[girigiri]

I recall a couple of bus-drivers of my acquaintance complaining about some foreigners who couldn't understand enough English to buy a ticket. When I asked where they had picked the people up, they told me that the people were from an international language school. I said something along the lines of - It isn't as though they've spent 5 years here without bothering to pick up the rudiments - you're complaining because people who come here for the purpose of learning the basics don't don't yet know the basics. Can we have some logic here please?

I met only one person in Japan who reacted to my lack of knowledge of Japanese in the same way. ざんねん - roughly $1000 was spent in a competing shop, where one particular assistant went out of his way to help; despite my deplorable grammar and limited vocabulary.

Trying to learn on language sites will (almost) always come at a price, MysteryMan: You'll have to put up with some of your teachers' self aggrandisement.