No, it's a French thing. They're rather infamous for making your life difficult if you don't speak fluent French. Anywhere else in Europe people would at least make an effort.

When I read that it registered as being a light-hearted observation with a healthy dose of humour, and not an attempt at being rude.

Yeah, with this line the author completely lost me. What did he expect them to do? Does he think of himself as steadfastly committed to not speaking Japanese, Bantu, Hindi, and Algonquin?

(I realize it was (hopefully) meant in jest-ish, but there are better ways to make the point.)