Okay, here's the deal. Hosing (known as Hosing Yu in chat) works in retail twice a week. He will sometimes get customers who don't know English or even bother trying to speak it. It gets him pretty annoyed, and I can see where he's coming from. Yen, on the other hand, believes we shouldn't be angry or irritated with these people and try to be understanding.

I believe that while in the United States, you should at least make the effort to speak English, even if it's not the best. If you don't want to do that, stick with someone who can speak it. Don't go up to people expecting them to speak whatever language. Yes, this is the US, and yes, there are many different cultures here, but there is one language that unites us; that language is ENGLISH. I wish some people would just realize that.

i agree with that melissa, at work, people[teenages whoa re american] speak all weird and dumb and pretend to order and all i do is, i dont know what your saying, and this one man, he spoke good english, when i asked what kind of shake, he goes straw-be-rey and his family is laughing and i got mad

^I think when he was telling you what shake he wanted, he was being racist, not pretending to not know english

make sense?

It's stupid for people who immigrant to another country but doesn't learn the language there. First of all, it would make life easier if you just learn the language, goddamnit. Second, it doesn't make you look like a complete idiot when you try to tell a local person something.

Well if we want to speak the native language of the NEW WORLD then we should be learning Native american languages. Its so annoying when people say SHxT like this its so ridiculous, we are all immigrants the only difference is that some of us were born here and or had money for lessons. Nowadays english classes cost loads of money which immigrants dont have. My mom was unable to learn english when she first came here but she picked up the language when people would talk to her in english.. its alright to be annoyed by it. heck sometimes i get fustrated too but I understand their issue

I do that, it pisses everyone off...not as bad as my grandparents, they speak like seven langauges...o.0;;

Now that the debate of legalizing immigrants in the US is active, I think the ones who should be legalized should at least learn or know English.

It's only common sense...just to communicate and get around this country.

Isn't it ironic how you're talking about learning English, yet this whole sentence was grammatically incorrect?

^no, because I don't live in an English speaking country.

did you know that alot of hispanic immigrants are signing a petition , that states , that spanish should be the 2nd language of America? hmm Spanish would have to be mandatory if this is ratified .

yea but i believe they would have to speak english , it is mandatory i believe and is required in order to have full necessities as a u.s. citizen ....my parents went to school for it when they came up from the P.I. why can`t they ?

well immigrants might not have the money to learn english but want to come here so their children could have better lives.

but i can see where you're coming from and it is hard to understand someone who doesn't speak a word of english as to someone who knows a little. but still, it's like the saying: "When it Rome, do as the Romans"

Everyone speaks English in Highlands Ranch just when you go downtown and other suburbs of Denver when you start hearing diffrent languages.

Oh ok good.

ahh omg i know. it's so annoying. i mean, if you're going to live in the country, you might as well learn the language. it makes it easier for you AND the people around you. ahhh people these days....

While it is certainly not wise to travel in a country and not know the language, it seems quite unfair to judge based on that. Refusing to serve someone who does not speak English would only perpetuate the view of Americans as conceited and ignorant.

There isn't really even a first language in the US. English is the lingua franca, but the US has no "official" language.

Take it easy everyone!

I got to Belgium few years ago and I spoke NO French and NO Dutch. It's frustrating when you're a kid too! I didn't ask my parents to move to Europe, I had no choice. I hated life at first. The most annoying part was when I HAD to go to a French speaking school.

I learned French in 10 months though. I took French courses 15 times A WEEK.

I find it REALLY annoying when immigrants don't speak a tiny bit of French and start talking in their languages.
In my opinion, yes, you should know a little bit of language or the general things. At least, little things like; hello, can you help me, general things are OK.

It was frustrating when people talked about me in French.

There's nothing wrong with that unless they're talking about you. Sometimes it's easier to say what you want to say in your own language. My family always speaks Bulgarian.

i think that tourists should attempt to speak english (or whatever the language is where they are). that way it's much easier to get by in that country. but what bugs me is when people are living here, and have been for a long time, but they almost refuse to learn english. for example the lady that did my nails for grad was talking cantonese i think to all the other nail people around. i felt it was sort of rude towards the customers. i have to deal with it all the time where i work, i'm a receptionist at a car dealership. so i have people phoning all the time to ask me a question but they aren't able to since they haven't learned english. then they get frustrated because i'm not helping them like they want and then i get frustrated becuase there's someone on the phone getting mad at me for something that i can't prevent...not that i'm bitter at all