As A French Who Learned How To Speak English By Myself And Actively Try To Learn Japanese And Chinese,

As a French who learned how to speak English by myself and actively try to learn Japanese and Chinese, I can only relate. Please, please be nice to people who don’t speak their native language because we’re honestly trying our best and it’s very hurtful and embarrassing for us to be called out (in a mean way) about this. Suggestions and advices however are very much appreciated if polite!

So I used to have a Russian friend who had a pretty thick accent and like a lot of Russians tended to eschew articles. She would say things like “Get in car.” And stuff.

Well one day this asshole who had been kind of tagging along with us asks her why she talks like that because it makes her sound dumb and I still remember her response word for word.

“Me? Dumb? Maybe in America you have to say get in THE car because you are so stupid that people might just get in random car, but in Russia we don’t need to say that. We just fucking know because we are not stupid.”