I've lived in China. Very few people speak English away from the commercial hotspots.
Try going to Chongqing, a city of 30 million inhabitants, and finding people who speak English.

English is the international language of business and tourism, so companies who operate in those sectors employ English-speakers.Can't be true. Bob spoke to Chinese people who spoke English, so they all do.
The lad I referred to who teaches English lives in a city, which .I had never heard of, with a population if million. He said, to give an idea of how crowded and noisy it is, those 6 million are in a city whose area is about the size of Hull.
Get away from the main cities in Spain, Italy, France etc and a lot don't speak English. And why should they?
English is the international language of business and tourism, so companies who operate in those sectors employ English-speakers.
You missed off the, two please-preferably twIns.I've been working in Hong Kong and China for thirty years and I've barely ever met anyone who doesn't speak English.
Obviously, after thirty years, I picked up some things and it goes down well if you do speak a bit. But my Chinese speaking ability runs to 'turn right', 'turn left', 'stop here', 'you need to make them quicker', 'the price is too high', 'no problem', 'you must be mad', 'Marlboro, red colour', 'the bill please', 'happy new year', 'good morning', 'one Tsing Tao', 'two Tsing Tao' etc (I can only remember how to order up to four, there were generally only ever four of us in a bar).
Ironically, I recently did a trip to Spain visiting footwear factories and most of the people I met didn't speak English.
You missed off the, two please-preferably twIns.
Considering most of the people I went to see were in businesses that were supplying footwear to England, you'd expect they would.
The French often don't speak English out of principal.
Italy used to be my main market outside the UK and most of the people I came across spoke English, same in Portugal.
In the Netherlands and Scandinavia, you'll be hard pushed to find anyone who doesn't speak English (maybe some oldies).
Look you linguaphiles, I've come on here to read about the truly shocking news of Mark Hughes' departure and have had to wade through page after page of acrimonious bibble which stretches around the whole ****ing globe.
Just get yourself a Babel Fish, available at all good Intergalactic mega-hyper-stores, galaxy wide and you're sorted.
You'll never be pissed off by a shoulder shrugging Gallic galoot again.
Or confused by a curious Chinaman.
Or dissed by a doughty Dane.
Ignored by an idiotic Italian.
Life's blissful in a land where a tiny piscis is excreting a telepathic matrix in your ear.
Problem solved.
y Feliz año nuevo tambienHow the **** has a thread about Hughes doing one turned into a thread of international languages in business?
Anyway, I work for a Spanish company and they all speak excellent English.
Feliz Navidad.
How the **** has a thread about Hughes doing one turned into a thread of international languages in business?
Anyway, I work for a Spanish company and they all speak excellent English.
Feliz Navidad.
Even the Spanish cleaners?
on and onI've met a few foreigners over the years, and some of the cocky ones like to show their prowess in our language.
I've had to point out their errors and make them say it correctly on on more than one occasion.