English version comes after Japanese.
テレビ東京月曜日夜の「Youは何しにニッポンへ」が好きでよく見ます。時々日本語堪能な人をつかまえることがあってこんな会話があります。
「Japanese TV program. Interview OK?」
「あ、日本語大丈夫です」
「あれ、日本語お上手ですね」
「いえ、ほんの少しだけ。まだまだです」
謙遜するんですよね。これって欧米文化だと「ありがとう」と受けるところで、謙遜してる人を見ると「ああ、この人は日本的文化も含めて学んだんだなぁ」って思います。謙遜がいいか悪いかは別として、言葉を習得したい時はその国の文化・習慣・歴史も一緒に理解すると学びやすいと思う。
There's a TV program called "Why did you come to Japan?". I watch it every Monday evening. They interview visitors arriving at the international airports such as Narita and Haneta. I often see the following conversation in the program.
"Japanese TV program, interview OK?"
"I speak Japanese."
"Oh your Japanese is very good."
"Not at all. Just a little. Still learning."
I'm surprised to find the Japanese speaking visitors modest. If you're an English speaking person, the answer would be something like "Thank you for your compliment". I assume they're learning the Japanese culture at the same time. I wouldn't argue if being modest is good or bad but it would make language learning easier for us to have some interest in culture, custom, and history of the country.