If you're in the UK then speak English!

For older people it's not so easy learning a new language, unless you learnt the basics at school. We have some friends who have been here (France) for 25 years and still haven't learnt. They often get into difficulties with the public companies etc because of misunderstandings.
My french is ok but I'll never be fluent. Husband has tried but depends on me mostly.
I think it's important to try and learn the basics in the language of your adopted country.
It's such a relief to get back to the UK and be able to communicate in a relaxed way. Especially with Geordies.

AB I think many people do brush-up on the basics when visiting another country - I'm not a linguist but do my best with good mornings/hello/thank you/white wine please.

However I would be hard-pressed to explain that I'm lost and need help!

Perhaps learning the language of a country one is visiting is polite riverwalk

In the German part of Switzerland, there are several quite distinct Swiss German dialects- very gutteral and not easy on the ears of those who are not born there- a bit like Dutch or Afrikaans but much worse. Bernese will hardly understand someone from Zurich- or sometimes pretend to- and vice-versa.

Children are taught in Swiss German at primary school, then in high German at secondary school and beyond- and for many it feels like dialect and high German are 2 distinct foreign languages.

A couple of examples

Guten Morgen in High German
Gruezi Mittenand in Bernese
Grüss Gott in other parts (not sure about Zurich)

Or a soft

Küchenshrank for kitche cupboard in high German

and RURIRASCHLI in Bernese (with 3 + throat scrapings à la Scouse - as in 'I am storrr on a rorrr and I want to get barrr'

I'm stuck on a rock and I want to get back.

I am also bilingual after 40 years in Germany although I spoke German well after 2 years here and German is our family language. A Muslim woman does not have to have been born in Wales to speak Welsh she just has to have been a child in Wales where Welsh is spoken.

I don't know what's funny about someone being rude and inhospitable to visitors needing help!

So funny Greyduster

DH and I were out walking in West Wales, near Nevern, during one holiday and we got lost. We called at a farm house and a man came to the door, and when we asked him if he could put us on the right road, he turned away, shouted something in Welsh and along came his wife. I said something to the effect that we were sorry but we didn't speak Welsh and she said, quite brightly, "Oh, he speaks English - he just chooses not to!" Fair enough! His country, his rules! Thank goodness for his missus or we would still have been wandering round there now! DH kept shtum - he is Welsh, but the only Welsh he knows is a song he learned at school!

Last week we had guests from California and we watched the great film, by Ken Loach, the Angel's Share' - they didn't undersrtand a word (strong Glawegian)- funny.

Probably a re-make of the one I heard some time ago on Facebook.

About 2 women talking in a café in Arizona and a man approached them and said 'you are not in Mexico here, you should speak English not Spanish' and one of the women replied 'We are speaking in Navaho Indian- you are in our land maybe you should learn'.

Of course it will depend on where in England the person is from........accents vary wildly.

GoNosuch accents are fascinating things.

We sometimes get calls from Scotland and have to get them to repeat who they are( the company name) several times.We have no trouble with Welsh accents though ( when talking to DVLA for instance) no trouble either with Eire accents, but find NI sometimes hard to grasp.
Do any grans from these places have trouble with the English accent if phoned out of the blue?

but we shouldn't judge people from other countries by our low standards.

Ohdear, where are we going with this thread, man the borders.

Jalima that presenter muttering nos da was probably being subversive!

When I go to Wales I buy what I want in English, they understand that.

My post was joking......hence the emoji grin.

Didn't stop her using Welsh. She tried to teach us on moving to London. No luck sadly. Just the odd phrase and word, counting etc. Shut the door, cheese, be quiet things like that. She had quite a colourful phrase for weak tea I remember.

My Grandfather was beaten for speaking Welsh in school,

Urdu jbf. They used to beat the children who spoke Welsh at school in my Granny's day. Fancy trying to beat a child's mother tongue out of them. .

I love hearing tinies say six ( chwech ) when first learning to count

I can count to five now
and the West Country tv presenter used to say goodnight in Welsh years ago - as the picture faded and the green light came on a ghostly voice used to say 'nos da'

(they paint it on the roads)

I can say araf.

I'll let it go....