You have to ask yourself why the Brits are not so flexible when it comes to learning other languages. I know several of my countrymen who are fluent in other languages, they are either well travelled and spent a fair bit of time in these other countries or are simply fairly adept at learning them and have been interested in the language. Many of my European friends can speak the language of the countries which border them.
For instance, my German friends can speak Swiss, French and some Italiain, this is mainly because they can visit these countries as easily as I can travel from Norfolk to suffolk or london and they can simply go there for the day out like we might go to the seaside. Over time, they become familiar due to exposure, something we as Brits do not have the ability to do and as a lot of tourists visiting Britain have been taught English in school, they tend to be able to communicate much easier when here.
I have visited and worked for a short time in Germany, it did not take long to begin to pick up the language as i was continually being exposed to it daily and was forced to try to communicate as a lot of the older people i encountered did not speak English. It is all down to exposure. Here in England, we are not given the same level of exposure so tend not to practice it on a daily basis.
I wonder how many other countries could be critised in the same way as we are. I wonder if for example, the Australians, New Zealanders, Icelandics or any other countries surrounded by the sea are as flexible in other languages as the Europeans are.
it's all down to frequency of exposure in the end and by nature, we are insulated from it to quite a degree.