Why do Americans always presume that everyone speaks English

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.

Heard someone say this on reddit many years ago after someone was being a wise ass about their English which was obviously second or third language
You speak English because it's the only language you know; I speak English because it's the only language you know We are not the same
- That's pretty funny, but I'm years past accepting the "hurr durr ignorant american knows only one language" thing. Except as a response to someone harassing someone about their English capabilities, as seems to be the case in your example. 😁
  The way I figure it, if the people two states away from me in every direction spoke a different language from me, and from each other, I'd probably be multilingual, too. (As would most of us)
- Most people I've talked to who know English as a second language speak and read and understand it better than most American's I've spoken to who know only English.
Yeah I hung out with a bunch of Germans who were really good English speakers but constantly were self critical of their English skills. They were beating my German skills by a landslide even at their worst moments.

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

And perhaps Brits and Canadians. I’m not sure about their visit numbers though.
Or anybody in europe who probably speaks english as thats the "world language"
- Unless they're from a primarily English speaking country, they'd be unlikely to complain though.
Wait, in that case maybe complaining is a bit justified? Different of course of it's a place off the beaten path, but if it's a hotbed of English-speaking tourists then having staff that speak their language seems pretty important.
Guess it's really hard to say without more context (story of the internet).
- I don't even know why some native speakers complain about having to deal with broken English when the learner only needs to know a tiny fraction of the language to be intelligible. As long as they have the vocab, grammar is mostly optional.

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.

As a developer in a non English speaking country, in the last decade having English in your resume has moved from nice-to-have to mandatory, now the nice to have is having a third one.
- A third what?
One random thought I had about this the other day was that I feel sort of bad for the British, Irish, Americans and Australians. Well, the monolingual ones.
Anytime they go abroad, it's like "oh they didn't even bother to learn the language", but then when we who didn't grow up on English do, we've already learned at least English, so not knowing the local language is somehow more understandable. Or perhaps people don't feel that way, but it's just a thought I had. Like it feels less polite when a native English speaker just addresses someone in English in a foreign country, but if a non-English speaker asks "do you speak English" with broken English, it's much more... sympathetic.
I'm just babling nevermind me.
I do agree with you though and can't really understand people in my country who still say they can't speak English. I mean, people who still use the internet and consume media that's in English. I don't get it. Language acquisition gets worse sure, but it's never gone away from me at least. I watch one season of some show in a language I don't understand and I already start picking up the very basics. Nothing I could use, surely, but like my brain is clearly structuring and trying to make sense of the language, so with enough exposition to a language...
- The Irish are increasingly bilingual it’s just that they’re learning their own language, not anyone else’s

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).

Yes true but that statement is also true for anyone else. Yet you don't see that sense of entitlement
- What statement are you referring to? The point that it's far more expensive to travel from North America to a country in Europe for example, than it is to travel between countries in Europe? Maybe Thailand would be as expensive for both, though, I don't know. Or the point that most Americans get much less vacation time than Europeans so again, only the more privileged Americans generally have the time off to take an overseas vacation.
  Of course some regular people also take those vacations, but it's probably a once-in-a-lifetime big deal that they saved up for a long time as a dream. Those aren't the ones acting entitled, they are appreciating the opportunity.

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

I’m sawwry, I don’t speak ‘at squeaky squacky, beep boop shit. Why don’t you try talking like an American?! You’re in American space space!

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.

It's not necessarily just for Americans. English is the most spoken language in the world when you include people's second language. That German tourist probably isn't going to know Thai and that Thai cafe probably isn't going to know German, but they can muddle though with English.
- Right. I was addressing the title of the post. I am assuming Americans are among the worst among presuming English should be spoken everywhere, but I don't fall into that category. I marvel at the fact that it's so widely spoken.
It's always so foreign to me that anglophones never need to switch to English to communicate internationally, that's just their everyday language
- Yeah, it's pretty crazy to me and I'm an anglophone who barely knows other languages. It's a marvel.

Why are people from the USA always called Americans?

Because they're the only country with America in their name whereas United States is shared by Mexico
Also in English there's a distinction between North and South America, with the supercontinent being referred to as "The Americas", so America isn't really ambiguous, they're also geologically and environmentally distinct enough that "The Americas" isn't used so much and "New World" is often more relevant to include Australia as another somewhat culturally similar sparsely populated former colonial area.
Same reason why people from the United Kingdom are called ‘British’, despite Northern Ireland not being in Britain.
There just aren’t better proper adjectives for these 2 countries.
While you can say ‘North American’ to mean anyone from North America and not specifically the US, I’m not sure there’s a fitting word that refers to anyone from North or South America. Although, at that point, the group of people you are talking about is perhaps too broad to be useful in most cases.
- Same reason why people from the United Kingdom are called ‘British’, despite Northern Ireland not being in Britain.
  Ireland is part of the British Isles, so you could even call people from the Republic of Ireland british (and then run away really fast).
- And saying North America includes Canada, and I think out of respect to the Canadians they don’t wanna be lumped together with us
Because calling anyone else an American is insulting.
Why does someone always smugly point this out in these threads?
- Because there's always got to be some young "boo America" edgelord contrarian that thinks they're really doing something by saying it. But really they are just an idiot in a long line of idiots who isn't saying anything at all.
- US Americans are seen by basically everyone as the most obnoxious tourists on this planet. Their self importance and undeserved national pride is second to none and it shows in every thread like this. Its just fun to see them get defensive when anyone points it out.
  This is literally what that sign is about and its odd that you are confused that people would point this out.
USAmerican, USAian, USAn, lUSA?
- USAmerican is my go to yep.
- Unitedstatians. Thats how we call them here (estadounidense)
Would you prefer "yanks"?
Just what people commonly understand so people say it. I always read it in a disapproving Russian accent because of too much TV, the americans

I can speak Thai so I guess I’m okay

I can’t speak Thai but I am not complaining because I’m not an asshole

because they're frequently proven right, English is the most commonly spoken second language after all
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's crazy, I speak French with an undertone of a Belgian accent, but pretty close to French general accent (I know every dept has their accent, chill!), but Canadians have an extremely heavy and weird non standard accent compared to other people.
- Language is strange man
  Incredible our brains can make sense of any of it sometimes

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.

I've been to a few other countries. The people (especially retail workers) are extremely patient. All it takes is a smile and "excuse me" and they will try as hard as they can to build a communication bridge. I don't know why we Americans have no patience
- I think you should go take a nice walk. Could do wonders for you

BECAUSE ENGLISH ALWAYS WORKS IF YOU CAN SPEAK IT LOUD ENOUGH

Are there still people that use an accent of the country that they are in but using English words expecting the native person to understand them?
- That vaguely works in Japan, because they have a ton of English loanwords, and a lot of them wouldn't be understood by a monolingual Japanese speaker unless you say them in a Japanese accent (it's a bit more complicated than that but that's the gist).

The End
Would have been really funny if you said
Thai End
there

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.

I'm enjoying hearing the stories about African slag infiltrating France and how the olds there are freaking out.
- Can only import so much of a workforce before they start becoming part of the culture.
I would say the English language supremacy started around 300 years ago, before that the preferred language was french
- And Dutch. But let's be honest it was a revolving door of Western Europe and they all new each other.

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.

I think the point is that Americans assume that people speak English in countries where English is not the predominant language without first making even the slightest effort to adjust to the local language and customs. And it really comes across as assholery.
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.
Laughs in Russian
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.
I really want to do that, though I was thinking Washington (state) to Florida. Want to drive the Florida Keys at one point definitely. I'm a foreigner though, idk if they even let you stay in the country for vacations that long lol
- It looks like the type of visas that are usually used for vacations give you 180 days per stay and last for 10 years. From what I've heard, they're either fairly easy to get a hold of or ridiculously hard depending on your country of origin. In other news, everything in the US around visas and immigration is fuuuuuuccccckkkkked.

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.

Thanks for the examples

We do?

I'd think that this sign is not there because of American tourists. All the Americans I've met while traveling, have acknowledged that English being their native language is a privilege and have been very polite towards people who don't speak English that well. But in Europe English has become the universal language and it's easy to forget that not everyone can speak it as well.
- I was responding to the title, which was typed by OP, not to the image. I don't know why you responded as if my comment was directed at the image instead...?
I certainly don't. It's a huge part (besides cost) of why I find the prospect of travelling to other countries to be very intimidating. I don't want to be a pain in the ass for the locals when I can't communicate with them properly.

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.

I say it because every time I try to speak in someone in their language, they immediately switch to English. (even the one I'm pretty damn good at)

Because of the dominance of English, many people learn it and that's enough to talk to people from many countries, but what are we supposed to do? We can't learn all the other languages.

Because we have to if they don't speak our language

Classic mistake of someone Thai trying to speak English. They forgot to write the words “long time” at the end.

LOL. Bet few got the reference
- From an award winning war movie made by one of the most prominent directors of all time that had the referenced line sampled in a famous hip hop song?
  Or was it something else?

Why’s everyone assuming this isn’t in America? I’ve seen signs like this here and it’s immigrants’ way of saying “listen we’re trying to speak your language well, but please be sympathetic as it’s our second (or more) language”. We’re generally fine with people not speaking English when we’re outside America, it’s inside our borders that we’re tremendous assholes about it

I wonder if there was a time in which a similar sign was written in Latin.

Hop on a 6 hour flight, or drive for 40 hours from most countries and you’ll likely find yourself in a place that speaks an entirely different language. In America all that gets you is someone who has a different kind of twang in their voice.

Not saying it’s right to make that assumption but it’s definitely understandable why people do.

Of course as people pointed out, this is far from a uniquely American thing. Also, I'm sure by American they mean the USA, but "Americans" are inclusive of north, central and south America. Here in Europe, we also expect people to speak English as it is the universal language.

As a side note, it is also often commented that Americans (USA Americans) can only speak English. This is a narrow view that primarily broadly looks at white Americans and ignores the fact that the US is a huge melting pot of cultures and for many US citizens English is their second or third language.

It goes without being said, the contents of the picture should never have a reason to be written. Don't be a dick to people trying to help you.

Because they have no official language so any language can be used in the US

Not a justification, but part of the reason is that English is currently the world's lingua franca.

I'm not sure if this is a bait or serious
We should fix that. Everyone start learning Esperanto.

Chi!

Because they often do. And most non native speakers really work at it too. Love them for it

Probably because if your business is based around profiting from American tourists, you're probably going to need to know some English. It seems to me like when money is involved people tend to find a way to communicate what they need to regardless of what languages they share, though. And obviously this does not excuse rude tourists.

Or tourists in general. I'm Estonian. Loads of Estonians go to Thailand. I doubt any of them speak Thai. Most speak English to some degree.