I have been travelling a lot lately because of my current work and would love to know more about these kinds of community. So you arrive at some country where almost nobody speaks English, how do you actually find anyone you can meet up with?
In my case, I tend to travel for rock climbing or surfing, and it follows that if you show up at a world class climbing destination you'll naturally find that a lot of other travelling climbers have beaten you there are are also staying for the season.
After a few years of chasing rocks around the world, you start to notice that you keep running into the same people time and again. Even if you never actually talked to them when you were both on the beach in Thailand a few years back, and only said hi when camped at Ceuse (Southern France) last summer, by the time you run into them again in Kentucky you might as well introduce yourself because you'll certainly be seeing them again some time.
Over time, you tend to gather lots of friends this way. And when you come back to spend another winter on the beach in Thailand you can guarantee that at least a few old friends will be there as well.
Beyond that, most countries tend to have a few spots that attract travelers. Next time you talk to somebody who's been to Peru, ask where they went. They'll answer Lima, Huacachina, Nazca, Arequipa, Puno, and Cusco. In that order. Go to any of those places, find a comfy looking bar, walk up to a table full of scruffy looking people and ask where they're from. Next thing you know you'll have a half dozen new friends and a bunch of good stories. And if you ever go to China, you'll probably run into one of them at a similarly comfy bar in Yangshuo.
A substantial proprtion of people are travelling alone and want to strike up a conversation with you, even though they're headed off somewhee else the next day.
Youmight not even need to find a bar: the popular sights and major cities of the world are full of hostels geared towards encouraging their guests to meet fellow travellers (some more overtly hedonistic than others). They're easy enough to find in travel guides and hostel booking websites
You'll also be surprised just how many local people speak English in the rest of the world, particulary when affiliated with the tourist trade (Latin America being something of an exception, but basic Spanish isn't the most difficult language for an English speaker to learn.)
It is easier to make friends from your own country abroad than at home, because ex-patriots are missing their friends from home and looking for other people to hang out with.
Ex-patriots tend to hang out together, and are relatively easy to find, particularly in a country where your face makes you stand out as a foreigner.
Uh, "expat" is actually short for "expatriate", not "ex-patriot". The latter would mean something completely different, so that's quite a confusing usage, in my not so native English speaker's opinion at least.
I can see that being my problem since in the places I have been to I actually do seem to be a local. I also happen to stay only for a couple of weeks max and that doesn't help.
One curious thing I have seen is that some ex-pats don't want to meet other ex-pats from their home country. I tend to agree with that since not doing so decreases your chances of meeting new local people which can be really interesting.
