spanish tourist, or French and Italian with a French tourist. They will probably try English to anyone else.

In CIS countries, Russia will probably be first resort, followed by English.

In South America first resort will be Spanish, followed by Portuguese or English depending on the person. In Central America, most well off people will be comfortable with English. And so on and so forth.

"For example,Swedish don't speak Swedish to foreigners. "

-- Nope. Just say 'hej' with the proper intonation to any Swede and he answers in Swedish.
No so in Holland. Foreigners have to prove first they are perfectly fluent in Dutch before people accept to use it with them. Very frustrating IMHO.

If we speak about big areas, only in China, Latin America and former USSR speak in Chinese, Spanish and Russian respectively. That is because only a few speak English, depending on the city (out of the touristic places).

On the other hand, in India they speak to you in English because they know that foreigners don't speak Hindi, Urdu, etc.

Finally, in Arabic World they speak to you in English or other European languages. They can speak at least 3 European languages (basic level) in touristic places. Nowadays, there is an increase of foreigners that study some Arabic, but they are a few yet.

PD. In Mediterranean countries, out of touristic places, a lot of people don't speak English. So, if you go to a little town of France, Spain, Italy or Portugal, you can use better a Romance language.

>>-- Nope. Just say 'hej' with the proper intonation to any Swede and he answers in Swedish.
No so in Holland.

Speaking random phrases like "hi" would not do the trick to me.

>>Foreigners have to prove first they are perfectly fluent in Dutch before people accept to use it with them. Very frustrating IMHO.

Indeed. So I also expect this kind of fluency from myself - pronouncing every word decently, at least. You can't embarrass yourself simply by opening your mouth and speaking aloud and so antagonizing the very inner self of your foreign acquaintance.

It's ok to have loads of slips of the tongue like missing the plural, using the wrong tense, missing a vowel or two, but it can't be gibberish.

I'm Dutch and I have to say I generally answer in Dutch if I know the other person can understand it. (If I'm in my own country) Sometimes I've talks that I speak in Dutch and the other person speaks in English, Frisian or German.

The reason I tend to do this is because I can say things the right way with my native language.. This way it's not me to blame if I said something wrong. Also the other person might learn how to speak Dutch.

In other countries I'd try to speak the language of those countries.

I think all countries where English is spoken

simply because they can't speak any foreign language at all

Si alguien se me arrimara en la calle y me preguntara algo en inglés, le contestaría de manera bastante extraña. Le contestaría en serbio que es una lengua mucho más corriente. No podemos echarle la culpa a Sigmund, porque él no tiene nada que ver con lo que acaba de suceder, y aunque lo hiciéramos, nos veríamos obligados a huir a la Tierra en busca de amparo.

I have hard time understanding question... Do you mean you don't speak Sweedish to foreigners at all... even if they speak Sweedish or something close like Norweigian? Or that you assume certain people are foreign (such as an obvious group of tourists) and just assume English or whatever...

in the Czech Republic (unless its a tour group) we of course try Czech first. If the tourist, or more likely in this case a foreign resident or student, can speak Czech, we continue to speak Czech- If not I try English... after that unless they are Spanish or French people with some basic requests I usually hold my hands up shake my head and walk away...

The average (younger, below 40 something) Kongee usually tries English even if his English sucks (for me, that's a really sucky language to start with.. I'd actually second our Dutch friend's opinion about trying his/her Dutch first)

But well, Kongees are very used to the fact that hardly any foreigners get to know their language, and both sides are fine with rudimentary English. Many of them have, thus, come up with an idea that Chinese is the most difficult to learn, so we can be as forgiving as to serve others in English all the time, since it's so difficult, and for this reason people won't learn it at all (obviously, this isn't true). Even more so is the Kongee language (*some don't even recognize it as a lingo), for many of them, even more "difficult" than the average Chinese (i.e. Mandarin).

Since I agree that a language is more difficult to learn (or that its native speakers acknowledge this as a fact) when this language is weak (prone to decline owing to competition of, say, Mandarin and English), I also agree that those among us are actually admitting that their language is too weak and thus the most difficult... au monde.

But this is without a single convincing reason. While personally I'm also quite harsh about language proficiency (individually, that's just me), I must say practically (in daily life) nobody could be judged fairly with a language like this without almost ALWAYS being taken for a funny-sounding foreign learner.

To put it simply, sorry, learners, I must say my language is really darn difficult to learn. I can't even find some decent materials for you, when you want to watch Hong Kong films without difficulty, for example, since the subtitles don't correspond to what is being said very well - and perhaps also because you might be in the danger of being judged harshly, even without you noticing it. The reason is, in many cases (just like other lingoes), people won't try to correct you every time. The average Chinese Chinese is quite reserved and, without bad intentions, might usually be watching you making loads of mistakes...

In order not to be funny-sounding, tho, it does take a lot of effort. A foreign accent is graving more on the Chinese ears than on Anglophone ones, I guess. This comes down ultimately to imitating ability which... I don't think to be entirely learnable.

In Hispanic America, the people will resort to English first because that's the very first foreign language they learn first, then French, Itlaina, Portuguese and lastly German.

Lots of Hispanic Americans are conversant not just in Englishbut French too especially the elite.

In Italy and Spain the people will speak English to whoim they presume as English speakers but French to francophones.

haha, somehow I've a very hard time picturing people in Hispanic America speaking anything else than Spanish, something close to Portuguese or something close to Italian...
All people in America are alike, really, North or South, they don't know that many languages.

Isn't it usually the foreigners who first address someone they assume might be from the place and know the answer to their question? That's my experience.
So if a foreigner asks me something in a certain language, I simply try to answer in that language because I assume that's the easiest way - or perhaps the only way.
Personally, I never travel to countries without knowing at least a bit of the local language. I would just feel uncomfortable. I know that people in some countries simply do not expect anyone to learn just their "exotic" language, but quite honestly, every language is fascinating to someone!

I have met very astonished - and pleased - Swedish people with whom I, of course, conversed in Swedish although nearly all of them know English very well and I am at ease with it too. Some of them also tried a bit of the German they had learned at school. I think such encounters are encouraging.

I have also seen grannies on the island of Majorca (or Mallorca)/Spain hurrying to avoid to be spoken by me - apparently one of the numerous German tourists. And I noticed the way their faces changed when they realised that I was talking to them in Catalan. I am quite sure that they would also have been happy to be talked to in Spanish although they probably do not actively use this language in their everyday life. Just the fact of not being talked to in German or English by an arrogant tourist who simply assumes that everybody on the island must understand the language of the tourists made all the difference.

In my opinion, it is a question of politeness to try to get along in the local language first. Then people might realise that you feel uncomfortable with their language and "offer" you to speak in English or, in fact, any other language they know and assume you might understand.
Of course, you might get it wrong. I once tried Italian with a waiter at an Italian restaurant in Flemish-speaking Belgium because I realised his accent and thought that he looked like he might be Italian. He wasn't, he was Moroccan and we ended up using French instead.

I would encourage everybody to learn how to say at least the very basics in the local language. And insist on speaking that language if you have actually travelled to that country to improve! In my experience, people will appreciate it and try to help you communicate. And after a few sentences, you will notice that they actually understand you, you will be more and more at ease and speak more and more fluently... Languages and variety are soooo great!

So, just to summarise: I tend to get an answer in the language I used to ask a question and, as I said, I try to use the language commonly spoken in that place.

I don't see the point in making such a fuss about it. Just find someone who speaks English, that's what English is for these days...