The problem has nothing to do with language exchange or culture gaps.

The problem is expectations. Specifically, unrealistic expectations.

Some people will be eager and happy to practice English with you, some people will not. Just as some Chinese people are friendly and helpful, and some are not.

You have the right to approach people and they have the right to shut you down.

It's called reality, get in touch with it.

And one little additional piece of friendly advice for you and your fellow English learners: if you are hoping to converse with people from other countries, you should skip your little compulsory geographical public service announcement.

This may come as a bit of a surprise, but people not behaving in the exact way you would like them to doesn't necessarily mean that they don't know where they are. Anyone who feels the need to point out that this is China immediately goes in my "no desire to talk to ever" category.

One more point is that people don't always respond to our requests with kindness. If you meet somebody and immediately ask them to do you a favor by taking the time to listen to you practice your English, they may not be interested in helping. Perhaps the world would be a better place if everybody was willing to do that. Maybe a better approach would be to simply approach people with genuine interest in them instead of an ulterior motive.

Too true Zhenlai,my chinese sucks and I know it.I just don't need some cocky so-and-so's poking fun at my efforts in a language I can't understand!
Only yesterday I had five people in Oriental Plaza stopping me with the standard introduction " where you from?I am student you want to speak some english and have a starbucks?"
A pair asked me if I needed help because I was sat on a wall minding my own business,watching the world go by,in the sunshine.
The cynic would asssume that somehow these lovelies are going to try and extract cash from a nieve laowai at every possible opportunity,even down to a back-handed commission from Starbucks and over-priced coffee......
My missus who's chinese thinks they are all hookers who maybe want the 'I conquered a laowai' badge for their brownie uniform,hmmm mybe she's more cynical than I ......
But to answer the original statement from randomize,people earn a living from oral english coaching so they are most certiainly not going to do themselves out of cash when there are so many unscrupulous agents in China that will screw you to the wall.Not your fault no,but as they say in England - you makes your bed so you get to lay in it!!!!

Well, I say people can 'refuse' stranger whenever they want to, it's called personally choice.

Are you telling us if a random 40 old dudes comes to you and want to bang, you simply cannot refuse, otherwise you can't know him. lol

It is true, zhenlai. I have been doing self-examination lately and realise i have been rude and unconscious to a lot of people, which makes me feel bad. In terms of Chinese language, i was being over-protective because subconsciously i thought Chinese language only belongs to Chinese people, only Chinese people can speak perfect mandarin, bla bla bla. That was wrong. now i realise some foreingers do speak fluent Chinese, so i will try my best to respect that and be nice to people.

I agree with some comments that have been made. It seems that many Chinese people don't expect foreigners to speak any Chinese, so they don't even try to understand. It is also really common for them to say 听不懂 and then blow you off. I believe, however, that they largely have no idea how rude that comes across to foreigners.

One of the biggest failings Chinese people have in interactions with foreigners is they don't know how to speak slowly. Many people seem to have no idea that they should slow down their speech to help you understand. I believe this is because most Chinese people haven't had much interactions with non-native speakers, and this makes them ignorant and awkward in some social aspects. It's not their fault; it's just a result of isolation from the rest of the world. In Europe and America we are used to dealing with people learning our language and I dare say we are better and more friendly at communicating with foreigners.

My Chinese wife's family doesn't speak Mandarin very well, although their dialect isn't too different from Mandarin. Nonetheless, it makes communication difficult, and I have been shocked at how little effort they put into communicating with me. It's like they have given up. This is a cultural issue, and it doesn't mean they are bad people.

In response to the original post, I agree with what has been said about the need for you to first make some friends before you ask for help. Make friends with an English-speaker, and then eventually say "Can you please be brutally honest with my English? Please correct me when I'm wrong." Chances are that your friend understands the concept of "face" and doesn't want to embarrass you. Even in America where "face" isn't as big of a deal, it's still somewhat embarrassing to correct people's accent unless they ask you to.

In my experience, Chinese usually equate having bad tones with having a bad accent. In my humble opinion, having bad tones is egregious, and I am always very grateful for anyone who will correct me. Also, haven't you met any Asians with OK grammar but an accent so bad it is hard to understand them? Bad accents can interfere severely with communication, and I think they can warrant correction.

You are right, dialects and accents of course are different. But for a foreigner trying to speak Mandarin (普通话 to be precise), incorrect tones can interfere with communication. As I said before, the Chinese people I've talked to consider foreigners to have a bad Chinese accent when they speak Mandarin with incorrect tones.

I am not sure what you mean by saying I shouldn't correct them; do you mean I, as an American, shouldn't correct native Chinese speakers on their accent? Of course. Or, do you mean that I, as an American, should not correct other foreigners who are attempting to speak Mandarin on their accent?

Regardless, I never spoke about me correcting others. My only point was that I am grateful when Chinese speakers correct my Mandarin. And, when I try and speak other dialects, I am grateful when they correct my accent/tones in those dialects as well.