Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Sorry to burst your bubble but there is no "official" language in the US. As for McDonald's giving a warning in English & Spanish , last time I checked McDonald's is a private corporation and if they want to advertise in Spanish or Swahili that is their choice and not that of racist xenephobes.
PS: If somebody is dreaming of Florida I suggest that's all they do since this state is full of many hispanics who 'habla Espanol"!
MiamiRob is correct as there is no official language of the USA, although it is by default English for all intents and purposes. Yes, if private corporations want to market in another language, that is their choice.
The only thing that bothers me are the multilingual voting ballots in New York City. Seems to me if you cannot understand what the politician is saying, why should you be catered to? OTOH if New Mexico wants both English and Spanish as their official languages, that is fine as its part of the state's heritage. But if Massachusetts were to do it, I would think it pandering. These are examples of government actions.
Sorry to burst your bubble but there is no "official" language in the US. As for McDonald's giving a warning in English & Spanish , last time I checked McDonald's is a private corporation and if they want to advertise in Spanish or Swahili that is their choice and not that of racist xenephobes.
PS: If somebody is dreaming of Florida I suggest that's all they do since this state is full of many hispanics who 'habla Espanol"!
This is correct -- there is no 'official' language in the USA.
As for Mcdonalds: it's a publicly traded company (anyone can buy stock in it) with privately owned franchises. The fanchisee, however, doesn't have much of a say in the promotions.
With regard to Florida and Spanish speakers: it really depends on where you are. Jacksonville and that area aren't as heavily populated by Spanish speakers as Miami is.
I have no problem with bi-lingual people speaking their primary language at home but why not English in public? Yes, private enterprise has the right to advertise in any language they want but it is the reason they do so that bothers me. They do it to pander to illegal aliens as most Hispanic citizens know how to speak English so no need to pander to them.
Here in Eastern MA we have a huge Brazilian population. That means that everything that most people see accross the country in Spanish is also in Portugese here. Why is that a problem? When I attend meetings at my son's school they take three times as long as they should because every word that is spoken has to be repeated in Spanish and then in Portugese. When they open up for Q&A it becomes painful. There's nothing like a three hour PTA meeting after a long day at work.
One of my neighbor's kids recently broke his arm. He had a 6 hour wait in the ER. Why? Because the place was loaded with Brazilians using the ER as a primary care facility and they only have one Portugese interpreter on hand.
There is also a huge expense to print everything in three different languages. We recently got a memo form the school that didn't have English at all.
Then you have the people who think we should all learn Spanish. That's all very well and good but where do we stop? If we have an influx of immigrants from Japan next year should I also learn Japanese to accomodate them? Let's say that I do take the time to learn several different languages. How would that alleviate the above mentioned issues caused by people who refuse to learn English? One other time this guy came running into my driveway as I was getting in my car. He couldn't speak English. He was freaking out, waving his arms, and jumping up and down. I thought he was out of his mind and I was wondering if I was going to have to call the cops or even take him down. Then he started pointing accross the street. I knew there was an elderly woman living there so I went over to investigate. It turns out she had fallen and she was down on the ground passed out. He was a landscaper working on her yard. Of course he couldn't tell me what was happening and he was too stupid to call 911. So I called 911 and the fire department came.
These are all just a few examples of why a multi lingual country is just not a good thing. Please feel free to throw out the race card and accusations of xenophobnia as Rob has so aptly done in his previous post.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.