Is this a red flag?

[+ tassojunior]

Those are hilarious. Great sense of humor. Too bad New Yorkers don't have that sense of humor about their rudeness.

[+ Gar1eth]

My experience is that Parisians are lovely people -- provided you aren't a tourist trying to talk to them in English. And I kinda don't blame them. Talk about a city overrun by tourists. Just saying "hello, how are you?" -- even if you're just using your guide-book French -- makes all the difference when interacting with merchants, waiters, cute guys you meet in the jardin, etc.

I've only been to Paris once back in the dark ages (1989). I remember thinking that I felt it reasonable that the average man on the street might not understand English. But it was very frustrating trying to make reservations at a major train station -the Gare du Nord. If there hadn't been a Canadian guy who spoke French next to me in line along with his Haitian girlfriend who helped me make a reservation out of the country, I would have had a much more difficult time of it.

 

Gman

[Wolfer]

It'll be my first time in 20 years being in Paris. I'm interested to see how I'll find it.

I love the French language though not always the French mindset.

[marylander1940]

Those are hilarious. Great sense of humor. Too bad New Yorkers don't have that sense of humor about their rudeness.

 

I wis the world was run by New Yorker and their values, they are the most honest people on Earth

[Wolfer]

I know BB has always been more common this side of the pond

It's interesting you say that. I have noticed that when browsing Rentmen in the US, I seem to come across more profiles that have "ask me" in the safe section. Whereas in Europe it's a much less frequent occurence (that I've seen, anyway).

[Rudynate]

Always remember too that in most countries it is "active" or "passive" . "Top or "bottom" means nothing.

 

Most European guys I know state in their ad "No Bareback!!" sometimes followed by "Don't Ask !". They're scared of Americans especially disease-wise.

 

Google Translate isn't bad with French.

 

 

I just have high school French, but I leaned it well and remember a lot if it. I've had very successful chats with French-speaking guys assisted by Google translate.

[+ tassojunior]

I just have high school French, but I leaned it well and remember a lot if it. I've had very successful chats with French-speaking guys assisted by Google translate.

 

I had high school and college French and German but I totally avoid the French because of the accent being nearly impossible and the French, in France at least, can't stand American (or French Canadian) accents. German's almost English, native German speakers all speak great English, and the accent is similar.

 

Google translate is good at Germanic and Romance languages. Terrible at slavic languages. The translation makes zero sense and several times with Czech guys myself and others have been ditched because our google translate to Czech sounded like a crazy person's ramblings. I have over 200 Czech friends on Facebook but when I translate their posts they make no sense at all. Makes one appreciate how good google translate is otherwise.

[Mo Mason]

LOL @ "Je ne bareback pas."

 

Just say it like that.

[+ Gar1eth]

I had high school and college French and German but I totally avoid the French because of the accent being nearly impossible and the French, in France at least, can't stand American (or French Canadian) accents. German's almost English, native German speakers all speak great English, and the accent is similar.

 

 

I'll have to disagree. I had an unofficial German minor in college. German is definitely not English. Google translate is usually pretty good. And you're correct that a lot of Germans know English. But there are degrees. You can't talk with everyone.

 

Gman

[+ tassojunior]

I'll have to disagree. I had an unofficial German minor in college. German is definitely not English. Google translate is usually pretty good. And you're correct that a lot of Germans know English. But there are degrees. You can't talk with everyone.

 

Gman

In the past ten years everytime I've been to Berlin and Hamburg every single German I run into is totally bi-lingual. They can easily shift from one to the other and many, if not most, signs are in English not German. Now, 20 or 30 years ago I did run into a lot of Germans who did not speak much English, especially in the east. The generational change to me is shocking.

 

When I was young I remember being surprised that my Dutch friends could converse (arkwardly) with visitors from Denmark. They explained that all the Germanic languages have a lot, especially grammar, in common and Nederlandse to Danish wasn't a huge leap even though it was more different than German. That they can pick up the other language pretty easily when they visit or move. As a Germanic language I guess English has gotten into that family now.

 

Now Romance and Slavic languages are a different matter. But I know French, Spanish and Italians can roughly converse and Russians/Poles/Czechs can easily converse. I see that a lot.

Edited July 31, 2018 by tassojunior

[mike carey]

My experience in Germany is decades old, but an anecdote nonetheless. (In general I found enough people who could speak English to get by.) On the train from Warsaw to Berlin, the DDR customs/immigration guys were speaking Polish to the other people in the compartment but when I handed them my passport they switched to good English. I did not expect that from Ossies.

[+ Tarte Gogo]

When I was young I remember being surprised that my Dutch friends could converse (arkwardly) with visitors from Denmark. They explained that all the Germanic languages have a lot, especially grammar, in common and Nederlandse to Danish wasn't a huge leap even though it was more different than German. That they can pick up the other language pretty easily when they visit or move. As a Germanic language I guess English has gotten into that family now.

 

Now Romance and Slavic languages are a different matter. But I know French, Spanish and Italians can roughly converse and Russians/Poles/Czechs can easily converse. I see that a lot.

If we are going to start on cross-language-intelligibility, we need nativlang to inform us of the complexities:

[+ tassojunior]

My experience in Germany is decades old, but an anecdote nonetheless. (In general I found enough people who could speak English to get by.) On the train from Warsaw to Berlin, the DDR customs/immigration guys were speaking Polish to the other people in the compartment but when I handed them my passport they switched to good English. I did not expect that from Ossies.

 

English is easy for Germans. Polish is very hard for them but in the DDR customs inspectors probably were required to learn Russian which is pretty similar to Polish. Today you'd find many fewer Germans who can speak Russian/Polish/Czech.

[marylander1940]

It's interesting you say that. I have noticed that when browsing Rentmen in the US, I seem to come across more profiles that have "ask me" in the safe section. Whereas in Europe it's a much less frequent occurence (that I've seen, anyway).

 

I say that because I see more and more guys who say "ask me" in the states. Tasso pointed in one of his posts that Czech boys BB each other but don't do with Americans because we are more likely to have diseases. I never heard that one.

[Golem]

German's almost English

They explained that all the Germanic languages have a lot, especially grammar, in common... As a Germanic language I guess English has gotten into that family now.

This is not quite true, especially not when you're comparing German and French. Yes, English is a Germanic language, due to its Anglo-Saxon roots over a millenia ago. But it diverged heavily, first because all that water cut it off from continental developments, and second because of the Norman Conquest. In particular, English grammar has way more in common with French than it does with German (or even with Frisian, our closest Germanic relative outside the British Isles), and similarities in vocabulary -- while they exist with both languages -- tend to be significantly more blatant with French.

 

The other thing here is that, due to the way English grammar works, English is an unusually easy language for people who aren't native speakers to achieve basic communication in -- but it is unusually difficult to achieve fluency in English. Neither is true of German.

[+ freecahill1965]

It'll be my first time in 20 years being in Paris. I'm interested to see how I'll find it.

I love the French language though not always the French mindset.

I just love French kissing.

[Wolfer]

I say that because I see more and more guys who say "ask me" in the states. Tasso pointed in one of his posts that Czech boys BB each other but don't do with Americans because we are more likely to have diseases. I never heard that one.

From what I've seen in articles, STI's are on the rise in Europe as well.

 

I just love French kissing.

Did you know that the French actually didn't have an official word for "French kissing" until about 2015??

That year the word "galocher" was added to the French dictionary, which is a slang word for kissing with tongue. (A galoche seems to also be a type of boot. No idea how that became the colloquial term for French kissing ).

Me, I absolutely live to galocher!

 

About the bareback miscommunication: I was able to clear it up with the guy by writing this marvelously and obiously non-native speaker phrase:

"Je fais le baiser toujours avec un préservatif."

Which literally means:

"I always do the fucking with a condom."

[+ goosh69]

OK. Now tell me when Paris isn't overrun with the tourist crowds. Christmas? Otherwise you get your choice of being trampled by herds of German high schoolers or gaggles of Japanese matrons and their hubbies, or Italian extended families. All while getting your pockets picked by pushy Romanians. Every European seems to have to make a pilgrimage to Paris at least once in their life and that's 500 million people crowding in at some time with Americans and Japanese to also fit in on top. No wonder hotel rooms the size of walk-in closets are $200 and a normal one can run you $500 easily.

 

I love Paris, it's cafes and bakeries. it's museums and gardens. People working in them are about the only Parisians you meet anymore.

You mean ROMA not ROMANIANS. And it’s racist that you don’t know the difference and that you’d even wrote that.

[+ Tarte Gogo]

You mean ROMA not ROMANIANS. And it’s racist that you don’t know the difference and that you’d even wrote that.

No he means Romanians.

Since Romania joined the EU, the borders are open, so Romanians have emigrated to the big Western European cities.

When they arrive, they happen to be among the most recently arrived and therefore the poorest (because no job and no right to unemployment benefits yet), and that is usually a situation that incentivises petty crime. Many in this situation would never do it, but a few do it a lot, and that’s no matter where they are from, it is based on the lack of any other option/ opportunity.

[+ tassojunior]

You mean ROMA not ROMANIANS. And it’s racist that you don’t know the difference and that you’d even wrote that.

Romanians are not a race or even an ethnic group. They include some Roma but also many Hungarians, etc from Transylvania. When people disparage Roma they are talking about an ethnic group. There are so many Romanians in most large western European cities that it's hard not to notice and something everyone talks about. And yes they are the poorest and the most aggressive in gay hustling areas and bars especially. But very few if any are Roma. Escort bars like Pinnochio in Berlin that have been there forever have now become virtually 100% Romanian. I was robbed by two Romanians inside Pinnochio in full view of everyone of 300 Euros a couple years ago. So yes, it's something gays talk about out of safety concerns. But no, it is not the Roma ("gypsies") people traditionally think about.

Edited August 4, 2018 by tassojunior

[Wolfer]

Romanians are not a race or even an ethnic group. They include some Roma but also many Hungarians, etc from Transylvania. When people disparage Roma they are talking about an ethnic group. There are so many Romanians in most large western European cities that it's hard not to notice and something everyone talks about. And yes they are the poorest and the most aggressive in gay hustling areas and bars especially. But very few if any are Roma. Escort bars like Pinnochio in Berlin that have been there forever have now become virtually 100% Romanian. I was robbed by two Romanians inside Pinnochio in full view of everyone of 300 Euros a couple years ago. So yes, it's something gays talk about out of safety concerns. But no, it is not the Roma ("gypsies") people traditionally think about.

Wow, I hadn't heard that. Maybe it's because Belgium has a strong and active immigration department and social care but a lot of Romanians here get jobs at building construction companies (don't know the proper English word, ah, contractor, I think). Most of these companies' personell now consists for a large part out of Polish men. In general they are experienced as hard working men that don't complain. The last contractor I worked with was a Belgium native and he went and learnt Polish because it gave him more opportunities to hire these Polish guys for his contractor jobs.

 

Obviously there are always people that fall through the cracks, but walking around in Brussels I see a lot less homeless people out on the streets than in London and Berlin.

 

I was recently talking to a board member of one of the social care institutions and apparently people even get houses or apartments here virtually rent-free if they are unable to get a job (because of language barriers). But they only get these benefits if they agree to take Dutch language classes and actively apply for jobs with the help of the social worker assigned to their case.

 

Are those Romanians generally gay themselves that are found in gay places and do that? Or is there another reason they target gay establishments?

[+ tassojunior]

Wow, I hadn't heard that. Maybe it's because Belgium has a strong and active immigration department and social care but a lot of Romanians here get jobs at building construction companies (don't know the proper English word, ah, contractor, I think). Most of these companies' personell now consists for a large part out of Polish men. In general they are experienced as hard working men that don't complain. The last contractor I worked with was a Belgium native and he went and learnt Polish because it gave him more opportunities to hire these Polish guys for his contractor jobs.

 

Obviously there are always people that fall through the cracks, but walking around in Brussels I see a lot less homeless people out on the streets than in London and Berlin.

 

I was recently talking to a board member of one of the social care institutions and apparently people even get houses or apartments here virtually rent-free if they are unable to get a job (because of language barriers). But they only get these benefits if they agree to take Dutch language classes and actively apply for jobs with the help of the social worker assigned to their case.

 

Are those Romanians generally gay themselves that are found in gay places and do that? Or is there another reason they target gay establishments?

 

The Romanians who dominate the hustler bars in Berlin, Hamburg, and other large cities are gangs of thugs who come up and stay with one another for the purpose of "working" gay men. Normally pretending they will have sex for money, taking the money and doing nothing, or just robbing the "client". Or just robbing gay men around gay hustler bars. If you have a hustler /escort bar in Belgium go in and I'll guarantee it will be all Romanian thugs. Even in Thermas Sauna in Barcelona the Romanian escorts have a reputation. Nice bodies but very macho in not a good way. Homophobic escorting. It doesn't produce good results.

[Wolfer]

The Romanians who dominate the hustler bars in Berlin, Hamburg, and other large cities are gangs of thugs who come up and stay with one another for the purpose of "working" gay men. Normally pretending they will have sex for money, taking the money and doing nothing, or just robbing the "client". Or just robbing gay men around gay hustler bars. If you have a hustler /escort bar in Belgium go in and I'll guarantee it will be all Romanian thugs. Even in Thermas Sauna in Barcelona the Romanian escorts have a reputation. Nice bodies but very macho in not a good way. Homophobic escorting. It doesn't produce good results.

Aaah, hustler bars. I don't know if we have those in Belgium. Then again, I didn't know Brussels has one of the most well reputed sauna's in Europe until a few months ago. (It's Sauna Macho)

 

Yeah, I'm heading to Barcelona next weekend and have read about the Romanian escorts. Part of me wants to go to Thermas, just to have the experience, but then you read those stories.

[njr47]

I sometimes think that "Romanian" has become shorthand in some European countries for "foreign" white folks that people wish would go home. I am frequently in Norway, Sweden and Denmark----where "Romanians" (not Roma) are claimed to be the the worst pickpockets, the beggars on the street, drug dealers etc. And my guess is that most of these alleged undesirables may come from countries other than Romania.

[Wolfer]

Perhaps "East-European" would be more accurate?