I am consistently terrified of speaking either French or Spanish despite years of schooling in both languages, because native speakers are going to pick apart the linguistics like I would for English. If you don’t have ANY background, you better sit with someone who’s patient and honest and practice, practice, practice, because the world is always watching in some way.
The few times I’ve attempted to order food in Spanish the counter person was always gracious and gently corrected my grammar.
I very much doubt the part in bold. English speakers hear their language mangled every day and simply let it pass, and I doubt that you would launch into an impromptu English lesson or go about mocking someone’s poor pronunciation or grammar.
But I certainly agree that speakers of other languages are not so gracious, least of all the invader classes.
I find that the French usually respect you for trying. Not so much Spanish speakers. Eye rolls, sidelong looks, sneers and snickers are often encountered.
Like you say, linguistic subtleties are very tricky. Idiom can be a mess in any language. And we surely aren’t ready for those reflexives.
I lived with a Mexican family for a year.
I can think in Spanish.
I sort of disagree.
In my military career, I’ve lived in many places.
If you don’t try to speak the language, you will NEVER learn it.
I was stationed in Australia, Italy and Germany. Oz was difficult even though it is “English” because Ozzies are funny with our language. Italy and Germany are obviously foreign, but I learned German and can still speak much of it, because I lived and hung out with Germans and we talked. I butchered the language and they made fun of me, but that was part of the learning process.
I learned a lot less Italian because I lived on base with other Americans and didn’t get out as much.
I can speak *some* Greek as I did many TDY’s there closing different bases and was normally housed in a nearby hotel.
Again, I’m sure I sounded like a moron to them but I tried my best and learned from it.
I have similar challenges in Welsh. Most of my speaking patterns derive from music that I acquired from performers in the mid-valley areas. I can adapt pretty quickly to northern, mid-valley and southern dialects, but the mid-valley is ingrained.
On a business trip to SHAPE in Belgium, one of the RAF officers noticed my English is colored with Canadian vowels. Very likely a consequence of a year in Federal Way, WA while attending 3rd grade. It left a persistent mark.
I'm learning Irish and Scots Gaelic. Irish has LOTS of dialects. It's a real challenge. Scots Gaelic is spoken by a very small number of people. The variations in pronouncing words are narrow. I actually have fun adding to my Gaelic vocabulary. It was a few months tuning my ear to the language. Mapping the spoken language to the written is MUCH harder than Welsh.
I'm dabbling with Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic and Korean. The different alphabets and sounds are a big hill to climb. I'm well into mastering reading Hiragana and some Katakana. Kanji is a lifetime pursuit. It's pretty easy to speak and understand. The tonal nature of Mandarin makes speaking a HUGE challenge.
I have limited proficiency in French, Spanish and Italian. Sufficient to travel comfortably, but I would not attempt to conduct serious business. My son is fluent in Spanish...good enough to provide support to a Spanish only speaker in an English only legal proceeding.
Years ago, my sister and her family lived in Honduras. They didn’t learn Spanish until they were “in country” and they hired a Spanish tutor, full time.
The kids were born there, and when they’d moved back to the US and they spoke Spanish with people in this country, they were always told that they had no accent in their Spansih that would let someone know they weren’t native speakers. Who teaches you, and being in immersion learning, definitely gives one the edge.