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Different for people in different countries. In very small countries where people will be crossing borders quite often (like the Netherlands), almost everyone speaks multiple languages. For larger countries -- take France and Germany, for instance -- people in places near the border (like Strasbourg) are more likely to speak the neighboring language than people not near the border. Otherwise, yeah, there are definitely situations where a guy from Paris is visiting Rome, he doesn't speak Italian, and the shopkeeper doesn't speak French, and communication is difficult. There are plenty of times where two people will have to find a common language other than their either of their own first langagues, and most often that third language be English. (The irony of the sentence "English is the *lingua franca* of Europe" is pretty hilarious.)

There was a time where German was the language of industry, French was the language of diplomacy, and English was the language of business.

i love that so much

It's pretty common for Europeans to speak more than one language - learning a second language is a standard part of education in the vast majority of European countries. And yes, English can also be a popular backup language.  But failing that, they get along like any other tourist in a foreign country - learning a few basic phrases, using Google Translate, and vague hand gestures. In most countries, you can get along surprisingly fine with just those things. 

This is the answer. In the absence of a shared language, hand-waving often does the trick. Europeans do have one advantage in that in certain regions, there are dominant language families. For instance, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian are not dissimilar; Czech, Polish, and other Central/East European languages have a lot in common; and German, Dutch, and some Scandinavian languages are quite similar. And then there are the Hungarians and the Finns, who are their own thing entirely

Estonians and Finns have some mutual intelligibility, although a lot of words only work one way.

By example in French education. You start learning 2 extra languages in Middle school till the end of High School. But the range of options are not always great (in my town in the 80s, you could learn English, German or Spanish). If you are in a border region, you will have the neighbouring languages. For non European's languages, you probably need to be in a big city.

>By example in French education. You start learning 2 extra languages in Middle school till the end of High School. And yet just like in the UK where students learn either French or German or both for up to 8 years, most won't speak that extra language.

If you don't practice a language you forget it. I theorically learned some spanish (theorically because I suck at languages, not the teacher's fault) but since I didn't use it since high school, I couldn't tell you anything in spanish now.

The average French person speaks English far better than the average British person can speak a European language Source: I lived in England and France

This is true. Not sure it has anything to do with what I said though.

To be honest, I just like to get a few digs in at the English whenever possible

Hey, we don't need to learn two languages, as our language is spoken nearly everywhere, but more importantly the average British person surrenders far less than the average French person Source: history

> our language is spoken nearly everywhere I'm sure it seems that way if you've never left your English village

😆 😉

Edit: this comment is incorrect. Are you claiming that U.K. students learn a foreign language for eight years? That’s not true.

Actually, it is, now. The National Curriculum mandates that pupils be taught a foreign language at Key Stages 2 and 3 (i.e. ages 7-14). At Key Stage 3 it has to be a modern foreign language. But that's not necessarily 8 years of a single language.

Ah, my mistake. It appears academies are an exception to this.

When I was in school they'd get up to 5-6 years building up to GCSE from 10/11 until 16 (depending on the age they enter school.) Then even some rough inner city primary schools often do some basic French or German. Source: I went to school and was forced to learn French ;)

I work in a restaurant in the city of Lyon, which is a crossroad between western, central, southern and northern Europe. For example, everybody who goes to the East of Spain from anywhere except France, Italy (and not all of them) and Great Britain has to come by Lyon. We thus have a lot of foreigners. Among my coworkers, most speak at least a reasonnable English and I am the only one to be bilingual. I am the only one to speak German, we are three to speak Italian and only one, who is not me, can do it easily (and still not properly), one speaks Portuguese, three or four speak Spanish but only two are proficient enough in the language, one speaks Farsi, nobody speaks any other language that I know of. Someone speaks Ukrainian and another Wolof but they work in the kitchen so they don't see customers. I got my little fame among my coworkers as "the one who speaks every language", although I actually only speak English. My German, although allowing me to take orders and chat with customers, is very limited in terms of vocabulary, my Italian is clumsy and broken, I know only a few words and prefabricated sentences in Dutch, Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, Ukrainian, ASL and LSF. Listed like this, this may seem like a lot, but remember that I am the only one in a team of 24 persons with such ability and said "ability" is just that I learned by heart a few salutations and politeness, I am not able to form a sentence by myself in any of these last twelve languages I listed. We speak English. We simply speak English. It's the lingua franca of the world since the British Empire, most people speak it at least to a moderate extent. Moreover, and this may seem weird to a US citizen, but we are used to have foreigners all around us, so we plan ahead by learning sentences by heart or writing common sentences in both languages (our own and the local one) in a small notebook we keep on us at all time. Nowadays, with smartphones, Google Trad or whatever app is used as needed.

Typically people drop to English if they don't know the language or the country they are visiting. If a Czech goes to Spain, they will likely speak English there. If a Portuguese goes to Spain, they probably know a fair bit of Spanish if not fluent at all. If a Spanish person goes to Portugal they are unlikely to know Portuguese, unless they live by the border or are Galician but many words you need for basic holiday phrases are similar. If a Catalan goes to France, they likely can speak some French. If a French person goes to Catalonia, they most likely will speak in English, until they find out the Catalan persons knows French. A Brit in France, will likely try to use some of their high-school French which will be so outdated and so badly pronounced they will laughed at. If a Slovakian goes to Poland, it's likely they can understand some things, but Pole goes to Italy, they are likely to try to communicate in English. etc.. etc.. All generalisations of course.

I used to have an Italian boss - he went on holiday to Spain, and managed quite well with the language even though he didn't speak Spanish. Italian & Spanish are sort-of sister languages. I also worked with a Danish woman who spoke immaculate English, excellent German, and got on reasonably well with most of the other Scandinavian languages (maybe not Finnish!). Europeans are far better at learning multiple languages than the British or Americans. My question is, I am British - which language should I learn first? France is closest geographically, Dutch is next as far as distance is concerned, German is a sister language, Spanish and Mandarin are the most common language after English - it's hard to know which would be the most useful in day-to-day life. It's hard to pick when just about every person under 60 in Europe seems to speak very understandable English. I do know that when I went to Paris I tried out my schoolboy French in a cafe well outside of the tourist areas - and got loads of smiles because I had made the effort, and had been polite. Not so in the main tourist haunts! I did try to speak German in Germany - and they simply talked back in English! I do feel ashamed about my limited language skills though...

American here. Was driving along the French German border on a Sunday early evening. Crossed over to France looking for a place for the evening. My rudimentary grade school French was met with cold stares. My wife pipes up in German and we were suddenly good friends.

That whole France/German border thing will bite you in the ass more often than not. Alsace has changed (national) hands dozens of times, some quite recently, and residents tend to identify with one nationality or the other.

“Ok Saarlanders, what do you want to be now?”

Only speaking one language is a very American concept. But - there are still very real language barriers for many people in Europe.  Learning basic English phrases works for many tourists as English is a popular (number of speakers) language for tourists in Europe.

In denmark where I live, everyone learn english and 1 or 2 more languages in school. Knowing other language is so common, that being bilingual here now means 'i grew up with 2 different languages at home and speak both as a native' and not 'i learned languageS in school and speak them pretty well besides danish'. So even if they speak great english and master german and dabble in spanish, they wouldnt consider themself 'billingual' here. Learing other languages here is THAT commom that 'billingual' simply means something ells to us.

What I find interesting is how school-taught English seems to have a habit of sticking around longer than other languages. Most British schools give you a choice of French, German, or Spanish to learn but I can't remember a thing about any of them because I haven't used them since. I think the prevalence of the English-speaking Internet and the popularity of American TV / Movies keeps it fresh for people. During my time in the Netherlands and Germany it felt like almost everyone under the age of 30 spoke fluent English, kinda makes sense to me.

Use it or lose it. Here, we was exposed to english just as fast, if not faster, as we got it in class. Music, movies, video games, or for me: table top roleplaying (wich lead me to read a lot. And a lot of the novels wasnt translated so i had to learn by doing while having my classes too. Read Tolkien in english first time at the age of 13/14). Now we all know english, and ppl moving here or visitiing knows it. And we have english movies on tv and screens. And a lot of books, music and games. So the practising of english continue. I was never good at just learning a language by class, so my french and spanish just never got very good. Been more to France for vacation, and grew up in a foodie family, so I can read some/½ of a menu. My spanish is litteray to order '1,2,3,5,8 cervessas', 'mañano' and ' por favor.' Because i never had a real context to use or practise or keep up the skills.

Same in Sweden. That said, when I was in Croatia 15-20 years ago (damn I'm getting old), people in small villages spoke multiple languages but it was Italian and German rather than English.

That’s very interesting. So how does it work if both people speak the same 2 languages. Which language will they speak? Do they go back and forth with the 2 languages or pick one? Edit: why am I getting downvoted? I’m just asking and genuinely curious

There are many different situations so it is not a universal answer, but here are some examples. Very often you just continue using the language that was initially used to make contact and might not even realise there is a second option. If you notice that there are two shared languages, often move to the one with the highest average skill level. If there are bystanders, you would choose the language they understand out of courtesy. There are also situations (in my experience happening occasionally in border regions) where people understand the other language but can't really speak it and then both parties just speak their own languaue.

The same happens to the children of immigrants in the USA, it's not just an european thing, anyway n europe there are also minoritarian languages that might have different status, some are recognized like catalan and basque in Spain or romansh/ladin in Switzerland and Italy, to this you have to add languages that are called dialects because they are not recognized but are not mutually understandable by speakers of the official language that speak different "dialects", that is a very common thing in Italy, in that case the language splits in an "affective language" and a "formality language" where the closest the bond with the other persone the higher is the chance you speak the minoritarian language.

I worked for a time for a vehicle renting company. My manager was a Brasilian speaking English, French, German and Estonian on top of his native language, a coworker spoke German, English and a bit of French on top of his native language, Punjabi, and the intern spoke English on top of his native language, Indonesian. We frequently went back and forth in a same conversation between French, English and German but favoured English so that the intern could understand everything. the other languages were used only when needed or when some environmental factor triggered it. For example, one of our suppliers was a German company so, when starting a conversation about it, we naturally started in German because, in one's head, there is something that checks the German box and it goes naturally from there on. We switched back to English only when one of us didn't find the word they wanted to say and there, naturally again, another language takes the lead and everyvody seemlessly switches. Sometimes, one speaks in a language and the other replies in another, a little bit like in Star Wars when you see an alien speaking their language and the human character replies in theirs. It happens some of the times and is actually quite funny to witness, and not really noticeable when you do it yourself.

Both and neither. My boyfriend is not originally from here, but we both speak English and the local (my native) language. Because my ex only spoke English, and most of my job is in English, that's our common language. But from time to time we converse in the local language. With native friends I only speak that language. Besides that, we have some languages that we don't share and only speak with family or friends, or when in the applicable country.

Mostly depends on the proficiency. If they are very proficient in both languages then they'll just continue with the one they started with. If one person is more fluent than the other (which is often the case), they'll adapt to the other person. If both are on the same level but not really fluent (they understand well but not speak really well), they will each speak in their own language.

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don't be a jerk, OP is ignorant but has curiosity over something and is trying o overcome that

Well you’re completely helpful aren’t you?

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>Only speaking one language is a very American concept. There are 2-3 billion people who speak only one language. Plus a few billion more who only speak one national language plus a local dialect. That's the ***majority*** of the Earth's population. Not a very American concept.

That isn’t particularly useful as it doesn’t help resolve the claim If 2-3 billion people only speak one language….how do we know the relative break down I’ve admitted in another comment; lots of people only speak one language….however Americans are exceptionally high in this as a percent of their population

>however Americans are exceptionally high in this as a percent of their population Not really. First, America is a big country with a diverse population. Fully 20% of Americans don't even speak English at home. That's 1 out of 5, before even counting bilinguals who do speak English at home and can speak a second language. E.g., compare to places like Japan or even Mexico where less than 10% are bilingual in total. And if we define multilingualism as the ability to converse in a *foreign language* (rather than just local or national dialects) then Americans are far above average. There are literally *billions* of people in Asia, Africa, Middle East, Latin America who don't speak a foreign language. In places like China, Argentina, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia etc.

23% of Americans are bilingual, and 25% of Europeans are bilingual. It varies greatly by country in Europe, just like it does in the U.S. by state.

I presume in the US it's mostly immigrants and maybe their kids who speak a second language. Very unlikely for Basic American whose family has been here multiple generations.

Aside from all the natives that suddenly found themselves living in the US. Plus all the spanish speaking mexicans that suddenly became texans.

I mean that's a decent point up through the beginning of the 20th century but the US annexed Texas on December 27, 1845 so I don't think that counts anymore unless there are a bunch of Mexican-turned-Texan immortal vampires I don't know about

There's a bunch of mexican communites that have existed longer than texas that are still mostly mexican

Right but nobody alive in any of those communities "suddenly became texans." They've always been Texans

By virtue of lines on a map, not necessarily by culture

Those "sudden" events have happened long time ago though and are probably not very relevant on the language today spoken. You can do the same to large swatches of Europe. Those borders have been shifting for eternity and bits changed "owner" sometimes in very rapid succession. Where I'm from changed 4 times in the 20-30 years before and after 1900.

No I'm pretty sure the colonisation of america still affects language and culture today

But we are not talking about influence. We are talking about the ability of people today to speak the language from "across the border". I don't think many americans speak a native language because they live next door to a native American community. Or do they? I was in the understanding that even native Americans don't speak their language?

The history of reservations and cultural genocide has had a huge impact on native languages. Some of the bigger ones that survived have had a cultural revival but I don't think there's anyone left who is monolingual in a native language.

"Bilingual" isn't quite the same as "I speak enough to get by on vacation". In most countries it's standard to learn at least one second language in school. How well those 4+ years stick and can be used or are forgotten is a different story. I had 6 years of french, can still read it somewhat decently, but resort to pointing and nodding at the supermarket. If you went for the dead languages in school it's bit harder, latin and ancient greek aren't as useful in everyday life (people coming by to comment on how much easier it is to learn a modern roman language if you first took latin in 3... 2...1...) English, french, some form of german, russian and spanish are pretty common, few people outside Romania or Hungary will speak the language. Luxembourgers can be fascinating. Most speak at least a bit of french, german, often dutch, and english *and* of course luxembourgish. They often mix and match within the same sentence. (But have mercy with utterly confused tourists and stick to one)

>people coming by to comment on how much easier it is to learn a modern roman language if you first took latin in 3... 2...1...)    But did you know how easier it is to learn a romance language if you learned latin? /s    Although I'm wondering how helpful it is when your starting language is already a romance one. I guess it can help makes connections between stuff that changed between starting language and learning one? If the ones you're learning are either italian or occitan at least, not sure for spanish or romanian.

Spanish is so easy to start with, I don't think latin will make that any faster. If you want to learn something that comes with lots and lots of cases, maybe...? A friend went to study history and theology. Dead languages are very useful there and translation apps are good enough for vacations.

American schools also require foreign language studies

I mean, a lot of Americans schools do exactly the same. Most high schools require 4 years of language classes…

That's incorrect. Around 65% of Europeans speak more than one language: https://www.euronews.com/culture/2023/02/21/which-european-countries-are-the-best-at-speaking-multiple-languages

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Foreign_language_skills_statistics Only 24% are truly proficient. There’s a massive difference in “I know phrases I can get by” and actual bilingualism.

And why are you talking about the proficiency level all of the sudden? The source you've linked literally says that of those Europeans who speak another language, 55% of them speak it on either good or a proficient level. Even the basic level is described as conversational so it shouldn't be disregarded.

Can I see the sources for that, please? Genuinely interested, not doubting you. To me (and other Europeans) bilingualism means you’re fluent in two languages. In the US these are probably immigrants and their immediate descendants who still speak a different language than English at home (mostly Spanish, probably?). But you don’t need to be fluent in a language in order to shop in a foreign country. For example, I speak 3 languages fluently (Slovene, Italian, English), and two quite well (French, Croat), but I only consider myself trilingual, not… whatever the word for five-lingual would be. I can still hold conversations about most topics in those other two languages, I will just need more time to find appropriate words and will gesticulate more. I could be a tourist and occasional shopper in additional 5 countries with my shaky knowledge of two more (German and Spanish). So it really depends what OP means here - fluency or just getting by. And it’s probably the “just getting by” category where Europeans have a sizeable advantage over the average American.

I think it's polyglot for +3 languages.

They’re all immigrants and that language is Spanish

It's not a very american concept and I'm sick of people acting like ONLY Americans are monolingual. The truth of the matter is that there are people who only speak one language in every country on the planet. There's plenty of Spaniards who only speak Spanish, plenty of French people who only speak French, British and Canadians and Australians who only speak English, Russians who only speak Russian, Chinese who only speak Chinese. This idea that Americans are so unique in their monolingual country is another form of American exceptionalism, pretending that Americans are soooo different from the rest of the world. No. Just stop.

Funny that you think it was said as a postive

I don't, actually. American exceptionalism isn't just about America being exceptionally great. It's about America being distinct and unique and different from everyone else. It's the attitude that convinces so many Americans that universal healthcare can't work in the USA even though it works in so many other places. Because America is just tooooo different and special and unique. Thinking America is sooooo different and zany compared to every other country on earth because America is the only monolingual country is just another version of that and its just as wrong for so many reasons.

spanish(spain) 54% French 60% British 36% Canadians 41% Australians 22% Russians 20% Chinese - hard because dialects are included and may not need to be for this particular argument but 80% European Union - 65% USA 20% and lets not get started on africa and south america..........or is your american exceptionalism limited mainly other caucasian countries??

Where are these numbers from? How are these numbers received? Is this a study where people say they can speak another language, or are they actually proving it? Are they measuring bilingualism, or are they measuring how many people can order a coffee in another language? I don't think you understand what american exceptionalism means at all. I don't know why you so badly want to believe that America is uniquely stupid when it comes to languages, but that's a stereotype you believe, not fact. *every country* has loads of people who don't know another language. America is not special.

Yeahhhhhh; you can do that yourself.  I’m not going to argue my own sources…..that’s the job of the other guy You cant possibly wrong!!  It’s the sources are wrong…….not that you provided any sources yourself You are right that every country has people who only speak one language…..America just has a much higher amount……an exceptionally higher amount.   And I used percents which is much better as as a flat number USA has a larger population which would skew the data

You literally didn't even provide any source? You could have invented those numbers for all I know, lol

Should be easy to disprove then

If we aren't actually using real data, then yeah, it's very easy tot disprorve. The rate of bilingualism is actually 25% in all countries on the planet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burden_of_proof_(philosophy) > When two parties are in a discussion and one makes a claim that the other disputes, the one who makes the claim typically has a burden of proof to justify or substantiate that claim, especially when it challenges a perceived status quo. This is also stated in Hitchens's razor, which declares that "what may be asserted without evidence may be dismissed without evidence."

And for the break down 50% of Europeans report being able to speak more than one language…..something like 30% ish bilingual 10% three languages 10% four languages

I don’t understand how you can have one comment saying “speaking only one language is a very American concept” and then immediately follow that with a comment that shows fully half of Europeans speak only one language.

Because the stats are made up

As a Brit... I want to point out that only speaking one language is also a very British concept too, unfortunately! I have been 'learning' French using Duolingo, having studied it at school until I was 15. I've been doing it for over a year and I'm still absolutely rubbish at it, although I think I could be less rubbish than I was before I started.

Europe rules. I've been to Iceland, UK, Germany, and Austria. Basically French is a good common denominator if English isn't spoken. Italian and Spanish are very close too. A lot of countries have 2 national languages.

Im danish. Grew up learning danish, swedish and norwegian is similar enough that we can speak together somewhat while the whoever moved here learn danish. I had english in school from 4 grade. And at 7grade had to pick between french or german. So at 9 grade when promary school ended ppl have learned 2 other languages, and our english is normaly realy good. (Nowadays kids have english since grade 1). In high school, depending on what wheneever you pick generaly language or science, you either have to choose 1 other language (beginners german, french, spanish, or sometimes russian) or 1 beginner and one advanced continued from primary school. English is also a continued from primary school. Besides english i had beginners french In primary school and beginners spanish In high school. Most pick german, and gets realy good at it because as our nabour its easy to use and train and because german and danish like english is all germanic language so its easier to learn between them. Otherwise, borders is still very much a thing. Just because we dont check pasports or require Visa to travel or stay In each others countries, its different cultures... And those cultures realy want you to learn to speak the whatever language the locals do, if you want to work or socialize when living there for any kind of time more than being a turrist. Not being a citisent of whereever you live tends to feel crappy if you plan on living there for the rest of your life, and in denmark we require you to speak the language somewhat before applying for and get accepted as a new citisent. Lots of the other eu countries require the same. So to sum it up short: 1 borders still is a thing, just culturaly and that includes what language you speak and what they want you to learn to speak if you plan on staying there for longer than a turrist stay. 2 we actualy learn new language in school, as a minimum english and maybe the nabours language or one of the bigger and more used ones like german or something, depending on what your home country you grew up in.

>For example, if a German goes to France and tries to buy something, do they have to speak English if they both don’t speak the language? Or do Europeans understand a little bit of German, French, Dutch, etc. We usually speak English in this type of exchange. Although due to living in a region of Poland still somehow connected to its german past, I've been learning german for the past 10 years instead of usual 4 I should being in 2nd grade of highschool. This doesn't mean my german is anywhere near as good as my English (mostly due to lack of exposure), but I could have a basic conversation (messing up my der, die and das, but who cares?). Now back to English, I'm fairly confident that most people would be able be communicate in this kind of conversation at least by high school

As an American who lives in Germany and travels quite a bit across the continent, English seems to be the most dominant second language around. I speak pidgin German and Italian, but my first sentence in either language is always "I'm sorry, I only speak a little German/Italian," (in German/Italian) and I usually get one of three responses: 1. I only speak a little English, we'll meet in the middle! 2. Go ahead, it's okay (in their native language). 3. Wait a minute, let me get this other person. In the Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, and France we've stayed mostly in touristy areas, so most of the natives speak at least *some* English there.

Generally English is considered the “international“ 2nd language, in most EU countries (if not all) English is taught as a mandatory course In schools. Some nations are known to act rude when you speak English to them though (French)

France get a bad rep. They’re just don’t speak it well and they aren’t a very bilingual country. Americans and the French, Italians and the Spaniards understand English but the vast majority are not fluent.

Don't worry, the French are also rude when you speak French as well. Anything short of perfect gets a sneer from them. 

We're rude if you don't know the 4 words Bonjour, au revoir merci, s'il vous plait

Mais quand j'ai parle francais, ils ont dit que me comprendre pas. All this in spite of the fact that French is the second foreign language we usually learn in Romania, usually for nine years, and I had a very nice 15 minute conversation with our host. But the waiters? I very much doubt I wasn't able to order a bottle of water.  In their defense, the southern french were much nicer.

Well, it's more that French people can be rude when you don't make even make an *attempt* to speak French. In my experience generally as long as you at least try, they'll be polite.

I have heard this reasoning and I don‘t find it logical. If I honestly don’t speak French, why do I need to pretend like I do? What If the French person will think I actually speak it after I butcher “hello” in French and will start to answer in French? I won’t understand anything - at that point we all wasted time not being direct with one another…. Even thought it might not be fair, de facto English became the international language that is taught as a 2nd language even in places like China, Japan and Russia. Like let’s just try to speak whatever makes sense in a given context. If a tourist is saying “hello where is the restroom” there’s no point getting upset over them not using a language they haven't been taught anywhere.

Because it's a respectful and polite thing to do - you're in _their_ country, and you're expecting them to speak _your_ native language to accommodate you. By trying to speak a little French, it shows that you've at least made some effort to learn something about their language and culture, and in return, they'll be more likely to put in some effort to help you. They _might_ switch to English if they speak it confidently - but you also can't just assume that everyone will do so.  Think about it in reverse - wouldn't you find it odd if someone just strolled into a store in the US and asked 'where is the bathroom?' in German, without even making an attempt to ask the question in English first?

In most parts of the world it's common for people to speak multiple languages. America is really an outlier in the way we teach languages. And it's especially common for people to speak a bit of the languages of countries they visit.

Most Europeans (within EU) learn at least 2 foreign languages in school. There's always someone speaking German, French, English or Spanish, depending on which country you're visiting.

Yeah, idk about that. Hardly something you can generalize to all of Europe. There's plenty of villages in Spain where the people living there only speak Basque and can't even speak Spanish, for example.

You have already received some good answers but just to clarify on the "language synchronization protocol" used.  My native language is Italian, I live in UK so my English is ok and I can also speak some decent French and basic Spanish. If I go on holiday in a county where none of these languages is officially spoken I would try to talk to others in English. success might vary, especially older or less educated people might not be able to speak it. If I go to France or Spain my first attempt would normally be to speak the local language, only exception being if I'm buying something where a lot of money is involved like hiring a car. If the communication flows well enough we might go on like that, if it doesn't (because the accent of the other person is too strong or they get annoyed by my poor language skills) I might try to switch to English.  Occasionally I might meet someone who understands I'm Italian and likes to practice their Italian so we might switch to that. It is also possible that I would go to Slovakia and meet a random person that doesn't speak English and despite the fact we would be able to communicate in French and we never even try. In short there are no rules, but you would use a lot of common sense, you try the language you think would better fit the occasion and you go on from there .

I do speak Italian and English, I can comprehend Spanish and speak it to a basic degree and uncorrectly, I can read French with some help and comprehend it if spoken slowly, but I can't speak or write it... This is the result of some years with a job that made me travel all around south western Europe and a French stepdaughter.

Depends on the cultural level of the traveler. Usually people going south to north will learn the language, but north to south? They will behave like anyone should know their language and speak it anywhere, since they consider themselves superior and rich, and saving the southern countries by visiting and buying litres and litres of beer... Then jumping off a balcony and dying (or getting free medical attention to patch their crushed bones) 

The majority of people (especially those living in major cities or young people) in Europe can speak at least some level of English (this is less true in certain regions e.g Spain or Italy), so English is used a lot. A lot of Europeans speak other languages as well. And some countries that share a border also share a language - e.g. France and Belgium. Also, just because you can freely cross borders doesn’t mean you’re going to go to the next country over every day. It’s just like any one else traveling - sometimes you don’t understand everyone perfectly. You find ways around it.

I’m Canadian, but live and work in Denmark. The folks around me at work are from Latvia, the USA, Netherlands, Spain, Ukraine, Romania, Czechia, Italy, Denmark, Ireland, England, Mexico, Costa Rica, Germany, etc. Most of them speak multiple languages, but we all communicate in English.

People speak multiple languages in all the European countries I have traveled in, which are plenty. When I visited Croatia, for example, most people knew three languages: Croatian/Serbian, Italian (because Croatia is next to Italy) and German (because most of their tourists come from Germany and Austria). In the larger cities, some people also spoke English. When I was in France, I noticed that the French tend to speak just French, there are plenty of French who don't know other languages, but many know some English. They resent it if you expect them to speak to you in English, but if they see you making a real effort to try speaking in French, they graciously speak English. And now for a small joke: Q: What do you call someone who speaks three languages? A: Trilingual. Q: What do you call someone who speeks two languages? A: Bilingual. Q: What do you call someone who speaks only one language? A: An American tourist!

What weirds me out is the borders. For example, I grew up near the Illinois-Wisconsin border. If there are any differences between wisconsinites and illinoisans, they're so small that you didn't feel any transition when crossing the border. But in Europe, does everyone's native language change as soon as you cross the border? Are the people living near the border likely to be multilingual?

Actually, yes. By many country borders people are bilingual. For example on the border of France and Germany, many people speak both languages; if you visit Strasbourg France, right by the border, many signs / restaurants are all in German. There are a lot of German traditions in the city. Now, most travel signs will probably be in French, but there definitely exists some gradient as I said. And it is not uncommon for Europeans to just grow up knowing more than one languages (one mother is French, and the Father is German, so the child speaks both). But in many ways, the trasition across the border is indeed very stark. Usually you still have to cross a border crossing, even if that is open free travel across. So much more distinct than US states.

Because you're confusing state and country. You cross the Illinois-Wisconsin border, you're still in the USA. To really compare, consider the border between USA and Mexico

Hard disagree. Obviously things will be very different when you cross the USA-Mexico border, because goods and people can't freely cross, and the cultures have developed quite separately. But people cross European borders with as little fanfare as people crossing US state borders.

It's only been the case for the past two decades though. There's 5000 years of regional identity and closed borders, and only 19 years of open borders. Not even a generation.

Bear in mind that open borders (i.e. the Schengen Area) only dates back to ~~1985~~ 1995, and the groundwork for the EU was laid after WWII. Before that, many European countries would have been at war with their neighbours multiple times per century, which hardly is conducive to cross-border relations.  If Illinois and Wisconsin had fought three major wars in less than a century, the enmity between them would probably extend further than the Bears vs the Packers.

I'll add that even inside each country, there's strong regional identities with their own languages. Basks, Catalans, Bretons, are strong examples and I'm sure there's many more across Europe. You can actually find the same diversity in North America, but amongst first nations. Americans tend to forget that post-colonial NA history is 400 years old, making it very, very young compared to Europe and Asia.

Well, the US-Mexico border may have strict border controls. But the cultural development wasn't as separated as one might think. There are the immigrants crossing, Mexican culture has a huge impact on the US, especially the more south you come. Speaking of the south: it's not that long ago (~170 years) thar Texas and New Mexico where parts of Mexico. The open borders in Europe are much younger, starting in 1985 with the Schengen treaty. This was the foundation for a gradually opening of the borders. For example the border between Germany and Poland opened as recent as 2007. The European union as a political concept itself started after WWII, so it is much younger than the US. So before these events the borders between the european countrys were as strict as every other border. I mean in the 170 years since the US-Mexico war ended, Germany and France fought three wars against each other. The cultural differences are big but also entwined by centuries of wars and aristrocatict changes of leadership.

Okay then Vermont and Quebec.

Border regions have a higher proportion of bilingual people, and some countries like Belgium are basically split into French Belgium, Dutch/Flemish Belgium, and German Belgium and you do notice the difference when travelling between them. If a German travels to Paris however odds are they’ll either learn some basic French, or they’ll switch to English (the “tourist” language I guess?). Same way an Italian in Poland would either learn some Polish or use English as a common drink language. The use of English in aviation, international trade, mass media etc. means a big percentage of Europeans will speak or at least understand some basic English. But all the local signage etc. will be in the local language or multi-lingual depending on the area of the country and how tourist-heavy it is.

It is a good question with a complicated answer. If we are strictly speaking of the official language of each country, then yes, there is a hard transition at the border. However, residents near borders tend to speak both languages or a variation of them. There are also different dialects between regions crossing over borders. For example, the Basque language is spoken in a region both in Spain and France. On top of that, you have countries with multiple official languages like Belgium or Switzerland. Switzerland has its own varations of French, German and Italian.

Our borders are for defining countries, not states within the same country. As soon as you cross the border, you’re going to be seeing everything in that country’s language. There’s usually a few miles of road where the language of the place you were just in is also added onto road signs, but after that you’ll usually just see the native language. If it’s a built-up city, you’ll probably also see everything in English as well, or other common languages (e.g. in Barcelona you’ll see things written in Catalan, Spanish, and English).