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Originally Posted by biznatch
Here's the trick that works most of the time if you're an American visiting Paris. If you're trying to get help from someone, or you're just trying to start a conversation, try and use whatever amount of French you know(even if it's only a few words or sentences). Often what'll happen is they'll return the favor and if they know your language they'll reply with however much they know.
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I found this to be absolutely true when I was visiting Paris a number of years ago. I was treated much more politely than some of the Americans I saw because I made the effort.
And really, Americans shouldn't get all huffy when they go to a foreign country and get picked on for not speaking the language--after all, a number of Americans expect visitors here to speak English, don't they?