If you have to do business with a German, Dutch, Swede, etc....it's pretty much a given that they'll talk a decent enough English so that the whole conversation doesn't turn to a Marx Brothers sketch. I have a lot of Japanese clients and despite their abilities for a lot of things, they're quite thick when it comes to learning foreign languages and English is generally what they'll master the most. But fuck it, the number of times I scratched my head listening to gibberish, wondering what was getting lost in translation.
Not Swedes, unfortunately. Agreed on the Japanese though. When they write an email it is usually pretty good, but face to face is another matter entirely. The Indians are worse than Japanese at writing English, at least in the business that I'm in. Chinese suck at both, Koreans are the best so far.
In the end the point gets across anyway. I tend to focus on getting the cultural aspect right, that opens up as many doors as learning a few words in a language. Can't be arsed to learn Tagalog for the few times I'm in the Philippines.
