Many years ago, a Spanish-speaking female customer came into Bath and Body Works. When I greeted her, she looked nervous, and I realized that the Spanish I'd heard her speaking to her boyfriend outside was the only language she knew. So I tried to assist her using what Spanish I recalled, which went from a little to "Well, that was embarrassing" the second I started trying to use it. Nevertheless, she stayed, and ended up buying something.
I've always felt embarrassed about how bad my Spanish was, until this evening, when a waitress at the restaurant I visited for dinner explained the menu to me in what English she knew. She was clearly embarrassed whenever she had to search for words, and seemed nervous speaking to a native English speaker. But the fact was that she made the effort to help me, and saved me a ton of time on my Chinese Symbol Dictionary iPod app by just telling me what dishes were pasta, which had cheese/vegetables/seafood, etc. And now when I go back, I can order from those options because she helped me.
So now I'm glad that, many years ago, I at least tried to speak Spanish, even though I know that I sucked at it. I'm pretty sure that no person who is dealing with a foreign culture is going to judge you based on your lack of skill speaking their language if you're at least making the effort to use it for their sake.
So I want to thank every Taiwanese person who has spoken English to me, or just taken the time to make hand gestures when I looked confused or unsure. It changes everything to feel you're not completely alone in facing that kind of challenge.
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