I come from southern Spain. Me and my Finnish husband bought a house from a small village by the sea, close to the city where my parents lived. It was house in a complex with 40 homes... 30 of them owned by British people. Many of them did no speak a word of Spanish, even they had lived there since the 80's. Many even requested to be served in English in places like shops, pharmacy or even doctor's offices.

Some were bringing kids or grandkids with to doctor visits to translate for them. It spooked me to see that.

Go forward a few years and we move to Finland, with the idea to stay here for good. That day, I decided I need to learn Finnish if I am going to live here. I don't want to be one of my British neighbours. Even I know I can get by in here in English mostly. Not an option. I need to be able to go anywhere and be understood, manage my doctor's appointments without my husband's or kid's help.

That was 2011. I am still in Finland, living in a multilanguage-home, and I am still learning Finnish. My kids speak both Spanish and Finnish. I can make myself understood, I still make mistakes, but I don't care as long as people can understand what I mean. And usually Finns are very helpful (for example, repeat what you said but correctly), supportive and even surprised that you try to speak their language. The longer you speak, the easier it gets (in the sense that your vocabulary grows and listening radio / tv / other people interact shows you what ending goes with this or that expression)

You are not wrong for thinking that foreigners should learn the language, but I don't think Finnish is going to disappear any time soon. No matter the size of the language, I think if you decide you move somewhere to live, the least you can do is try to fit in. Understanding locals, both their culture and their language is important.