Completely agree. I lived in Germany and spoke German everywhere I went if I could. If I couldn't or didn't know what or how to say something I would appologize in German. (Something everyone should learn). I expect they do the same thing here.

I'm wondering if ASL is considered appropriate for 'out doing business'.

ASL is appropriate.

yea i got turned down for a job because i didn't speak Spanish. but i went to the store and the lady checking me out didn't know any English.. WTH i live in USA. and if my husband and i ever get stationed someone else i would learn their language.

OMG!!! I can't agree more with this. I work in the restaurant business in Az and there are so many times where I can't wait on a table bc they only speak spanish. What if we didn't have any spanish speaking employees there at that moment? I don't even care if its good english, just some.

The US doesn't have an official language. Yes, English is the most dominant, but it isn't an OFFICIAL language. Therefore, people can speak whatever they wanna speak when they are "doing business".

People can speak whatever they want, but the majority of people won't be able to understand. I'm not asking anyone to speak perfect English, but enough to conduct a simple business transaction at the DMV, supermarket, etc. would be nice. It inconveniences everyone else who has to wait for the employee to find a translator. Essentially, tourist English.

"Therefore, people can speak whatever they wanna speak when they are "doing business"."

Therefore I can stare at them with a blank look on my face and well since they don't speak english I could tell them to get the fuck out of our country until they learn to speak the language. Bet they get the hang of english REAL quick.

The ACLU sucks!

I totally agree!

Agreed. I'm in Germany, and I have learned enough to get by in common situations. I also keep a phrasebook and English-German dictionary in my purse for when I don't know something I'm trying to say or understand.

When I worked in the States, and someone would come in prattling on in Spanish, I'd just stare at them until they stopped. Then I'd say "I don't know what you just said. Do you speak English?" If they didn't speak English, I didn't help them. At least know how to say "Marlboros please." Don't just point and yell at me in Spanish.

I had one person get mad at ME because I didn't speak Spanish! I said "Excuse me, but in America, we speak English. If I was in Mexico then you'd have every right to expect me to understand your language. But here, I don't have to know shit from Spanish."

America does not equal the United States of America. (North)America is Canada (where they speak French), and Mexico where they speak (gasp!) Spanish. So if you are to bitch, at least the proper terms.

Anon at 8:17am, I don't care if there are hispanics in the USA. Honestly, your race doesn't interest me in the least. But whether we have an "official" language or not, everything is in English for a reason. Obviously you know English, so I don't care. But the ignorant immigrants (read:illegal aliens) who refuse to learn the language of the country they were so desperate to be a part of need to either learn English or go back to where they came from.

When my ancestors came to the United States, they spoke Danish-Not English. I've lived abroad in several countries, and I really didn't have the time to learn Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Hebrew, Uighur, and Thai, so I was always so grateful for people who were patient with me and tried to understand what I needed based on other ways of communicating.
Because of my experiences, I will always be patient with other people who are here in the United States (for whatever reason) who haven't mastered the English language yet.
I have a master's degree in linguistics and I teach English to international students at a university. Many of them have been studying English for years, but still have a hard time communicating in public. I know that a lot of them are intimidated by people who think that they should speak English or get out of our country. That's not a very friendly environment for them to try.

I have to agree that speaking English is a very important language to learn if you are going to live in America. I don't understand why we need to teach our children Spanish just so they can get a job. If we can all speak whatever language we want then why is that the Asian, Russian, Dutch, etc.. speak English as well as they can but the hispanic community is unable to do this.

"Anon at 8:17am, I don't care if there are hispanics in the USA. Honestly, your race doesn't interest me in the least. But whether we have an "official" language or not, everything is in English for a reason. Obviously you know English, so I don't care. But the ignorant immigrants (read:illegal aliens) who refuse to learn the language of the country they were so desperate to be a part of need to either learn English or go back to where they came from."

You obvioulsy care that there hispanics in the U.S. since they are annoying the hell out of you. Since you are so much smarter and informed that me, please enlight me and asnwers few questions:

1- You said that there is a reason why everything is in English, even though there is not an official language in the US. What is the reason?
2- What makes you think that illegal alines are ignorant? Are you aware (I'm sure you are) that a large number of aliens illegal or legal are college educated? A lto of them left their countries for economic or political reasons, not because they are ignorant. But I am sure you have a better answer.
3- If every imigrant that has come to this country woul dhve to go back because of cultural differences (language being one of them), none of us would be here.

So, unless you have a better explanation or your a full blooded native american ( the only original habitants of the now US), I suggest that you better inform yourself or refrain from giving ignorant statements. It is better to be thought of as an ignorant than opening your mouth and remove all doubt.

OK, People you can bitch all you want about this topic. The reality is that this country's demographics have changed, for good. And it will continue to change. why do you need to teach your child another language so he can get a job? Why educate him at all? So he can have an advantage over non educated people. Why can hispanics come where and land a job? Is not because they speak Spanish. it is becasue they have a communcation skill that others don't have. Simple economics. so, get withe times or go flip burgers somewhere.

I like the snarky comment about ASL, which stands for AMERICAN sign language and is translated into ENGLISH. So duh.

Wow, I didn't know so many military wives were so racist. How sad.

When I came to America 5 years ago, the only English words I knew were: Hello, thank you and good bye. Now I speak fluent English, Spanish in addition my native tongue Arabic, (I'm African). Its not that damn difficult to learn how to say simple things in English, everybody can learn. Some people are just too lazy to learn and they expect everybody to cater to their language barrier. If I was able to learn to read and write two languages fluently in 5 years, then so can they.

Since you are an "American" I assume, then you should know there there is no official language in the United States. I can only speak one language, that one being English but I do not complain when I have to deal with someone who can't speak English well. Way back when, my family came over on the boat and I am sure they didn't speak English at the time.

I find it hard to believe that all of you agreeing with the OP are full blooded Native American so you should all shut up. I'm sure your families probably had the same struggle of learning English years ago.

Fuck the spics.

"Fuck the spics. "

C'mon everybody, stand up and clap in recognition to the most intelligent, educated, eloquent, informative and better expressed post of the thread!!!! (rolls eyes)

Yes, I am being sarcastic!!

You ever notice how Americans all want everyone to speak English, but if they happen to visit another country, most of them can't be bothered to learn even a little of the native language? Hypocrisy rules!

"You ever notice how Americans all want everyone to speak English, but if they happen to visit another country, most of them can't be bothered to learn even a little of the native language? Hypocrisy rules!"

Visiting a different country and living in a different country are two TOTALY different things. Apples and oranges.

"I'm sure your families probably had the same struggle of learning English years ago."

But they LEARNED English and didn't have everything in their native tongue.

WTF? The anglos come and ravage the natives and eventually declare their language, as well as everything else, is superior. Hell, we should all be speaking the Native's languages. Besides that, we like to carry ourselves like we are all high and mighty, ranting and raving about freedom, liberty and TOLERANCE but bitching about what language people speak IS NOT TOLERANCE!!! Look up the word TOLERANCE, here is a link, follow it, educate yourselves

http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/tolerance

This entire country consists of immigrants!!! The Native Americans are the only ones who are not immigrants or descendants of immigrants!

"This entire country consists of immigrants!!!" Yes...immigrants who speak ENGLISH. That's the point.

Previous comment makes no sense!!

This whole topic is sad. Diversity is beautiful. Hatred is not.

it is not hatred... stop making this into something else.
i just think if you are in america you SHOULD speak ENGLISH. nothing is going to change my mind.

Maybe an education would!!

We're all not immigrants. The Natives are native and the African Americans came here via the slave trade.

yeah my navy doctor barley spoke english! and all the nurses in the clinic sit around and talk philipino to each other! damn it

You know, if everybody spoke English when doing business, I'd never get to order a burrito or a piece of lasagna or a gyro or wontons or kolaches or...

This kind of stuff makes me glad I was enlisted, and hung out with you ladies' husbands at work instead of with you in your houses.

I'm sorry. I work at the DMV & it's hard for me to truly help people if they don't speak English. We have some employees that do speak English, but we constantly have to tear them away from doing their work to come translate. I come across a lot of immigrants that know more English than you think, they're just too lazy to speak it. Plus, the ones I've come across have been extremely racist towards me (being a black female) because they think my opinion is not valid because I don't speak Spanish fluently & I'm not the same ethnicity as them. I respect people's cultures & heritage. But if you're going to live here successfully, you need to learn the language. Point blank. If I moved to Mexico, I'd have to learn Spanish. If I moved to Japan, I have to learn Japanese. So if you come to the USA, you need to learn English because that is our dominant language. So many things get lost in translation which is why it's important to know both. Especially so that you don't get taken advantage of.

I think its the most ignorant thing to think that you have any place to tell anyone what language to speak. This is america so anyone has the freedome to speak whatever language they chooose to. We always as people who speak a second language to help us when we need an interpreter but then tell them that they cannot speak there own language whenever they want to. Most countries speak at least two languages. Maybe you should be more concerned about your own business than who is speaking english or not. And maybe you should take the time to learn their language instead of being ignorant and expecting everyone to conform to you. btw I am African American and i higly dissagree with the ignorant mentaligy that we as americans have on this subject. Remember, thats what the told us also when the unloaded us from the slave ships. They said "Speak english nigger" followed by a flogging for speaking our african language. Why then would anyone want perpetuate such an ignorant european mentality?

I think its the most ignorant thing to think that you have any place to tell anyone what language to speak. This is america so anyone has the freedome to speak whatever language they chooose to. We always as people who speak a second language to help us when we need an interpreter but then tell them that they cannot speak there own language whenever they want to. Most countries speak at least two languages. Maybe you should be more concerned about your own business than who is speaking english or not. And maybe you should take the time to learn their language instead of being ignorant and expecting everyone to conform to you. btw I am African American and i higly dissagree with the ignorant mentaligy that we as americans have on this subject. Remember, thats what the told us also when the unloaded us from the slave ships. They said "Speak english nigger" followed by a flogging for speaking our african language. Why then would anyone want perpetuate such an ignorant european mentality?

I think its the most ignorant thing to think that you have any place to tell anyone what language to speak. This is america so anyone has the freedom to speak whatever language they choose to. We always as people who speak a second language to help us when we need an interpreter but then tell them that they cannot speak there own language whenever they want to. Most countries speak at least two languages. Maybe you should be more concerned about your own business than who is speaking english or not. And maybe you should take the time to learn their language instead of being ignorant and expecting everyone to conform to you. btw I am African American and i higly disagree with the ignorant mentality that we as americans have on this subject. Remember, thats what the told us also when the unloaded us from the slave ships. They said "Speak english nigger" followed by a flogging for speaking our african language. Why then would anyone want perpetuate such an ignorant european mentality?