Thread: English Only?

If somebody comes in a restaurant and speaks no english at all, how the heck are they going to order anyways, assuming no one is there to translate. It's not like restaurants have interpretors on the sideline.

The only reason I will be against this restaurant is due to traveling foreigners. If he were to refuse to serve them just because they don't speak good english, then that is clear nonsense. But for people to live in this country and not know a little english, come on.

In order for someone to integrate into American society completely, they need to know some form of english. And for someone to integrate deeper into society, they need to know some form of spanish.

Whether certain Americans see it or not, or country is rapidly moving twords a high level of spanish speaking citizens. It is good to be bilingual in a time like this, for the simple fact of getting a higher paying job.

How can a person say, "My language is better than yours?" Look at the world we live in: Welsh television, Spanish "telenovelas," Japanese graphic novels, even New York's Coney Island has Cyrillic (the Russian alphabet) everywhere. We live in a mixed world; therefore, people speak a mixture of languages. Personally, I believe that you ought to be able to get what you want across the language barrier (if you are visiting or living in a country with a language that is not English, be sure you are able to tell them what you need in their own idiom). Even if all you know is a sentence:

* "Rwy'n dod o Loegr. Diod a bawb." ~ Welsh (I come from England, drinks all around.)
* "Perdoname, mujeriego. Soy un hombre." ~ Spanish (Pardon me, womanizer. I am a man.)
* "Ittai nan nanda, kono mushi wa." ~ Japanese (Excuse me, there's a fly in my soup.)
* "Voulez-vous cesser de me cracher dessus pendant que vous parlez?!" ~ French (Would you stop spitting on me while you're talking?!)
* "K sozhaleniyu, ya poka ne govoryu po russki." ~ Russian (Unfortunately, I cannot yet speak Russian.)

See? Useful phrases . . .

yes definatly... they move here they gotta learn how to speak american/canadian!! they cant get anywherein life not knowing our language....
concluding statment: LEARN OUR LANGUAGE AND IF YOU DONT, DONT EXPECT US TO GIVE YOU SPECIAL TREATMENT.

Originally Posted by divine_punishment

How can a person say, "My language is better than yours?" Look at the world we live in: Welsh television, Spanish "telenovelas," Japanese graphic novels, even New York's Coney Island has Cyrillic (the Russian alphabet) everywhere. We live in a mixed world; therefore, people speak a mixture of languages. Personally, I believe that you ought to be able to get what you want across the language barrier (if you are visiting or living in a country with a language that is not English, be sure you are able to tell them what you need in their own idiom). Even if all you know is a sentence:

* "Rwy'n dod o Loegr. Diod a bawb." ~ Welsh (I come from England, drinks all around.)
* "Perdoname, mujeriego. Soy un hombre." ~ Spanish (Pardon me, womanizer. I am a man.)
* "Ittai nan nanda, kono mushi wa." ~ Japanese (Excuse me, there's a fly in my soup.)
* "Voulez-vous cesser de me cracher dessus pendant que vous parlez?!" ~ French (Would you stop spitting on me while you're talking?!)
* "K sozhaleniyu, ya poka ne govoryu po russki." ~ Russian (Unfortunately, I cannot yet speak Russian.)

See? Useful phrases . . .

lol
I will have to remember these...Anyway Maybe we should all learn latin. Most languages are derived from it anyway. Then we could travel anywhere we want and know that if we dont know the language of the country at least they will understand latin. The entire world could communicate this way and everyone would be considerd bilingual.

Originally Posted by MistressMorgan

Actually the US does not have an official language. No where is it written that English is the official language. The states are suppose to be a melting pot of people, not a melting pot of english speaking people. If it really bothers a person when they cannot understand another language, maybe they should better themselves by learning a foreign language.

Yes I agree America is on of the most diverse countrys in the world and should stay that way.

I understand that we are diverse, heck I'm bilingual too (although it's german), but I just don't want it to get to the point that the main language of america is spanish because the new immigrants decided not to assimilate into our society. You wanna speak a different language,fine, but why should the current american citizens have to adjust to learning new languages if the new immigrants don't want to learn ours.............english.