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.

[RCcola]

i have to agree with you that tourists in the US must attempt to speak english.

we don't go to spain without a spanish dictionary, you know?

[*Freaky Krazer*]

well radhika if you feel that way so bad I dare you to knock on every doorstep house where an immigrant who cant speak english lives in and tell them

[me1issaaaa]

True. What irritates me is when people pretend not to know English, when they really do.

[radhikaeatsraman]

I don't need to do that, Yen. I've got plenty of immigrants I could say it to that would agree with me: my entire family.

[RCcola]

True. What irritates me is when people pretend not to know English, when they really do.

LOL there was a funny bit about that in the movie Waiting...

[parallel]

Whoa...Hosing.


Anyway, I think that if people move here from a different country they should know how to speak English, if not, they best start learning

[*Freaky Krazer*]

I don't need to do that, Yen. I've got plenty of immigrants I could say it to that would agree with me: my entire family.

what the pho, in that case have your entire family join you.

[*digital.fragrance*]

Sometimes I take offense to people who speak another language right in front of me... like one of my friends speaks to her mother in her native language, and I can hear my name "rachael" in their conversation. Her mom can understand Engliish.

[radhikaeatsraman]

Don't let it bother you, Rachael. People speak about me in their native language all the time. Of course, it's my family, so it's different...but still. If you feel offended, just talk to her about it.

[*digital.fragrance*]

^ I know... it's just... well it's like she's trying to talk about me and I can't understand it.

[RCcola]

i love it when my family talks about me in tagalog [language of the philippines] and they don't think i understand what they're saying. this happens rarely though, as i rarely understand what they're saying.

[jue]

Hmm, people who can't speak english should defiantley [sp?] at least try to speak it. Or travel with someone who can. But then, if it irritates the Hosing dude so much, isn't there like a translator available?

[AngelinaTaylor]

You must understand that sometimes, you'll bump into people who have recently arrived in the country. Which means, they probably won't know English that much. Will you really get mad at them? Do you know how hard it is? I had to come to Canada three years ago knowing next to nothing. I came home from school crying, almost every day, because I couldn't understand what the hell people were saying to me. It takes time, and it's definitely not as easy as you think.

My point is, don't get angry at people who don't know English. I'm almost completely certain that most immigrants at least make an effort. My dad's the worst.. he knew NO English whatsoever, because all he studied in Bulgaria was French. But he speaks it relatively well now. And you should know that adults have a VERY hard time learning a new language. It's much easier done when you're young.

[*baby_in_blue*]

i have to agree with you that tourists in the US must attempt to speak english.

we don't go to spain without a spanish dictionary, you know?

i know what you mean.

[AngelinaTaylor]

^ Why would it be so necessary? I went to France without knowing ANY French and I was fine :) Well, some people spoke English, but some didn't.

[*lolita kitty*]

My stepmom works in a hospital, and she has the same issue. She tells me that foreign people come in all the time, and she has absolutely no idea what they're saying.

[marzipan]

If you think all tourists should speak English, how would you feel if you went to China and they wanted all tourists to speak Chinese? It just doesn't happen. They're just tourists coming to visit a foreign country. If they were living there, it would be a totally different issue.

[goodcharlotte]

Yeah. I'm sure you can't speak every language in the world. That is the thing about English it seems common sense to us but for others it is another language like arabic or chinese.

[*T0rmented_Soul*]

^ Exactly, we can't expect immigrants to speak english fluently or even understand it, it's like saying we go to some freign place and they expect us to talk their language, but then it's already an assumption if we dont look like we speak the language then people assume so yeah.

[Gigi]

Are you talking about immigrants or tourists?

Because if that's expected for tourists, I don't think that's exactly fair. I'm sure the average tourist with an average intelligence understands that knowing the country's official languages and speaking them would be much more convenient and efficient than waving their arms around or pointing at stuff. If they had a choice, they would use English. Most people simply can't use it effectively, so why even try? Unintelligible English is just as bad as no English at all.

As for immigrants, I think they should attempt to speak English, especially in the United States. I can understand new immigrants not speaking English or French in Canada, considering we have a multicultural policy over here which encourages people to retain their respective unique cultures, but the U.S. is different, more of a "melting pot" of cultures. However, it's still required you know how to speak English and/or French before they accept you into Canada, so I suppose it wouldn't be much different.

[radhikaeatsraman]

I'm talking about immigrants, Gigi.
I can understand if they're new in the country. But shouldn't they make the time to try and learn the language? If I were to emigrate to China, I'd do something beforehand to try and learn a little bit of Chinese.

[lalalaLANUH]

If they're immigrants they should try making an effort to speak english, but for some it can be very difficult. They may have recently started studying the language, but it can be very intimidating when actually trying to carry on a conversation in a diffrent language. Plus they may only know some phrases in English that aren't useful in their situation. And the fact is some people aren't as responsible as you and might not begin studying the language until they actually move to the US, and some people don't bother at all.
For the most part, I agree with Yen. We should be patient and understanding, as long as they try too. But then again, I can see how going through this on a daily basis can be annoying.

[Gigi]

I'm talking about immigrants, Gigi.
I can understand if they're new in the country. But shouldn't they make the time to try and learn the language? If I were to emigrate to China, I'd do something beforehand to try and learn a little bit of Chinese.

Granted, your Chinese is good enough to converse with. Your efforts would be appreciated but it all comes down to the final execution of the language, no? What if you studied Chinese for months and months, and when it came time to talk to a native Chinese speaker, you froze? I don't think you'd appreciate it if your efforts went totally unnoticed.

Of course, this is all hypothetical.

The thing is, there is no way to know if someone's trying or not. How do you know if that one person who so-called, "refuses" to speak English didn't do something beforehand, too? Maybe they're just not confident enough yet. Also keep in mind that English is much harder to learn than most other languages, what with all the bizarre spellings, silent letters and exceptions to certain rules.

But yes, I do agree that long-time immigrants should learn the language. What's the purpose of moving to a whole new country and to live in the same culture as you did before? Why shut yourself off like that?

There's these guys in my Chem class, who I know have been living in North America for many years now and choose to speak Cantonese to each other all the time. Okay, so speaking Cantonese to one another isn't such a big deal. The problem? When they speak English, it's horribly grammatically incorrect and sometimes incoherent. That's the result of years spent ignoring English-speaking culture. That annoys me SO MUCH.

Wow, long post. Sorry about that.

[radhikaeatsraman]

Well, I'm not asking new immigrants to have perfect English-speaking skills. That would be quite unrealistic and unfair. But like you said, making the effort should be appreciated. If someone did try to speak the best English they could to me, I would help them and really like it.