Why do americans refuse to ever learn any spanish when most Europeans speak at least 2 or three languages?

Question

Is America so stuck on itself that it doesnt recognize other languages as even existing? I want honest answers any racist answers will be reported.

Answer 1

After reading many of the questions and answers on Yahoo!Answers over the last few days I'm not sure that a lot of us can even speak or write English.

Answer 2

I'm pretty much just going to pop in and agree with what everyone else said but throw in some more information. The U.S. is the 3rd or 4th largest country in the world (4th if you consider Taiwan to be a part of China, 3rd if not.) For the most part, everyone here speaks English. We have two countries at our border, one is the second largest in the world, Canada, and with the exception of one province, they all know English.

Then there's Mexico, who, historically we've had several wars and battles against. Furthermore, many people in the Southern states do know enough Spanish to get along, but, we're talking about the U.S. as a whole. Looking at our geography, there's practically no reason to learn a second language. We're large and bordered by another large country that speaks the exact same language with almost the same dialect. The only people in a position where they would have enough contact with a second language to make it worth learning are already learning it.

It's not a matter of being stuck on ourselves, it's a matter of not bothering to learn a language we'll probably never use.

Answer 3

Well, I for one do not think I will ever travel out of the country, because it is just too expensive. Yes, you that right. In spite of what you were probably told, not every American has unlimited spending money and can afford to travel any place they want to. Now, if I did plan to go to another country, and planned to live there, I would start learning the language of that country ASAP, even before I actually moved there.

Also, a better question is "Given that people from all other countries learn English when they move to America, why are the Spanish-speaking the only ones that feel they should not have to learn it, and think everyone should cater to them?"

Answer 4

Europe is small compared to the United States. You have many countries with many different languages bordering each other in a tight mass. If everyone is Europe spoke English then there would be no question. It benefits you to learn other languages so you can talk to you neighbor. Here our neighboring state already speaks English. Many people near the border of Mexico speak both languages. Since Canada is also predominately English there has been no need.

Answer 5

They don't "refuse". Virtually all schools in America offer Spanish classes in high school, and many other places. How do you just assume that none of us speak Spanish? What kind of closed-mindedness is that? You just start out assuming that Americans are jerks, and then use that to prove that Americans are jerks. It's called circular logic, and it doesn't hold water.

That said, I do believe a lot of Americans value the idea that our nation operates its government operations in a single language. It is a very valuable thing for reaching agreements and making contracts, etc. The objection in America isn't that people speak different languages...many do...but the objection is that suddenly we've accepted the idea that one group of people shouldn't have to learn the standard language.

My objection to the whole bi-lingual idea is that it marginalizes those who don't learn the language that operates in the legal system and business communications, and therefore makes it harder for Hispanic people to ever become part of American society. Dozens of ethnic groups from around the world have come here from every continent, and adopted the traditional language, with much success. Is there any logic to the idea of setting one people-group aside and making a special case for them? I don't think so.

Answer 6

Yes, I know what you mean. I speak English..am a natural US citizen but as result of serviing as a Peace Corp volunteer in Paraguay, I also speak Spanish, and a little Portugese as well as few phrases in their local language, Guarani. I often find people in the US at times not only think English is the language of "God" that they will get angry if you even speak a few phrases in another language. This is a kind of prejudice like racism, sexism, ageism or any other. In short it is a quick ignorant and hateful response that is far too common a reaction. In fact however, to be fair, this sort of thing happens in other parts of the world as well. If it isn't language it is something else. Some people, far too many of them, become angry and hateful, when someone doesn't conform to whatever the local kinds of behavior that are common, even if it is a completely harmless kind of thing, like speaking a diferent language.
Lets talk about this openly to expose this common ignorant bias and teach people to open their minds. The SECRET they don't realize is that by learning something new they will increase their own happiness and fullfillment in life. But by clinging fiercly with sweaty palms to only those things "according to the way I was brought up" they will remain ignorant, fearful and basicly unhappy.

Answer 7

There is no real need for people of the US to learn more than one language. There are people in this country that can go their entire lives and never meet someone who does not speak english,

Now if you go to the border states such as Texas, you will see there are plenty there who will speak spanish, because they are close to Mexico and there is a need. From what I understand, in New York there are many multilingual people, because it is a port city with many nationalities there.

But over all most of America does not have a reason to learn any more languages.

Answer 8

I speak Portuguese and some Spanish.

In the Americas many countries the populace primarily speaks their language. Go to Vancouver they were taught French but cannot remember a lot of it because they don't use it, of course some do speak French .

In Mexico not everyone speaks two languages mostly the upper classes speak English and other languages. In Europe the countries are the size of states here. You cannot go far if you only speak one language.

Answer 9

What you should be asking is why are Spanish speakers not learning English? You think the Mexicans would be happy if millions of Americans illegally moved into there country and refused to learn Spanish?

Anyways language classes are mandatory in high school and university in the US.

Answer 10

I speak, read and write Spanish, but I think I know what you mean by this.

English is the hardest language in the world. (I know Chinese is more difficult to write.) I teach English as 2nd language and to try to explain to some one that the word enough is pronounced enuf or that we have words like read (present tense) and read (past tense) and that they are pronounced DIFFERENTLY? {This is just a brief tip of an iceberg the size of Antarctica in explaining English to a non-native speaker.}

People who speak Spanish are flabbergasted, in their language even if you have no idea what it means....you can read and pronounce it correctly.

Well the point of all this and something I tell all of my students is that you can NEVER learn all of English. But...the more words you know the more money you will make and it does not matter which words you learn!

So to answer your question, I believe most people who speak English assume all other languages are equally difficult. They have no idea how easy all the other languages are in comparison to ours.

Answer 11

I think that it's just proximity and usage. Europe is smaller and the countries are closer together so there is more cultural interaction. The US is just too big and therefore insular in parts. The coasts have more languages spoken...but foreign language skills fade if you don't use them.

Not all Europeans speak several or even one foreign language and many Spanish speaking countries are mono-linguistic. Many countries have a history of conquering and subjugating their neighboring countries - so language was spread that way.