@shebang That seems genuinely interesting. My personal experience in Germany is (no reaction). And let's say that "my German is very basic" is an overstatement. However, when I am travelling through Germany it is enough to tackle basic business of paying for fuel, get the food and use basic pleasantry words.

Only once, when we tried to have some more advanced conversation, the person has suggested switching to another language, which was, surprisingly, Russian.