If you are traveling to someplace like Canada or Europe you can usually find someone who speaks English in a way you can communicate with them. Even in France (where people are very picky about the way you speak French) people often got angry at me because through I can speak perfect Parisian French, they speak to fast for me to understand them and their slang throws me off even further. So, in France in 2009 when I was in Paris, I found I didn't piss off French people as long as I let them speak a little English to me then they might tolerate if I spoke a little French to them too. But, if I just tried to speak in French they would become angry or impatient with me because I couldn't understand them even though I can speak French quite well and read French well also.
IF you are in India or Nepal it is okay too. But, I have also found two countries where it is sort of deadly when you can't speak the local languages. One is Thailand and one is Korea. I have solved this problem in South Korea by having my friend's wife who is South Korean born and raised do the translating for us. In Thailand in 1985 we finally got so frustrated in Bangkok that we hired a college student to tour with us for a week or more and to stay with us because we were completely lost in Bangkok once we went out past our Guest House where we were staying. The other advantage of hiring someone is they can often bargain for you in places like Thailand or India or Nepal where often there are no fixed prices and you have to bargain. This way you don't get financially ripped off everywhere you go. But, at this point I feel a little trapped in South Korea because I don't have a car (mostly because the driving rules are very different here than Europe, Canada or the U.S. or even India and Nepal. Even my friend lets his wife drive if they go to downtown Seoul where no one lets you change lanes in the heavy traffic and motorcycles clip by your car in between the lanes and cars and almost have accidents with everyone and sometimes do. Sometimes I think people in Asia like South Korea or India or Thailand all have a death wish who ride motorcycles of all sizes. And maybe they do. Either way it is "Scary Macho".
In France my daughter was about 13 I think then (the younger one) and it was Friday Night and a may on his motorcycle was so very drunk he kept sliding back into the bumper of my rented Mercedes that night at a traffic signal. My daughter said, "Why don't you go out and tell him to stop?"
I said, "You mostly don't do that with very drunk motorcycle riders, my dear!"
Besides the car was a rental and not mine anyhow. I wasn't going to get hit in the face by a drunk for a rental car even if it was a Mercedes.
Also, in places like South Korea or Japan often they want to speak perfect flawless English to you or they won't speak it to you at all. This is also a part of the culture. So, even though they might understand you because it is taught in public school here 90% of the time they won't speak it to you or even acknowledge what you are saying because they are too embarrassed they can't speak perfect English.
And for me at 67 trying to learn Korean and Korean Hongol I might as well want to fly to the moon.
Ouside of Hamony and harabuchie old woman and old man (or) grandmother and grandfather I really haven't learned that much. "I'm supposed to be a Harabuchy or harabuggy or something like that and my wife is supposed to be a Hamony.
So, trying to learn any new language at 67 is also sort of like trying to fly to the moon. Even my friend who is in his early 40s is struggling with the language and mostly let's his wife talk for him in many situations here in South Korea. However, she is fluent in South Korean and English because she lived a couple of years in Canada when she was younger.
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