The other day, I went to a coffee shop next to school for breakfast. I sadly still cannot communicate in Korean, and was thus relying on pointing and the little English the girls at the register knew. When they were trying to ask if I wanted the bagel toasted and didn't know the English words, they started apologizing profusely.
Why were they apologizing to me for not speaking my language when I am the one living in their country? It seems so backwards.
I most definitely see the value of a lingua-franca, or I would not be in Korea teaching English. Still, should people feel bad for not speaking it? Especially when they are in their home country and the majority of foreigners they get are living there, not passing through.
As a native English-speaker, it seems easy to take it for granted that you will be able to communicate somehow. I find it amazing how many people have been here for a year or more and can't even read the script. I know I simply dislike stupid things like not being able to read a menu far too much to never learn it (hopefully). But what a gift speaking English is becomes all the more striking when not speaking it becomes a reason to look down on yourself. After that day, it seems a responsibility to at least try.
They were apologizing to me, and I didn't even know how to apologize in Korean.
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