Most of the time, I find it helpful to learn a little bit of the language when traveling to a foreign country. People do tend to be more pleasant if you at least make an attempt to speak their language.
But I had an engineer friend who was assigned to Paris for several months by her company on a project. She said even though she tried to speak the language and be as polite as possible, she still encountered a lot of rudeness and hostility toward her because, she assumed, she was an American. She did say, however, that at some point she traveled to some place outside of Paris -- more of a rural area -- and she said the people were much more friendly. She didn't encounter the same hostility.
I think wherever you go the country is always nicer than the city. I've heard similar about the countryside in France.