Why do people from English speaking countries think that all the rest of us should learn to speak English too?

it's called "egocentric" - that means people somehow think things should revolve around them.

Perhaps because we don't get taught any other languages until we are in middle school, and even then we don't learn them well. We are scared that we won't be able to communicate and thus compete in a global economy, but unwilling to give serious effort to our children learning a second (or third...) language because we are terrified that "the immigrants will take over"!

Because everyone else is. It is uncontrollable. English is the language, at this point in time, that life on earth centers around.

Becasue they may see it as an insult that we can not speak the way they see is proper.

only when they come to America do i care if they speak english or not. they (foreigners) should learn to speak the language spoken here. im tired of having to read instruction, etc. in spanish and french

Not all people from English speaking countries think that way. But it is hard for those ignorants English-speaking people to realize that there are other languages that people speak in this world, and that people have all the rights not to speak English. Funny, I know.

75% of all new science documents are created in English, It is the most popular second language and most importantly, I can't speak nuthin else!

Because the english speaking countries are too ******* lazy to learn other languages. And to all those who think life revolves around english speaking countries...think again. If China decides to "collect" on the money owed to them...America could easily become the next cantonese or mongolian speaking country.

I'm from an English speaking country, and I don't travel because I'm terrible at learning different languages, and I think it's rude to go to another country and not speak their language... Although if I had my way, everyone in this country would be speaking our national language! IRISH!