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I don't give a fig newton what language people are speaking in a restaurant, or what they're saying. But give me a break with the gar-baghe that no one is required to learn/speak English. Someone isn't aware that that used to be a requirement for citizenship. And for good reason.
Just what we need. Another poverty class borne of the inability to assimilate, and speak...English.
Yes. It's very simple, actually.
People in a private conversation with friends or family can use whatever language they like. Whether they are in the privacy of their own home, or in the most public place in the US. It's really nobody's business what language they use among themselves.
However when they enter a business, workplace, or speak to strangers, they must use English. Doesn't have to be a perfect English - most people that I know won't care if you have an accent as long as they can understand you. But English is the language that keeps this country together.
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.
That woman's behavior was indeed disgusting. Nobody's else's conversation is any of her business regardless of what language they were speaking.
However, the national language here in the United is English. No, it is not legally enforced, but it is in fact our national language.
When Americans complain about people speaking language other than English, it only exemplifies the stupidest in our nation.... and that's a lot of dumbasses.
Yes, they expect those chip and pin credit/debit cards. Some US issued cards have them, some don't, but even those that don't will work fine in Europe as long as there's a cashier available. Like you said, they can cause some problems at ATM machines.
However, this was about twenty years ago so the chip/pin thing wasn't the issue. The maitre de/waiter's issue was with Americans. Period. He made no bones about it.
I was shocked, but in defense of Europeans, that interaction was surprising and definitely not the norm. I only mentioned it because so many people on this forum seem to think that there's no such thing as The Ugly European. Prejudice and xenophobia are present within every culture, sadly.
I have a great personal story about this
I used to work with a French company on a large project, and my counterpart there was a guy named Gerard. A bright, hardworking and generally polite person but he had a major problem with tourists coming to France and speaking English, especially the Americans. And me in particular - he made sure to point it out to me that when he flew to Detroit for a meeting, he was speaking English, yet when I flew to Lyon, I was also speaking English and this was arrogant and rude, why don't Americans take care to learn some basic French when they plan a trip in advance, blah blah.
So, Gerard and I parted ways for a while, then about 6 years later, both of our companies bid on a project in China. I get off the plane, and there right in front of me is Gerard sans some of his hair, asking the airport attendant where to catch a taxi - in English. I asked him the next day, "so how's your Chinese ?" but I'm afraid the irony was lost on him.
The moral of the story - people should lighten up.
People in a private conversation with friends or family can use whatever language they like. Whether they are in the privacy of their own home, or in the most public place in the US. It's really nobody's business what language they use among themselves.
However when they enter a business, workplace, or speak to strangers, they must use English. Doesn't have to be a perfect English - most people that I know won't care if you have an accent as long as they can understand you. But English is the language that keeps this country together.
Why should a business or workplace be forced to use English? Shouldn't it be the right of the business owner/employer to determine the appropriate language necessary to serve their customers?
IMO, the free market should be allowed to work and business owners should be able to determine for themselves what language people can and cannot use to do business on their premises. If you enter a business and they are speaking Spanish, Arabic, etc. and you don't or you just don't like it then you are free to take your business elsewhere.
If I own a business with a customer base that speaks Spanish, why should my customers and employees be expected to use English instead?
Why should a business or workplace be forced to use English? Shouldn't it be the right of the business owner/employer to determine the appropriate language necessary to serve their customers?
IMO, the free market should be allowed to work and business owners should be able to determine for themselves what language people can and cannot use to do business on their premises. If you enter a business and they are speaking Spanish, Arabic, etc. and you don't or you just don't like it then you are free to take your business elsewhere.
If I own a business with a customer base that speaks Spanish, why should my customers and employees be expected to use English instead?
They should be expected to know English and use it in conversations with customers who don't know the ethnic language of your business. Unless you think that it's fine to have businesses in the US which are opened to public yet can't communicate in English.
They should be expected to know English and use it in conversations with customers who don't know the ethnic language of your business. Unless you think that it's fine to have businesses in the US which are opened to public yet can't communicate in English.
I think it is perfectly acceptable for a business in the US to be open to the public and communicate with customers in any language the owner chooses to use. If a business owner feels that their customers can be best served in a language other than English and is willing to lose customers that may only speak English, who are you to tell them they are wrong?
I think it is perfectly acceptable for a business in the US to be open to the public and communicate with customers in any language the owner chooses to use. If a business owner feels that their customers can be best served in a language other than English and is willing to lose customers that may only speak English, who are you to tell them they are wrong?
Because if this happens on a large enough scale in a large enough area of the country, we'd have a problem. The US is one of the few nations without a separatist problem or major ethnic strife, and I'd like to keep it this way.
Speaking Amish is fine because they are white. It's ok to speak white languages. Here's the ok ones: German, English, and all the weird ones like Irish, Norwegian, Dutch (From Denmark), Norwegian, Polish, Jewish, Chekesloavakia and others. Russian is not really ok but acceptable because Russians are kind of scary and Russian strippers are HOT. French is NOT ok either even though they are kind of white (dark hair) because they are anti American. Unfortunately there is not much we can do about French names like St. Louis and New Orleans. We just have to live with this most dark part of american linguistic history.
Bad languages are: Ebonics, Spanish, Spanglish, Somalian, African, Arabic, North Korean and Paki
Undecided: Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Indian, Punjabic, Hindu. PROBABLY ok but also ok to do the 'ching chong' behind their back because they are annoying (good at math, good food but TOO SPICY)
If you keep these rules in mind you will never have to deal with any language based humiliating youtube incidents
*facepalm*
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