I learned very little Spanish when I was in Spain for three years. It wasn’t that I had never studied Spanish or that I was unwilling to learn, it was that the moment a Spaniard would figure out I’m American, he or she would immediately speak in English. Really bad English, in most cases, but still English.
When the native population of a country is so ready to switch to English, it can be very difficult to learn the host language. It is then bad form to blame the English speakers for not bothering to learn the language.
I only spent a year in France, but I learned to speak it fluently and can still get by over 30 years later. That’s because hardly anyone spoke English, and I had to learn. Total immersion is really the fastest and most effective way to learn a language.
Love Mark Twain.
Now I know why all German philosophers are impossible to read, even when translated!