[Anonymouse]

Are there really still provincials who think it's up to 'the natives' to learn English? 'Foreigners'?! What?!

Travel broadens the mind...assuming you have one in the first place. If you're going to a "foreign" country, you should at least make a little effort - have a go at learning the language, for example; even if your accent's awful and you ask the waiter to remove the frog in your bidet instead of asking for the wine list, the "natives" will appreciate the effort. Believe. It's uncommon courtesy - I say uncommon because very few UK residents do this.

For example, the second language of Tunisia is French (first is Arabic, quelle surprise), and when a gorgeous Tunisian lass greeted me (in French) as she and a friend passed by, she was clearly both surprised and pleased when someone who was clearly a tourist replied in kind (grammar school French was by then some years in the past, but I remembered the proper polite response to 'Comment allez-vous?' and my accent had always been virtually nonexistent). Her smile made my day.

I would have tried to follow things up, but she couldn't have been more than fifteen or so...

At the very least, learn to say 'hello', 'please' and 'thank you'. In some countries, you tend to get better service in restaurants and the like.