You are in the U.S please speak English

[IkeGreil29]

I'm not saying its wrong, but if you listen to a lot of British people they complain they have to repeat the same thing several times before their accent comes through. Then you expect an immigrant to learn English flawlessly? No.
There's also more ridiculous things, like this politician who requested all Chinese names be adapted to English because they're hard to pronounce. So now I need to give up the one thing that makes me most stand out of the crowd right away, my name.
In short, it's not bad to expect them to know English, just to expect them to talk and understand fluently.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

but in america you should speak american

I know that in some countries you can get citizenship without speaking the language. As for why people find it wrong to want people to speak the language of the country they live in, it's because of waaah language freedom waaah hippie bullshit.

Well the U.S. doesn't actually have a national language....

English is the official language of most states, not federally though.

Um....American isn't a language. We speak english. But I bet most foreigners knew that.

Sarcasm. The fact that you take this seriously is a bad sign.

Here is a picture of the people I am referring to:

hahaha i feel bad for you, you might end up changing your original post, i CLEARLY took it as sarcasm from the first beat of your post, but apparently to non 'MERICUNS that fancy speak don't get over deree

god i love speaking american

I presume you mainly talking about people who speak Spanish, so that's what I will tailor my reply to.

Because a lot of people in the US speak Spanish?

Also, you come across as a bit of an asshole here. Here in Britain say if a French person came up to me and started talking to me in French (and say I notice they have a British passport) I don't go, "DAMN FRENCHIE BASTARD LEARN OUR LANGUAGE OR DIE, WHAT ARE YOU, RACIST TO ENGLISH?" I go, "Sorry, don't speak French."

I mean, it's also assholey if the French guy replied (in French), "Jeezus, you'd think it was impossible to learn French, the one true language." but in most cases they won't, they'll go, "Oh, alright, thanks for being polite."


Yeah, I don't think the people in your country who don't speak English are doing it to spite you, they are doing it because they don't speak English. I'm sure most would luuuurve to speak English, it's pretty damn convienient in the USA, but for some that isn't an option/slash they're trying.

surprisingly..people do say some fucked up shit when they think you don't know the language, I had a few friends with me and we were downtown walking around (between a few popular spots it's somewhat of a super spanish/mexican based spot, as in all the signs are in spanish and you won't see a non spanish descent person for a good 2 mile radius) and they would constantly murmur to me saying awful things about what the people were saying as we passed them..it was quite pathetic really.


Just saying, when people think you don't know the language their tongues are quite open and "elitist" is the world i'll choose.

Alright, forgetting your post for a sec, what does "non-Spanish decent person mean?" What, so that town/area happens to be filled with both Hispanics and... what? Non-hispanics who are criminals, hobos, scruffy looking?

Anyway, my point still stands, this is really not an appropiate analogy, they aren't pissed that you don't know their language, they are just using the language barrier to talk behind your back.

non spanish decent person..?

wait what? where did i say/mention..

i has confuse?


but to your actual point, yes i wasn't trying to "combat" your point, just saying when you allow all languages to have an equal foothold everywhere it's quite easy to say shit behind anyone's back's really or get away with whatever you want saying "i don't know what that means" or "i didn't know", since they weren't required to know jack shit about english, law/order is followed by patterns/similarities in a tidy and neat society, and if in school/jobs randomly everyone just started using their "natural" tongues, would shit get anywhere?

not really, at least not at the speed things are now...

while i can respect anyone knowing more than one language, that's wonderful, most people i know know more than 1 language, having a neutral language for a country (or state) setup should be appropriate.

 

[Psykoma]

je prefere parler en francais n'importe ou, principalement parce que c'est la meilleur langue du ...


yeah no I can't finish that, french completely sucks.

 

[orangeban]

but in america you should speak american

I know that in some countries you can get citizenship without speaking the language. As for why people find it wrong to want people to speak the language of the country they live in, it's because of waaah language freedom waaah hippie bullshit.

Well the U.S. doesn't actually have a national language....

English is the official language of most states, not federally though.

Um....American isn't a language. We speak english. But I bet most foreigners knew that.

Sarcasm. The fact that you take this seriously is a bad sign.

Here is a picture of the people I am referring to:

hahaha i feel bad for you, you might end up changing your original post, i CLEARLY took it as sarcasm from the first beat of your post, but apparently to non 'MERICUNS that fancy speak don't get over deree

god i love speaking american

I presume you mainly talking about people who speak Spanish, so that's what I will tailor my reply to.

Because a lot of people in the US speak Spanish?

Also, you come across as a bit of an asshole here. Here in Britain say if a French person came up to me and started talking to me in French (and say I notice they have a British passport) I don't go, "DAMN FRENCHIE BASTARD LEARN OUR LANGUAGE OR DIE, WHAT ARE YOU, RACIST TO ENGLISH?" I go, "Sorry, don't speak French."

I mean, it's also assholey if the French guy replied (in French), "Jeezus, you'd think it was impossible to learn French, the one true language." but in most cases they won't, they'll go, "Oh, alright, thanks for being polite."


Yeah, I don't think the people in your country who don't speak English are doing it to spite you, they are doing it because they don't speak English. I'm sure most would luuuurve to speak English, it's pretty damn convienient in the USA, but for some that isn't an option/slash they're trying.

surprisingly..people do say some fucked up shit when they think you don't know the language, I had a few friends with me and we were downtown walking around (between a few popular spots it's somewhat of a super spanish/mexican based spot, as in all the signs are in spanish and you won't see a non spanish descent person for a good 2 mile radius) and they would constantly murmur to me saying awful things about what the people were saying as we passed them..it was quite pathetic really.


Just saying, when people think you don't know the language their tongues are quite open and "elitist" is the world i'll choose.

Alright, forgetting your post for a sec, what does "non-Spanish decent person mean?" What, so that town/area happens to be filled with both Hispanics and... what? Non-hispanics who are criminals, hobos, scruffy looking?

Anyway, my point still stands, this is really not an appropiate analogy, they aren't pissed that you don't know their language, they are just using the language barrier to talk behind your back.

non spanish decent person..?

wait what? where did i say/mention..

i has confuse?


but to your actual point, yes i wasn't trying to "combat" your point, just saying when you allow all languages to have an equal foothold everywhere it's quite easy to say shit behind anyone's back's really or get away with whatever you want saying "i don't know what that means" or "i didn't know", since they weren't required to know jack shit about english, law/order is followed by patterns/similarities in a tidy and neat society, and if in school/jobs randomly everyone just started using their "natural" tongues, would shit get anywhere?

not really, at least not at the speed things are now...

while i can respect anyone knowing more than one language, that's wonderful, most people i know know more than 1 language, having a neutral language for a country (or state) setup should be appropriate.

Oh, you said descent, not decent. I feel the stupids now, I go tired in my matress.

 

[Snake Plissken]

I have a novel idea. It involves 3 steps.

1) Climb down off the cross.

2) Use the wood to build a bridge.

3) Get the fuck over it.


I live in an area of Colorado where roughly a third of the local immigrants are recent immigrants from Mexico, and I've NEVER understood the argument.
There is an easy way to not give a shit what language another person speaks if you don't want to.

DON'T ASSOCIATE WITH THOSE PEOPLE.

Bam. Problem solved.

 

[Jnat]

Qué? No comprendo.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

If they don't like it they can giiiiiiiit out!

Yeah, otherwise they'd take our jobs!

DEY TOK OUR JUBS!!!!!

Durk eh Jur

OT: Really, why doesn't everyone learn to speak Mandarin? It's the most prominent language spoken on the planet allegedly, so therefore it is our international language and we should all speak it.

We don't do it for no particular reason. We simply refuse to learn we either don't need to or are too lazy to. If you can't speak English then you don't get a job where you need to speak English, for which there are plenty of professions or you get a job where people speak your language.

Have you ever tried to learn a foreign language? It's fucking difficult, depending on the language. To make things worse, English is one of the most complex languages in the World, it has a bounty of rules and punctuation that just isn't used in other languages. Why on Earth would you spend money and time that you don't have learning English when you could get a job at the local Mexican restaurant where everyone speaks Spanish and all the food is Spanish?

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

but in america you should speak american

I know that in some countries you can get citizenship without speaking the language. As for why people find it wrong to want people to speak the language of the country they live in, it's because of waaah language freedom waaah hippie bullshit.

Well the U.S. doesn't actually have a national language....

English is the official language of most states, not federally though.

Um....American isn't a language. We speak english. But I bet most foreigners knew that.

Sarcasm. The fact that you take this seriously is a bad sign.

Here is a picture of the people I am referring to:

hahaha i feel bad for you, you might end up changing your original post, i CLEARLY took it as sarcasm from the first beat of your post, but apparently to non 'MERICUNS that fancy speak don't get over deree

god i love speaking american

I presume you mainly talking about people who speak Spanish, so that's what I will tailor my reply to.

Because a lot of people in the US speak Spanish?

Also, you come across as a bit of an asshole here. Here in Britain say if a French person came up to me and started talking to me in French (and say I notice they have a British passport) I don't go, "DAMN FRENCHIE BASTARD LEARN OUR LANGUAGE OR DIE, WHAT ARE YOU, RACIST TO ENGLISH?" I go, "Sorry, don't speak French."

I mean, it's also assholey if the French guy replied (in French), "Jeezus, you'd think it was impossible to learn French, the one true language." but in most cases they won't, they'll go, "Oh, alright, thanks for being polite."


Yeah, I don't think the people in your country who don't speak English are doing it to spite you, they are doing it because they don't speak English. I'm sure most would luuuurve to speak English, it's pretty damn convienient in the USA, but for some that isn't an option/slash they're trying.

surprisingly..people do say some fucked up shit when they think you don't know the language, I had a few friends with me and we were downtown walking around (between a few popular spots it's somewhat of a super spanish/mexican based spot, as in all the signs are in spanish and you won't see a non spanish descent person for a good 2 mile radius) and they would constantly murmur to me saying awful things about what the people were saying as we passed them..it was quite pathetic really.


Just saying, when people think you don't know the language their tongues are quite open and "elitist" is the world i'll choose.

Alright, forgetting your post for a sec, what does "non-Spanish decent person mean?" What, so that town/area happens to be filled with both Hispanics and... what? Non-hispanics who are criminals, hobos, scruffy looking?

Anyway, my point still stands, this is really not an appropiate analogy, they aren't pissed that you don't know their language, they are just using the language barrier to talk behind your back.

non spanish decent person..?

wait what? where did i say/mention..

i has confuse?


but to your actual point, yes i wasn't trying to "combat" your point, just saying when you allow all languages to have an equal foothold everywhere it's quite easy to say shit behind anyone's back's really or get away with whatever you want saying "i don't know what that means" or "i didn't know", since they weren't required to know jack shit about english, law/order is followed by patterns/similarities in a tidy and neat society, and if in school/jobs randomly everyone just started using their "natural" tongues, would shit get anywhere?

not really, at least not at the speed things are now...

while i can respect anyone knowing more than one language, that's wonderful, most people i know know more than 1 language, having a neutral language for a country (or state) setup should be appropriate.

Oh, you said descent, not decent. I feel the stupids now, I go tired in my matress.

haha ohhhh gotcha, there we go, i meant no disrespect in that manner to the area i was talking about, i just meant it as in they weren't all mexican and they weren't all south american or all spanish, but a mixed genre of sort.

(4 of my closest friends who's first language was spanish are all from different ethnic backgrounds so i tend to not generalize into mexican when speaking about spanish based cultures/people)

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

I'm not saying its wrong, but if you listen to a lot of British people they complain they have to repeat the same thing several times before their accent comes through.

I could say 'throw your hammer over here' to a guy who lives in the next city over and he won't understand me. The trick is to say it very fast as well, just for kicks. Hoyyourhammerowaere, man it never gets old.

 

[ecoho]

Thats a bit of an arrogant attitude man, have you ever tried learning another language? I agree that people should be able to speak English in the UK etc, and but is there anything wrong with being bilingual? What ever happened to multiculturalism and all that?

ok in the case of people coming here as tourists i dont mind them not speaking English but if you come here to work or to live i expect you to know english i dont care if its bad english but for gods sake speak some fucking form of english its really not that much to ask.

I ask you this, how many people have you actually met in your country, that can't speak English??

exactly 157 and yes i counted.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

If they don't like it they can giiiiiiiit out!

Yeah, otherwise they'd take our jobs!

DEY TOK OUR JUBS!!!!!

Durk eh Jur

OT: Really, why doesn't everyone learn to speak Mandarin? It's the most prominent language spoken on the planet allegedly, so therefore it is our international language and we should all speak it.

We don't do it for no particular reason. We simply refuse to learn we either don't need to or are too lazy to. If you can't speak English then you don't get a job where you need to speak English, for which there are plenty of professions or you get a job where people speak your language.

Have you ever tried to learn a foreign language? It's fucking difficult, depending on the language. To make things worse, English is one of the most complex languages in the World, it has a bounty of rules and punctuation that just isn't used in other languages. Why on Earth would you spend money and time that you don't have learning English when you could get a job at the local Mexican restaurant where everyone speaks Spanish and all the food is Spanish?

true learning a foreign language is difficult, however...

the only reason i don't learn mandarin, is the fact that not a single person i know or have ever met speaks the language, and from what i have seen/know, i will never ever ever have any reason to ever go to asia, as i hate next to all asian food and it causes me to have ass piss for 3 hours, and i don't have the money to spare for that kind of a trip plus the alphabet from what i saw is fucking difficult as hell, so there is literally zero real world use for it in my book, and i would assume this is similar to many many people i know (Hell i know plenty of second generation asians who moved here who don't know jack shit from their ancestral language, including mandarin, so obviously they have the same logic as i do to a point)

oh and

DHEY TURK HISH DURGGG?!@???

 

[dex-dex]

In Canada living in Ontario,I don't expect tourists to know English fluently but citizens and permanent residents should learn at least one of the official language which is either English and French ( depending on where you live)
It is a bit ignorant for me to say to Quebecers to speak english when I have not learn French but nothing more than
"Je ne parle pas Français. Je parle anglais."

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Actually, I think this is a much bigger problem in Ontario than anywhere else (except maybe Luxembourg because they have the highest immigration rate next to Canada). In my high school alone, there are around 102 students out of 1566 that cannot speak English. [HEADING=1]102![/HEADING]
Worst of all, that's just in the schools, just imagine that ratio of people in everyday life that cannot speak French or English while living in a country that clearly states that those are its two mandatory-to-learn languages. It makes school and work extremely difficult when we are forced to interact with each other.

^ Probably the only person in this thread with a valid point. The US does not have an official language. Canada has two.

 

[xFullmetalx]

A lot of ex-pats don't speak the language of the country. Do you think it is any different?

 

[peruvianskys]

Did you know that in America, the average workday for a Mexican immigrant is 15 hours? I dare you to try and learn Chinese while working fifteen hours a day without the money for classes, books, tutors, or, while we're at it, fucking running water.

Also, anyone who says "people who come to America need to learn English" need to be honest about what they're saying: they just want Mexicans need to learn English. I don't think for a second this rednecks care whether or not someone speaks Italian or Yiddish at home; they care about brown skinned people. No one ever complained about the German newspapers in Wisconsin or the Greek quarters in New York because those people are still Americans, i.e. white. It's only when brown people come across and have the audacity to not spend hours a day and hundreds of dollars a month to abandon their culture.

Either way, the Mexican immigrants I've met have been some of the most proud Americans I know - and when you look at who stacks up best against the American ideal of hard work, determination, and pride, Juanito the gardener certainly seems more American than these racists who have nothing better to do than whine about how darkies are stealing their jobs while they sit around refusing to take responsibility for their problems.

 

[Astoria]

It's the same in Australia. I haven't experienced it but many people I know have. I don't expect people just visiting to know English but people planning to live here should. I really don't know how they expect to be able to live in a country without learning the language.

 

[blizzaradragon]

If you're a tourist to the country, then you don't need to speak the language. Having a little translation guide would be handy though, but not needed.

Living and working in said country is a different thing altogether though. If you're trying to learn the language, great. More power to you. It's the people who don't want to bother and think that we should change to accommodate them that I can't stand.

A great example: at work a couple months back, this lady came in who only spoke Spanish. She came up to me and asked me questions, and me not even being able to count to 10 in Spanish said politely, "I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish. Let me get someone who can speak to you." I hoped she at least knew enough English to know what I said, but instead she got frantic and started yelling in Spanish at me as I tried to go get someone. Scared for my life now I radioed someone over who could speak to her. After her questions got answered, she told the other employee that she expected better of people in this country and cussed me out simply because I knew no Spanish.

 

[FuzzyRaccoon]

but in america you should speak american

Ahhhh, so you mean I can speak Spanish too? Score!

As much as I joke about american things, technically, america actually refers to the entire western hemisphere. But of course, it's shorthand for most people to refer to the USA.


Also. That's silly. I used to think that, but it's actually kind of boring once you get down to it. Learn another language, it'll make you smarter.