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Your first sentence was "Personally I think it's rude to speak a foreign language in public."; that is what I was responding to, that is why I put it in bold.
I read what you wrote, that is why I responded.
No where in your post did you state you have ever traveled and lived outside the US.
So I'm supposed to include a biography with every opinion now?
I'm not the least bit offended by anyone speaking another language in this country, we are of course the "melting pot". As far as the US having a national language, well, last time I read The Constitution it was in English. So, I'll use that as my point of reference. What offends me, is MY tax dollars used to print drivers tests, voter registration forms, welfare forms and who knows what else in every language under the sun. If you come here and expect to reap the benefits of this country, at least step up to the plate and learn the friggin' language.
Has anyone noticed how most Spanish-speakers are ridiculously LOUD? Dude, you can hear em across the room, almost like they have no vocal chord control. hahaha Im being serious, too. Most of them do talk very loud, and that can get annoying. Maybe thats what set the lady off? Who knows. But the lady doing the yelling has the IQ of a shoelace. How embarrassing.
You nor anyone else posting in this thread have been remotely near "most" Spanish speakers, so how could you come up with such a fallacious claim?
You nor anyone else posting in this thread have been remotely near "most" Spanish speakers, so how could you come up with such a fallacious claim?
I'm assuming he/she meant most Spanish speakers we encounter in public in the U.S., in which case, I'll agree. Even the ones I've dated or worked for would get loud as soon as they switched their language. But then, hood blacks are generally extremely loud as well (guys laughing at the top of their lungs and carrying on like maniacs, girls calling each other out from different ends of the store) and gun-toting, flag-bearing, Busch-Beer-Bellied rednecks are intimidating.
I think it's more to do with cultural behaviors than language/color. The loud Hispanics I encounter tend to be either Puerto Rican or Dominican. Mexicans, Venezuelans and Spanish (from Spain) don't seem to do that.
So I'm supposed to include a biography with every opinion now?
No, but it helps when you state something so ridiculous as you did. Since you have traveled and lived outside the US, did you become fluent in every language of every country you traveled to? I guess that would depend on how many countries you traveled to, but to expect someone, or a family, to obtain proficiency in a language of a country they are visiting for a few days or a few weeks is ridiculous. For some traveling through Europe, that would be a lot of language to learn.
Either way, your comment is ridiculous, it is not rude at all to speak a foreign language when out in public, I have no idea where you even come up with that. But I guess anyone can come up with something they believe is "rude", even drinking water from a bottle while walking.
What offends me, is MY tax dollars used to print drivers tests, voter registration forms, welfare forms and who knows what else in every language under the sun. If you come here and expect to reap the benefits of this country, at least step up to the plate and learn the friggin' language.
Yeah, the Great American Experiment was going just peachy until we squandered everyone's money on that extra ink and paper for those darn drivers tests.
I've heard it's good etiquette to speak in the local language when in other's company - -that is, when you are with (a part of) a group. I've never heard of the etiquette where you should not speak a foreign language in public.
That sounds like some made-up BS right there.
We have lots of people here that speak Spanish to family members and friends. Almost invariably they are bilingual and have a good command of English. If your great grand parents came here from Europe they probably did the same thing with their native language. Would you have criticized their behavior?
How disgusting. So what if a family is speaking Spanish or Russian or Italian or any other language. America does not have a national language, no one is required to learn/speak English.
Even if we did have a national language (and a case can be made that we should), it would be for official use only -- court proceedings, ballots, etc. We have no right to tell anyone what language to speak when conducting their private affairs.
Some people are just rude jerks.
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