On dit la même chose des américains... French don't accept the fact that english has became the universal language. If people talk to them straight in English that's mean, your language is nothing , you should know english. Our hero is: " Asterix le gaulois. " So just go: Bonjour, je ne parle pas français, do you speak english, ou l'équivalent en ukrainien (mais la.......) Bref si tu vas en calédonie ou à tahiti tout le monde est sympa même avec les étrangers.

There is some truth in this, the French like to think that French and English have always been very competitive to each other, this goes back to the early medieval era, perhaps even before. There have been a bunch of English-French wars. Its more that the French are to proud to learn English, I don' think they would take it as an offense but I don't think anyone would understand you very well... To be sure, try to adress them in Frnech first, and then ask them in rench if they speak any English.... :) That's how I've always done it and it worked for me!

Better a french to answer that, but there's definitely a resistance, yes. But I don't belive they can be unpolite or unfriendly just for that.. The world belive that English is super cool, and French people just don't buy it. They like their own idiom, not somebody else's. If you watched The Rush Hour 3, there's George, the taxi driver that at first, hate Americans, and after being in an adventure with the American agents Lee and Carter, he starts to idolize Americans. I belive that's a trick they (directors) play on French people for this resistance. If I was French, I would get pissed! =) Anyway, this is part of this movie that shows this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc1BJlkbNAQ