It sounds like this was the main point of failure. I’m not sure it can be considered an error in the system. I’d consider the risk inherent in traveling in a country without knowing its language.
It’s worse than France in this regard.
The level of arrogance and lack of empathy and service is beyond limits.
That part seems really hard to believe for me. The only time you should get charged at all is for prank calling. In fact, if you call and tell them and decide you don't need EMS after all they will in fact come anyways because they need to check on every call. And you will not get charged for that.
Not sure how random my selection process was, but that certainly wasn't my experience when I lived in Germany a few years ago. Maybe in big cities, yes. But even in the burbs, chances are you have to look for the metaphorical needle in the haystack to find someone speaking English. Your best bet might just be teenagers and young adults.
What does high mean in this context? I experienced what I would call the inverse Danish maneuver, the German obviously understand English because they often answered our English questions correctly - In German.
In Denmark if a Dane understands what you said in Danish but you have a definite accent they will often answer your question in English.
Maybe Germanic cultures are geared towards the rude.
The absolute arrogance of particularly French and German speakers is staggering. All of us from smaller countries and language spheres speak at least 2-3 languages, often more at a basic level, but they scoff at anyone who visits that didn't happen to learn theirs. Contrast this with Spanish and Italian speakers, where my experience is that they are often not great at English, but very much willing to try. To add, I've also never met an American who wasn't willing to do their best to help out.
When somebody is asking for help in a language you don't understand, your obligation as a human being is to do your best, if nothing else to help them find someone who does understand one of the likely several languages you have in common. Not everyone who speaks English at you thinks less of you because you aren't good at it, and everybody is just doing their best.
