Persuading colleagues to speak German not English

It's my third day in the office and they're all speaking English to me. I make the effort to at least start conversations in German and they tut, give that 'poor you' look and reply in English and insist we continue like that.

I suggested some sort of 'swear box' whereby anyone starting a conversation in English puts in a Euro, but again I got a weird look. And the thing is, the other Brits in the office all get spoken to in German. I feel like a second class citizen.

Any suggestions as to how resolve this?

Crosslink by admin: Germans refusing to speak German with you, How annoying is that?

sag ihnen doch einfach, dass sie deutsch mit Dir reden sollen - oder sprich Du Deutsch mit Ihnen und lass sie an Dir Englisch üben

the only thing to do is persist speaking German and make it clear to your colleagues that you need to speak German and you were not employed to help them brush up your English (in a half joking half serious sort of tone)

Put a sign up on your desk, and point to it!! Polite, and pleasant.

I had this problem as well in the beginning.
If they speak to you in English, just keep replying in German. It might take them a while, but they will eventually catch on.
If they don't get the hint, then kindly say to them that you would like them to speak German to you. If they answer that they want to practice their English, tell them that you would be more than happy to go to a coffee sometime and then they can speak English, but that at work it's all auf deutsch for you. (but only go to coffee with them if you really want to).

respond to them in German, let them talk english, but your conversation can be in german. A few of the doctors speak english with me, and I always answer in German.

This is especially fun with executive secretaries who demand on running the ship:

"Frau Schmidt, ich schätze dass Sie versuchen wollen mit mir Englisch zu sprechen und vielleicht daraus weiter mit Ihren Englischkentnissen zu kommen, aber derzeit können wir besser in Deutsch kommunizieren, meiner Meinung nach."

I had a roommate in Heidleberg tell me it was easier for her to speak English to me than German with me (I had just moved to Germany). I almost killed her - then I moved and never spoke a word of English to the people on the new dorm floor. They respected that.
Say it once (in German) then if they speak English look at them with that 'poor you' look and keep speaking German.
You could also discretely ask the nicest one why - maybe there is a reason they feel they should do this with you - then let that person know how you feel, news should spread.
Once you get them started, don't let any English slip out at all if possible, don't use an English word if you don't know the German.
But don't insult them by insunuating that their English is not as good as yours, especially if it isn't - even if it is. I doubt they are trying to be rude.

As above, let them speak English but always respond in German and they'll catch on eventually. It's the only way.

I agree with the German response. Just keep answering in German. If they persist or even question why you are speaking German then I always find that stabbing the offending colleague with a pair of scissors and ramming a number of staples into his/her forhead usually gets the message across without the requirement for further reminders

pretend not to understand English!

punch them squarely in the face

Options seem to be violence, or a war of attrition...might go for the war of attrition.

And I've just put a sign up on my desk: "German only please" - that'll learn 'em

Be direct and not polite. Germans only understand directness. Wir sind in Deutschland und ich will nur Deutsch reden. Fertig! Never speak English in the office. I have become very strict and it works. I even had problems with one specific TTer asking me words and since I said I teach English all day long and now it's evening and I want to relax, the problem stopped. Just be direct (or what we would probably describe as 'rude'). Good luck!

Show them this article from the Süddeutsche Zeitung, 30 Jan. 2006. It's about a voluntary agreement at my local elementary school that all nationalities - no matter what their mother tongue may be - are to speak German only at school.

"Man spricht Deutsch: Alles würde hier so gut passen. Aus 32 Nationen kommen die 400 Kinder, die täglich in die Schule an der Hanselmannstraße in Milbertshofen gehen. Und vor gut zwei Jahren hat sich Rektorin Ulrike Wanner in einer Konferenz mit dem Kollegium geeinigt, dass die Schüler in Zukunft untereinander nur noch Deutsch sprechen sollten. Seitdem bitten die 30 Lehrer jeden, der sich zum Beispiel auf Türkisch, Kroatisch oder Arabisch unterhält, doch bitte wieder deutsch zu sprechen."

If kids can do it, so can grown-ups. After all, we are in Germany.

Try getting the schools and day care people to NOT speak English with your kids. Threatening with a pair of safety scissors did the trick there though!
Be tough, be strong.

EDIT: Thanks for the article, byrdbrain. I have had problems with the kindergarden/hort in this area in the past and it really ticks me off.
But, in our school class I do believe only German is spoken (very few have a native language in common - Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Turkish, Italian, Thai, and English spoken at home, but not by more than two kids for any language - so German rules.

My pleasure, DDBug. I have PM'ed you the complete article. Lou was in the class of the teacher mentioned, she does a great job in a very multi-kulti part of town.

This was by far my favorite suggestion. Why don't you just say, "Look, I need to learn German and I need you to help me by speaking German to me." End of discussion. They're German, they're used to people being direct.

Edit: right, this had already been suggested. Sorry, I was too lazy to read everything.

I long for the day when everybody in Germany speaks English to me. Any advice on how to stop them speaking German to me would be fantastic.

If you really want 'em to stop sepaking English, then simply point out every single mistake they make, and explain it to them in German. Not nasty like, but make a point of acknowleding the fact that they are speaking your lingo, compliment them on their proficiency, then rip their incompetent use of your language to pieces. Should be able to cause enough offense to make them vindictively want to return the "favour" and they'll correct your krout. There we are, you win. Sort of.

My problem is that I'm in a company with 200 people, 20 of whom have English as their mother tongue. Of the 20, only 5 can speak German fluently, so us 5 get lumped in with the 15 others as 'speak only English to them'.

Yep,

just keep talking in German, refuse point blank to speak English to them, that's how I did it, it took some time, but it worked in the end

My emphasis. You're not being paid to help their English, but they're certainly not being paid to teach you German. If they look pityingly at you when you speak German, maybe your German's so terrible or such an effort, that they'd rather just get the job done -- and it's quicker in English purely because their English is better than your German.

See my longer post on the topic here

I truly understand the distinctions Gen but in hindsight I wish I would've been selfish and insisted on the German. It was/will be always easier for colleagues to speak to you in German, and at least for me social occasions with real Germans didnt present themselves so often. Hence most of my practise (outside of lessons) was either transactional or with other pidgeon deutsch expats.

I'm no better off in the office than when I first came to Germany and its my own damn fault. Part of it was laziness in not hitting the books hard enough, but the other part was not taking advantage of day to day speaking opportunities. Do I think my colleagues recall that I was being polite in deferring to their language preference? No. Do I think they think i'm an idiot for not having better language skills by now? Most Definitely Yes.

are you sure that is the (only) reason?

hahaha. no, but it doesn't help

no denying that my german is pitiful, and it is easier that they speak english to me, but part of the agreement that let me come over here on secondment was that I learn german! they even interviewed me in it (managed to steer clear of business talk and stuck to the international lanuages of football, and London house prices).

I'm sure they're using me for language practice, one of the secretaries is even trying to pronouce words like me now (neutral south-east england as opposed to the mid atlantic twang she had before).

this is going to be a long fight me thinks...

Be strong and be stubborn! Tell each person once if you must and then REFUSE to speak any english with them again - even if you don't know the word, don't revert to English. Ever. Described it instead.
Good luck

Why not? Germans do it ALL the fucking time in "business". Every 3rd bloody phrase is English.
Why Look on any jobsite, there are so many jobs called senior consultant, or project leader advertised (in German) here. I've even seen "Senior Consultant und Project Leader" advertised. They clearly see it as far more professional to use English in business, so if you speak English all the time, you are quite obviously a consummate professional in their eyes. No?

If you wanna job where you are gonna learn German, just get a job in one of the millions and millions of small construction businesses here. Can almost gurantee that you'd never get to speak a word of English, and NOBODY would ever talk to you in English either.

Nor German seeing as most brickies these days are from Poland or Romania or Bulgaria.