How do I ask people in Europe to speak English?

I am a 21-year-old Mandarin Chinese native, who didn’t really have the chance to use English much, since I was in China during school years, and graduated in 2022.<br><br>So my English is not the best, I can’t fully express myself, but it is improving a lot. However, I struggle with going to places in Europe, where I wasn’t sure if they speak English or not, because they are not “traditional” tourists destinations.<br><br>So usually I ask them to speak English and if they don’t speak it, I am screwed, because I don’t know enough of their language. If they don’t speak English, I usually try to explain my problem, and they usually try to help, however I struggle a lot. So do Europeans, because they have to wait for me.<br><br>I have 1.5 years of high school German, 1.5 years of high school Dutch, 1.5 years of high school French, 2 years more of self study French etc, however none of them are any good.<br><br>How do I ask them to speak English, when I don’t know their language, or if I have little knowledge of it? I don’t want to ask them to speak English, because they need to know that they don’t have to, because I can communicate in their language (albeit very bad), which is enough to communicate the main things.<br><br>For example, how would I ask a German speaker if they speak English, in French?