Traditionally, Japanese have had hideously bad English instruction, based on theory and grammar, such that even graduates in English couldn’t speak a word. I think English teaching in China is more pragmatic - they need to use it either for business or education, so there is more motivation to seek practical training.
Well according to the State Department, it seems I am elementary proficient in most languages. I travel outside the US periodically and have found these three words help a lot - beer, cerveza, and pardon. 
Other than a recent trip to Japan, these have served me well over the years. Even calmed down football fans in Brasil when I cheered the wrong team in a hotel bar.
S1 took 6 years of a Romance language, including Honors 3, aced the AP & SAT II, but still struggled when he did study abroad. So it’s doubtful that only 3 years w/o immersion makes one proficient.
Well, I probably would have said: beer, please, pardon, since cerveza and beer are synonymous 
I will admit that the only words that I know in several languages, other than hello/goodbye/yes/no, are: “beer please.”
I agree about the historically subpar English instruction in Japan. Another issue is that Japanese has a very limited number of sound combinations–probably only a 100 or so total sound combinations in the entire language. Additionally, you don’t have any consonant clusters in the language, with the exception of another syllable following the singular “n” sound (e.g., “konban”–“this evening” ). Every other syllable in the language is a consonant vowel combination (ka, ki, pi, mu, no, etc), which is why you have situations like the German word “arbeit” (“work”) becoming the Japanese word “arubaito” (“part time work”) . Native English speakers often struggle with Arabic for a similar reason–Arabic has more distinct consonants and consonant clusters than English.
@GMTplus7 that would really depend on the student. I took three years of Spanish in HS and validated two years of college language. I hosted a non-English speaking cadet from Argentina after not having language for three years and it came back (eventually). My DW took French in HS and German in college. She could do the writing but couldn’t really hear or speak well.
The critical words are: Pardon, Please, Thank you, Beer, Toilet, Exit.
The 2 words that keep u from looking like a doofus at doors are: Push, Pull
I am getting too much credit for my foreign language skills. The exact three words I have found useful are beer, cerveza, and pardon. Not the equivalent in other languages. Sure I’ve picked up a few other words along the way that help with specific situation - such as saying sumimasen in Japanese restaurants. But these, combined with some body language and facial expressions can go a long way.
Referring back to my Brasil trip - I literally went to the bartender and said “pardon” with a sheepish look on my face and then motioned to the dozen or so folks in the bar and said “cerveza”. He pulled out a couple handfuls of bottles and I nodded. And with that, I bought a round. Best $5 I ever spent.
Add ‘not cheap enough’ and you are a real expert.
"How is someone from outside supposed to learn a language than can be conveyed in grunts? "
-By living in a country for several years or months, depending on the age of the person.
Not bad, considering that neither is a Portuguese word.
It is hard to think of a sound that wouldn’t get you a beer in a bar, if you looked thirsty.
But google translate says beer is cerveja in Portuguese, so close enough.
I hope you learned the word “caipirinha” while in Brazil.
No linguistic ability would save you in a stadium if you root for the guest team among the local fans.
My son has given me examples of Arabic words that sound identical to me that have some subtle difference he can now hear. That’s interesting about the lack of consonate clusters in Japanese. I got the impression (from a semester’s study) that Chinese grammar was much simpler than English, but still basically structured the same. Pidgin English sounds the way it does because it’s basically a direct translation. I’m not as familiar with Japanese grammar, except that it’s my impression that its word order structure is quite different from English.
I remember at some point when I was living in France I was taught the right grunt for “uh” - when you can’t think of a word. I instantly sounded more French. 
The Spanish “cerveza” (with the z making a hard “s” sound) and the Portuguese “cerveja” (with the j making a soft “zh” sound) are similar enough that a speaker of either language would almost always recognize the other word—especially in a bar. But beyond that, many Brazilians are bilingual in Portuguese and Spanish, especially in academia and also in the business world because so many Brazilian businesses also do business elsewhere in Latin America. This is also true in the hospitality industry because so many Spanish-speaking tourists and business people visit Brazil. Beyond that, even without language study native Portuguese speakers are often able to roughly make out what Spanish speakers are saying because the languages are similar enough, with the roots of most words identical but with important grammatical differences, pronunciation differences, and many different word endings (as in cerveza/cerveja). But I’m told by my Brazilian friends that because Portuguese grammar is more complex than Spanish grammar, it’s often more difficult for a native Spanish speaker to make out what a Portuguese speaker is saying. This creates odd one-way language competencies in both directions: A Spanish speaker traveling in Brazil will find it relatively easy to communicate her needs and desires, but may have more difficulty understanding what is said back to her in Portuguese; while a Portuguese speaker traveling in a Spanish-speaking county may find it more difficult to communicate her needs and desires, but will understand much of what is being said back to her in Spanish…
IMO, it’s not the grammar (although it is more complex than Spanish), it’s the Portuguese pronunciation; Spanish and Portuguese share many similar words, but Portuguese has a very different pronunciation.
@mathmom , Japanese grammar is (IMO) relatively easy–I often say that it spoiled me for grammar in other languages due to the lack of subject-verb conjugation, irregular verbs (there are only two in the entire language, and they are always the same two!), lack of declanation for nouns (cf. German or Latin), lack of plurals (yes, really), and lack of articles! Japanese word order is different than English but fairly consistent–it follows the subject-object-verb word order as opposed to the subject-verb-object word order, and the verb is always the last word in the sentencer. IME, the two things about Japanese that tend to trip people up the most (besides the kanji, of course) are the use of particles to mark subjects, objects, and auxiliary subjects, and keigo, a form of highly polite speech that completely changes many verbs and uses different verbs for the speaker and listener. Ironically, there’s some indication that even teenage/young adult Japanese speakers often don’t know correct keigo these days.
I did 3-4 years of French in high school, then went backpacking around France with a buddy the summer before senior year. Honestly I’d have to say that my French skills were terrible at the beginning of the summer. By the end of the summer I could get by, but barely and would not have called myself proficient even after 3 months of knocking around France. Although I suppose that depends on your definition of “proficient”. I could accomplish basic functional tasks but wasn’t fluent enough to carry on a relaxed conversation.
BTW, I shake my head when I think back to that trip. I cannot believe our parents let two 16-year old high school kids go wandering off to France for 3 months on their own. How crazy was that?
That is 100 percent true. The problem with spoken Portuguese in Brazil is that they add “letters” in the pronunciation. That explains why futbol sounds like futjebol and that a basic Sprite turns into Spritje. When you find yourself understanding a Brazilian, chances are that he is speaking Portunol (see what BClintonK wrote) that is a hybrid version to make Spanish speakers more comfortable.
By the way, to order one more beer in Brazil, all ones to do is to lift his (or her) index. The waiters know!
To the cervejinha bem gelada!
My D has taken 6 years of Latin, and only Latin. But Latin is not an option under language proficiency. Will she be dinged for not being proficient in a spoken language? Thanks