No sneering intended. English is devilish to spell for a native. Learning other languages helps tremendously. Especially Romance languages: most of the above list are from Romance/Latin, except helicopter, believe, infallible and weird.
Japanese women tend to speak second languages (usually US English) better than Japanese men, which says something interesting about a difference in motivations in this case. I love the way the Japanese mangle the English language for their own ends, and aren’t particularly bothered about spelling, typos or grammar. By spooky coincidence, I recall one tobacconists shop in Osaka sporting a big sign that advertised “Lucky Sven” cigarettes.
I get the impression US citizens don’t travel abroad much anyway, given that only about 20%* own a passport, so learning French might be a bit of an educational luxury. The difference between Japanese and US insularity, is that while both don’t really care about the outside world, the Japanese at least don’t meddle. Except with trying to eat up all the whales, of course.
Schools in other countries teach the native langauge and an international language (which basically nowadays is English). It just happens that in the United States, the international language is also the native language.
In the UK, there presumedly is a greater emphasis on other languages because of the proximity to Europe. In Ireland and Canada there are two native languages, and even more in India. I’d guess public education in Africa and the Caribbean isn’t comparable to North American or European standards. So that leaves Australia and New Zealand as the closest equvalent to the United States for this purpose. So what is language instruction like in those countries?