Do You Speak English?

I had an amusing experience last year. After I had left a small village in the south of French, I drove on to the next town. On the way, a young man waved to me. I stopped and he asked me for a lift. As soon as he got into the car, I said good morning to him in French and he replied in the same language.

Apart from a few words, I do not know any French at all. Neither of us spoke during the journey. I had nearly reached the town, when the young man suddenly said, very slowly, ‘Do you speak English?’ As I soon learnt, he was English himself!

(L.G. Alexander, Practice and Progress, Kanisius)