are you kidding me? why can't we take that a step further? if they choose to move to a country with a large english speaking population, maybe they should learn all the english words.

i'll tell you right now, if these customers are paying my salary, they'd better give me a raise, cause i do not get paid enough to do my job and interpret.

90 years ago when my grandfather came to this country he spoke not a single word of english. he was sent back to napoli where he spent every moment he could learning english. when he returned again two years later he was fluent in english. the family never again spoke italian, not even in the privacy of his own home, amungst his own family.my family did not come to america to live here, my family came here to become americans.

personally i am in infuriated when somebody walked up to me with their habla espanole. i've gotten to the point where i won't speak to anyone who approaches me with that statement. my only response is "why would i speak spanish?"

alright, i'm getting a little worked up here. i'd best stop before i get really angry.

Its all very simple. Basically, if you move to a country, you learn that country'* native language or don't expect people to work around you. I can guarantee its not a whole lot different in many other countries in the world. If you live there, you speak the language. Shoot, I know people that will learn the language of a country if they are just going to VISIT there just to not inconvenience the natives there. I think moving to a country and not learning the native language is a very large display of disrespect. If you want to live in this country, you go ahead and speak whatever language you want, being multilingual is a very respected thing, but do be sure to make one of those languages ENGLISH.

I honestly don't know why some people find it necessary to bring a simple discussion such as this into being racist and such, that is such garbage. While alot of those who do that go around and talk to their friends and family about white people even worse and then believe it to be ok, because THEY'RE the minority and they're allowed to do that. Well bullshit on that.

I live in Waterbury, CT – predominantly Spanish/Puerto Rican – at least where I live. I even think there'* a part of Waterbury that is called "Little Puerto Rico." So far I haven't had any issues with communication, though I'm not out making friends in the neighborhood to come across any language barriers.

My neighbors next door to me are Spanish but they speak English just fine from the little I've spoken to them. The neighbors behind me speak it just fine too – I can always hear them yelling at each other and cursing in English.

Thankfully my job is not in Waterbury. And it is not one that exposes me to customers/clients who do not speak English. When I was looking for jobs in Arizona many graphic design positions required you to be bilingual (English/Spanish) because of the heavy Spanish population.

In college I worked in many food courts/dining halls with 90% of the employees being Indian. I was the student manager so I HAD to deal with them and understand them. For the most part it wasn't that difficult. They even taught me some Hindu that I still remember today.

It'* not just out of respect that one should learn a country'* native language that they live in or visit, but out of necessity. If you can't communicate you're screwed, for lack of a better word.

No disrespect to anybody on this subject. I think we have heard enough.

I'm locking this now.


Peace.