NOT surprisingly, Nigel Farage took a few hits in Mark Steel's stand up routine at Salisbury Arts Centre earlier this month.

There were rich pickings in the UKIP leader's nowinfamous interview with LBC radio last month. Farage spoke of feeling awkward during a recent train journey from Charing Cross when none of his fellow passengers were speaking English.

Farage might well have felt awkward again when he was asked how he felt when his German wife or his bilingual children spoke German.

Steel argued that it was hardly likely that Farage suffers a rare phobia of foreign language that he somehow suppresses around his family. More likely that his forbearance is, well, selective.

Anti-immigrant agendas aside, it's easy to sympathise with feeling uncomfortable when surrounded by strangers or people speaking in languages we don't understand.

Paranoia can easily surface at the first outburst of laughter or furtive whispers.

Those with little experience of being an outsider are probably more likely to be uncomfortable around people who seem obviously different. Before international travel and migration became so widespread, many people – especially those living on an island or a vast continent dominated by the English language – had little exposure to foreign languages, much less motivation to learn one.

How different for those in countries bordered by many others. Travelling by train through Holland years ago, I wasn't sure where I needed to go once I reached my destination. I recall asking the Dutch woman in the seat in front of me if she spoke English.

“Of course,” she said.

“There are too few people who speak Dutch for me to get by with only my own language.”

Anyone who has learned another language knows that humility is key to success.

But even if you're not Nigel Farage, feelings triggered by hearing and speaking other languages depend so much on context.

How often have you heard people complain about their 'terrible' accent, just before they set off for France, for example? And yet, when a French person speaks in English, we don't cringe or cover our ears. If anything, the struggle to pronounce an English ‘r’ or a ‘th’ warms us to the speaker and the effort they are making.

Beauty is in the ear as well as the eye of the beholder.