Originally Posted by
kebosabi
To be fair, English is not the most used language in the world. Only 5.43% of the world can speak English, compared to Chinese Mandarin (14.4%) and Spanish (6.15%)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ative_speakers
So it could very well be likely that the merchant could actually not speak English, especially if said merchant is in a non-touristy part of Spain where they are less likely to see English speaking tourists.
At least Spain would be a cinch for many Americans as many have taken Spanish as their second foreign language requirement in high school (I would've chosen Chinese but it wasn't offered at my school
). "No dolares, en euro por favor!"
I won't argue with you and it probably is Chinese given the population of the country. But there's one word missing from your premise. And that is naitive like naitive language. I haven't looked at the Wikipedia article but I would wager my usual nickel that English is the #1 choice throughout most of the non English speaking world for choosing a second language to learn first. And there are many countries, Holland for example, where the study of English is almost mandatory in grade school. Don't most people in Japan choose English as their second language, first foreign, to learn? How about China? India? Russia?
About a decade ago, I took a tour that went through many of the Eastern European countries that had once been part of the Warsaw Pact. You know what struck me the most say in Poland. I would have thought the second language in most of the museums I visited in Warsaw would be either Russian or perhaps German. You know what it was? In every museum, every last one, the displays were always in Polish of course and in English.
Of course the clerks I refer to with the "no speak English" usually spoke perfect Englis up to the point of not doing a dcc transaction. Then suddenly there is a language problem!