Originally Posted by
swingaling
Also, forgive my ignorance, but is it common for native UK residents to not speak English (even as a second language learned in school)? Genuinely curious.
There are several thousand Welsh speakers who spend most of their days only speaking Welsh. Normally they would speak English too, but they'd just be very uncomfortable or find it difficult to have an extended time speaking English with any fluidity. There are a few Gaelic communities in the Western Isles which won't use much English, including a few older speakers who are effectively monolingual.
I've got a sheepdog who only understands Welsh, whereas my other dogs only understand English, just as a digression.