Quote Originally Posted by Old_pie View Post
Just curious, and this is OT, but when any of us Brits cross the channel to go to any European country it seems to me we generally say "we are going to Europe". What do Germans (or other Europeans) say when they are going to Europe and do they distinguish going to Europe to going to the UK?
Really interesting question that and never thought about it to be honest, but thinking about it now and I can't ever remember any Germans, French etc referring to going to any European country as 'Europe', but always by the countries name although the UK was always referred to as 'England' by the Germans in particular. The times we travelled to the UK the Germans and French really didn't like to come to the UK, I guess they had pre-conceived ideas too about the UK.

Just another observation that you may find interesting, it really struck me massively when I first went across how most Europeans speak at least one other language fluently. I'm not sure if it's a reflection on our education system but it really made me feel inferior to others and it made me think how languages aren't pushed at a very early age in our schools. I started to learn German but in a city like Frankfurt most people were either fluent in English or there first language was English so it wasn't easy to practice. Although I'm back here, Even after leaving I am still learning German, French and a bit of Spanish too. I still go to Europe a lot with work and being able to understand / communicate a little makes me feel better in myself but IMO languages need to be pushed at an early age in our schools like in Europe. We often talked about it out there but as one of my Czech mates said 'The English are ****ing lazy, that's why you don't learn languages', whether that is true or not I don't know but with English being a predominant language perhaps we think there is no need to learn another language?