No Habla Español.........

[Theodor Madison]

A estos dias la hente no queren aprender engless. Ni queren intended engless.

First time writing , or trying to write in Spanish.
To this day I am proud to be an American Spanglish speaking Hispanic, who knows English very well.

[themanishere]

It seems too many people have a mentality of "English and nothing else" when said situations arise. Knowing more than one language is extremely useful today, and to say other languages/cultures do not have a significant impact in our society is misguided.

Of course English is necessary to be a functional individual in mainstream society - the idea is there are benefits to be reaped and connections to be made from knowing other languages.

Being Mexican (born here) I'm biliterate in English and Spanish. I learned French in high school/college and dabble in Italian since it is very similar to Spanish. You'd be surprised how often knowing a different language/culture is an awesome skill to have in the workplace, especially considering the trends in globalization.

[MadMan1978]

I understand that it may be considered important to many (including myself) but you should at least be able to speak the language that you presently call home........

Dude have you read any of the the posts in this thread?
there is no language of the place we all call home!

[Theodor Madison]

As a hispanic, spanish/ english speaking american. I get offended when someone from Texas, NY etc ask me if I speak english? in spanish. Not knowing that my English may be much better than their own. Why do not people grow up. And then there are these Spanish speaking people who do not think you understand, talking with every bad word you can think of. So much class.

[duwal]

BOTH TIMES - I was very proud to be an English speaking AMERICAN.

really? you're proud of the fact that you only know English as a language. A proud American that is very limited in interacting with others from different countries or cultures I am a proud American that can speak English, French, Russian and Spanish.


also as you said "look at how the country is today", quite honestly with how bad the school systems are many proud English speaking Americans are not even speaking English properly

[Star_Cards]

I don't have an issue with anyone that lives here and doesn't know the language. It's mainly just leaving themselves at a disadvantage. I don't understand why one wouldn't learn it when so many of the people around speak english, but they have the right to know or not know whatever they want.

[gridironherosandgreats]

dude have you read any of the the posts in this thread?
There is no language of the place we all call home!

from wikipedia:

english is the most common language in the united states. Though the u.s. Federal government has no official language, english is considered the de facto language of the united states because of its widespread use. English has been given official status by 28 of the 50 state governments.

[gridironherosandgreats]

really? you're proud of the fact that you only know English as a language.

I never stated that I can only speak English..... I actually know some Spanish, and (even though I was told it is a dead language) some Latin.

[gridironherosandgreats]

I don't have an issue with anyone that lives here and doesn't know the language. It's mainly just leaving themselves at a disadvantage. I don't understand why one wouldn't learn it when so many of the people around speak english, but they have the right to know or not know whatever they want.

I can actually agree with much of what you have stated (the bold portion). I guess I'm a little 'old school'. If a country opens it's arms to me, I'm going to (at the VERY LEAST) try to reciprocate by learning the language of the country I presently call home.

Case in point: Should I (for some unknown reason) move to Ireland, Canada, Sumatra, China, India, etc....... TOMORROW - simply out of respect for those there (not to mention myself in regards to the language), I would attempt to learn their customs and LANGUAGE.

I feel that is the 'proper' thing to do. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd guess that most of my FELLOW AMERICANS (the legal one's anyway) would feel the same.

[hector234]

As a hispanic, spanish/ english speaking american. I get offended when someone from Texas, NY etc ask me if I speak english? in spanish. Not knowing that my English may be much better than their own. Why do not people grow up. And then there are these Spanish speaking people who do not think you understand, talking with every bad word you can think of. So much class.

What part of Texas have you gone? I live in Texas, and there is a large hispanic community. When I went to Georgia though, people would ask me that. Funny story, one time I went to get my hair cut at the mall, i sat down on the chair. The lady that was going to cut my hair TRIED to ask me how I wanted my hair cut in spanish. I just responded in english, and she said "oh, sorry, didnt think you spoke english".