My first visit to Canada was in the early 70's. My first destination was Montreal... Being a polite kind of guy, being a guest in the country and having spent many hours learning French in school, I ordered lunch in what I thought was the local language. The waitress said something I did not understand. When I said 'Pardon?" she switched to English and told me about the day's special.

The same thing happened when I checked in at the hotel. So much for my thinking I had achieved "near native fluency" in French. Fortunately, I had no trouble understanding the evening news on TV. Neither was it difficult conversing with the young lady who waited on me at dinner time. It turned out she had arrived less than a year earlier... from Reims. I concluded it was not the French I spoke that was bad. And the people in Ontario had no problems with my Mid-Western Amercican either.