Austin to LA?

[ohhi]

Originally Posted by marylee54

Excuse me, please understand, I only speak English. I was born and raised here, this is my country and home, guess I never had the opportunity to learn another language. Which language am I supposed to speak? To accomodate immigrants who somehow manage to come here, take our jobs and/or swell our assistance rolls, I'm so sorry I don't speak every version of whatever mishmash they throw at me. Of course, asking them to speak the language of the country they came to is asking too much, isn't it?

sounds like youre on the wrong board. try Stormfront White Nationalist Community - Discussion Board for Activists

[bluenoter]

Originally Posted by ohhi

sounds like youre on the wrong board. try Stormfront White Nationalist Community - Discussion Board for Activists

Are neo Nazis common in LA.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Ah, yes, everyone who wants immigrants to speak the language of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution in the United States is automatically a skinhead or a klansman.

[katenik]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Ah, yes, everyone who wants immigrants to speak the language of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution in the United States is automatically a skinhead or a klansman.

this is how they try to silence people who aren't drinking their la raza kool-aid. disgusting low-life tactics from disgusting low-lifes!

[missionhome]

I agree that immigrants to the USA should learn English, but it is fine if they want to speak their native tongue at home and among other people speaking their language. Also, Hispanics are not the only people guilty of not learning English. Asians, Middle Easterns, and even European immigrants may not know English. Think of the little Italy, little Tokyo, Chinatown, Russia neighborhoods, etc... throughout neighborhoods in the USA where people don't speak English.

An interesting fact though. Americans do not study other languages as much as other nations. We sort of have this view that everybody in the whole world should know English. Hence the reputation of the ugly American who shows up in Poland and is angry that nobody speaks English or the American who goes to Argentina and is frustrated that nobody speaks English, etc....

In the European Union, 50% of the people respond that they are confident they can carry out a conversation in a language other than their mother tongue. Americans aren't even close.

---Ok, there is my rant on our foreign language skills in the USA, I'm done.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Europe is a little different. They've got a lot of different languages in a small area going back centuries. Imagine if every state in the US had a different language. And a lot of them started learning English because we became the superpower after WWII, not to mention we were the ones writing the checks to rebuild their countries.

[marylee54]

Ok, speak any language you want, y...yo hablo espanol tambien!

Let me tell you a typical day at my job---I work customer service and orders for a major catalog, in a call center. I'm rated on many things--time on call, items sold, dollar amount of items sold, its a high-pressure environment. Of course, everyone who calls doesn't buy and many don't buy all the upsells we offer, but that's all taken into consideration with our performance statistics.

Just last week I was written up for poor sales and excessive talk time. It seemed just about every other call was someone who couldn't speak English worth a whit and I had to somehow process their order. Try saying $6.95 s&H ten times to someone who keeps saying "what, I don't understand, what's that?" all the while watching my talk time go over the accepted limit per call and the sale tanking...........I mean, there's only so much I can do. I practically spoon feed them English, asked one lady at least 5 times for "the last 4 digits of her credit card for verification" What....what is that? I do everything I can, slow down to a snail's pace, try re-wording some phrases, instead of "last 4 digits" I said "last 4 numbers of your credit card number" she still didn't understand, meanwhile kept jabbering in the background in some sort of chinese with someone, I kept asking if she has someone to translate, bear in mind they called me! But I can't dispose of the call, I must hang in there as long as they babble, regardless of whether they understand or not, I had the pleasure of such calls just about all last week.

People call to place an order and can't speak enough English to even give their address, can't spell their name, can't give their credit card number, then if I manage to drag all that out of them I'm already over my talk limit per call, then I must attempt upsells, they keep interrupting, whatI don't understand, then they say yes to a bunch of stuff, then when I recap the order they back out, they sure understand numbers when its an amount they don't want to pay! Then I have to go back through the whole blasted order and explain again how I arrived at the order total, they said yes to the offers, which I patiently explained over and over, then they want it re-explained, then they agree again, then we get to the total, then they back out again......

I've had nightmares about saying $6.95 shipping and handling over and over to someone who hasn't a clue what I'm saying, try explaining what shipping and handling is, I try putting it in other terms, the postage, oh, ok, then they still don't understand........

No one invited them here, no one forced them to call our business to place an order, but if you can't even speak basic English why call an 800 number and atempt to place an order? How the h#ll do they manage in other situations? And my job could be in jeopardy for having the great bad luck to receive their calls........learn English, or don't try to function without it and make it everyone else's problem!

Hi, I don't speak English, that's your problem!

[ebuch]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Ah, yes, everyone who wants immigrants to speak the language of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution in the United States is automatically a skinhead or a klansman.

Haha, that made me laugh. I can't believe people actually defend immigrants not trying to learn our language... can't wait to see this country in 25 years

[motoman]

Originally Posted by marylee54

We currently live in Austin. I recently had a company approach me for what sounds like a great position in the LA area.

How does Austin compare to LA? I know that's quite a general question, but in general, cost of living, quality of housing, schools, social issues such as immigration, etc.

Honestly, I'm starting to feel like a second class citizen in my own country right here in Austin, there's so many immigrants that can't/won't speak English, have an attitude, you think we owe them something, hello---they came here!

But regardless, this is a great position and career move but I'm wondering what type of "family" move it would be? I have 2 middle school age kids,

I'm originally from Dallas. I moved to LA because I wanted a change of scenery. I like it here much better and would never live in Dallas again.

Austin is a great place. I don't know what you are expecting though.

Some things you need to understand is that LA is massively larger than Austin. There are 15 million people in the greater Los Angeles area, the area most people think about when they say LA.

The cost of living here is much higher. Significantly higher housing costs. Higher gas costs. Higher insurance costs. Higher food costs. Higher entertainment costs. Etc.

There is a state income tax, which is up to 9%. But property taxes here are generally less than they are in Texas. Although there are newer areas with similarly high property taxes on top of the state income tax.

With just a 10% pay increase, effectively you'll be taking a huge paycut. Unless it is a dream job, or you really just want to move out here for some reason, I'd stay in Austin.

One of the things I really like about LA is the diversity. Dallas is too homogeneous. I don't mind that not every speaks English. We are all just living our lives the way we want to live them. Everyone just goes about their own business. I haven't read all of the posts, but if diversity is not your thing, then LA is not a good place for you. Sure, you can find homogeneous areas, but my guess is they would be far too expensive for you to live there.