Local Response....

I try to greet people in their own language, and I also ask if they speak English.

I used that tactic on entering a shop in Paris, starting with "Bonjour, madame," then following up with "Parlez-vous anglais?" Her reply: "Non, monsieur, mais vous parlez français." She was right, of course, and we carried on in her language.

In Australia, everywher, I'd thank folks for their help. No matter the social or economic level, the answer was "She's roit , Mayte. We're all in this togettha. One hand washes the otha."

I have two: one from the guide at Meteor Crater, Arizona - I asked him if the direction from which the meteor came was known, and the answer was 'ain't nobody was here, and ain't nobody knows'.

and another overhead from a Greek waiter, when the diners were regretfully telling him that it was the last night of their holiday: 'expensive perfume comes in small bottles' (i.e the best things in life don't last long)

Stopped at a gas station in rural Maryland, USA to ask how to get to a small community near by. When we asked, "do you know where Severna Park is?" the attendent replied "Yep" and then just walked away.

This is brilliant.
Thanks for everything - so far.
Keep 'em coming.

not sure if this counts, as it was more a reaction than an answer to a question: when i was in kerala, i tried to learn some malayalam, got a lot of happy reactions... well, once i went to a shop, and i did everything (asking for the price, saying how much i want etc.) in malayalam. the shop person replied in malayalam, no reaction to me speaking malayalam though. except when i left and said "pinne kanam" (good bye) - and suddenly he started laughing and saiyng "you said 'pinne kanam'! you speak malayalam!" - apparently he only noticed then...

I'm from Texas. But I learned lots of Spanish on my Swedish ship days. 1964.

Later ashore, I find out I only spoke seafilth. They set me up..
{ 8oQ

I took Spanish when I finally got to college. I denide knowing any.

My prof (from Granada, left my grade off my report card. I went to his office. The old sweetheart said,"Put a B+ on there."

I remimded him, I never passed a test.
He says,"Shut up. You helped eveybody with their Spanish."

Why not a web university? Why not learn from others questions? And meet cool people you wouldn't have.

God bless Art Department honesty!!!!!!!

It's always so appreciated to say please and thank you in another language.
I get a little bit narky when I read someone has no time to learn any of a language - but then says they're taking a laptop on holiday with them, meaning hours of Facebook and Skype, but no 4-5 minutes to learn a few phrases.
The natives love it when you say a few words in their lingo.

I was travelling on a heavily laden bicycle on an unpaved road in southern Chile. It was very windy, and by then rather late in the afternoon, and the scenery no special distraction immediately about there, so every km was becoming hard and painful to me. A signpost indicated that my intended destination for the day still lay 25km away. This was really annoying because a signpost at the last junction about 7km back had given just the same distance. By chance there was someone just standing there, for no apparent reason, so I asked if it was really 25km. I was told, yes, it is 25km to that place. So I said, more in desperation than expectation, but it said it was 25km at the junction back there. He replied, it is indeed 25km, but from there, not from here: we always measure the distance from there.