[lionhearted]

Never had a problem personally. If you're going to France, just learn five words and you're good:

"Excuse-moi, parlez-vous anglais?" ("Excuse me, do you speak English?")

(phonetically that's roughly "ex-cues-eh-mwah, par-lay-voo an-glays" with a little emphasis on the "glays", just say it fast and it'll sound recognizable)

You might get no. Then you say, "Oh... no parlez-vous francais... do you know where xyz thing is... xyz thing... xyz thing... y'know xyz thing..." Eventually they'll get it. The two-second politeness of addressing someone in French has always been enough for me.