Related observation:
The same basic principle belies the “Americans are bad for not learning other languages” sentiment’s misguided premise. What to learn? Per your observation of English’s dominance, most other speakers would see English as the obvious choice, alongside a neighboring region’s language. We, however, are faced with a much less obvious choice.
Mandarin Chinese and American Spanish are probably the broadest alternatives, but are muted as choices by sheer complexity or localization; other languages are further limited in use. Nothing has the universal practical appeal of English, and odds of any given language being useful in arbitrary situations are low.
The other obvious choice is proximity, like German and French being obvious pairings. Most speakers of one language pick up another language or three because of the close proximity thereof; odds are they’ll either go to those regions or will encounter visitors from there. In the USA, however, most residents find the language is uniform for thousands of miles in most any direction. If an Ohioan were to choose a language from an adjacent state (akin to a German’s geographic motive for learning French), he’d pick up, what, Pennsylvanian? The only major regional languages in the entire hemisphere are Spanish and French, with the former still largely relegated to an entire separate continent.
So, between no local need for another language plus the overwhelming odds of learning the “wrong” language (i.e.: won’t be the one needed when another is needed), we stick with English - looking arrogant in the process.
Maybe this explains why Americans are relatively big on _software_: lacking obvious choices for learning natural languages, our human affinity to acquiring other languages instead turns to C++, Java, Lisp, Objective-C, etc.
Pointless ramble over...
Again you channel my thoughts exactly. Maybe we are identical twins, separated at birth?
Anyway, for whatever it's worth, I think kids in the USA should be required at an early age to study and learn another language, if for no other reason than that the process should help to improve their command of English. Latin is an obvious choice, but I'd settle for German, French, clasical Greek or even Spanish.