🚀 go-pugleaf

IMO you are "talking past each other" to some extent.  My experience
is that there are a number of reasons why USers do not learn other
languages.  Arrogance is certainly one of them, but simple ignorance
is another: a surprising number of USers really do believe that "everyone
speaks English".  In some cases this is based on experience; as you
point out, there are a significant number of people around the world
who speak very good English indeed, for various reasons - because
they want to sell things to USers or UKers, because they want to get
ahead in business (when a Swedish businessman meets with his Japanese
counterpart, they will most likely use English), or simply because they
want to be hospitable to English-speakers.  It's frequently the case, also,
that a USer, wishing to practice his or her beginner's knowledge of the
local language, is frustrated by the desire of the locals to practice
their English... and in Europe, one also runs up against the fact that
an "average" education may be better than an "average" education
in the U.S.: the level of competence expected from someone who has
studied a language for 3 years is higher in other countries than it is
here.  This obscures the fact that many many people do NOT speak
English, or speak it at a very basic level.  I have learned this the hard
way, even in places like Denmark, where many people have an excellent
command of English.  I don't see any contradiction between a recognition
of the fact that English is by far the most widespread modern "lingua
franca", on the one hand, and a recognition that it (1) has its limitations
and (2) is not the only useful language, on the other hand.  Personally
I have found German, French, spanish, and Esperanto often useful and
sometimes indispensible.  Also, I very much recommend Rick Steves'
advice in the chapter "hurdling the Language Barrier" in his book
Europe Through the Back Door" (which must be up to about the 12th
Edition by now).  The one thing I _like_ to do but haven't yet, is
to learn a basic set of Chinese written characters, as James Fallows
of the Atlantic magazine once suggested.  This would be quite useful
in Korea, Japan, China, and Southeast Asia (actually I sometimes wonder
if Cantonese isn't almost as widely distributed as English, in re
spoken languages... I have found Chinese restaurants in the most _unlikely_
places). 

George Partlow.......Delegito de UEA en la alaska regurbo, Juneau (Usono)
retposxto cxe: <71064.332@compuserve.com>...Pensu terglobe, agu surloke!
Ekzistas nur 2 klasoj de homoj: tiuj kiuj opinias, ke ekzistas nur 2 klasoj
de homoj, kaj tiuj kiuj malsamopinias... (Clifford Partlow, 1966)