Are you irritated by people who speak foreign languages here in New Jersey? If America is the great "melting pot", and very few of our families actually began in this country, why would anyone be frustrated by individuals speaking languages other than English?
7 comments:
YES, it is wonderful that America is the great melting pot and etc. but it does not mean that America cannot have a determined language. i welcome all languages and cultures, but what bothers me is the attitude some people have about america. i work as a cashier, people cannot walk up to me and expect me to know language a,b,c,d. if anyone walks up to me speaking in another language, i should not be expected to reply in said lanugage. people have actually yelled at me for not being able to speak their language of choice. so YES, this can be very frustrating!!! i feel the majority of people speak english, most documents are in english, america's considered origin is english, so YES, english should be considered the language of the United States. even other countries are able to speak english. english is spoken world wide, and WHY NOT make english the primary language here? we as a nation can still welcome everyone, but i should not be yelled at for not being able to speak someone else's language. even when i travel in other countries, i DO NOT expect every cashier i come across to speak english. i at least try to use the country's national language. i respect everyone's language of choice, i just wish it were the same for the most commonly used language in america... ENGLISH.
I totally agree. I mean, it is nice that we are a melting pot and are influenced by so many different cultures, which in effect make up our own culture. But it totally annoys me that--and I don't mean to generalize here--a lot of Hispanic people who move here aren't even motivated to learn English. And it annoys me even more that we cater to their needs. It would be easier and would motivate them more if we actually forced them to learn English. My mom works in an elementary school with a huge Hispanic population and they send home letters in both English and Spanish. This just seems ridiculous to me. I mean, I can understand how they might need to do that so that the parents understand what the letters are about, but at the same time, it allows them to keep speaking Spanish. It gives them no incentive to learn the language of the country they're living in! It also angers me that when MY ancestors came to this country, they learned English. At that time you couldn't function in America without knowing the language! Now, it seems like we have the attitude that we need to learn Spanish in order to communicate with the part of our population who can't be bothered to learn our official language. I mean, how many times do the teachers ever write, "Do not erase" on their boards, rather than "Non borras por favor?" And the thing is that's just an example. I'm sure there are other cultures which also do not learn English; I was just using that as an example because it is very prevalent in my life. We are a melting pot, but we can't communicate and interact as one if we don't all speak the same language! The thing is that sometimes it is like we are expected to speak their language! The language we speak here is English!! Learn it, love it, make it your own. I went to Italy and I speak Italian. Granted, sometimes I asked people if they spoke English because it would make it easier to explain what I needed, but if they didn't I could still communicate with them in the language of THEIR country. Why can't we do the same here?
I'm not irratated by the different languages spoken here. In fact, I think it is good that all those languages are spoken, since it adds to diversity, which is great. The only problem I have is that while use of different languages increase here in the US, English is losing its spot as the recognized language of commerce. On many products and packages, english, along with spanish and french, is found on the labels. It is probably wrong to say this, but I don't want that. Doing so encourages other languages to be used for communication when dealing with money, which is bad since not only one language is used for business.
I am definitely not irritated by the many other languages spoken. I actually find them to be an important part of the American society. I myself have the same experience, because english was not first language. When I arrived in America, I use to speak Tagalog. But through the years, I quickly learned how to speak english correctly and incorrectly. I mean, I was fortunate to have learned english in the Philippines so language was not a major hurdle. My biggest issue is the lack of effort for learning proper english. One of my father's dreams when he was a boy in Jamaica was to speak better english. Even though it might not seem like a big deal, but for ambitious children it is. English still has a major impact in the US and in the world. We can't force english on other people, but we can show them pride for our language. Maybe one day, they will also learn to appreciate english.
I get irritated when I cannot understand someone that has English as a second language, but only if they are making a presentation of some sort. There is the example of the priests in our church. Three of them have thick Polish accents that make them difficult to listen to, especially if they are delivering the homily. I only find this irritating because I want to be able to understand what they say.
I think people get frustrated by non English speakers for a variety of reasons. They may feel left out if a group of people are speaking a foreign language around them; for all the person knows, they could be talking about him. Others do not want to have anything to do with their former country, and want to be “americanized”, and therefore do not want to hear others speaking the native tongue. Some may have grudges against a certain ethnicity.
I find it funny how so many other nations teach their children english at a young age, yet in the USA a lot of people can hardly speak a second language unless they grew up around it.
Yea, it is somewhat irritating when people speak other languages than English, especiallly in public. I understand that people speak other languages and that doesn't bother me. However, it's extremely obnoxious to do that in a public place. For example, some kids in our school speak another language in the hallway. Not only does it make me uncomfortable, but I also feel paranoid about they could be talking about. I understand that America is suppose to be a diverse nation, which is a good thing. However, I feel that we focus on being diverse too much. Maybe it's just me.
I'll admit it's irritating, although I can't really relate because English is my first (and pretty much only) language. However, my best friend is Korean and she tells me about these girls that go to her church who speak Korean in the halls to talk about other people and nobody will ever know. I find people like that obnoxious. However, that's not the case with some people. Having taken Spanish for seven years, I know how hard it is to learn a new language: I still speak broken Spanish. So I could imagine how hard it must be for some people to learn English. I'm actually pretty impressed at how quickly some foreigners learn English (then again, you kind of have to if you want a job) even if it's broken English. Still, there's nothing like speaking your native language: sometimes you can't express yourself in another language the way you can speaking your first. So even though I find it irritating at times, I can understand why people do it.
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