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[TobiasK]

BY Brad- | April 7th, 2010 at 11:32 PM
Language Barriers: Gaming in Foreign Countries

I spent a good 6 months in Europe doing programs in almost 30 countries.

A question people always ask is, “Well does everyone speak English, how does that work?”

Well of course the programs are in English, but talking to the girls is another issue in and of itself.

I have found that a lot of non-English speaking guys run into some interesting problems, so I thought that I would highlight a few of them for the foreign crew we got in our consumer base.

The first problem guys encounter is if they are in a foreign country and have a some what proficient understanding of the native language.

I remember when I was in Paris, I had a client who was Austrian, knew English well, and had been studying French so was fairly fluent in French as well. The problem he kept running into was that when we were out in Paris, he would switch into French if the girl didn’t know English well.

It’s definitely a case by case basis, but can you see the dilemma. Who is in their head and who is outside their head? Who is reacting to who?

It may seem counter-intuitive but sometimes it is almost more beneficial to continue using the language that you are more familiar with even if the girl can barely understand you because it forces her to think more. It also gets her investing in the interaction.

When I was traveling around with my assistants and other RSD alumni through Europe, even when we were in countries where they knew the native language, a lot of times they would still speak in English because of how it made the girl respond.

Another interesting dynamic that I have noticed takes place in the Scandinavian countries.

The girls there are so notorious for hooking up with the “wandering nomad”, the guy just traveling through town for the weekend, that local guys will speak to the girls in English, pretending to be travelers.

I remember heading back to a girl’s place in Stockholm, and as we were about to jump in bed she said, “You know what the best part about you is? You’re leaving tomorrow!”

Nice.

Most Swedes and Norwegians I meet have perfect English, so it is pretty easy for the guy to pull off being a foreigner, but girls have caught on too. I remember being in Oslo when a girl would not stop talking to me in Norwegian, it wasn’t until I pulled out my US passport that she embarrassingly started talking to me in English.

I guess not a lot of insight in that one, but realize that you just need to get to Scandinavia, because those girls are DOWN!

Here’s another one.

I’ve noticed that since a lot of guys where their native language isn’t English, study the RSD material and other self help stuff in Enlgish, and almost develop a second identity. They have so many negative anchors with their old self, and they attach their native language to that old identity and only feel like they can be the new high value “player” guy when speaking English.

I’ve heard MANY guys say, well it just sounds cooler in English. Maybe so, but I have heard many times that English is an ugly language, so my guess is that it is the former argument, and not the latter.

Other issues are that the little RSD one liners sometimes do not translate well into the foreign language. Like the classic, “You’re cute.”

From talking to many German dudes, and having German girls call me this, the best translation I have found is cute= suss. Or however you spell it.

In Spanish, “Es guapa.”

That’s as far as my translations go. Heh.

Another problem that I ran into in EVERY new country was this self doubt that the girl wouldn’t know English. But over and over again I found it to be a non-issue.

It is such a universal language in most of the civilized countries that you shouldn’t have any problems.

That doesn’t mean that I still don’t get that same issue when I go to another country. I remember when I was in the Dominican Republic, it was the same thing all over again.

Those thoughts come into your head. “Is she even going to be able to understand me? What then?”

Whatever the self doubt, it is there and hinders your ability to hit the set hard, 100% belief. You just have to push through that first set, prove it to yourself.

It is even harder because usually before I go out, you are interacting with restaurant staff, transportation, and hotel people, which usually never have the best grasp of a second language, so it reinforces your fears.

But you have to realize that the people that are going out, that can afford to go out and buy 10-20 dollar drinks at a night club, are usually educated people that all have a firm grasp of English.

So when I hear guys saying that they are having problems in Europe because no girl speaks English, realize, more than anything it is usually just a basic autopilot screening tactic by the girls.

My opener usually runs like this…

ME: AY! You’re cute…

GIRL: Jahjahgrgrhajah

ME: You’re cute!

GIRL: Jahaja?

ME: ENGLISH! You’re cute!

GIRL: Oh, hey how are you?!

It’s just their way of screening out most guys, just push through that initial resistance and the set will most likely open pretty smoothly.

The only area I had issues was as I got very far into Eastern Europe, Poland and Hungary. But let me tell you, I still got shit done there, I just needed a little help from the student when it came time to explain where my hotel was at. : )