In Europe they have to learn because from one side to the other of most countries there is only a day's drive. There may be 4 other languages spoken within easy distance of your home. Television and radio broadcasts from all those locations are beamed into your sphere every minute. Now that they are not fighting each other in Northern Europe, everybody wants the business and commerce which lies across those borders in neighboring countries. Every day of their lives, many Europeans have to switch languages several times, and many of them can do it seamlessly. I really admire that, wish I had the advantage. America was huge and isolated by oceans, people were assimilated linguistically in the past, if not culturally, and until very recently they were spoiled by having everything their way. Latin America had the same situation, except for Brazil it is all Spanish from border to border. Latin American and U.S. "intellectuals" learned other languages because intellectuals do stuff like that, but it meant nothing in the national overview.
My brother-in-law was born in Surrey, England, but has worked and lived in Germany, France, Italy, and Switzerland. He vacations in places like India and the Dutch Antilles. He has Japanese clients. There is no language he can't get control of in a few months. This is both from expectations and necessity, his field is software development and international banking. It will not surprise me if one day he starts learning Inuit. I wish I had had the same opportunities to learn so much, but I can console myself that there are two things I can do that he can't: drive a diesel van and speak Spanish
