Should People Speak English

[adjusterjack]

Don't like not being able to understand what's being said?

Take Spanish lessons. Learn to speak it.

That's a crock. This is an English speaking country. Anybody who wants to live in it should learn English. My grandparents learned English when they came to this country.

They never picked up a phone and heard "Press 2 for ________."

[cbg]

Tell that to the EEOC, why don't you?

I must have missed the law being passed that made English the national language.

[adjusterjack]

Tell that to the EEOC, why don't you?

I must have missed the law being passed that made English the national language.

We sure missed the boat on that one.

[free9man]

Tell that to the EEOC, why don't you?

I must have missed the law being passed that made English the national language.

I believe that he was joking. It just kinda fell flat cause that one little emoji doesn't quite convey sarcasm.

[jk]

That's a crock. This is an English speaking country. Anybody who wants to live in it should learn English. My grandparents learned English when they came to this country.

They never picked up a phone and heard "Press 2 for ________."

Please show me the law that makes English our official national language.

i believe if they want to fit in and be able to communicate with the largest percentage of our society they should learn English but if they choose to not do so, it’s not unlawful.

[Taxing Matters]

That's a crock. This is an English speaking country. Anybody who wants to live in it should learn English. My grandparents learned English when they came to this country.

They never picked up a phone and heard "Press 2 for ________."

The claim that this is an English (only) speaking country is a crock. That has never been true. The Native Americans were here centuries before anyone else and they didn’t speak English before the English arrived. The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle New York. The French were the first Europeans to settle Louisiana. The Spanish were the first Europeans to settle the American southwest, including your state of Arizona. Even after the English came here and started to settle, we had immigrants from nations all over the world. Even a century and half ago you could go into many large American cities and find areas in which the dominant language spoken was NOT English and business was done in languages other than English. This country has never enacted an English only law and IMO should never do so. I look at places like Quebec and France which do have laws mandating language use (though that language is not English) and shake my head. Indeed, some nations have used language laws as a form of repression as part of an effort to stamp out disfavored cultures. The government has no justified reason to prohibit other languages from being spoken. Indeed, in my view that would violate the First Amendment. Language is always evolving; it changes to meet the needs of those speaking it. And people either adapt to change or miss out.

[budwad]

So how many languages does a police officer have to use when saying, "stop or I will shoot?"

[free9man]

See what you've started here AJ?

[Taxing Matters]

So how many languages does a police officer have to use when saying, "stop or I will shoot?"

That will depend on the circumstances. Likely just one, but if the officer has reason to know the person is likely a Spanish speaker it might be a good idea to use Spanish to ensure that the command is understood.

[cbg]

Since my birth country has two national languages and manages to get along just fine, it's always been a puzzle to me why so many people get bent out of shape by the concept that someone else might want to speak in a language that isn't theirs.