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Ignorance - expecting native English speakers in this country to understand and speak a foreign language.
Arrogance - this isn't about quiet, private conversations where no one else has to listen to it but being loud and obnoxious in public speaking a foreign language especially when both parties know how to speak English. I couldn't care less what the gist of their conversation is about.
Although I don't necessarily support the premise, I'll put that aside and focus on bringing this discussion to the topic of the thread...
The individual(s) in this thread were speaking Spanish. Not a foreign language like Russian or something.
Where was the hypocricy on my part? One has the freedom to spit on the sidewalk if they want to but that doesn't mean it's not rude. This is about rudeness and disrespect not freedom.
Ignorance - expecting native English speakers in this country to understand and speak a foreign language.
Arrogance - this isn't about quiet, private conversations where no one else has to listen to it but being loud and obnoxious in public speaking a foreign language especially when both parties know how to speak English. I couldn't care less what the gist of their conversation is about.
All kinds of racist presumption in there and apparently you do care desperately what people around you are saying, even just to each other, if you are demanding they say it in the only language you are capable of speaking as opposed to one of the two or more languages they are able to speak.
Ignorance - your understanding of what ignorance is
Arrogance - thinking these people should give a **** what you think about the language they speak
Were there a large number of German, Polish, Italian etc speaking people living here before it became the United States?
Ignorance and arrogance - not being civil on CD just because you don't agree with my point of view. Of course rude people don't care what others think that's what makes them rude in the first place.
Thanks for making my point. We had a mix of immigrants from different countries and linguistic groups back then so they and their descendants assimilated to English quickly and weren't pandered to in their native tongues unlike Spanish speakers. Most didn't come here illegally in massive numbers either.
People not giving a **** if you can understand their private conversation is neither ignorant nor rude.
That doesn't make your point
You might learn something if you studied the history of the United States a little bit
The people speaking Spanish back then were not immigrants.
I said I couldn't care less the "gist" aka topic of their conversations so WTH are you talking about? Reading comprehension problem again? The ignorant and rude part is speaking a foreign language loud enough for others to hear it especially when they know English. It's a non-assimilation factor also.
Who cares if Spanish speakers were immigrants or not back then? You're missing the entire point and that is that today many if not most Spanish speakers seem to have an aversion to speaking English these days in public. It's directly due to not diversifying our immigrant numbers these days and massive illegal immigration from south of our border. They are colonizing rather than assimilating and American fools are pandering to them in Spanish. Are you also having a problem comprehending that?
The ignorant and rude part is speaking a foreign language loud enough for others to hear it especially when they know English. It's a non-assimilation factor also.
You seem to take particular objection to the foreign-ness of the language, and not the fact that the conversation is voluble or disruptive. Why is this so?
You seem to take particular objection to the foreign-ness of the language, and not the fact that the conversation is voluble or disruptive. Why is this so?
It's all three. Funny how I can't express an opinion on this subject without being ridiculed for it or being told I'm dictating. It's an opinion, not dictating! I've never walked up to anyone and said stop speaking in a foreign language so how am I dictating? There sure are some touchy people responding to me on this subject. Hmm. I wonder why that is although I have my suspicions. I guess they are entitled to their opinion but I'm not?
I live in a state that is overwhelmed with illegal alien Spanish speakers and other Latinos who refuse to speak English even when they know it so I know WTH I'm talking about.
Not playing anymore. I don't want to discuss anything with people who have no respect or tolerance for a different opinion from theirs and totally disregard and deny that there are many places in the U.S. besides where I live where this is this same problem. Buh, bye.
Awwwww
Poor guy.
How sad that people have no respect or tolerance for a different opinion from a guy who has no respect or tolerance for a language different than his.
Sure, immigration and illegal immigration is a problem that needs to be addressed.
People speaking Spanish is public isn't a problem.
Adios.
I don't think so either but it triggers some people even when they hear Spanish spoken in a Mexican restaurant check this out.
Well, what seems to be happening, is a feeling of affronted cultural identity. The premise is that in America, the prevailing language for discourse in public ought to English. Special circumstances are excepted, such as when the persons in question lack English fluency, or perhaps in moments of fright or absent-mindedness, when they revert to their native tongue. But otherwise, it is regarded to be unseemly to speak non-English, just as it would be unseemly to, say, for Amazonian tribesmen to show up at Costco dressed only in fig-leaves (or whatever are their traditional minimal accouterments). The premise, then, is that we have accepted standards of decorum for language, just as we do for clothing, or other basics of how we comport ourselves.
It is this premise that I personally find to be antiquated and, to say the least, odd. It would be true if, say, America were a monolingual nation in a time of national emergency or imminent military danger, the two conditions being (1) being truly monolingual, and (2) there being some particularly pressing reason for adhering rigorously to this monolingual-ness. Neither situation applies at present.
I actually have the opposite reaction. To be surrounded by speakers of languages other than English feels effervescent and novel. To be universally amongst only speakers of English is a stultifying dullness. For example, when I hear Russian spoken, I immediately perk up, and sometimes walk up to the speakers, engaging them in conversation, even if what they're saying is quotidian and bland. I'd leave alone say a mother and her children, or a young couple. But if it's elderly people or a group of guys, I'm tempted to walk up with a huge grin, saying hello. Such situations are rare, in my part of America. I very much relish it. But even if the languages spoken are those that I can't speak, it feels like an improved day, a better day, than one where it's constantly English-English-English, especially the Midwestern sort, where the infinitive is inevitably dropped. But we have yet to hear reports of persons being accosted by official agents on account of misuse of grammar.
The issue was not about an official language, nor my lack of fluency. It was that I accepted my lacking Spanish fluency, despite trying; did not cause an issue, calmly, politely worked through the situation. The customer service attendant failed to, refused to, turned her back, walked away.
She had a couple of options; the one she chose and another, ask a bi-lingual individual to help me. Should I sue, file a complaint for her rude behavior, refusal to perform the customer service duty to best of her ability given the a virtually non-Spanish speaking customer? Of course not.
That is the point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by IDoPhysicsPhD
Were you arrested or detained?
Spanish is the official language in Madrid. In the US, we don't have an official language. We simply have common languages... such as English, Spanish, and Chinese... With Spanish being one of the fastest growing (Vietnamese is actually growing at a faster rates).
I cannot stand arrogant, rude people who think they need to eavesdrop on others private conversations in public. Besides sharing a common bond with family and friends, did it ever occur to you that they might be speaking in a foreign language because they not want want you to understand their private conversation? If I see someone snooping on my conversation, in ENGLISH, I will whisper in my companions ears, move, or leave.
My Nonna, sorry, Grandma, told me that during WW2 the family stopped speaking Italian out in public. They Americanized their surname. Nonna went by the name Anne instead of Anna Maria. People would think they were SPIES speaking Italian, or German then. Today if someone is speaking Spanish, or whose name is Jose, must be an ILLEGAL!
It must really bother you when someone Signs out in public. You cannot understand them. Are they signing in English or Spanish? Are they Americans or Illegals? I cannot hear what you are saying. We SPEAK English in the USA!
Basta, Stunards. I could say something else, but I will be nice. Third Generation American.
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This is about rudeness and disrespect not freedom. 
