Originally Posted by Stadjer

I didn't mean to nitpick about words, and there is no language more universal than English right now. I was just trying to point out that awareness of what the English languae is to the other and showing that awareness ,by having learned a few words for example, can help (friendly) communication a lot. There's often more to it than just beeing able to speak English or not. You seem well aware enough . In France just starting a conversation in English is often seen as rude for example, but that might be different for Americans. I once made the mistake of thinking I was in the French speaking part of Belgium when I was still in Flanders, and had the audacity to ask a question in French, right at the frontline of their language battle. That ended up in a half hour long heated debate with a Flemish nationalist.