I always hope that everyone speaks English and if they seem worried about how it sounds I remind them that their English is way better than my their language which usually breaks the ice.

Even if you speak Thai, complaining about someone's foreign language abilities as a foreigner is rude.

Implying the sign isn't talking about Australians who visit in the same numbers

Just remember that any Americans vacationing in other countries are Americans who can afford to travel to take a vacation in other countries (and can even take that long of a vacation at all), and that explains the sense of entitlement and rudeness you see which gives Americans a bad name.

Also except for Canada and Mexico (and even for them depending on where in US you live, to get anywhere is a very long, expensive plane trip).

To be fair. Learning english is a must nowadays. The closest we have to an universal language.

And I say it as a non-native English speaker.

I can't wait for us to start exploring the galaxy and giving aliens shit for not speaking English lol

I'm American and I am continually shocked and grateful how commonly I'm catered to internationally. I mean it's not fair in a sense but also there does need to be a global language and the English happened to be the right kind of assholes to win that honor.

Why are people from the USA always called Americans?

I can speak Thai so I guess I’m okay

1. because they're frequently proven right, English is the most commonly spoken second language after all

2. Americans who can afford to travel abroad are generally more wealthy, and tend to be more over entitled in all aspects of their lives

So here's something wild I learned.

To Canadians, when I speak French, I have a very thick American accent. However, when I speak English to Canadians, they really can't tell my accent (presumably because I live in a bordering state?).

I always respect anyone who knows just enough English to communicate something simple/frequent. Because there is no fucking way they'd understand what I was trying to say in their language.

Man, that bugs me how many Americans are out there giving the rest of us a bad name. I don't travel, but if I did, I'd be grateful a non-native English speaker knew any English at all. And not learning enough of their language to at least get you by for the trip just sounds like poor planning in general. Some people are just incapable of looking before they leap, and for some reason a bunch of those people travel.

BECAUSE ENGLISH ALWAYS WORKS IF YOU CAN SPEAK IT LOUD ENOUGH

Because gunpowder.

Gunpowder go in metal tube.

Projectile go in metal tube.

Ignite.

BOOM.

Death.

Human go new place.

Bring Boomsticks.

Native humans = Dead

Native humans = Surrender

World = Dominated

Language = Spread

Language = Become default

The End

Sadly Ever After

(Fun fact most pilots have to learn Aviation English in order to operate internationally. You can thank the gunpowder for that.)

Edit: Lol Lemmy Shitposts doesn't like a shitpost about the british empire taking over the world.

Besides people speaking bad English to you are braver and more engaging than the average person in general. Id speak bad English with just about anyone before talking to most of my family lol.

Because western imperialism from English speaking countries has been around for at least 500 years and it's given lots of countries time to learn it.

But also I make sure to know how to introduce myself and ask if they speak English in basically every language I interact with as to not start with it. And then I have conversational understanding of about 7 languages.

We do?

Go from Wales, Alaska near the Bering Strait to the southern tip of Florida. You have traveled 4,580 miles (7,370 km) in 14 states and provinces. At no point were you not in a jurisdiction that was predominantly English speaking.

Mandarin Chinese may have the most number of native speakers, but English has the most number of total speakers, and those speakers are spread much more widely around the world.

The US is a business, economic, and geopolitical powerhouse. So was the British Empire.

I'm not saying that every other language should crawl in a hole and die. I'm currently taking a crack at learning Spanish. But there are pretty solid reasons why Americans make assumptions, even if they are erroneous sometimes.

as if it's not the english making this complaint

Because most people in the Western world do speak it proficiently. As well as the more urban populations of much of Asia.

I live in the Netherlands, where it's not the Americans assuming everyone speaks English. Sometimes it's quite bizarre too: we have this deaf, Ukrainian colleague who doesn't speak but communicates with Russian Sign Language (and whatever gestures you can think up on the spot), and it's very blatant that he doesn't speak English because he doesn't speak and can't hear, and has never written any notes in English or anything like that, but I've still caught other colleagues mouthing, or sometimes outright saying, things to him in English, as if it'd help. I remember once coming across a mute man who obviously understood Dutch, who then tried to ask someone a question, who then replied in a very "my husband is antiquair" kind of way. Otherwise it's mostly European tourists and immigrants who assume you speak English.