# Press 1 for English **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 22, 2013, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612 "2013-06-22T03:21:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/41 "2013-06-23T17:23:46Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > A lot of people are providing all kinds of information that still doesn’t answer the question. I could assume that rather than admit they don’t know the answer they prefer to dispense what they do know in order to make themselves feel better, or maybe they all just failed\* reading for comprehension\*? :dubious: **Heracles** and I did provide the information you requested for Canada: see posts 5 and 9. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/42 "2013-06-25T09:51:29Z")
In Belgium, it is usual for big- and medium-sized companies to offer the possibility to speak either in Dutch of French. While it’s not legally compulsory, it’s extremely common in practice, especially in and around Brussels. There’s no fixed order for the languages, though i.e. Dutch isn’t always “1” and French “2”. It depends on the company I guess. English and German are occasionally available, too. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/43 "2013-06-25T10:00:07Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I always chuckle inside at the attitude of people in this country acting as if they’re being unduly put upon by having to press a number to select their language, and wonder how they’d even cope in places like India or China or Israel or Malaysia where there are multiple common languages in use everyday. In Israel, it’s usually 1 for Hebrew, 2 for Arabic, 3 for Russian. Sometimes you also get English or Amharic. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/44 "2013-06-25T10:54:23Z")
This is somewhat off-topic, but what I want to hear is “Press 1 if you prefer to speak with a human being and avoid this silly automated tree.” And FWIW, I thought the OP was straightforward and benign. But then I don’t look for hidden agendas under normal circumstances… ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/45 "2013-06-25T11:09:09Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#): > > Alright, well, in the UK it is not normal to be offered a choice of language at the IVR stage, no, so we don’t need to “Press 1 for English” in most cases. I’m guessing this is because there isn’t one single, obvious second language like there is in the USA - should a business offer service in Polish? Hindi? Welsh? Chances are most companies feel it’s just not worth the expense. > > In Wales, government services are offered in Welsh, but usually that’s a different telephone number, not a “Press 1” type option. I’ve encountered a few phone numbers with language options in the UK (usually NHS numbers IIRC, since they’re the government service that requires the widest level of accessibility) but it’s neither common nor consistently applied. More often it’s the written material that is available in umpteen languages, not the phone menus. And for the record, I don’t feel aggrieved or oppressed by having to press 1 for English, or at least no more than I do about having to deal with the voice mail system in the first place. People who fret about this need to get a life. Maybe they should have a “press 5 to unbunch your panties” option or something. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/46 "2013-06-25T12:20:24Z")
In Australia, we sometimes (not always) get an press 1 for English option, with Options 2 or 3 being Chinese (Mandarin) and sometimes Vietnamese. My company offers international calling cards, so understandably we have press 1 for English and press another number for something approaching the technical measure of a ‘metric asston’ of other languages, most of them Asian and African (including south Asia). All official documents are available in a bazillion languages. In terms of origins and immigrants, here is very much like the US. As far as I am aware (I’ve only been here 10 years) there’s no official language. and Arabic. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/47 "2013-06-25T12:59:40Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > All I want to know is if some guy in Poland who calls his local cable company has to press 1 to continue in Polish? Does a woman in Peru have to press 1 to continue in Spanish when she calls their DMV? > [@cochrane](#): > > I don’t always hear, “For English, press 1,” and I’m in the U.S. Many times the recorded voice will only say, “For Spanish, please press 2,” in Spanish. If you don’t press 2, it continues on in English. The answer is that you don’t often hear “press 1 for English”. I think that in the 10 years since it has supposedly been popular I have heard the option maybe a handful of times. The vast majority of the time it is like “press 2 for spanish” with the default option being English if nothing is pressed. So maybe you just happen to often call one of those companies that is the exception, or are conflating the few times it has happened into something that happens on a regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/48 "2013-06-25T13:04:18Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > Do people in Spain have to press 1 for Spanish? Sometimes, yes, specially if calling a company or government located in one of the dual-language areas or one which deals with a lot of foreigners. As a political statement, some companies offer options in their local language and in foreign languages but not in Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/49 "2013-06-25T14:40:48Z")
FWIW, in the Netherlands I have found quite a few times the option to choose among languages when calling service numbers. The weirdest one is the one at the practice of my family doctor – when you call, you get a message that says “for English, please press 9”. I wonder, why “9”? O.o The only options are Dutch and English-- And the buttons to press are, respectively, “1” and “9”. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/50 "2013-06-25T15:36:11Z")
maybe to avoid fat-fingering? 1 and 2 are close together; 1 and 9 are as far apart as you can get. ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/51 "2013-06-25T16:35:18Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > We only have one official language. It’s redundant to have to choose the default language. Kind of like asking “if you know what company you dialed press one”. The United States has no official language. ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/52 "2013-06-25T16:38:27Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > We only have one official language. It’s redundant to have to choose the default language. Kind of like asking “if you know what company you dialed press one”. The United States has no official language. Actually, when the country was founded, German was very common in Pennsylvania, and in some neighborhoods of Brooklyn, Yiddish (a Jewish variant of German) is only spoken. ---
**Author:** ![AngelSoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angelsoft/32/440_2.png) [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/53 "2013-06-25T17:03:41Z")
This is something that really doesn’t bother me, but it pisses the rest of my family off. As does seeing official documents available in Spanish. It’s so weird to me to get pissed off by this. Would it be ideal for all immigrants to speak English, illegal or not? Yeah, but it’s not realistic. Like it or not, they’re here and many of them aren’t able to learn the language for one reason or another. I think a lot of the issue is, that for a very large number of Americans, Mexico isn’t our ‘neighbor’. It’s ‘that country’ where all the illegals come from. So any thing that even hints that we treat them as equals is not accepted. We’re not like European countries who more or less see the other countries as equals. It’s kinda sad really, but unfortunately I don’t see it changing any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/54 "2013-06-25T17:36:11Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Why do Americans who speak Spanish have to “press 2 for Spanish”. Just asking. I should probably know better, but I’m generally stupid, so… The crux of the issue is the first words in the quoted post. The OP asked “If others..”, **Procrustus** asks “why do…” - two very different questions. It’s the difference between reading a post and reading into a post. I tend to read the words and, as such, probably miss subtextual clues more often than not. Other board participants are on the opposite side of the scale and tend to read subtext where there is none. Que sera sera (press 1 for English translation). ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/55 "2013-06-25T17:48:14Z")
Maybe if this had been posted in GQ rather than IMHO, not so many posters would not have felt the need to wax on about how multilingual other nations are and how Latino Americans are people too. You know, answered the question instead. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/56 "2013-06-25T18:11:00Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Maybe if this had been posted in GQ rather than IMHO, not so many posters would not have felt the need to wax on about how multilingual other nations are and how Latino Americans are people too. You know, answered the question instead. As pointed out, however, the question makes no sense as merely a question. \*\*\* Of course \*\*\*the same thing happens wherever there are phones. It’s hard to take the question seriously as a factual inquiry and not a political commentary. It’s like asking “Do other countries other than the U.S. have just two major right wing political parties?” ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/57 "2013-06-25T18:14:20Z")
To what extent it happens in other countries with phones is certainly a valid question. I don’t think it’s like your clearly loaded example at all. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/58 "2013-06-25T18:16:55Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Maybe if this had been posted in GQ rather than IMHO, not so many posters would not have felt the need to wax on about how multilingual other nations are and how Latino Americans are people too. You know, answered the question instead. Answers have been offered for Canada, China, Cameroon, Thailand, Czech Republic, UK, Belgium, Israel, Australia, Spain and the Netherlands. But the answer was always pretty obvious, though - if there is sufficient demand for service in multiple languages, companies will consider providing such service. It’s not unique to the US. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/59 "2013-06-25T18:21:37Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I’ve encountered a few phone numbers with language options in the UK (usually NHS numbers IIRC, since they’re the government service that requires the widest level of accessibility) but it’s neither common nor consistently applied. More often it’s the written material that is available in umpteen languages, not the phone menus. Makes sense. I haven’t had to call any NHS service in a while apart from my local GP. I did work for the DWP for a while and we were required to provide service in as many languages as as possible, but we did it via a live interpreter. It wasn’t something selected on the IVR. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/60 "2013-06-25T18:23:13Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#): > > Answers have been offered for Canada, China, Cameroon, Thailand, Czech Republic, UK, Belgium, Israel, Australia, Spain and the Netherlands. > > But the answer was always pretty obvious, though - if there is sufficient demand for service in multiple languages, companies will consider providing such service. It’s not unique to the US. You missed France, where posters said it is not common. But now that we know it’s not unique to the US, we know that the OP was clearly trolling or making a political comment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612.md?page=4)