I will probably catch some flack for this one. And let me preface this by saying I am not against immigration from any countries. With that being said, I have noticed a great trend of people not wanting, or having the need to learn English here in DFW. I had an instance at work today, where a couple asked for someone who could speak spanish. I gladly assisted them. I even tried my hand at spanish a little, when I was reading the total of their purchase.
I don't understand why we make it so easy for everyone to not learn the national language here. Are we afraid of offending people by making them learn the national language? I mean if you go anywhere else besides here, you would be expected to learn the language if you are staying there for any amount of time. Unless its an english language program abroad of course. I have to tell you that I am torn. I want to be able to understand people, and therefore I want to learn spanish, because that is the biggest secondary language that exists here. On the other hand though, I really feel stupid having to learn another language in my own country. (I am going to pick on hispanics here a little) Every other immigrant from every other country doesn't have the luxury of things being written in their language under the english signs. So why should we cater to one language or another? I feel like that is unfair to everyone.
I will probably be getting Rosetta Stone Spanish soon. So that I can get paid more for being b-lingual. But I am not happy about it.
It's true there are signs written in English in most other countries, but from my experience, most people in other countries already speak english and are happy to speak english to help you. That's the difference. Most Americans only speak on language, so since they can't help people orally (is this a word??), we have to have signs to help.
ReplyDeleteJust think of it this way, learning another language will increase your pay and brain! Can I borrow your Rosetta stone after you use it? :)