My brother just returned to Canada from language learning in Costa Rica. He brought his Korean-American partner Mary home with him. My wife Supriya and I thought that we should greet her in Korean. We researched how to say hello in Korean and we did so, extremely formally, she got that we were having fun and laughed with us.
I cheekily told her, “Wow, your english is great” (this should not be a surprise, she was brought up in America)
Her response … “So is yours!”
Fantastic response!
I find it curious when I hear someone say “They don’t speak any English here” while they are travelling in another country. Why should they? The better comment is for us to say “I don’t speak any Korean” the traveller is the outsider. The expectation should not be that others speak your language.
Anyways in Korean “Welcome” is “Oso oseyo” which surprisingly I spoke in an understandable way!?