9 replies to this topic

[TomDB]

Next year (2010) i plan to go to a festival outside of the UK for the first time ever. I'm a bit apprehensive though, obviously i'm an Englishman myself, do these festivals speak a word of English? I'm thinking of going to Rock Werchter or Open'er i dunno yet, what are these European festivals like, can you understand the rules and how to get places when you get off the Eurostar etc?

[AlexDorweiler08]

Anywhere in benelux is gonna be dead easy to find your way round. Werchter is very international, loads of brits about and i'd say 95% of the people there speak english too.

For Open'er, can't really say, but from the polish I know they're very friendly and will help you out with anything, even if this would require some sign language to understand each other - It's the general festival atmosphere really! Open minded, loving and just generally good times anywhere

[Squig]

Poland (or anywhere in Eastern Central/Eastern or Southern Europe) can be tricky in the sense that not everybody speaks English, but most young people have an at least decent, in most cases, excellent command of the English language. As long as you don't expect Shakespear Recites and don't mind asking people for help translating you should not have a problem at all. In Scandinavia and Benelux anybody you meet will be totally able to converse in English. To put it differently, a French/German/Spanish speaker who doesn't speak English is probably worse of in England than a Brit going anywhere with young people in Europe.

Edited by Squig, 26 December 2009 - 12:40 PM.

[moz4pm]

I went to Open'er this year and I would not recommend it. They only serve watered down heineken, bands only play from 5 till 2, there's not enough shelter from the sun. On the plus side its very cheap but there was zero atmosphere, god awful food and not many people spoke english. However I would highly recommend visiting krakow, one of the most wondeful cities i have had the chance to visit, going again in june en route to Metallica in Warsaw

[alexmole]

TomDB, on Dec 25 2009, 06:05 PM, said:

Next year (2010) i plan to go to a festival outside of the UK for the first time ever. I'm a bit apprehensive though, obviously i'm an Englishman myself, do these festivals speak a word of English? I'm thinking of going to Rock Werchter or Open'er i dunno yet, what are these European festivals like, can you understand the rules and how to get places when you get off the Eurostar etc?

are you serious?  If you are clueless and worried about what to do when the eurostar terminates youd be better going to reading.

However if it is just the wording question, only being able to speak english is not a problem, you just have to think occasionally before doing something daft you may otherwise do at home....

[Flaminglippy]

moz4pm, on Dec 26 2009, 05:01 PM, said:

I went to Open'er this year and I would not recommend it. They only serve watered down heineken, bands only play from 5 till 2, there's not enough shelter from the sun. On the plus side its very cheap but there was zero atmosphere, god awful food and not many people spoke english. However I would highly recommend visiting krakow, one of the most wondeful cities i have had the chance to visit, going again in june en route to Metallica in Warsaw

Ahhh...bummer! I've just talked my lot into going to this!!!

[Buglet]

Squig, on Dec 26 2009, 12:39 PM, said:

To put it differently, a French/German/Spanish speaker who doesn't speak English is probably worse of in England than a Brit going anywhere with young people in Europe.

Nail on head.
The level of English I've encountered at festivals across Europe always makes me kind of ashamed of the linguistic inabilities of my countrymen (including myself).
Get out there and do it, it's the only way to really find out, but I've had no problems in Easter Bloc, central Europe or Scandinavia. Leeds was a bit tricky, but that's a different story...

[smythy]

TomDB, on Dec 25 2009, 07:05 PM, said:

Next year (2010) i plan to go to a festival outside of the UK for the first time ever. I'm a bit apprehensive though, obviously i'm an Englishman myself, do these festivals speak a word of English? I'm thinking of going to Rock Werchter or Open'er i dunno yet, what are these European festivals like, can you understand the rules and how to get places when you get off the Eurostar etc?

Ignore any negativity, ok so people have bad experiences at festivals abroad but ive been to open'er (09) and Exit (08) and they were superb, youll find a handful of english out there anyway and the majority of people who go can speak english to and were nothing but friendly to me and my friends. had no problems whatso ever and the festivals are brilliant.

beer is sooooo cheap, from a pound and the lad who said it was watered down, well we boughtth cans so that wasnt and the pulled pints seemed good to me.

had a wicked time, you will too.

enjoy

[alexmole]

smythy, on Jan 7 2010, 01:56 AM, said:

Ignore any negativity, ok so people have bad experiences at festivals abroad but ive been to open'er (09) and Exit (08) and they were superb, youll find a handful of english out there anyway and the majority of people who go can speak english to and were nothing but friendly to me and my friends. had no problems whatso ever and the festivals are brilliant.

enjoy

For your first one I would stick to Holland/Belgium/Germany, just because they are all easy travel and language wise

[moz4pm]

but it was only heineken, a drink i now know to be the worst lager available in the world, dont believe me, go to the shop, by one bottle of Polands premium lager Tyskie or Zyviec and one heinekin, you'll soon notice the difference.