I do think that if you are going tol ive in a foreign country then you should at least make the effort of learning the language, especially if you are going to be there some time. I doubt I would get very far in say, France, if I had no knowledge or basics of the language.
To expect someone in their own country to speak your langauge, without making an effort to speak thiers, is arrogant. It is very prevalent amoungst native English speakers. Because English is such a widly spoken langauge the view seems to be why make the effort, someone there will speak English. I'm sure someone from Japan or Vietnam wouldn't expect everyone to be able to speak thier languages if they came to the UK, and would at least be able to say yes, no, and thank you (something I can do in French, German, Polish, Russian, Italian, Spanish and Japanese, and I'm not particularly good at languages), so I think that an English speaking tourist should be able to do that when going abroad.
If you wish to spend more time in that country, for work or to live for example, then it makes sense to become more au fait with the language. After all it would make your life easier when dealing with the general public, and I am sure most natives would help you if at least show willing.
As a native French speaker, I agree with you. When I see an American living in my province who doesn't make the effort to learn French, I have no respect for him. Even if I speak English, I will never answer him in English. My native language is very important and I fight to protect it.
Actually we have some problems in Montreal about the French language. The immigrants decide to speak English instead of French. As long as I remember, Montreal is located in the province of Quebec so the official language must be French.
I'm sorry for the bad words that I will say. If you're going to live in my province and you don't make the effort to learn French, get the **** out. I'm thinking the same way for every country in the world. Please, respect the culture, respect our language. We speak another language than English but it doesn't mean that our language is wrong.