# 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:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**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, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/61 "2013-06-25T18:26:25Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > 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. I did miss France, my apologies. But the point is that the answer was obvious with a moment’s thought. Why on Earth would it be unique to the USA? ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/62 "2013-06-25T18:54:46Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > 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. People, quit hijacking and accusing the OP of trolling. She clearly explained that wasn’t her intent, and absent any trollish follow-up, I’m inclined to believe her. If YOU don’t, feel free to open a Pit thread. But stop harping about it here. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/63 "2013-06-25T19:26:32Z")
My wife worked for a Chinese company with a subsidiary in Canada. Their voicemail system asked you to press 1 for English and (something something something Mandarin Chinese). No option for French, unless the Chinese portion of the message was saying “press 2 for French”. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/64 "2013-06-25T19:53:20Z")
> [@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”. Did you ever consider that pressing 1 for English lets you get right down to business without having the listen to the rest of the choices? ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/65 "2013-06-25T21:27:07Z")
Yeah, I believe the OP may have been asking an honest question, but I work at the end of one of those phone trees, and, in my experience, the folks who complain about pressing 1 are pretty ready to share some opinions about the kind of folks that press 2. eta: Not to say I’m ascribing that to the OP; I just definitely understand why the topic grates on folks. It’s become a pretty common, convenient way for somebody to broach the subject of why they dislike “foreigners.” ---
**Author:** ![Dunkelheit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dunkelheit/32/248_2.png) [@Dunkelheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunkelheit)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/66 "2013-06-29T09:54:28Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > One of the PROVINCES has an official language (French) whereas the rest of Canada generally speaks English. It makes sense that Canadians who travel between PROVINCES would have English and French options when using the phone. Since nobody else has addressed this, I thought I’d speak up as a Canadian. Canada as a whole, at the federal level, has two official languages: English and French, as instituted by the [Official Languages Act](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_Languages_Act_%28Canada%29). This means that both English and French **must** be present in certain contexts throughout the country, including such things as government documents, public announcements and product labels (which means the labels have less useful information overall since everything has to be repeated, but that’s a rant for another day). There are mainly francophone communities in provinces other than Quebec, but I believe Quebec is the only entire province where the French language comes first in things like airport announcements (from my experience making flight connections in Montreal). The USA has not successfully passed anything resembling an Official Languages Act at the federal level, though it has been attempted several times as part of immigration bills. It has several “common” languages, of which English is the most common and Spanish is the second most common. The concentration of people who speak Spanish as their main language differs by location. As such, it makes sense that in those places with higher numbers of Spanish-speaking people it would be presented as an option. It’s not commonly presented as an option absolutely everywhere in the States. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/67 "2013-06-29T13:59:54Z")
> [@Dunkelheit](#): > > The USA has not successfully passed anything resembling an Official Languages Act at the federal level, though it has been attempted several times as part of immigration bills. It has several “common” languages, of which English is the most common and Spanish is the second most common. The concentration of people who speak Spanish as their main language differs by location. As such, it makes sense that in those places with higher numbers of Spanish-speaking people it would be presented as an option. It’s not commonly presented as an option absolutely everywhere in the States. An Indian (from India) of my acquaintance once swore up and down that English had finally been passed as the official language of the US a few years ago. I was baffled but could not be sure that I hadn’t missed something in my years away from the homeland. Googling, I discovered the US Senate _had_ passed a larger bill containing this provision as a side note … but it was later dropped from the bill before the final version. (This has happened several times, I think.) Turns out he had read of the Senate passing it and thought that was all that was needed. Didn’t realize it was just one step in a very long process. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/68 "2013-06-29T14:29:18Z")
> [@Dunkelheit](#): > > Since nobody else has addressed this, I thought I’d speak up as a Canadian. Canada as a whole, at the federal level, has two official languages: English and French, as instituted by the [Official Languages Act](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_Languages_Act_%28Canada%29). > > This means that both English and French **must** be present in certain contexts throughout the country, including such things as government documents, public announcements and product labels (which means the labels have less useful information overall since everything has to be repeated, but that’s a rant for another day). There are mainly francophone communities in provinces other than Quebec, but I believe Quebec is the only entire province where the French language comes first in things like airport announcements (from my experience making flight connections in Montreal). > > The USA has not successfully passed anything resembling an Official Languages Act True, but as a side effect of NAFTA we get French on a lot of packages so they can sell the same item here in the US as well as Canada. And then Spanish gets added since the incremental cost is minimal. ---
**Author:** ![Myrnalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Myrnalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrnalene)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/69 "2013-06-29T16:02:51Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > 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. This has always been my experience too. I don’t remember ever having to press anything for English. The fact of the matter is that English _is_ the default language for business and other transactions here, so people complaining about the inclusion of a Spanish option aren’t actually inconvenienced in the smallest way. In some areas of the country, Spanish has been spoken longer than English. Get over it. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/70 "2013-06-29T16:14:51Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I got no such impression from **sahirrnee’s** post. Neither did I. I thought it was an interesting question. I wondered if other countries might deal with multiple languages differently- perhaps an operator directs the call, or they have more multilingual service reps due to the increased degree of multi-language fluency. ---
**Author:** ![Kiwi\_Fruit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiwi_fruit/32/12_2.png) [@Kiwi\_Fruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiwi_Fruit)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/71 "2013-06-30T09:10:54Z")
I haven’t come across any instances of having to select the language in New Zealand IVRs. And, for the side discussion, NZ has 3 official languages, English, Maori and NZ Sign Language. Some government web sites offer Maori or English pages, but the only other place I’ve seen that is on google.co.nz ---
**Author:** ![Dunkelheit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dunkelheit/32/248_2.png) [@Dunkelheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunkelheit)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/72 "2013-06-30T12:21:50Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > An Indian (from India) of my acquaintance once swore up and down that English had finally been passed as the official language of the US a few years ago. I was baffled but could not be sure that I hadn’t missed something in my years away from the homeland. Googling, I discovered the US Senate _had_ passed a larger bill containing this provision as a side note … but it was later dropped from the bill before the final version. (This has happened several times, I think.) Turns out he had read of the Senate passing it and thought that was all that was needed. Didn’t realize it was just one step in a very long process. Yes, I saw an article in a British newspaper to that effect too, but the bill hadn’t gone through at that point, and didn’t make it as written. Journalistic jumping the gun a bit, there. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/73 "2013-06-30T12:51:52Z")
How does any government provide services to minority communities without there being a choice? Why wouldn’t it be in any government/business’s best interest to provide services in other languages, if there in diversity in the population, ie, wherever immigration occurs. Whether you are offered English or some other choice as 1 or 2, is an accident of whoever set up the phone tree, I suspect. Lots of them likely thought English is the number one language, we’ll assign it number 1. Whereas a few realized, that actually meant most people would be clicking through, and switched it round so most people needn’t click through. I’m now imagining fire breathing Red states being outraged to find that, (no matter why), English should always be number 1 in America. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/74 "2013-06-30T14:20:37Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Why wouldn’t it be in any government/business’s best interest to provide services in other languages, if there in diversity in the population, ie, wherever immigration occurs. Because you very quickly get into hundreds of languages, and translation is expensive. Imagine if the US provided services to the speakers of its indigenous languages. It probably should, but the cost would be ruinous. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/75 "2013-06-30T14:29:12Z")
> [@runningdude](#): > > 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. And Louisiana was admitted as a state in 1812, when English was very definitely a minority language there - a language which the governor of Louisiana from 1816-1820 did not speak [Language Policy -- Louisiana](http://www.languagepolicy.net/archives/can-la.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Dunkelheit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dunkelheit/32/248_2.png) [@Dunkelheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunkelheit)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/76 "2013-07-01T07:49:09Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Because you very quickly get into hundreds of languages, and translation is expensive. Imagine if the US provided services to the speakers of its indigenous languages. It probably should, but the cost would be ruinous. Which explains why it’s usually limited to the two most commonly used languages. The third most common trails behind Spanish by a considerable amount. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/77 "2013-07-01T11:00:28Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > We only have one official language. [Nitpick] The US has never had an actual official language. The use of English is based on tradition, nothing more. Not that there is anything wrong with tradition. I should also point out that places in the south west that were part of Mexico before they were part of the US have been heavily or predominantly Spanish longer than they’ve been part of the US. [/Nitpick] Personally, its doesn’t bother me a bit. What does bother me are the voice-recognition menus with no other option because, for some reason, they don’t seem to like my voice. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/78 "2013-07-01T11:10:59Z")
> [@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. Around here for some reason I often hear “press 8 for Spanish” (in Spanish, of course). I have no idea why they would pick 8 for that. ---
**Author:** ![Dunkelheit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dunkelheit/32/248_2.png) [@Dunkelheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunkelheit)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612/79 "2013-07-02T07:13:16Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Around here for some reason I often hear “press 8 for Spanish” (in Spanish, of course). I have no idea why they would pick 8 for that. Because it’s just fun to say “8” in Spanish. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/press-1-for-english/661612.md?page=3)