What to do and not to do while travelling to other countries

Don't talk about money: "For example, you can tell you quit a job because you were underpaid, but you should not mention how much exactly. There are old taboos about speaking of money in the French culture, many people consider it a 'dirty' topic." Don't expect people to speak English: "The French educational system is bad at teaching foreign languages, with an excessive focus on reading and writing compared to conversational skills. Many older people will only know a bit of bad and heavily accented English and/or possibly German or Spanish."