First of all, most foreigners (especially from Asia) come to the US with at least the same knowledge of English as Americans do. They just have funny accents. But my real is point is:
Fuck you! I don’t have to learn your goddamn language if I don’t want to. If all of a sudden 150 million Spanish-speaking people came to settle in the US, would you go out and learn Spanish? I don’t think so. And if your backwards-ass company can’t speak to me in my language, it can’t have my business. Other smarter companies will hire people that will speak my language and get my business. And eventually your piece-of-shit company will go out of business (and your phone-answering ass will be out of a job).
And you think that I’m too stupid and lazy to learn the language? How do you explain the fact your family has been in this country for hundreds of years and you’re still answering phones while my family came here 25 years ago, and we own several businesses and make shitloads of money, and our kids rock yours in academia? Answer that one Einstein!
Also, I’ll worship whereever and whoever the hell I want to! And I don’t want you to recognize my theology. Your stupid backwards-thinking brain doesn’t have the capacity to understand it.
And I would have put my kids in public schools, except that I don’t want them to learn the retarded shit that you’re excreting. Its the fucking morons like you that I want to keep them away from.
Now go sign up for those Spanish classes, shithead!!!
I am in full support of everything you said, plus…If you have ever traveled throughout the world, especially Europe, you will notice that they have no trouble speaking english for us monolinguists. There are exceptions, you know. . .the Euro-counterpart to our whitetrash asshole friend Superdude, everybody runs into in Paris Cafe’s. They are however the minority, apparently however, not in this forum.
You’re right, Superdude, you wouldn’t. You’d get better treatment and be extended more courtesy.
Because unlike most Americans who cannot speak any language but English, there are many foreigners in businesses overseas who have learned English as a second language to accomodate all the Americans who refuse to learn their language.
There are, of course, exceptions. You know, the ones who learn three or four languages.
Go to Israel sometime. You’ll be hard pressed to find many people who can’t speak Hebrew and Arabic, out of necessity, and English, because tourists can’t be bothered to learn a few phrases like “where’s the bathroom?”
Jackknifed Juggernaut - you are a fucking bleeding heart moron. I fart in your general direction. We have been invaded. And not just by Spanish speaking people. So, fuckwad, I should accomodate all these foreigners and learn Spanish? Should I also enroll in Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean? These people came to MY country. I did not invite them. I don’t mind that they are here, but if they plan to make anything of themselves in my county, they need to learn the language of the land. Whenever I visit a non-English speaking country, I make damn sure I know enough of the language to keep out of trouble. I assume that no one will speak my language. But in American, my homeland, I DO expect my fellow citizens to speak a language that is common to the good ol’ USA. I don’t care how many languages you speak, more power to you, but if you choose to come to my country, learn the fucking language! Do you really expect to be treated the same way should you immigrate to say, Mexico. Do you think for one minute that the government would scramble to find interpreters for you, to insure that your non-Spanish speaking children recieved an education and were able to assimilate? Do you honestly believe any foreign government would bend over and kiss your felching ass like the American government has to her immigrants, legal AND illegal? NO, No, NO, and NO. Do you really expect to move to China, and then not bother to learn the language, or the laws and expect to make a decent wage? Yes, America is about freedom. People of all nationalities are free to do pretty much as they please, but that does not mean you can come here and shit all over the American people by refusing, yes, I said refusing!, to assimilate into society by at least learning the fucking language. I’m going to stop now or I will blow up my computer, but, in closing, let me say…Fuck you assmonkey!
This is comparing apples to oranges. Superdude is talking about people who move to a country with the intent of participating in the culture, getting a job, settling down, etc. You’re talking about traveling. It’s simply impossible to expect someone vacationing in a country to thoroughly learn the language before they come. Given that many people like to do things like tour Europe, even if they make an effort to learn the basics of a couple languages, they’re going to be travelling to places where they’re limited to what they can figure out from a phrase book. Or do you think that I should learn French, German, Polish, Italian, Greek, and Spanish before I set out on my six month tour?
I’m with Superdude - I, for one, would never dream of moving somewhere and not making an effort to learn the language. I similarly don’t think much of people who move to the US and make no effort to learn English. Yes, the US does not have an official language. But is anyone here seriously going to tell me that they think that someone living in the US who doesn’t speak English is severly limited? Yeah, there’s plenty of jobs out there for Spanish speaking people - they can be maids, fast food workers, janitors, etc. etc. But (at least in my area) you can’t even aspire to such lofty goals as working at Wal*Mart if you don’t speak at least a little English.
‘Round here, there’s a big bilingual program in our schools. Seems that you can go to school up through 5th grade speaking only Spanish, and after that float along just fine until you drop out, mid-teens. Here in Colorado, we’re doing our best to assure that we have a force of low-level workers to do the jobs we English-speakin’ white folks don’t want to do. Now is that really the best for the country?
Oddly enough, one of my email addresses is superduderocks. Just thought I’d share. And thanks for sticking up for me. I knew once I hit “post” that I was gonna get flamed a time or two.
And thanks to Athena, the beautiful Goddess of Wisdom, too.
The waiting list in my city for English classes is something like eighteen months…in the meantime, I’m sure Sesame Street helps.
Reminds me of the US military personnel who go to overseas bases for two years or more and don’t bother to learn a word of the local language other than to place beer orders or bargain with prostitutes.
The waiting list in my city for English classes is something like eighteen months…in the meantime, I’m sure Sesame Street helps.
Reminds me of the US military personnel who go to overseas bases for two years or more and don’t bother to learn a word of the local language other than to place beer orders or bargain with prostitutes.
Since when did John Rocker begin posting here? And not only that, he’s using China and Mexico as examples of how this country should be run!!
First off, I find it hard to believe that your inbecilic ass learns a new language every time he visits a new country. In fact, I’d be quite surprised to even see your toothless, sister-fuckin’, piece of shit white trash grill outside of your own trailer park, let alone in a foreign country!!!
You’re making a sweeping generalization in pointing out the very few individuals in any culture who refuse to assimilate. And my point is that when you do encounter one of these rare individuals, maybe you should be the one who tries to learn their culture. Maybe you can gain some insight into their past and learn a thing or two. I’m quite certain that if you treated them with the respect that they deserve, they’d be more willing to respect you and your culture. And even still, THEY DON’T HAVE TO IF THEY DON’T WANT TO! But judging by what I’ve read in this thread, many people seem to be unwilling to budge on the wat they do things, and then expect the new guy to change for them.
And finally, its not just YOUR country, you fucking cocksucker!! Its OUR country. And if I came here legally, its just as much MY country as it is yours. And chances are, I work alot harder than you to make this country better. So show some fucking respect you cum-drinking cock-jockey!!!
You mean like the Native American Peyote religions are recognized? That they can get illegal hallucinogenic drugs because of their religion?
And another thing based on your other post about “too lazy or stupid to learn English.” How many languages do you speak? Are you too lazy or stupid to be fluent in, say, Turkish? Or are you a dumbass, Jesse-Helms-felching-jingoist?
Pull the fucking 4x4 outta your own eye first, asshole.
Yes. For gods’ sake, at least of the help/fuck off/call the police/what room am I in/where’s the bathroom/hello/goodbye/thank you/do you want to sleep with me variety.
Doesn’t matter. Considering that language-learning skills deteriorate rapidly after the age of 10 or so, calling an adult immigrant, tourist, visitor, whatever, “lazy or stupid” for not learning a second-or-more language, when one has shown no effort toward doing so oneself is ignorant. It is, in the case of the OP, jingoistic, and again, ignorant.
May I paraphrase the OP as it read: “Y’all bettah leahn the language, 'cause we don’t like no furriners heah. Y’all oughtta be happy y’all made it to God’s chosen nation and y’all bettah talk like us’ns or else.”
Jingoism, nationalism, emperialism, racism, ignorance…call it what you like, but I think we’re dedicated to fighting all of those on this board.
Superdude: You are aware of how tough it is for most adults to acquire new languages, right? I mean, it’s not like a weekend course. I’m guessing that 99% of those foreigners you’re ranting about are genuinely trying to learn as much English as they can. But it takes a long fucking time, sometimes the rest of your life. I’ve got an aunt, came over from Spain before I was born. She made a genuine effort to learn the langauge: took classes, made friends with people who didn’t speak Spanish, practised all the time. Despite all that, it’s still hard for people who don’t know her to understand her. After 30+ years, her language skills are not going to improve (tragically, she’s actually losing her English now; she’s getting a bit elderly.) She’s not stupid, or lazy, she’s doing the best she can. Back the fuck off.
Honestly, is life made all that unbearable by people who don’t speak English? Is this a major hardship for you? Is this costing you money somehow? Or is this just another excuse to hate people who aren’t exactly like you?
Perhaps the bank has a Spanish clientele whose custom it appreciates, Eve.
Perhaps they even speak English but, like most second-language speakers, still find it easier to work in their first language. (I speak fluent French, but when something is business-critical I appreciate it if I can do it in English.)
If it indeed annoys you thus much that a business should have the audacity to offer services to other clients in a language you do not happen to speak but they do, I suggest you communicate your displeasure by switching banks to one that is proud to offer service in one language only.
And, to BOTH sides of the debate - in all cases, for EVERYONE, speaking only one language is nothing to be proud of.
Eve, this is because your bank’s ATM was programmed by idiots. Around here, Fleet finally got the bright idea that maybe they could allow their customer to specify their desired language and that would be recorded on the card. About a two minute programming change, and they printed up brochures trumpeting their triumph like they’d discovered a new element.
As for the OP … learning a new language is very difficult for many people. Reading is hard. Speaking is much more difficult. I can read French pretty well, but I would have trouble coherently ordering lunch. And I’m on the upper end of the educational spectrum. For someone who’s just immigrated to a new country, isolated, no one to talk to but other immigrants or Parisian wannabees like Superbigot, well, cut them some slack, OK?
