I can't tell you how many times I have heard people say "You're in America- speak English!" (or "American"). What do you guys think about this?

I think it's actually an understandable thing to say. If you intend on becoming a citizen of a country you should probably speak the official language. If an average American moved to France they would have a hard time if they didn't speak French. I don't see why our country has to cater to those who haven't bothered to try to learn English.
On the other hand, I get that some people who have recently immigrated may not have had time to learn the language before they moved here. Those in refugee situations for example.

Still, I think it would at least be a polite thing to do, a common courtesy to learn the language of the country you intend to live in.

Sooo why was my whole post deleted?

Sigh- mods ruin all the fun things about yn.

That is quite enough of the personal attacks and off-topic baltherings.

Be nice, follow the Rules of Play...or find somewhere else to talk.

oh, sorry, by the way, i would just like to thank you for worrying on my "behalf," but you should look back on the things you say and worry about yourself first. i wish you the best of luck on whatever it is that you do next.

that is all was nice talking to you.

You still shouldn't just say "Americans this and that" because it does bring about an ignorant connotation on your behalf.

In Vietnam, is the official language Vietnamese? That's because it is the language that most people grew up with and learned while residing there. In America the typical child grows up learning English, whether it is from their parents or the schools which is one reason why English should be the official language.

Generally people don't care if you speak another language as long as you know the native language too. That's the problem at hand. There are people coming into this country and they choose to not learn English, not teach it to their kids and then they expect everything to change for them. Well, it's bs. The End.

You must live in the midwest or something if people give you that many "dirty looks." lolz.

It bugs me when people get upset about other people not speaking English, especially when those people are tourists or otherwise aren't staying permanently. Getting upset about it makes as much sense as a Frenchman getting upset that American tourists speak English in France. It's silly.

What bugs me even more, however, is when people come to America to live, don't bother to learn the language, and then expect to be catered to. I hate how a lot of packaging has Spanish on it in addition to English. It shouldn't be that way at all. If you live here and want to interact with people who only speak English, you need to learn English. You don't need to speak it all the time, but you should make an attempt to learn it.

As an example of how stubborn people can be when it comes to learning English, there are some in Washington State who complained that the standardized high school test, the WASL, was unfair because there wasn't a Spanish-language version. Seriously. If you're in an American high school, you should not need a Spanish-language test anywhere outside of a Spanish class.

If I was to move to Germany, I wouldn't expect Germans to cater to me and put English on packaging and such. I would expect to need to learn the language of the land.

I think this wouldn't be such a big issue if we'd go ahead and declare English our national language.

oh yeah, one more thing. i didn't grow up here, and a lot of the population are immigrants, so why should we have to speak english among one another? it's understandable when we're talking to someone who speaks english, but if the person can speak my language, why is it that i get dirty looks from the people around me when i speak in my language with those who do? just an odd fact that i realized just now, disregard it if you don't have a rational, and non-caustic, comment to throw back at me.

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that is true, grades do not reflect intelligence, however, neither does the ability to speak a foreign toungue. as for the issue with all americans being demanding that people speak "american" in other countries and so on and so forth, did i say all americans? hmmm, i read my post over like, 3 times, and i am pretty sure that i didn't. the exact quote is "people who say that," and the "they" that comes after refers back to "the peole who say that," not ALL, but moving on. i never said that it isn't the official language, however, i can't tell you how many times people mistake the inability to speak english fluently for stupidity, and i hate that. i know for a fact that in vietnam, people never ever say that anyone who cannot speak vietnamese is stupid. they merely did not grow up with the language, in fact, nobody that i encountered in all the other countries that i've been to (which i just now realized are a lot, kinda weird) have that opinion. only in america (and again, i haven't met every single person in this country. my arguments are based on my experience with the people that i've met) do people have the opinion that if you don't speak english, you're stupid. i can't tell you how many times at work, people just talk away about me in front of my face, presuming that i can't understand them, and what they say are never nice, only to apologize profusely when i told them that i undestand them perfectly. now why would anyone get themselves in that situation? beyong that, whatever happened to manners, as well as common sense? as for the sequence of learning the language thing, i don't know about you, but i learned english first(well, second if you count my first ever language, but i assume that you don't), and i thought it was quite easy, however, i am learning spanish now, and i am having a bit of difficulties, so i guess it depends on the person. as for the jumping when told to do so, heh, if you had met me, you'd eat those words, but since you haven't, i'll let that go. if it was me, i wouldn't throw comments like that around so casually, but what do i know, right?

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Alrighty, first off it's extremely narrow-minded to say that all Americans expect people to speak English and that they want others to speak English while they are in another country.

People in America should speak English because it was the language of the people who brought about our constitution. The French speak french, Germans speak german so why shouldn't America's officially language be English if as you say it's so easy to pick up.

Also grades show nothing of intelligence, they merely reflect one's ability to jump when told to do so.

Granted many American's are unintelligent dipsticks but not everyone is.

(I do despise cockiness)

Learning languages is quite simple if you've already learned a second one. French was harder for me to learn than japanese funny eh? I learned French first.

i hate it. honestly, people who say that possess such a narrow-minded, provincial point of views around the world. think about it. they don't like it when people speak a different language in america, but when they go to other countries, they demand that the people speak "american" to them too. how is that rational? it isn't! i speak 2 languages, and am in the process of learning another one. english was my second language, and i mastered it in 2 yearr, and i am now in a senior english AP class, with a 99 average. so really, english is quite easy to learn, and thus there really isn't anything to be cocky about it. for all those who say "this is america, speak american"(which for the record, is english, so yeah, kinda stupid) i would like them to go to my native country, vietnam, or any other non-english speaking country for that matter, and try to pick up (yes pick up, becauset that's what i did with english, i picked it up, just like that) that country's language. i bet it'll take you a lot more than 2 years. so don't be so cocky.

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