Interesting, sounds like my interactions with French people who don't understand English:
> be me
> in small kiosk in France, not knowing what I want to buy and nobody understands English
> a customer sees that I am struggling with talking to someone and wants to help
> I try to explain to him that I don't yet know what I want
> *long pause while he tries to understand what I just said*
> he points to a potato and says: "potato?"