In my (very personal) opinion, the fact that not many people, comparatively speaking, are fluent in any language other than the local languages and a certain level of short sightedness that makes us look only to local markets[1] has much more to do today than the dark ages of the dictatorship.
I moved out of Spain more than a decade ago and things seem to be changing (at least now I find spanish products in my local supermarket that I had to bring in my luggage before when I went for a visit), but we are late to the game and it will take time to catch up.
[0] Well, -ish
[1] Not exclusively a Spanish fault... Many countries suffer this to certain level.
Language barriers are a common issue for all our neighboring countries, more so in the past.
> most of the people working today never lived through the worst of it
You don't have to be around when the earthquake hits to live with its consequences. But sure, things are going somewhere, where exactly I'm not sure.