Should German count as only one language?

[Insula Dei]

Aren't all dialects difficult to understand when you're not used to them? I speak Dutch with a Flemish accent (well, a Limburg accent to be exact, which is different yet from a mainstream Flemish one, though not as different as it would have been if I was born in Dutch Limburg), yet I don't understand much from anyone who speaks the dialect of West-Flanders.

[Insula Dei]

On the other hand, sometimes it seems a bit arrogant, as if I was one of those continental European idiots who go abroad without knowing English and expect everyone to know French/Italian/Russian etc.

There's always the classic British idiot abroad method as well: SPEAK ENG-LISH LOUD-LY AND SLOW-LY.

Ha, yes. I'd say though that one can often expect people to know English. I got pissed at the airport security in Brussels when they didn't (I know enough French to get by anyway but I found it unprofessional).

But if you're like, Italian, what do you expect?

When you say 'Brussels' do you mean Charleroi (what those Ryanair charlatans call 'Brussels-South) or Zaventem?  I just can't imagine Zaventem staff not knowing enough English to help you, even Charleroi staff is hard to conceive as not speaking English (,though I can vouch one shouldn't count on them knowing Dutch).

[Insula Dei]

The neighbourhood of Roma Termini has a horrible reputation, IIRC. (And closer to home Brussels-Midi is located in the heart of the more problematic parts of the city.)

[Insula Dei]

Dutch in Flanders does have a sort of weird status. On the one hand most people will shamelessly speak to one another in what's often been dubbed 'Verkavelingsvlaams', which is a sort of transregional Flemish spin on the Dutch language, notably with some for of 'Gij/Ge' (comparable to 'thou') rather than the standard 'jij/u' (informal and formal 'you' in Standard Dutch'). On the other hand, when we're expected to use Standard Dutch (in writing, in more formal contexts,..) we tend to use it in a more strict and grammatically flawless way than our neighbours to the North.

Historically the issue of Standard Dutch vs. 'Standard Flemish' has been a very active discussion within the Flemish Movement, with the greatest poet of the Flemish 19th Century, Guido Gezelle ('O krinkelend, winkelend waterding') notably on the side of a more typically Flemish language.

[Insula Dei]

In Western Europe, at least, most people would have attained a certain level of command of English, yeah. English really is crucial to fully participate in popular culture and to further one's career.