By Deborah Haynes, foreign affairs editor

An appeal to anyone outside an English-speaking country: when a Brit visits and attempts to talk in your language please don't reply in ours just because you can.

It's demoralising and actually - unless we're floundering and need help - rather rude.

I've lost count of the number of times I've bucked up the courage to attempt a bit of French in a French-speaking nation only to have the person I'm addressing shoot back in English.

I imagine most times the other person is simply trying to be polite, rather than get in a bit of English-language practice at my expense, but at least give me a chance.


Image: Deborah was broadcasting from Brussels for the brexit summit

I'm not saying my French is fluent - it definitely is not - but I did do a French A-level and went on to work for Agence France-Presse, the French news agency, where to get my job I had to translate from French into English an article on the Japanese bond market bubble.

So I can just about ask for directions or, as happened this week in Luxembourg and again in Belgium, for a hotel bill and understand the reply.

I found myself feeling pathetically grateful - after largely receiving English responses to my French questions - when in a cafe in Brussels on Friday I ordered a pain au chocolat and a cup of tea in French (not hard) to be met with a response… also in French!

The waiter asked if I wanted milk with my tea, to which I responded "yes please" [oui, s'il vous plait - see, it's really not hard].

Image: Deborah tested out her French skills in a Brussels café

I was told (still in glorious French) that the milk was in a jug at the corner of the counter.

"Merci beaucoup," I said [thank you very much], referring more to his French conversation than the instructions about where to find the milk.

At a time when the uptake of foreign languages at UK schools is abysmally low and the ability of people around the world to speak English is so high, it is easy for Britons to be lazy and not make the effort to try to learn even just a few foreign words to get by when overseas.

But by doing that we are missing out on so much in terms of understanding another country, its culture and the ability to interact with those in it who can't speak English.

As a student, I decided to learn Japanese at university as I had been fascinated from a very young age at the idea of a language so completely alien to my own.

I also loved the speed of it even from when I could not understand a word.

I had the good fortune to get to know and love a family that lived in a rural town on the west coast of Japan. They comprised a girl called Yoshiko of about my age who was learning English (which she spoke brilliantly), her younger brother, their parents and a grandmother as well as a much wider family.

I first spent time with them before starting university when literally the only words I knew in Japanese were: konnichiha [hello] and sayonara [goodbye].

They patiently helped me learn, with Yoshiko initially using her English but as time went by she encouraged me to speak in Japanese and would only answer in her language.

It was the best way to improve.

Image: Japanese people were encouraged to respond in their native language

After two years of Japanese lessons at Cardiff University, I went on to spend the third year of my degree living in another Japanese town where I further immersed myself in the language.

Even then, however, there were times when out and about I would meet someone who responded to my increasingly decent Japanese in their comparatively shaky English.

I found this particularly irritating in the context of me being a student of Japanese who was trying learn about their country and language.

I ended up either responding in mega fast English that they would not have a hope of understanding, or pretending I was unable to speak English so they would have to resume in Japanese if they wanted to continue a conversation.

A bit sneaky, but it was the only way to avoid the English trap.

Now back in the UK, I have an au pair who lives in my home to help look after my children while I am away at work.

My current au pair is German and my German is appalling so the argument does not work, but when previously I had a French au pair I always make the point of speaking to her in English to help her learn, rather than use her for some convenient French language practice.

Quid pro quo!

Sky Views is a series of comment pieces by Sky News editors and correspondents, published every morning.

Previously on Sky Views: Adam Boulton - There is nothing less Game of Thrones than Brexit