For those of you who have been following my travels on the Internet, this will be a repeat, but I think the message is important enough to deserve a second consideration. While I struggle to make myself understood in French, the people seem to appreciate the fact that I am trying to work in their language. With as multi-ethnic as our industry is becoming, I think there is a lesson in all this.
Communication is communication, regardless of what language it occurs in.
Sure, you will butcher the pronunciation and they will all have good laugh at your struggles, but if you are willing to be uncomfortable in their language, they are likely to be more willing to be uncomfortable in English. We are all just people sharing the same planet. What language we do it in is really not that important in the scheme of things. Walking around among the crowds of tourists, I heard French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Russian, Danish, Swedish, Russian, Japanese, English and several other dialects I didn't recognize. What occurs to me is that we Americans are really cultural lightweights.