In the United States of America, most people have at least a working knowledge of English. If you're born here, you will be a native speaker and most likely speak English better than your parents native language (if they are immigrants). Everyone expects foreigners to speak English too and won't try to speak to them in another language. If a Chinese person walks into a store to buy something, an American won't attempt to speak Chinese. Americans don't assume that foreigners cannot learn English and often feel offended if someone lives in the country for a long time but cannot speak English.

You're an interesting character, Ben. I'm glad you responded to my question.

I'm not sure if being in the same city as a prestigious school makes me lucky. I certainly don't have access to them. I'm just a lowly service worker. Anyway, what did you mean by "regarded as Chinese?"

There is the entire paragraph in context. It's taken from an article written by 季羡林. I'm not familiar with the author, but I'm pretty sure the language it was written in would widely be "regarded as Chinese".