As a Japanese planning to travel to US alone someday,I want to know what people over there thinks about foreign people who are not fluent in English.
Do they feel bad when they have conversation with people like me who are not at English？
formeng
Favorite Answer
Well, I think most people in the USA will try make overcoming the lack of expertise in the English language as painless as possible. Of course, there are always those people who have prejudices against a particular group of people. So, if your question is whether people will be unfriendly with you because you don't speak English well, then the answer is no. There may be a sort of discomfort for the person who does not speak English well, but generally I think most people in the USA will be sympathetic to someone in the USA who doesn't speak English. There may be some bias toward Spanish speakers because there have been so many Spanish speakers who come here, never learn English, and have no respect for our language, our customs, or our laws.
Don Verto
I think most people would be very kind and understanding.Of course very rude and nasty people you will find all over the world.
Anonymous
User -- There IS the type . . . it's ONE type.
choko_canyon
The truth is that it entirely depends on WHERE in the US you travel. In sophisticated, cosmopolitan areas of the country your ethnicity, nationality and accent will barely be noticed. In more rural, less sophisticated and more socio-economically disadvantaged areas, it's possible that you will notice a bit of xenophobia (fear of strangers). There are a large number of Japanese tourists that regularly visit this country however, and your experience will most likely be entirely positive.
Anonymous
It depends on who you speak with. Professional people will not feel bad trying to communicate with you. Average people might be annoyed. But don't let that deter you. Americans think highly of the Japanese people.