Your problem is overlooking the jingoistic nature of America. I mean come on, we're the world police and can unilaterally make decisions that go against the reccomendations of the United Nations. Even though we are supposedly the paramount of DEMOCRACY. But anyway, back to the point (sort of), some Americans tend to not see past thier own self view (How many here can name the prime-minister of Canada?), so you'll have to accept... sometimes even expect the ignorance and understand that we will change the meaning of things as we see fit.
Someone who speaks two languages is bilingual, a person who speaks three languages is call trilingual. A person who speaks one language is American.
No habla engles, senior!