If there is one thing that world travelers tend to get used to quite quickly, it is the idea of not understanding anything in the destinations that they end up in. No matter how many languages one learn over the course of one's lifetime, the number of unique languages spoken in different parts of the world is simply too many for one person to speak even the very basics of, not mention really master. There always need to be some way to communicate with locals that does not involve actually learning the local language.
For most people, that tool is a combination of simple English and hand gestures. Wherever the person happens to be in, locals familiar with the tourist business (or even just any random guy who often come in contact with foreigners) has full expectations that the person would not speak the local language, but can understand a bit of English, the global language. No offence will be taken by the locals if the foreigners do not speak the local language, and the locals would go along with English as a matter-of-fact.
Til now, I thought the French were the only exception to the rule, their self-righteous cultural pride making them ashamed to dumb down to a foreign language, especially English, the language of the traditional enemies. But after arriving in South America, I found out the hard way that many of both the locals and tourists here hold the same attitude with regard to Spanish. When they find out a person does not speak Spanish, they often act in genuine surprise, not understanding why a person would not.
The reason for their surprise, however, is quite different from the French's attitude with regard to French language (which, for lack of a better word, is pure cultural arrogance). Their belief that people who are in South America, including foreign tourists, should speak Spanish to at least some degree come from the very status of the Spanish language as not just another foreign language that foreigners would not bother to learn and use unless they are in a particular country that happen to use it.
Instead, they know that in many native English speaking countries (and in particular the US), Spanish is one of the most popular foreign languages to be learned in school and used in business. Many people who speak English, then, even if they are not proficient in it, would have an understanding of the Spanish language that is well beyond what is to be expected of another foreign language. Even if they only took the language for a few years in middle/high school, the chance is that it will come back when using in South America.
Moreover, it is expected that the group of foreign tourists that go to South America is self-selected based on language abilities. In other words, tourists in South America go because they are either more proficient in Spanish or at least are/keen on learning the language. Hence, the foreigners that locals come to meet over the years and decades tend to be much more fluent in Spanish than the average population of the US or any other non-Spanish speaking country.
Of course, the skewed representation of Spanish speaking foreigners in South America is possible also because they is such a critical mass of Spanish learners across the world. People do not just learn Spanish because they are interested in it (as is almost exclusively the case for many "minor" foreign languages), but the potential for its practical use is so great. And since they are so many more foreigners learning Spanish than are present in South America at any given point in time, the expectations that all foreigners in South America speak Spanish to some extent is understandable.
The widespread use of Spanish (both as a native language and one to be learned in school) is ultimately due to the past glory of the Spanish Empire. The number of countries using Spanish as the official language is unmatched by any other language in count, and dynamics of these countries, both in terms of economic potential and simply demographics, cannot be understated. Perhaps the locals' surprise at foreigners not understanding Spanish is a push for them to learn it in the future.
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