I'd be interested to hear from Scandinavians and Dutch people. Often people from smaller countries are more open to other cultures, and also more realistic about the fact that they will need a lingua franca which is not their native tongue to communicate in the world. I've never met anyone from those countries who gave the impression of having an inferiority complex about their native language, vis-a-vis English. I think that their attitude is mostly pure pragmatism.

Scandinavian and Dutch people are not ashamed of their languages! Why on earth would any nation be ashamed of their language? No offence, but that is a bizarre idea. In fact, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Norway are all countries whose citizens are proud of their very different cultures, traditions and national identities. In general, the smaller and more minority a language group is, the greater the sense of identity and regional allegiance. The use of English as a lingua franca is a purely practical matter. English happens to be a world language, and Norwegian is not. Simple as that. The inhabitants of these countries are aware that they need to be proficient in a world language to survive in an international environment. Swedes and Danes are happy and proud to be exactly what they are, and nobody is suggesting that their ability to speak a world language makes them any less Swedish or any less Danish, and it certainly doesn't make them British. Britain has nothing whatsoever to do with this. Looking again at your profile, I can only assume that the sub-text of your question is 'Why don't they use Esperanto instead?' Interesting idea. Let's see what the Scandinavians and Dutch have to say about that.

What makes you think they're ashamed of their native language? The Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries are known for speaking English very well, but one doesn't have to be ashamed of their native language to know another one well. As a foreigner living in the Netherlands, I promise you that the Dutch definitely prefer to speak Dutch, but are usually willing to speak English if one person in a group doesn't speak Dutch.

You wrote this. Restating an opinion is not a fact. Besides, you ignored this part: your experiences with FOREIGNERS living in the Netherlands. Yet your post talks about native Swedes, etc. I could go on but I can see that it will do no good. Good luck

Here are the facts: Nobody remember the last time they used their national language in Eurovision, in fact they were who asked to change the rules to let them use English instead of their national language. They are the number one learning English in Europe, in fact more than 90% of them are bilingual with English. They never use their national languages with foreing people and are really surprised if somebody want to learn or use it with them. They prefer speak English between them even when they can understand each other quite well if they speak in Norwegian, Swedish or Danish, because there are very similar languages. They stand up for the use of English as the common language in European Union. The majority of films, music, TV programs, books, and products that they use are in English. English is the language of a lot of jobs and lot of degrees in Skandinavian universities. If you want to know more, just search in Internet.