why is spanish offered everywhere ????

Question

press 2 for spanish?? bi-langual basically means spanish and english, i have nothing against latinos, hispanics, spanish speaking people, i just wonder why everywhere you go, theres options in spanish everywhere...its so covenient and made so easy for non english speakers to not learn english...ever because they dont have to... i know the majority of the population especially here in california are mexican but this is still america and english is still the major language. is that fair?? everytime you call customer service for something you waste 2 more minutes listening to different options in spanish....

i speak both thai and english, my grandparents and parents were forced to learn the english language in order to survive in this country, even though its not their native tongue its very diffucult for people of that age to learn a whole new language, but then you have grade school kids that were BORN and raised in this country but their english is horrible, though they went to english speaking school, and ESL class...mind you i was in ESL because english IS my SECOND launguage but i still learned. and now everyone has to accomidate people who dont speak english because they refuse to learn and because they dont have due to the fact that we make it soooo easy for them not to learn. america is a melting pot, but it doesnt seem that people who speak spanish are a part of the pot.

you say that u.s is a democracy that will accomodate to the majority and that a vast majority of the u.s speaks spanish...but yet you people still have a problem with giving these spanish speaking people green cards or some sort of status here in the states!

Answer 1

Well, Mr. Mohamed Ali, I thought that it was very clear, but it seems that is not. Let's see.
Your parents came in a different time and spoke a rarely spoken language. Things are not the same, my dear Ali.
This is the XXI century, the third millennium, as you wish to call it. We are now in the times of globalization. A country, even the USA, is not isolated anymore. Now we have to deal with practically every other country.
Here, people feel very comfortable in their cocoon of "english only" "things are just the same" "if we don't learn other language, the country will stay the same" and other ideas of denial.
Well, denial is a defense mechanism, but not a mature one. It is like the ostrich hiding the head in the ground.
You can hide your head, but that will not stop the world.
Spanish will keep growing and growing, because it is the language spoken by most of the immigrants, who are still coming by the thousands.
And remember that the country makes the population and the population makes the country.
Where I Iive, you can see the sign: "we speak english" in many places.
In one of my previous jobs, the director said that learning english was very important because, etc, etc, etc. I was not going to say the opposite, of course. It is not good to upset the boss, but they were also saying that, in order to find a job, years ago, you needed to learn english. Now, you need to learn Spanish.
Therefore, my dear Ali, the only advice that I can give you is:
If you don't like it, go to england

Answer 2

English has always been the language of government and general education in this country. As the country expanded, English went with it. English became the unifying mechanism for all people living and wishing to live in this country. Although past immigrants may not have learned English completely, their children did and assimilated. I believe the problem with Hispanics arriving today in the US is that the desire to assimilate through English is impeded by their insistence on being accommodated linguistically with directions, government documents and education in Spanish. This is unique in our history and leads to tension and culture clash. Hispanics should keep their heritage but while learning English. English should also be made the official language. Don't forget most countries, if not all except the USA, have an official language or languages.

Answer 3

Boils down to one word: Money. Because of the huge number of spanish-speaking immigrants (not only mexican, but central and south american) businesses want to tap into that market. The knee-jerk facil retort is to say "well why don't they just learn english?". Isn't that simple, some are working more than one job or don't have the resources or time to learn english. English is a difficult language that many Americans can't even speak properly and if someone isn't forced to learn it, chances are they won't. There has to be a strong desire or motivating force. By the way, Mesperanto, your type of english is stuffy and boring. Now go get your teeth fixed and have crumpets with the queen!

Answer 4

In many South Western states the first widely spoken European language was Spanish, not English. This is because these states once belonged to Spain. In Europe it is expected people speak more than one language. I don't understand why it is so offensive in the United States of America. The truth is, because we are democracy we accommodate majority. If the majority of immigrants come from one particular background, then we accommodate them. It's not useful to speak with your emotions on such a cut and dry issue. I am an English tutor for ESL students. It isn't fair to generalize Spanish speaking people in such a way. In my experience, they try just as hard to learn English as any body else. In my area there are many Mandarin speaking people. Because they make up a large group they have many accommodations, such as signs in mandarin. I don't judge them, or unfairly categorize them for this. I understand this is a by product of living in a democracy. As for the "America is a melting pot" analogy, many see this as an outdated concept fueled by the fear of change. The truth as I see it is that the ingredients that make up America don't merge completely into the mixture; in contrast they change the flavor of the meal. Weather we wish to acknowledge this or not, this has been going on since the first immigrants arrived. If any of you study the history of anti immigrant propaganda you may find something familiar. Around the 1920’s News papers accused Poles, Italians, and Chinese of refusing to assimilate and learn English. Such bias actually resulted in the Chinese exclusion act. It seems that we still won’t learn from our past.

Answer 5

Why is that earlier ethnic groups that came to America, such as Italians, didn't need such accommodations. There was an incentive to learn the language and assimilate ones self in some way to the culture of their new country. I think they were the better for it.They still maintained some sense of their heritage, but they became a part of the melting pot as well.

Answer 6

Spanish is the second language in the United States :)

Answer 7

It isn't. I've never heard Spanish offered as an alternative to English, although we do speak the proper version of English over here and not that colonial version you yanks use. It's probably easier to understand us so we don't need to provide alternative communication methods.

Answer 8

I live IN Conneticut and there Is a high population of Spanish people and there Is a whole lot of Spanish people from differant parts of the world

Answer 9

I think the main reason is that we have so many people immigrating from spanish speaking regions. In order for companies to make more money they have to appeal to what is here. It's all about making money. plus people are now learning spanish because there are more job opportunites if you know spanish.

Answer 10

Not in my country. It would be a big problem to find a school where a child could have Spanish as a foreign language...