An analogy could be drawn between the experiences of the voice talent in this article, and the reaction a company receives from its international customers. People were willing to meet her more than halfway once they saw an effort had been made to reach them in their own language.

I will point out that if you attempt to speak even a few words in the native tongue of the country where you’re standing, you have just made a huge step forward in making your trip an enjoyable one.

In Germany, I found that I started remembering more of my German as I continued to hear it. I could speak sentences half in German and half in English to people. After the first day, more people started speaking English, even ein bisschen (a little) to us. When they said they could speak “a little” English, they usually were fluent.