Speak English! Options

[radhikaeatsraman]

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.

[dancingkait]

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