You know I think it makes people feel better when they "accept" other languages and cultures and when you don't they call it racism but I think that it's important that when you come to live in America you learn English and assimilate into American culture. You shouldn't abandon your native culture but please don't expect people here to go out of their way to accommodate you. I also think that to much accommodation of other cultures can have negative effects. Look at the recent riots in Paris concerning disenfranchised Muslim and Middle Eastern youths. In an effort to be progressive, the French government allowed all those immigrants to retain their culture and their language making no effort to encourage them to learn French culture or to speak French. This was an effort to be "sensitive" to the immigrant's cultures. All this has done is lead to large cummunities of slums where people are French citizens but don't feel like they are "French". This leads to cultural tensions and riots. They don't feel they are a part of the country they are citizens of. I think we should encourage polyglots and be patient with people who are visiting or who are learning English but, in an effort to encourage assimilation, reduce resentment and generate a sense of community people who come to live in this country should learn English. Should they abandon their native toungue? No way. But they should still learn English. FYI, my father was an immigrant from China (escaping Communism after WWII) and he learned English, married an American woman, got a house in (what was at the time) the suburbs and had 3.2 kids. No white picket fence, though. Does he still eat Chinese food, play Mahjong, hand out with Chinese friends and take an interest in Chinese politics? Sure he does! But he also watches football every Sunday, barbecues when family comes over and enjoys playing poker. He doesn't force his culture onto this country. He combined this country's culture with his own.
I was thinking shouldn't that sign be in multiple languages? I mean if they don't speak english, how can they read the sign which is targeting them?
allowing them to order in another language is going out of the way to accommodate? I think what happened in France wasn't so much an effort to be accommodating, but a lack of desire to include. They were being exclusionary rather than accommodating. It certainly was not an effort to be sensitive to the immigrant community. I think immigrants should learn English, but not to make it easier on people who already speak English, but because it will be easier on the immigrants themselves. They are the ones who will pay if they don't learn it. But as an English speaker, it really doesn't hurt me at all if signs are in more than one language, or if I hear people speaking a language I don't understand.
Sorry to hijack the thread... People in tourist services that cater to English speaking people should learn to speak English because it makes business sense. Very few places in the U.S. count on tourist dollars from non-English speaking countries (New York, places in California?) and I bet hotels there do have people that can speak Japanese, French, German, etc.... I know a tour guide in California and she speaks several languages because he clients do. When I travel I never expect the the service people to speak English but I'm grateful when they do! And while there are tons of Americans who don't bother to learn a little of the language where they are going there are a ton who do you just don't hear too many complaints about them. Besides, the worst tourists according to a survey of travel professionals are the French and the English. From: BBC News "Americans were judged the most courteous and the British the rudest, alongside the Russians and Canadians." "The Brits also seemed to make least effort in speaking the local language, a quality excelled by the Germans, French and Americans." "The big spenders were the Americans, then the Japanese and Russians." The last quote is, ultimately, why people in other countries learn English (and probably Japanese and Russian!). It's profitable to do so! More links! Telegraph.co.uk Travelmole "This time Brits came second to the French, who were criticised for their unwillingness to speak the local language, lack of generosity and impoliteness." And... "According to hoteliers, the best tourists in the world are the polite and tidy Japanese, who secured 35% more votes than the Americans who came in second."
I don't think this uproar is about whether or not a business allows people to make orders in other languages but more about the expectation that businesses make the effort to have people on staff that speak other languages in order to be politically correct. A person who comes to the U.S. should not have an expectation that they can use their native language and that businesses are required to do business in it. I 100% agree with you here. Once again, however, I think that there is an expectation that we should always bend to accommodate other cultures who come here to live (or at least the perception that there is that expectation) instead of expecting the new arrivals to blend in. As we agree on, assimilating into your new country's culture is the best thing for immigrants to do!
Nazi? didn't America FIGHT Nazi's? ahahahahaahaha It is funny how everyone calls someone concered about the country a Nazi because of people here ILLEGALLY. Keep calling us Nazi's and you might just get your wish
If the sign only said "Please order in English" then I'd have absolutely no problems with it. I agree with the principle behind the sign but the guy comes off as kind of a prick. What's with the "This is America" part of the sign? No ***** this is America, Geno. Why don't you change your name to Fred or Bill? That's more American sounding than some weirdo european name like Geno.
Apparently you have no idea what you are talking about. What does his name have to do with him being American? Guess you didn't know that most Italians stick with the names of their ancestors, same goes for Irish, French, Spanish. I have a feeling you are more racist than the KKK.
Maybe he is what 111chase111 described. Maybe he is like Chase111's Chinese father. Maybe he has adopted to American ways and takes pride in living here. But he wants to be faithful to his heritage.
In church the other night while waiting for a music concert to start, I was speaking to my girlfriend in Spanish. Some lady behind me leaned over to the person she was with and commented loud enough for me to hear, "Are we gonna have to listen to this the whole time?" It was pretty obvious that she was very rudely referring to the Spanish we were speaking as everybody else in the whole place was talking, too. Granted, she looked young and immature, the funny thing is...I'm about as white as John McCain and Spanish is my second language. On the other hand...it took me six months while living in Mexico to learn the language pretty darn well. Maybe that's because I listened to the radio in Spanish, watched t.v. in Spanish and read the Mexican newspapers every day and made friends with a lot of Mexicans. There are a lot of people who have lived most of their lives in the United States and can't even order off a menu in English.
About speaking the language of the country you're in... As a tourist, I don't think you should have to learn another language just to go to another country for a few weeks. I don't expect you to learn my language and learning 'thank you' and 'please' is not necessary. However, if you live and work or study in another country, it's a whole different ballgame. In that case, it's inexcusable not to know the language, imo. We have a lot or Russians in Latvia that have spent their entire lives here yet they don't speak Latvian. A lot of them think they're too good for it. I despise those people. I'm not even asking them to be perfect - if I see that someone tries but sucks, I have no problem speaking their language if I can and if it let's the conversation flow more easily. But if you think you come from a 'better' country and therefore you don't have to learn another, 'lesser' language, get the **** back to your country or kill yourself.
I agree with all your points except this. The American immigrant experience is not the same as the French, or other European immigrant experiences. While France has overt laws on the books to be "sensitive" to immirant cultures, inbred racism makes these laws hollow. Getting decent jobs, housing ... is a hassle for anyone trying to integrate, and the French (insert Germany, and a host of other european countries here) are nowhere near as PC as Americans.
^So W. Euro. governments like France and Germany have overt laws on sensitivity, but "are nowhere near as PC as Americans"? Wuhhh? I'd say that the US is more diverse and has more successes integrating their immigrant population, despite the schizo treatment of their 1st and later gen. immigrants.
