WriterAlexis Well, in most European countries (a presumption, I haven't done an in depth analysis, but our beloved EU tends to guide all the MS to harmonize), if you reach the education level to be admitted to university you are usually expected to have learned at least a bit of two foreign languages. (I had 9 years of English, 4 years of French before taking my Matura exam, my kids 12 years English and 4 years Spanish in one case and 4 years Italian)
In Austria the only way to get to university maturity with only English as a foreign language is by attending a STEM-heavy vocational high school (HTL), actually other cousins of the HTL that are not STEM heavy are focused on business oriented vocational training tend to require at least 3 foreign languages.
Germany in my experience tends to be even heavier on foreign languages (at least decades ago in my school days), but e.g. they literally have international obligations, e.g. the French-German Friendship Treaty has an obligation for both countries how high a percentage of their youth are supposed to learn the other language. (Not that you can sue for this in court, but this treaty is usually treated seriously, even or perhaps by xenophobes who hate the other side.)
