Press One For English

[del]

Danny I was speaking of little Italy about 100 yrs before that, and the one in new york. I wish parents would teach their kids their language of heritage (English too) as the kids will be better off knowing two or more languages. Knowing a second language opens up so many doors for a person. People who know only one language (this group includes me) are missing out on a lot of life.

del

[del]

I have three things to point out.
1. The point of my first post is the largest immigration to this country ended about a hundred years ago, and the majority did not learn more than a few words of English. None of us are old enough to remember it.
2. A person who does not speak English still has money. They spend it on businesses that have goods they need just like us. If a business caters to both English speaking and non English speaking they get everybody's money (money in their cash drawer). I live in a community that has more Hispanics than Gringo's (Euro-Americans), and if you as a business do not cater to both groups your clienttel are half the possible population. As a Capitalist country should we not make are customer base as big as possible?
3. put yourself in the shoes of a person about to immigrate. Some pressure has to be pretty great (push or pull) to get a person to leave everything he knows to go off to a strange place. When he gets here, he must survive, perish, or go home. Instincts draw him to other people like him, not likely English speakers, and he does his best to survive. If a kid in school is hungry his learning is compromised. And if our immigrant is just getting by (hungry), he has no time to learn English, just like the kid thats wondering where his next meal is coming from. I am not saying it would not benefit him to learn English, just if no one helps him with education (informal or formal) his chances are not good that he will learn English. You did not learn English without someone teaching you, neither will he.

del

A side note when a bunch of people get together speaking English, our immigrant thinks we are talking about him.

[caseydog]

My great grandparents spoke very little English. All their kids learned English, and translated for the parents, if needed. My grandfather was bi-lingual, but never taught my dad Italian, and as time went on, my grandfather forgot most of the italian he knew.

What really amazes me, though, is how easily some people get bent out of shape. Press one for English may be annoying, but I have a hard time seeing it as the first step to the downfall of a nation. We already took that "first step" in the twenties, with Jazz music and the jitterbug. We took it again in the fifties with rock-n-roll. Then it was the hippies in the sixties who were ushering in the demise of the USA. Today, it's gay marriage and immigration.

To me, pressing one for English is a lot less of an issue than the fact that I have to listen to a machine and press buttons at all, just to get assitance. In an effort to boost profits, businesses are replacing humans with menu-driven automated phone systems. THAT is more disturbing to me, than "press one for English".

[Bobgorilla]

Another sign of the times
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2007/aug/05/ ... -05sgfcol/

[angib]

Sorry to resurrect this when it had finally laid down to die, but on reading some of the instructions for my city's electoral (voter) registration, I just thought of you guys who get riled by English/Spanish.

To register by phone in another language, please call FREEPHONE 0800 107 8027 and when prompted press (1) for Arabic, (2) for Bengali, (3) for Cantonese, (4) for Farsi, (5) for Hindi, (6) for Kurdish, (7) for Punjabi, (8 ) for Serbo-Croat or (9) for Urdu.

Andrew

[martha24]

Sorry to resurrect this when it had finally laid down to die, but on reading some of the instructions for my city's electoral (voter) registration, I just thought of you guys who get riled by English/Spanish.

To register by phone in another language, please call FREEPHONE 0800 107 8027 and when prompted press (1) for Arabic, (2) for Bengali, (3) for Cantonese, (4) for Farsi, (5) for Hindi, (6) for Kurdish, (7) for Punjabi, (8 ) for Serbo-Croat or (9) for Urdu.

Andrew

So Andrew if someone doesn't speak English or one of the 9 languages listed, I guess they'll just have to figure out what to do on their own.
Martha

[Classic Finn]

Then they call Andrew...
How many of them languages do you speak?
Classic Finn

[Roly Nelson]

Oh my gosh, I've been reading this post for over an hour, and agree and disagree with much that has been said. This subject touches a raw nerve with me. I am the product of immigrant parents, who came over from Sweden in the 1920s. They were told that you could scoop up money in the street gutters, here in America. Not true, but surely easier to make a living here than in the old country.

The first thing my folks did when they arrived, was to learn English as soon as they could. The only English he knew was, "what time is it? and kiss my a$$" and he said he often got them mixed up. They asked questions of English speakers, trying to find the right word for this or for that. Next, they were absolutely going to become citizens as soon as they could, and they both did. My Dad always told me, "he was an American now, and if the US goes to war against Sweden, he would be fighting in the Army against his own people, and that's that"!

Then, a few years later, I came along. Naturally my folks spoke Swedish to each other at home, since their Swedish vocabulary was greater than their English. Consequently, I was spoken to in Swedish, but usually answered them in English. I understood Swedish, spoke it if required, and I am amazed that to this day, that I don't sound like Laurence Welk. (a-one, ana-two, ana-tree).

Therefore, here's the rub. It pi$$es me off when I have people around me, jabbering away in a foriegn tounge, intentionally excluding me from what's being said.. My folks never did that, if English speakers were within earshot, they spoke English. When I would bring a girl home during my courting days, I could hear ol' Dad switch from Swede to English in mid-sentence. He also instucted my visiting aunts and uncles in the house, to "speak English now, Roly's girl friend is here!" To the uninformed, this is what we call good manners!!!. Why is that so hard to understand? I agree that the non-understander is often the brunt of jokes, not behind his back, but to his face. RUDE!

I live in So Calif, where Spanish is spoken frequently. I have refused to learn the language, even though when I was running large commercial construction projects, many workers only spoke Spanish. If a subcontractor had a foreman who spoke no English, I had to phone his boss to send me someone I could talk to, right away! Jobsite safety was of utmost importance. Now don't get me wrong, I admire their willingness to flee their homeland, leaving friends and family behind, often risking their lives, to try to live the American Dream. If I were in their shoes, I would be crossing the border right along with them, in a heartbeat.

However, refusing to learn to speak English, is unacceptable, lacadaisical, aggravating and darned right lazy.If they continue to rudely carry on conversations in Spanish between themselves, of course I feel they are talking about this old, baldheaded, hard-nosed Construction Superintendent, that doesn't understand a word they are saying. Again, RUDE!!! There are English classes all over, that they can take in the evenings, all they have to do is apply themselves, just like my folks and relatives did. If nothing else, it would improve their earning power.

When I was in the construction trade, skilled craftsmen were making 30 to 40 bucks an hour. Most workers were American born, proud to learn all they could about all aspects of their trades by taking a 4 year apprenticeship and proudly finally earning journeyman's wages. Before I left the skilled-trade world, I had many Mexican friends and still do. I often found a carpenter who could really stick frame and slam nails into roof sheathing, that I took a liking to and asked him to set some door jambs or build some concrete forms. Not a chance, all he could do was drive nails, nothing else, carpenter-wise. No wonder he was only worth 8 or 10 bucks an hour.

What a shame, that the construction trades have become so restrictive and failed to continue the learning process. Is the availability of illegal, criminal, foreign workers responsible for this trend.? And make no mistake, most often, they are very dedicated, hard workers. Some people feel that if you break the law entering our country, you become a criminal at that very instant, and it remains that way, no matter how they rationalize it.

My folks had to wait their turn on a long list, to enter this country legally, couldn't get by immigration at Ellis Island if they had any health problems, and they said many Europeans were sent back on the same boat they came over on. What about the waiting applicants on this same list today, is it fair that others are able to buck-the-chow-line, just because they have friends that are willing to protect them, once they arrive in this country? Even churches are hiding them, what next? Enough of this rant, I will now step down from my soap box, and no, I don't mind pressing one for English.

Roly, first generation Swede, venting long, pent up frustrations of not getting free medical care and knowing that my taxes are paying for free care being given to others who haven't earned it, (along with a host of other things).

[Ira]

It pi$$es me off when I have people around me, jabbering away in a foriegn tounge, intentionally excluding me from what's being said..Why is that so hard to understand?

Roly, let's face facts here:

People get offended if two Mexican roofers are talking to each other at the convenience store. It has nothing to do with the non-speakers around them--how paranoid for anyone to think that they're being made FUN of.

[FireDancer]

Roly,
I have to agree with you 100%. Being a prior Marine and having traveled to many distant lands. I have found that the good old USA is indead the greatest place in the world to live. So I have no bones to pick with the many people that come here to better themselves. But by the same token continue to follow the laws and regulations that make this country so great. Because if we continue to allow people to come to the US of A and tear apart our social and legal systems, just because they don't want to follow the laws of the land. They will distroy everthing that they were searching for in the first place.
Speek english if you want to be part of this great country, be part of it by following what has make it that way. Don't change America to suit your needs. If your country and all that implies were so great then why did you come here?
I also have had the pleasure of being a volunteer firefighter for 34 years and counting. So when I go to a house fire and I can not understand that some one has a loved one trapped. Speek english. Or you can't tell me that you have special medical needs at a auto accident.
I could go on and on.....
That's my take on the subject. And as Forrest Gump would say"That all I have to say on that supject" .....for now.

[Ira]

We ARE going a little off-topic, right?

This is about speaking Spanish and not English, and I don't think it's fair to make the jump then to illegal immigration and breaking the law.

They are SEPARATE issues.

[apratt]

Roly, right on I have been trying to get my son in law to learn english.

[caseydog]

Sorry to resurrect this when it had finally laid down to die, but on reading some of the instructions for my city's electoral (voter) registration, I just thought of you guys who get riled by English/Spanish.

To register by phone in another language, please call FREEPHONE 0800 107 8027 and when prompted press (1) for Arabic, (2) for Bengali, (3) for Cantonese, (4) for Farsi, (5) for Hindi, (6) for Kurdish, (7) for Punjabi, (8 ) for Serbo-Croat or (9) for Urdu.

Andrew

Seems silly to have all those languages. Why not just vote in English, which is, after all, the language of America, and we are, after all, the center of the universe.

[Bobgorilla]

Sorry to resurrect this when it had finally laid down to die, but on reading some of the instructions for my city's electoral (voter) registration, I just thought of you guys who get riled by English/Spanish.

To register by phone in another language, please call FREEPHONE 0800 107 8027 and when prompted press (1) for Arabic, (2) for Bengali, (3) for Cantonese, (4) for Farsi, (5) for Hindi, (6) for Kurdish, (7) for Punjabi, (8 ) for Serbo-Croat or (9) for Urdu.

Andrew

Seems silly to have all those languages. Why not just vote in English, which is, after all, the language of America, and we are, after all, the center of the universe.

CD, I think you missed that Andrew wrote this, He is English or at least British (Sorry Andrew I don't remember if you have ever said English or not) and they used to be the center of the universe before us, so just imagine what we have to look forward too when China becomes the center of the universe again.

[angib]

so just imagine what we have to look forward too when China becomes the center of the universe again.

Hey, hasn't the centre of the universe already got to somewhere around Hawaii and it's still doing 50mph westward?

And just to add a layer of complexity, I'm sure you'll have realised that (1), (6) and (7) are primarily refugees' languages, rather than immigrants' languages - so it wouldn't be that surprising that they haven't learnt enough English to be able to register to vote.

Andrew