At scale, no. But when very small there is a reason that people from Norway made rain jackets, and the brand cachet follows that too.
European people also still have a much stronger national identity than a European identity, especially compared to the US with state vs. country level.
Where? When there's not a more obvious choice trade is done in English, packaging usually has multiple languages (which are often mutually comprehensible with other nearby languages) and your instruction booklets and regulations are given in the 24 official languages. Sure not every country has a good standard of English, but even France seems to be able to get by.
The translation infrastructure is huge, and reasonable-quality machine translation⁰ has been freely available for years now.
I don't mean to refute your experience, but I am suprised by the claim, because it's really not what I've seen here. Could you give some more detail on what you mean.
> Where? When there's not a more obvious choice trade is done in English, packaging usually has multiple languages (which are often mutually comprehensible with other nearby languages) and your instruction booklets and regulations are given in the 24 official languages. Sure not every country has a good standard of English, but even France seems to be able to get by.
All of this is correct, and that's why the single market for goods (except for booze and tobacco) has been such a massive success. However, lots of growth (particularly in the US) comes from services, and for this, languages matter a lot more.
Sure, lots of continental Europeans speak multiple languages, but the vast discrepancies in languages and regulations (insolvency, capital markets etc) means that there are dis-economies of scale in the EU. Like, there's a reason that companies start selling in their home market and then move directly to the US.
A common language can't be assumed across the EU, while other large blocs (China, US) can make this assumption which is important for services trades in particular, as well as bespoke goods trade.
Ah, you're absolutely right. Only when reading your comment did I realise that I'll often go to the UK for some human-mediated service I need in English.
(This despite Ireland and Malta having it as an official language, and the Nordics often having better English skills than natives.)
European people also still have a much stronger national identity than a European identity, especially compared to the US with state vs. country level.