Chris writes:

An English accent might just be tolerated but an American English accent
bursting onto the airwaves will be treated as static.

American accents are treated no differently from English accents.

The best thing to do is to try speaking French first, be so bad at it that
they start speaking English. Extra brownie points for that and at least it
shows some respect for the French.

If they don't speak English, pretending that you're willing to speak French
won't help.

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