Quote:
Originally Posted by Deepwaters
True, and to be completely fair one should ask whether a French person visiting Finland (say) would be able to speak Finnish most of the time. English is very close to a global language, so a fairly high percentage of the world has it as a second tongue.
But at the same time, unless the trip is completely spur-of-the-moment (and not that many Americans are that wealthy -- *or crazy Alizée fans who'll drop everything on a month's notice to see Her Grace in person and get an autograph  ), it seems to me that learning at least a little of the language, enough to get by on for asking directions and such, should be part of the planning. |
*I wonder who you might be talking about there
But yeah, if you're planning a trip, learning a bit of the native language is just prudent and well as respectful.