Thread: English Only?

Yeah i agree. If you move here you should learn English. Like if you move to Mexico, you must lean Spanish. I mean if they let them speak anything how will you take their order.

i presonly do beleave you should learn to speak English if u live in the US i mean why should we have to change ower was to suite the if we go to a countrys we have to adabt to there was so why shouldent it be the same for us.

I think it should be in the conditions, that they should now how to speak english before they even think about coming over to an english speaking country, or a good deal of it anyway.

There was an incident in Aust once, where an person didn't know one word of english and was crying out for help, because his son was dieing, but because no one understood him, it took even longer to get help, I can't remember if the child made it or not.

Ok brainiaks, you better start studying now if you ever plan on taking a vacation to a different country. This doesn't just effect migrant workers, think of all the people that come to the US for buisness, pollitics, vacations. Granted it is this man's right to refuse service to anyone, whats more he doesn't have to provide an interpreter. But to make it mandatory to learn English before coming to the US is rediculous.

Originally Posted by PsiKnot

Ok brainiaks, you better start studying now if you ever plan on taking a vacation to a different country. This doesn't just effect migrant workers, think of all the people that come to the US for buisness, pollitics, vacations. Granted it is this man's right to refuse service to anyone, whats more he doesn't have to provide an interpreter. But to make it mandatory to learn English before coming to the US is rediculous.

I agree with you on that one,

but my post was aiming more to those who come to live permantly in English speaking countries.

Replying to the first post with his refusal, I think that person should keep a bit of an open mind, like what PsiKnot said, how would that person feel if he was refused service simply because the waiter didn't know his language.

He is making a huge assumption that anyone who comes into his restraunt live in America and can't speak english. Too bad about tourists..

English-only in restaurants is up to the individual proprietors of the restaurants. That said, I wouldn't require it if I were an owner of a restaurant. I would train my waitstaff in the subtleties of non-verbal communications that would help expedite the ordering process. However, I'm not sure that someone who can't READ English should be ordering food in a restaurant where the menus are only written in English. What if you had a food allergy?

Also, I don't think that the US should be English-only. If the country had been established that way at the founding, then that's one thing. But this country has NEVER had a language requirement, and it seems ridiculous to establish one at this time.

That said, I don't think it's the responsibility of the US Government to provide interpreters at all costs to anyone who might need one. People should take it upon themselves to learn the predominant language in another country if they plan on living in that country. I wouldn't dream of packing up and moving to Japan without learning at least a basic level of conversational Japanese. And I wouldn't move to Brazil without learning at least a basic level of conversational Portugese.

However, tourists should also try to learn a little of the predominant language of the country they are visiting just to make the trip a little easier. Plus, knowledge is a good thing. And learning another language can be fun, too.

That's my $.02

Maybe this have nothing to do with the question, but what if all the reasturants in the world did that, then you'll be forced to learn more than one language, if you want to travel