guess it would be a good idea to learn English eh?

[DanTMWTMP]

learn english? my ass you stupid phucks. the only way for mainstream public to competantly learn english is if they learn it when they're age 10 or lower. In Mexico, they have English signs. They have signs for all you single-lingual dumbass english speakers. I live in So Cal. A ton of us can speak from very little spanish to fluent in spanish as 2nd, 3rd languages. We don't mind our spanish speaking neighbors. Actually, a ton of them speak English rather well.

As a multinational country, it's EXPECTED to have signs for other languages. don't be so centric w/ "oh english is the best, US is the center" crap. English, afterall, is like the thug language of long past, whereas the "correct" language was latin, or whatever germanic language it came from.


Why the phok do we pronounce it "Jesus?" Why "Jehovah?" those are 100% incorrect pronounciations.


i see too much ignorant egotistical sh!t in this thread.

 

[DanTMWTMP]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Linflas

Originally posted by: mugs
Since English is our unofficial "official" language, we might as well make Christianity our unofficial "official" religion, since it's the most commonly practiced religion here. Convert or GTFO. :|

That has to be one of the dumbest "apples and oranges" comparisons I have seen posted here.:roll:

Really? Is it any more dumb than saying "We don't have an official language, but if you don't learn it GTFO! :|"

that's not the dumbest "apples and oranges" comparison. it's actually apples to apples.
if you don't see it, GTFO :|.

"In God (err) we trust"
"...one nation, under God (hmm), Indivisible (lol!!)"
"and God bless America"

Mugs is 100% right.

 

[DanTMWTMP]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
Why should they have to.. i mean, Mc D menus are in spanish, phone prompts, all the crap at Walmart has english and spanish etc... :roll:
This is a major pet peeve.

Why is it a pet peeve? It's not like in inconveniences you to have to see the menus in the dreaded Spanish language. English isn't even our official language.

It's funny, when Americans travel we expect everyone to be able to speak English. But then we get all bent out of shape because there are people here who don't know English.

lol ya wtf. let's dump mrs lola here into Spain or someplace. I wonder how Europeans do it then? Go to school, learn a 2nd language, or at least laern the customs and greetings to get by.

EDIT:edited out some innappropriate namecalling, which i deemed fit, but should not be said.

 

[Vortex22]

Originally posted by: RaistlinZ

Originally posted by: slsmnaz

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
Why should they have to.. i mean, Mc D menus are in spanish, phone prompts, all the crap at Walmart has english and spanish etc... :roll:
This is a major pet peeve.

Don't get me started on this, I live in Arizona...

HA! Try living in Southern California.

Try living in Florida. In Walmart when they talk on the storewide speakers, it is in Spanish only. They don't speak english over the intercom system. At all. This isn't even south FL.

I don't go to Walmart anymore though, it's a terrible place.

 

[UpgradeFailure]

Did anyone else find this funny?

"And, one by one, they stepped around sawhorses and walked past warning signs"

I do, because what if all the warnings were more than just a train closing? These people were morons even if they couldn't read english. If you saw huge signs (and we all know warning signs don't look like "Free candy!" signs) and around the blockade, they could have been walking into a dangerous area. They need to learn not only english, but common sense.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
Why should they have to.. i mean, Mc D menus are in spanish, phone prompts, all the crap at Walmart has english and spanish etc... :roll:
This is a major pet peeve.

Why is it a pet peeve? It's not like in inconveniences you to have to see the menus in the dreaded Spanish language. English isn't even our official language.

It's funny, when Americans travel we expect everyone to be able to speak English. But then we get all bent out of shape because there are people here who don't know English.

lol ya wtf. let's dump mrs lola here into Spain or someplace. I wonder how Europeans do it then? Go to school, learn a 2nd language, or at least laern the customs and greetings to get by.

EDIT:edited out some innappropriate namecalling, which i deemed fit, but should not be said.

A: No one "dumps" these people here, they come of their own free will both legally and illegally.
B: Every other large wave of immigrants to this country learned the language. The original immigrants may not have spoken it well but they did speak it.
C: If I moved to another country I would be a fool if I expected to be able to live and fit into the society unless I learned the language.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: cr0ssfire
Uh...since when do we expect everyone to be able to speak English when we travel? If I'm going to Italy, I don't expect people to speak English. And if I moved to Italy, I'd learn to speak Italian and adapt to Italy rather than force Italy to adapt to me.

yap which is the point.

If/when i travel to a foreign country i will learn as much as i can. I do not expect them to go out of there way to converse with me.

 

[rh71]

agreed - wtf is up with walking around sawhorses and warning signs ? It could've been bad.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
Why should they have to.. i mean, Mc D menus are in spanish, phone prompts, all the crap at Walmart has english and spanish etc... :roll:
This is a major pet peeve.

Why is it a pet peeve? It's not like in inconveniences you to have to see the menus in the dreaded Spanish language. English isn't even our official language.

It's funny, when Americans travel we expect everyone to be able to speak English. But then we get all bent out of shape because there are people here who don't know English.

lol ya wtf. let's dump mrs lola here into Spain or someplace. I wonder how Europeans do it then? Go to school, learn a 2nd language, or at least laern the customs and greetings to get by.

EDIT:edited out some innappropriate namecalling, which i deemed fit, but should not be said.

there is a diffrence. Nobody is dumping the here. they are comeing over (mostly illegaly). Learning the language has always been one of the things a immigrant had to do. this helped them fit in and be succefull.

If someone is trying to learn english then i have more sympathy. But to many would rather have us learn spanish.

 

[DanTMWTMP]

Originally posted by: Linflas

Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
Why should they have to.. i mean, Mc D menus are in spanish, phone prompts, all the crap at Walmart has english and spanish etc... :roll:
This is a major pet peeve.

Why is it a pet peeve? It's not like in inconveniences you to have to see the menus in the dreaded Spanish language. English isn't even our official language.

It's funny, when Americans travel we expect everyone to be able to speak English. But then we get all bent out of shape because there are people here who don't know English.

lol ya wtf. let's dump mrs lola here into Spain or someplace. I wonder how Europeans do it then? Go to school, learn a 2nd language, or at least laern the customs and greetings to get by.

EDIT:edited out some innappropriate namecalling, which i deemed fit, but should not be said.

A: No one "dumps" these people here, they come of their own free will both legally and illegally.
B: Every other large wave of immigrants to this country learned the language. The original immigrants may not have spoken it well but they did speak it.
C: If I moved to another country I would be a fool if I expected to be able to live and fit into the society unless I learned the language.

ya those are good points, and I have to agree w/ you linflas.

Me, coming from a place where we're very tolerant of people like these (i mean, these people already have a community, and learning english in that kind of community is very very difficult), i found it pretty upsetting that us Americans are so closed off like that.

So i suppose I was mouthing off one extreme w/ another extreme.


it's already apparent that attempting to have people to learn english is difficult, and costs money. Sucks, but oh well, we just have to learn to be tolerant, and live with immigrants (my parents are immigrants, my parents can't speak english all that well. It's very difficult especially since the english grammar structure is reverse of a lot of languages). At least their kids will be bilingual...

Well, it's just very hard for adults to learn a new language. language acquisition only happens when we're very young. to learn a new language w/ a different grammar strcuture is very difficult.

 

[Lola]

Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
Why should they have to.. i mean, Mc D menus are in spanish, phone prompts, all the crap at Walmart has english and spanish etc... :roll:
This is a major pet peeve.

Why is it a pet peeve? It's not like in inconveniences you to have to see the menus in the dreaded Spanish language. English isn't even our official language.

It's funny, when Americans travel we expect everyone to be able to speak English. But then we get all bent out of shape because there are people here who don't know English.

lol ya wtf. let's dump mrs lola here into Spain or someplace. I wonder how Europeans do it then? Go to school, learn a 2nd language, or at least laern the customs and greetings to get by.

EDIT:edited out some innappropriate namecalling, which i deemed fit, but should not be said.

DUMP ME IN SPAIN! thats fine. I would expect that I would have to learn the language to where i was living. i would not expect the country to cater to me with things written in english.

 

[GregGreen]

Originally posted by: Linflas
B: Every other large wave of immigrants to this country learned the language. The original immigrants may not have spoken it well but they did speak it.

Yeah, but how long did it take them to learn English? And how many of the first generation immigrants actually spoke it well (minus those from English speaking nations). In my area, there are a lot of Italians -- many of them still speak Italian when speaking with their families. One of my friends grandparents still to this day, know a total of approximately ten English words. It is impossible to speak with them in the English language.

All the Mexican and Puerto Rican immigrants I know do speak the language. Granted, they are mostly second and third generation immigrants, but it is definatly unfair to look at newly immigrated peoples and expect them to know English just because they have been in this country for a week...

 

[FelixDeCat]

Heres a good resource.


"U.S.ENGLISH believes that the passage of English as the official language will help to expand opportunities for immigrants to learn and speak English, the single greatest empowering tool that immigrants must have to succeed. "

This would have prevented the train confusion as mentioned in the OP. :thumbsup:

 

[puffff]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
Why should they have to.. i mean, Mc D menus are in spanish, phone prompts, all the crap at Walmart has english and spanish etc... :roll:
This is a major pet peeve.

Why is it a pet peeve? It's not like in inconveniences you to have to see the menus in the dreaded Spanish language. English isn't even our official language.

It's funny, when Americans travel we expect everyone to be able to speak English. But then we get all bent out of shape because there are people here who don't know English.

i think the biggest difference is that these people are trying to live here. if they were tourists and just visiting, i'm all for accomodating them with some signs around the sears tower in spanish. similarly, when an american goes overseas to travel, its not unreasonable to expect people in the tourism industry to speak some english.

 

[PHiuR]

this thread saddens me.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: slsmnaz
If you can't understand the word "CLOSED" then there are no excuses. At least look like you're making an effort to fit in.

No freakin sh*t. I don't expect them to master the language, I mean afterall, one of this country's greatest traits is how diverse it is... but the primary language is ENGLISH.

At least learn a word or two FFS.

 

[AnyMal]

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: slsmnaz
If you can't understand the word "CLOSED" then there are no excuses. At least look like you're making an effort to fit in.

No freakin sh*t. I don't expect them to master the language, I mean afterall, one of this country's greatest traits is how diverse it is... but the primary language is ENGLISH.

At least learn a word or two FFS.

I bet they wouldn't have any problem deciphering :Free Money Here" sign

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: AnyMal
Ever since our immigration policy has been adjusted to allow people to gain citizenship without learning English, it went downhill.

Of ALL the immigrant groups in this country, hispanics have the LEAST excuse for not speaking English.

But they use it for the most gain. You don't see Asians, Africans or certain Europeans complaining about signs, forms and such not being in their native language. But, if it's not in Spanish, watch out because here comes LULAC and all of the other whiners.

 

[AnyMal]

Originally posted by: CPA

Originally posted by: AnyMal
Ever since our immigration policy has been adjusted to allow people to gain citizenship without learning English, it went downhill.

Of ALL the immigrant groups in this country, hispanics have the LEAST excuse for not speaking English.

But they use it for the most gain. You don't see Asians, Africans or certain Europeans complaining about signs, forms and such not being in their native language. But, if it's not in Spanish, watch out because here comes LULAC and all of the other whiners.

True. As a first generation immigrant myself I couldn't fathom coming over here and not learning English. It would never occur to me to demand that 90% bend over backwards to accomodate minority population. If anything, learn it out of respect to the country that gave you shelter and an opportunity at decent life.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: Linflas

Originally posted by: mugs
Since English is our unofficial "official" language, we might as well make Christianity our unofficial "official" religion, since it's the most commonly practiced religion here. Convert or GTFO. :|

That has to be one of the dumbest "apples and oranges" comparisons I have seen posted here.:roll:

Seconded.

Mugs, that was downright retarded.

 

[hollowman]

IMO, being able to accept large variety of cultures and languages is what makes America a great nation. Sure, it is important for immigrants to learn English but there is no need for laughing at em for not being fluent in English.

BTW, I really hate it when people use comments like

fit in or GTFU
learn it or GTFU
convert or GTFU etc.

 

[Ronstang]

Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP

ya those are good points, and I have to agree w/ you linflas.

Me, coming from a place where we're very tolerant of people like these (i mean, these people already have a community, and learning english in that kind of community is very very difficult), i found it pretty upsetting that us Americans are so closed off like that.

So i suppose I was mouthing off one extreme w/ another extreme.


it's already apparent that attempting to have people to learn english is difficult, and costs money. Sucks, but oh well, we just have to learn to be tolerant, and live with immigrants (my parents are immigrants, my parents can't speak english all that well. It's very difficult especially since the english grammar structure is reverse of a lot of languages). At least their kids will be bilingual...

Well, it's just very hard for adults to learn a new language. language acquisition only happens when we're very young. to learn a new language w/ a different grammar strcuture is very difficult.

Cry me a river. My grandfather left Germany in the mid 1920s due to the depression and political unrest. He went to Venezuela to work in the oil fields to earn the money needed to return to Germany, marry my grandmother, and then move to the USA. He learned Spanish to be able to function in South America. He also learned some English while working in South America so he would have a head start when he moved to the USA. Once he had the money he went to Germany, got married, and then came here to the USA. My grandmother did not know any English when she moved here but she quickly learned it with the aid of my grandfather and the help of friends in the German American community.

Both of my grandparents learned English as adults and as a second language at a time when speaking English was not something taught in most European and other coutnries. For my grandfather English was a THIRD language....a second language he had learned as an ADULT to PROPERLY function in the world he CHOSE to live in. Don't hand me this crap that it is too hard for Hispanics to learn English as an adult, or any other nationality for that matter, it is THEIR CHOICE NOT TO and as a result they should not be catered to for their lack of motivation or initiative to fit into a country that many have entered ILLEGALY.

Edit:

BTW, my grandparents spoke German to each other when alone or in the company of other German speaking friends until the day they died. They always spoke English whenever someone who didn't speak German was in their company, even if it was one person in a crowd of 50. They thought it was rude to speak German in front of someone who did not while they were in the USA. If they felt the need to speak German they left the room or waited until they were alone. They were AMERICANS first, Germans second. They didn't try to change America to suit THEIR NEEDS....they contributed to keep America what it had always been. They came here thinking they OWED the US something not that it owed them. They supported WWII and the ousting of Hitler. They wanted to be everything American and worked their whole lives to be such while raising two sons who are completely American with German heritage.

The ideals that were held by immigrants of past are what made this country great and it is the lack of such ideals in many immigrants today that are hurting our country. You cannot compare the immigrants of decades gone by to those of today....they are simply not analogous in many ways.

 

[dawnbug]

Since they appear to have a large spanish speaking population in the area, they should have printed the information in spanish as well. It just makes sense.

 

[sswingle]

What kind of jobs do they have if they dont know what closed means.

 

[dawnbug]

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers
What kind of jobs do they have if they dont know what closed means.

Maybe they work in their Spanish speaking community, where it's important to know their native language.