Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[alucard]

Well I'm just going to rant about something that happened to me in the past and that i posted on another forum. I was in an elevator with my friend who happens to have been borned here .. We were talking in Spanish of course and there was this middle age white lady next to us in the elevator and the !!@%@ said to us : "This is America! Speak English!" so my friend turned around and talked to her in perfect native English : This is a free country and people can speak in any languages they want
the lady sure had nothing to say to that lol
I don't know why many Americans feel weird or something when other people speak other languages, is like they think we are speaking behind their backs or something, that's one thing that has always bothered me, and no offense to anyone, is the assumption that people HAVE to speak English just because they're in America. I have heard many people say that if people want to come and live in America they need to speak the language. But English is one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn. How are people supposed to learn it before they come here? I know that many countries teach English in schools, but not all do. It's far easier to learn when you are surrounded by the language all of the time (hence, while you are living here)
You know, most Americans will go to other countries not knowing how to speak the language and still try to force those people to speak English, which I think is very rude and arrogant, For instance, many Americans will travel to Paris, but not know any French at all, so they go around asking everyone if the speak English, most people have no problem helping those who can't speak the language well if you at least make an effort at trying; but if you just go around speaking in English and don't try, people get angry and won't help you.
I guess my point is, it doesn't matter where we are, in America or in another country, we ALWAYS seem to want people to speak English. I don't think we're any better than anybody else, so having a billboard sign in another language just doesn't matter to me and I don't know why people make such a big deal about that stuff all of the time-like when people complain that we are in America but you press 1 for Spanish and 2 for English....who cares?!? Why make a big deal out of nothing?
We pride ourselves on being a "melting pot" of a culture, yet we criticize everything that is not specifically the same as how we as individuals live....

[Bob S.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxUm-2x-2dM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxuEBUXJ2rQ

[rice07]

Hi Bob S.

Thank you for sharing that.

[Bob S.]

[pugachevV]

It is stated as fact that there are 10 million illegal immigrants in the USA, the majority of whom are Spanish speaking people who make little or no effort to learn English.
Many people in the USA are angry that their laws are being broken by such people and feel frustrated that the US government cannot or will not deal with the problem.
Unfortunately, this may result in episodes such as the one you write about.

[rice07]

There had been a thought , in particular when some elections in Taiwan were bearing down, that being Taiwanese who COULD NOT speak Taiwanese(a co-official language spoken by people in Taiwan) ought to fall into the categories that they were NOT loyal to their country- Taiwan. It is merely, I had to say, one of the strategies for politicians to take for gaining their interests. The thought is biased and just too pan-politicized due to the fact that there are several languages(dialects) in Taiwan that are not official but they are truly being spoken by different groups of people in Taiwan that love Taiwan so much. How can some politicians spread that insular thought over people in Taiwan? So far the official language for people in Taiwan to speak is Mandarin, but I concede and am glad to see that now there are more and more people speaking Taiwanese. . I just disagree with the logical reasoning of that thought.

Frankly speaking, I surmise the most precious for human being to have, deeply in our spirit, is being reasonable to accept something different, or even innovative that is good for us. Given that broaden our horizons with getting to know cultural diversity of different countries(groups), I think there is a need for language barrier between different cultures to be removed, and that is why we learn languages. Language is a tool of communication. We can share our joy, anger, grief, and happiness by language. If we are willing to demonstrate our tolerance towards opinions different from our own, things would be fine for a great deal of unnecessary conflicts between people were avoided. That is my humble opinion.

Pardon my English, if I did not make what I was trying to say explicitly understood.