as a native English speaker living and flying in Germany, let me explain how it's (successfully) done here.
First of all, in all airspaces English and German can be spoken, even controlled airspace except above FL200... there only English is permissable (level 4 needed).
In controlled airspace like D or C, both languages are permissable. English is primary, but ATC converses with German pilots in German when necessary. I know of no situation where a problem occurred because a non-German speaking pilot needed to understand German... ATC takes care of situation awareness when needed (but this is Germany, not France
).
All VFR field charts are marked "en/ge" on fields where English and German are both spoken, "ge" where only German is spoken.... you don't speak German, you don't fly there.
We have many non-German speaking GA pilots stationed in Germany and they manage to fly around with no problem at all. They are permanent residents, some are simply tourists here for a short time. It works!
In a place like Europe, where so many different languages are spoken, it is not possible to learn each one just for flights to or through... thus we have the one common language, English, and that usually works fine.
Yes, I've flown to France, speak NO French, and vowed never to fly there again! At the time, they refused to speak English with me. I guess they didn't like the German registration on my aircraft.....
(enough French bashing.... sorry, I couldn't resist).