hi guys,
Ive been in argue with a friend of mine saying truckers dont speak other language than mother tongue. I oppose thought absolute most of them speak english or german or french at at least such a level as to be able to buy something and ask for direction.
what do you think? what languages do you speak? at least the one of country you usually run?
Ok I am only fluent in English, but I speak enough French German & Spanish to get directions, order food, get drunk, and generaly get on with life. I can gereraly converse with the customer I am delivering to. However I cannot have a proper conversation…I travel through too many countries to speak all there languages, at least 10 diferent languages that I can think of so it would be inpracticle for me to be fluent in all of them, the only nationalities that are very good with languages tend to come from countries where their own language is hard to learn Dutch Danish etc for example.
Even in countries where I can´t speak their language I can say please, thank you, hello and goodbye, I make it my buiseness to know left, right, straight on, and how to ask for directions
Apart from English my German is pretty good, enough to listen to the radio and understand it, read the paper, make phone calls and hold conversations on topics other than truck/transport related topics as well as the usual stuff such as getting directions ordering food etc.
I don’t speak more than a few words of Dutch but can understand a fair bit as some of it is not unlike German
French, Spanish and Italian is limited to directions and getting fed. 
Oh yes and also enough to be polite as that works wonders.
uno cerveza por favor? ein pils bitte, birra per favore? un biere sil vous plait? et un chambre por la nuit avec votre frere( i hope thats sister and not brother!!). i can also say voulez vous couchez avec moi cest soir… 
. apart from that i can get by in french/german/ italian/spanish. a LONG way from fluent but i have two movable hands and can draw pictures! i find that if you at least make an effort to sprechen de lingo the locals will try and be friendly back. the dutch in my opinion speak excellent english- i speak no dutch!!
JONBOY@RH:
uno cerveza por favor? ein pils bitte, birra per favore? un biere s`il vous plait? et un chambre por la nuit avec votre frere( i hope thats sister and not brother!!).
Im afraid to say jonboy frere means brother souer is sister
I wonder what the rest of it meant 
I can order beer and food in 18 languages, use the language to be polite in German, French and Dutch.
I can certainly hold some sort of conversation as long as it involves trucker speak and directions.
I hate anyone who wont try to speak the countrys language and become abusive to them.
I think that truck drivers learn a universal language mixing bits of each but being totally fluent. If you go through a border and deal with the customs or guards they too use this language. I drove for a German company and found it hard to learn in the office because they all try to improve their English from us.
If you were out on the road or weekended you had to try harder if you met a company driver.
I feel sorry for all these Euro Truckers who come to UK though as no one will try to speak to them in their mother tongue.
I have seen a driver sat out in the yard because no one will help him cos he is french
So, do you have homosexual tendances then Jonboy 
Not that thats a problem of course, just being nosey .
I can hold a limited conversation in German and can get by in French and Italian. I also know how to get directions and mind my manners, etc in Spanish and have a few phrases in Flemish (which will do in Belgium and Holland). I’ve also got a small electronic translator, which has about 10,000 words in each of 6 or 7 languages (including English).
Like Jimti, I can’t seem to learn one language, after all a trip to Italy can mean 2 - 3 days down through France (much the same to Spain), 3 or 4 days, maybe longer, in Italy or Spain and then another couple of days back up through France, (say 4 days in France plus 3 days tipping and loading). Which language should be your priority?
I also dispair of the people who will not even make an effort to learn please n thanks in a few languages. Even that little makes a difference.
well done karl you spotted my deliberate mistake
Nice save Jonboy. 
simon. i`m sure theres a picture of you on this site somewhere wearing a skirt… you do look sweet . are YOU an uphill paddler too?
GGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrr…
I forgot about that.
ha ha ha i love it when you get angry
i have a universal tool for ordering food in any language …my index finger
then 1st 2 fingers & thumb rubbed together usually means how much
but seriously I can order food /drink, get directions, ask the time, “how are you” in most if not all euro languages & after a trip to Russia last year I can utter a few pleasantries in russian also.
But as someone else pointed out here you I travelled thru to many countries to learn them all, so i stuck to the ones I wanted to learn more, Spanish Italian & german, bit o french.
what is funny when you get ■■■■■■ with a variety of drivers you start speaking in “mixed langauge”, which is funny as hell
I am absolutely ashamed that after living here in the Flemish part of Belgium for more than five years my Dutch is no better than when I drove for a Dutch firm for three years,and that was ten years ago!
But I have picked up enough to get me by and order a meal in a restaurant and have a basic conversation with someone,as long as they don’t talk too fast.
The problem I have is the different accents in Belgium and Holland,in fact I can understand a Dutchman better than a Belgian!
I can usually get by with a bit of French,but my German and Italian is better and my Swedish is very basic.
However,my Belgian missus can speak excellent English now,and can swear at me like a good’un
What are you doing wrong then KW? surely you don’t do things to upset your other half 
Wrong? WRONG?? I’m a bloke,I never do anything wrong!!
met a trucker once in germany…said he only eats in Mc donalds cos all the menu was in pictures…good ere innit
have a nice day
As Union Jack says, sign language works wonders.
I heard a story some years ago about an English driver who worked for a continental firm ( from where I don’t know).
In his left hook truck,foreign no. plates etc. he was delivering to the North of England somewhere.
As he got out of his truck, he was subject to a barrage of expletives from the loading bay staff.
Basically, they were saying nasty things about his mother and father,while giving the impression they were trying to help him.
The driver in question did not say a word, acting dumb ,nodding and laughing.
After he had tipped, he went to the transport office,to collect his paperwork.
The joke about the dumb trucker had obviously spread like wildfire.
As he was handed his notes,a couple of the loading bay staff AND the transport manager swore at him,doubted his origin at birth and generally mocked him,all in pleasant tones,with laughter, as if being friendly.
The driver’s last comment ?
"Cheers for all the compliments lads, see you next week ! "
Pins dropping and red faces spring to mind !
As I said, this was a true story.
Many years ago, when foreign trucks on our roads were just a twinkling in our Governments eyes
Niall.
That works in Germany as well, couple or three times I have had a similar sort of treatment because the German people I was dealing with assumed I didn’t understand them, they were wrong and very embarrassed when they discovered I did.
On another occasion it back fired on myself and a couple of mates. We were in Dusseldorf and went into a bar and ordered drinks in German, ordered food in German and any other drinks order was in German. We sat at the bar and there were one or two comments, OK more than one or two, about the very attractive young lady behind the bar, especially when she bent over to retrieve anything from the bottom shelf, a very nice sight indeed. At the end of the night we settled the bill, again only speaking German, and took our leave with a cheery auf weidersehen, whereupon she said “thanks lads, call again,” in perfect English. Well it would be perfect English, she was from Nottingham.
besides speaking english wich is my mother tounge i can also get by in two other languages these are german and turkish having lived in germany and the trnc both as a child and an adult