>On the other hand of the spectrum you got the French and the Serbs, who usually openly ridicule those who learn the language - or so I heard. I did have a German friend who learned, and while he did get a lot of laughs, he also got a lot of help from everybody.

i have to say that i never experienced that, people were more helpful if i tried to converse with them in french. they were also like that in italy when i was there.
~M