Thread: We are MULTILINGUAL, but ENGLISH is OUR language!

I speak Spanish and Portuguese. My Brazilian friend speaks Portuguese, Spanish, French, and German, and has a BACHELOR'S in them from the UNIVERSITY of Tennessee in Memphis. Her Brazilian Catholic priest speaks Portuguese, Spanish and French My mother speaks Ukranian. My friend who owns and operates my Brazilian friends' and my favorite pizza place in downtown Dallas, TX, speaks Italian, and his wife speaks Yugoslav. My Chinese friend, an elementary school teacher, and her husband speak Chinese. My Indian friend speaks Hindi, and her husband speaks Urdu and Arabic. But we ALL speak ENGLISH. We ALL believe English is THE language of America. And we ALL believe it should STAY like that!

I'm multi-lingual and don't speak Spanish.

Dixie

I know some people who attend the international university close to where I live. When I go there I see everyone speaking English.....People from all over Western Europe, Japan, and South Korea.....ALL speaking English. Why? Because that is the only language that they all have in common.

That is the way immigrant assimilation worked 100 years ago. That is the way it is supposed to work.

I am so sick and tired of hearing Americans are stupid as we only speak one language. What those people don't understand is that many of us speak languages besides English. We were taught by our family members that it was rude not to speak English in public. Here in South Florida all you hear is Spanish in public. When we hear them speaking Spanish I start in one of mine foreign languages with my daughter. You wouldn't believe the dirty looks we get. The same happens to French Canadians. One day my daughter and I had 2 women yelling in Spanish behind us while we were sitting and drinking coffee so we began speaking in our langauge. When the women were leaving one looked and us and told us we were rude. I looked and her and replied: "Why? I was only doing what you were doing ...... speaking my first language." She walked away angry. People need to realize that if they are going to speak a foreign language in public then they shouldn't discriminate against others who do the same.

Swatchik, you are 100% correct, but people that were not taught manners are ignorant of that fact. Oops! "family values" rears its head again!

English is taught in many foreign countries. It's also the most desirable language to take, because everyone wants to come to America.

When I lived in Canada I worked with people that came from various South American countries. My co workers told me that in many of those countries they had mandatory English classes in school. I don't know if that has changed since.

I'm mono-lingual and I refuse to learn another language just to survive in my own country. If I move to another country, I WILL learn its language, you can bet on that!

Originally Posted by swatchick

When I lived in Canada I worked with people that came from various South American countries. My co workers told me that in many of those countries they had mandatory English classes in school. I don't know if that has changed since.

I've heard that in the Phillipines English is MANDATORY for all high school students. Certain subjects are only taught in English.

I agree with you on that one. The latest comment I hear is people say that they can't learn that language as they can't yell that loud. I speak 3 languages fluently besides English and those I translate for various law enforcement agencies. Translating wiretaps pays very well.

One time on the bus, my Brazilian friend and I were conversing in Portuguese. The Hispanic people sitting across the aisle from us suddenly stopped talking with one another in Spanish and focused on US! My Brazilian friend noticed them first and I saw her eyes move cautiously in their direction. We turned to see who was staring at us. And, my, they were giving us the DIRTIEST looks! The Hispanics demanded to know what my friend and I were talking about in Portuguese. Coolly and calmly, my friend asked them in Spanish WHY on earth they were suddenly SO interested in what WE were saying to each other. The Hispanics replied in Spanish that they COULDN'T understand WHAT we were saying. My friend calmly observed, again in Spanish, "THAT'S how Americans who DON'T know SPANISH feel when YOU blabber away in Spanish in FRONT of them!" My, were the Hispanics REALLY riled this time! Again, they insisted on finding out what our topic of discussion was. Then my friend revved up her Spanish and delivered the KICKER: "If what YOU say to one another in Spanish is NONE of OUR business, what WE say to each other in Portuguese is NONE of YOURS!" That SHUT them UP ONCE and for ALL! And, because my friend and I WANTED to KEEP our little talk PRIVATE, we continued--in Portuguese, of course!