Very true. At least in my own personal experience from my 4 1/2 years in Japan.

That is: in France and Japan, the deep-down assumption is that the language is pure and difficult, that foreigners can’t really learn it, and that one’s attitude toward their attempts is either French hauteur or the elaborately over-polite and therefore inevitably patronizing Japanese response to even a word or two in their language. "Nihongo jouzu! Your Japanese is so good!"

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The American attitude towards English is: everyone should get with the program, there are a million variants and accents of the language, all that really matters is whether you can somehow get your meaning across. Because there are so many versions of Chinese in use within China, my impression is that the everyday attitude of Chinese people toward language is similar: You’re expected to try to learn it, no one will spend that much time mocking your mistakes, mainly they are trying to figure out what you’re trying to say.

Ivory Coast = France = Japan, in language habits at least – James Fallows

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