I think some people are just unwilling to accept that obviously not every country is exactly the same level of welcoming to attempts to have people speak the language, and therefore some are more welcoming than others. This French person was personally very welcoming and took it as an affront against him, but no one was saying that every single French person is rude or anything like that.
You also get the weird case of native French speakers born in French speaking countries or territories outside of France being answered in English when trying to start a conservation in Paris. This is obviously anecdotal but it happens enough to kind of reinforce the stereotype. This reported/perceived attitude seems to always come from Paris and probably stems more from the ridiculous amount of tourists than from a general attitude about language or language learning.
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I’ve heard that that bad attitude is mostly experienced in Paris but when they left Paris to other areas of France people were more appreciative of attempts at speaking French.
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I’ve only been to Paris, and not other parts of France, but people there were fairly rude about my inability to speak French. In Japan, I am always excited to try my Japanese, but (at least, in Tokyo), seem to only run into people who speak quite good English. I never manage to have a conversation in Japanese! I of course appreciate all those who used my native language to be helpful and make me feel at ease, but it is a little disappointing sometimes when you’ve studied and want to try out your skills. Maybe my pronunciation is awful 
use japanese, people whose english is better than your jp will switch to english, everyone else will be happy you try, and everyone will be flattered that you’re trying your best to learn their language.
no worries. japanese people are normally cool and friendly, that’s their default.
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They all switch to English. 
I’m going to tell myself that they’re just being polite and not because my Japanese is that bad…
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it’s both, them being friendly and you sucking.
no problem though, i had the same problem when i moved here a few years ago, nobody switches to english anymore these days. i could overcome it, then you can, too 
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