English

So this is a bit of a twist, but a few of my informants cited that English itself might be a reason in itself for a question, which Borneman also notes. Mike in Belgium wrote,

"im just guessing they were curious about other cultures, particularly about americans. while most people don't like our government, they do like americans, and were usually excited just to chat. maybe they wanted to practice their english as well."

Stefania in Italy adds a final twist by noting that English is a Lingua Franca and thus one of the most common questions she was asked was "Parla italiano, o englese?" While this is a more basic question she writes that it is not uncommon to see toursits from places like China speaking to Italians, both in English.