I’m a native speaker of German and of course I spoke English to the people in the Netherlands when I was there. I don’t know any Dutch and don’t expect them to speak German, so English is pragmatically the language that we have most likely in common.
We’re talking about the assumption rather than whether it’s more likely. German in the Netherlands is a poor example, as it happens, as a lot of Dutch people speak it to some extent, but now you mention it, Dutch people often complain of Germans assuming they understand German.
I’m a native speaker of German and of course I spoke English to the people in the Netherlands when I was there. I don’t know any Dutch and don’t expect them to speak German, so English is pragmatically the language that we have most likely in common.
We’re talking about the assumption rather than whether it’s more likely. German in the Netherlands is a poor example, as it happens, as a lot of Dutch people speak it to some extent, but now you mention it, Dutch people often complain of Germans assuming they understand German.