Do people have a way of thinking that people either speak their same native language or they speak EngIish?

I have a friend who learns another language from the same language family as his native language. he doesn't speak any English. I tried to teach him but months just passed and he never made any progress, not even the basics. but he helped me a lot with my TL. literally all he knows is "what's your name." doesn't even answer "my name is___." just answers with his name. and "what are you doing?" he answers in his native language.

anyways he has described to me that his TL was much easier than anything in English because most words resemble each other and English education isnt significant where he's from. but his TL is honestly also pretty weak. maybe a2 but since the languages are similar he can somewhat pull through a conversation.

he said that he kept coming across an issue where people kept switching to English when they would hear him speak his TL. he said he would say that he doesn't speak English but people would still speak English, both online and when he traveled to where his TL is the dominant language.

the way he described it is that people just analyze the situation like this _person doesn't speak my language at a native level-> _well then person surely speaks English_ what.. _person doesn't speak English?_ -> not possible, error error, ->keep trying English.