Yes, but I live in Israel. It's normal here to expect native English speakers to learn Hebrew to some degree. But Chinese is seen as completely impenetrable,

Yes, but I live in Israel. It's normal here to expect native English speakers to learn Hebrew to some degree. But Chinese is seen as completely impenetrable, more than any other language. People use "Chinese" to mean something they don't understand. Just two days ago, my postal carrier asked me a question about computers. (She's knows I'm in high tech.) I started to explain things, and she said, "What you're saying is Chinese to me." I said, "Actually, I'm learning Chinese," which she definitely didn't expect!