English for business rather than pleasure

Why is it important that British people should be able to speak other languages? Doesn’t the rest of the world speak English? You don’t need to go as far as China to get a clear answer to that. Anyone who has had a car break down as they drove out of Calais will be able to confirm that this is a myth. The professional elites in many areas do have good English, but they speak it for business rather than for pleasure. If you want to build relationships you need to show that you respect their culture, and their language.