goddamnit. immigrants, please teach your parents some english!!!

[MrYogi]

nm

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Originally posted by: theNEOone
it's not that hard! my parents learned english in less than 2 years - it's not the hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So when are you going to learn English?

 

[iamme]

Originally posted by: bigalt
no

 

[enis083]

My parents are immigrants that work 10-12 hour days for 6 and sometimes 7 days a week for minimum wage. They busted their butts raising and then putting my sister and me through college. When do you think that they have the time to learn English? I know my mom tried to learn English but raising a family and putting food on the table was more important for her.

 

[phatj]

Originally posted by: Toasthead
I agree...if you are going to live in a country ( ANY COUNTRY) learn to speak the language of that country!

 

[TwinkleToes77]

Originally posted by: theNEOone

Originally posted by: BooGiMaN
have u considerede the possibility they just dont liek you so they refuse to talk to u?

it would be funny if on their last day here you find out they speak perfect english...

maybe that guy has told them ...things about you...or they think ur gay or soemthing

um, no. i'm friends w/ the kid and he's seen my g/f about 10 million times.

and it's pretty obvious that the mother doesn't speak english. common, it's not that hard to tell!

Yesterday i was in the mall and this guy stopped dead in an aisle and so i politely said "excuse me" so that he would let me by. He didnt hear me, so I said "Excuse me, I'm sorry". STILL no response. Finally I was like "Move please" and he turned around and looked at me dumbfounded. It was quite obvious he didnt speak english, but how hard is it to acknowledge someone when you hear foreign words coming in your direction? It was really rude.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: enis083
My parents are immigrants that work 10-12 hour days for 6 and sometimes 7 days a week for minimum wage. They busted their butts raising and then putting my sister and me through college. When do you think that they have the time to learn English? I know my mom tried to learn English but raising a family and putting food on the table was more important for her.

Sucks for them! Maybe they should not have immigrated if they couldn't take the "time" to learn the language of their new land.

 

[weirdichi]

Originally posted by: theNEOone
<rant>

it seems that a student's (living in my house) parents are taking an extended trip after visiting for senior week. i think they are chinese, but they might be taiwanese, i can't really tell. anyway, i just spent about a minute talking to this kid's mother while i was in the kitchen before i realized that she didn't understand me. and previously, i had greeted her in the hall a few times, but never got any response. now, i didn't want to strike up a long converstation or anything, but a fvcking "hello" would've been nice. even an "i don't speak english." anything to acknowledge the fact that she knew i was talking to her. how hard is that, people? teach your parents at least the simple phrases.


which reminds me, my g/f's mother has been her for almost 10 years, but because she lives in miami (and everyone speaks spanish) she simply decided not to learn how to speak. wtf? it's not that hard! my parents learned english in less than 2 years - it's not the hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

</rant>[/q

English just happens to be one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn, and learning a language get increasingly harder when you're past that prime language learning age (4-6 years old). Like enis083 says, some people have other priorities than learning English. Sure it would help them with their daily lives, but if they can survive their everyday life without proper "standard English" then why should they learn it if it's not one of the priorities?

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Millennium

Originally posted by: enis083
My parents are immigrants that work 10-12 hour days for 6 and sometimes 7 days a week for minimum wage. They busted their butts raising and then putting my sister and me through college. When do you think that they have the time to learn English? I know my mom tried to learn English but raising a family and putting food on the table was more important for her.

Sucks for them! Maybe they should not have immigrated if they couldn't take the "time" to learn the language of their new land.

Man, you're an idiot.

 

[weirdichi]

Originally posted by: TwinkleToes77

Originally posted by: theNEOone

Originally posted by: BooGiMaN
have u considerede the possibility they just dont liek you so they refuse to talk to u?

it would be funny if on their last day here you find out they speak perfect english...

maybe that guy has told them ...things about you...or they think ur gay or soemthing

um, no. i'm friends w/ the kid and he's seen my g/f about 10 million times.

and it's pretty obvious that the mother doesn't speak english. common, it's not that hard to tell!

Yesterday i was in the mall and this guy stopped dead in an aisle and so i politely said "excuse me" so that he would let me by. He didnt hear me, so I said "Excuse me, I'm sorry". STILL no response. Finally I was like "Move please" and he turned around and looked at me dumbfounded. It was quite obvious he didnt speak english, but how hard is it to acknowledge someone when you hear foreign words coming in your direction? It was really rude.[/q

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You've got to realize that in other cultures, they don't necessarily say anything in public when passing someone. In Japan, the people just push and shove and goet to where they need to go without saying anything. It's not rude, it's just their culture.

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: theNEOone

Originally posted by: slycat
why don't U learn a few words of their language...smartass.

um yah, lemme learn some words of the few hundred or so languages in the world. and you know, since i was expecting people to come and stay in my house i was prepared and everything......yah.


what a jackoff.

the USA is not your house and there is no offical language of the country so why dont you piss off prick.

 

[isaacmacdonald]

Originally posted by: MachFive

Originally posted by: Toasthead
I agree...if you are going to live in a country ( ANY COUNTRY) learn to speak the language of that country!

The problem is, the United States doesn't HAVE an official language. Seriously. The Founding Fathers were debating between making French, German, Spanish, or English the "official" language, but never came to a consensus, and just skipped that part.

Look it up. It's a trivial pursuit question! lol

Exactly. It's actually pretty cool that we have no national language. People assume it's english because it happens to be prevelant, but you know what they say about assumptions...

 

[styrafoam]

It would make me kind of uncomfortable to have a guest in my house just give me a blank stare when I talked to them. Everyone seems to be missing the point: hello, yes, and no would be very useful and most people can say these words in at least 3 languages from nothing less than exposure to TV. He didn't ask them to take English 101, just some kind of a response.

 

[Looney]

If they didn't even say hello... they probably know enough english to understand you, they just didn't want to talk to you.

 

[Mallow]

less people who can talk to me the better.

 

[jaeger66]

This is America. In America, we speak English. If you have a problem with that, you should probably stay where you are. This country has no use for immigrants who think we owe them a damn thing. Assimilate, or you'll forever be a drain on society.

 

[Looney]

Most of you are completely ignorant... do you realize how hard it is to learn a language, especially for casual conversation? His parents probably knew enough english to survive, go through the supermarket, bank, etc... just not enough to hold a conversation with you.

Even if you go to school for the education, but if you don't have the opportunity to use them in normal conversation, yo'ure not going to be fluent. My parents were the same way... they've always went to nightclasses as far back as i can remember, but they never really could hold an entire conversation in english... UNTIL they opened their own store. Then customers came in, and talked to them, held long conversations about the day, etc... now they're quite fluent.

You really think if they had a choice, they wouldn't want to learn english? Do you realize how humiliating and difficult it is to do so much daily things without knowing english? Trust me, they would if they could... they probably know a lot more than you give them credit for... just because they can't hold a normal conversation, doesn't mean they're not trying.

 

[isaacmacdonald]

Originally posted by: jaeger66
This is America. In America, we speak English. If you have a problem with that, you should probably stay where you are. This country has no use for immigrants who think we owe them a damn thing. Assimilate, or you'll forever be a drain on society.

read the thread. In america we speak english, spanish, cantonese, mandarin, german, french, etc. There is no official language.

 

[tnitsuj]

Originally posted by: styrafoam
It would make me kind of uncomfortable to have a guest in my house just give me a blank stare when I talked to them. Everyone seems to be missing the point: hello, yes, and no would be very useful and most people can say these words in at least 3 languages from nothing less than exposure to TV. He didn't ask them to take English 101, just some kind of a response.

In some cultures a response isn't considered polite etc. Just staring at you and smiling and nodding may have been the way she was brought up, and the appropriate response in your culture. Many asians have a hard time looking people in the eyes particularly superiors. To westerners this appears shifty and rude, but is normal in other cultures.

You are making lot's of assumptions and not taking into account cultural differences.

 

[newbiepcuser]

which reminds me, my g/f's mother has been her for almost 10 years, but because she lives in miami (and everyone speaks spanish) she simply decided not to learn how to speak. wtf? it's not that hard! my parents learned english in less than 2 years - it's not the hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So how did you girlfriend react when you told her to teach her mom some english?

 

[Chaotic42]

HET!

Anyway, I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I think that it's not anyone's business what people do in their own homes. On the other hand, I think that everyone should speak the main language, even if it's not official. Everyone knows that English is the "unofficial" language of America.

I've heard stories on the news about people trying to pass laws to make English the official language of their state, then getting blasted to hell by every "minority-watch" group in the state.

So, I can't really decide what I think. I'm leaning more towards just saying that everyone should be able to speak English in America, even if it's not good English.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: Millennium

Originally posted by: enis083
My parents are immigrants that work 10-12 hour days for 6 and sometimes 7 days a week for minimum wage. They busted their butts raising and then putting my sister and me through college. When do you think that they have the time to learn English? I know my mom tried to learn English but raising a family and putting food on the table was more important for her.

Sucks for them! Maybe they should not have immigrated if they couldn't take the "time" to learn the language of their new land.

Man, you're an idiot.

Says the man who spent time in prison for molesting goats. I am so SORRY, but if they didn't have time to learn english then WHY did they have fvcking kids? If they had them before hand then why try to immigrate and put such a burden on yourself? Oh that is because America is the great welfare state of the world.

Let me make one thing clear: THEY DON'T HAVE TO LEARN ENGLISH. I really don't care either way. The only thing I CARE about is my TAX money being spent on those who are a burden to the economy. Read some of the threads on AT. It is rare that some of these people pay their taxes in full or at all(/me waits to here the Corporations dodge taxes argument. Don't even try it).

I am definitely NOT anti-immigrant considering my family immigrated here several hundred years ago. What I do have a problem with is spending resources on something that only benefits a select few. They KNOW we will pay for the translators and the like. You know who it hurts? Joe six pack who gets caught in a fire, but there are not enough Fireman to save him. See, they replaced a majority of them with people who did translation and the like. Two big fires break out and what is the company to do? A translator is more expensive than three fireman.

Don't think my words come out of any immigrant bashing at all. I totally respect what these people have done by giving up everything and moving here. This country is a great opportunity, but that opportunity will DIE if people keep abusing the system.

BTW, most immigrants are treated like crap when they can't speak the language. They are taken advantage of, threatened, and sometimes pushed to financial ruin. Sharecropping has made a comeback in California Strawberry fields among Mexican and Asian workers. Lots of times people are harassed and forced to pay protection money in schemes because they can't speak english or are illegal here. They are afraid to contact the police and get taken advantage of. It is really a sh!tty situation because it is to THEIR advantage to learn english.

BTW, you are a moron. I don't make comments on AT unless I know what the fvck I am talking about. I kindly ask you ignore my posts if you don't like reality. Now buzz off.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic
Most of you are completely ignorant... do you realize how hard it is to learn a language, especially for casual conversation? His parents probably knew enough english to survive, go through the supermarket, bank, etc... just not enough to hold a conversation with you.

Even if you go to school for the education, but if you don't have the opportunity to use them in normal conversation, yo'ure not going to be fluent. My parents were the same way... they've always went to nightclasses as far back as i can remember, but they never really could hold an entire conversation in english... UNTIL they opened their own store. Then customers came in, and talked to them, held long conversations about the day, etc... now they're quite fluent.

You really think if they had a choice, they wouldn't want to learn english? Do you realize how humiliating and difficult it is to do so much daily things without knowing english? Trust me, they would if they could... they probably know a lot more than you give them credit for... just because they can't hold a normal conversation, doesn't mean they're not trying.

No, most of us are AWARE of that, but we know that the only solution is to HELP people learn the language. What solution do you offer? BTW, what foreign languages do you speak?

 

[Looney]

Says the man who spent time in prison for molesting goats. I am so SORRY, but if they didn't have time to learn english then WHY did they have fvcking kids? If they had them before hand then why try to immigrate and put such a burden on yourself? Oh that is because America is the great welfare state of the world.

Let me make one thing clear: THEY DON'T HAVE TO LEARN ENGLISH. I really don't care either way. The only thing I CARE about is my TAX money being spent on those who are a burden to the economy. Read some of the threads on AT. It is rare that some of these people pay their taxes in full or at all(/me waits to here the Corporations dodge taxes argument. Don't even try it).

I am definitely NOT anti-immigrant considering my family immigrated here several hundred years ago. What I do have a problem with is spending resources on something that only benefits a select few. They KNOW we will pay for the translators and the like. You know who it hurts? Joe six pack who gets caught in a fire, but there are not enough Fireman to save him. See, they replaced a majority of them with people who did translation and the like. Two big fires break out and what is the company to do? A translator is more expensive than three fireman.

Don't think my words come out of any immigrant bashing at all. I totally respect what these people have done by giving up everything and moving here. This country is a great opportunity, but that opportunity will DIE if people keep abusing the system.

BTW, most immigrants are treated like crap when they can't speak the language. They are taken advantage of, threatened, and sometimes pushed to financial ruin. Sharecropping has made a comeback in California Strawberry fields among Mexican and Asian workers. Lots of times people are harassed and forced to pay protection money in schemes because they can't speak english or are illegal here. They are afraid to contact the police and get taken advantage of. It is really a sh!tty situation because it is to THEIR advantage to learn english.

BTW, you are a moron. I don't make comments on AT unless I know what the fvck I am talking about. I kindly ask you ignore my posts if you don't like reality. Now buzz off.

Well then if you don't care if they learn the language or not, then why are you making it a big deal? Why not focus on the groups that are a burden to the system, rather than generalizing an entire group?

No, most of us are AWARE of that, but we know that the only solution is to HELP people learn the language. What solution do you offer? BTW, what foreign languages do you speak?

Where did i claim i speak any foreign languages? And what have YOU done to HELP people learn the language?

 

[Looney]

LOL and i may have spent time in prison, but i would bet by any definition we go by, i've probably been more successful in life than you have been.