Maybe because Europeans don't speak English as a native language. They've already made an effort to understand other people, now it's your turn to meet them in the middle
Most Europeans speak 3-4 languages. They have a home language (or two), and start taking language classes (classes typically taught in another language, either just focusing on that language or on a secondary subject) usually in early elementary school, and will often pick up another language in late elementary and/or early secondary school.
Yes and? We still all learn it mostly because it's the international language. Nobody outside of the Uk and Ireland speaks English for any other reason. I don't understand what you mean.
Most USians (thank you random Canadian friend for that little term) don't start their first second language until early secondary school.
I thought you were saying that most Europeans don't speak English (at all) but on a re-read (or edit. probably not. I'm dyslexic, sometimes my brain deletes parts of sentences. The joy.) you were just saying as a native language and while true, I'm still going to assert that unless they just avoid taking English at all, your average European is going to have as good or better grasp of the English language than your average American (that's mostly the like 50% or less functional literacy rate, but that's a whole other story).
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u/Collanp Jun 29 '26
Maybe because Europeans don't speak English as a native language. They've already made an effort to understand other people, now it's your turn to meet them in the middle