Are the US Americans proud to be Monolingual, Mono Cultural, and Mono political?

Question

Hi! I am Mexicano. I can speak some French and some German.

Answer 1

First, the term "US Americans" is redundant. Second, the United States is the most culturally diverse country on Earth.

Answer 2

You write "Are Americans proud to be monolingual, mono-cultural...?" But it is like asking Vicente Fox if he is proud to be a whale. He is not a whale, but a man. The United States is not monolingual. You wrote that you are Mexican. Ask some of your Mexican friends who have been or are in the U.S. whether the U.S. is "monolingual". If they really know what is going on here, they will be able to enlighten you. I live very far from Mexico, in New York state, yet I receive about five Spanish language television channels. I have never thought of Oaxaca (which I visited for three months in 2004) as "monolingual", but I never saw an English language TV station while I was there.

The United States has no official language, and the U.S. government spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year printing materials and government forms in Spanish and hiring Spanish speaking workers to communicate with non-English speakers. Americans do not speak so many languages as Europeans, but it should be pointed out that they have much more motivation to speak other languages (moving just three hundred or four hundred miles west or east may place a person in an entirely different country, with an entirely different language!). Also, most of those who speak two or more languages have chosen to learn English. English is called the "lingua franca." That means it is the language used for communication between languages, the common language. English is the principal language of science and scholarship, diplomacy, business and commerce and aviation; Americans use English because the language gets things done that they want done. Even if this weren't the case, the U.S. is geographically positioned such that the motivations to learn Russian, Italian, Arabic and Hindu are not great.

In answer to your question about Americans being proud: some are proud, but it is dependent on the individual and his or her maturational development more than political ethic.

Answer 3

It may not surpise you, but the English language isn't "mono-lingual". Many words have been swiped from the French and German, and yes, Spanish and Italian. People who live in the Southwest United States absorb a lot of Spanish, many of us wish we could be more fluent. But give it another hundred years and that will happen.

Answer 4

Proud...don't know about that, but as a Canadian....I woulf think they should be relieved. Take a look at Canada to see how having multi culturalism works on a nation. We are continually fighting over cultural rights/language laws/religion in the name of multiculturalism, meanwhile nobody knows what being a Canadian is. A few years back, the Canadian government census asked for country of origin and didn't accept Canada as an answer.....although some wrote it in as 8 generation Canadians had no clue their country of origin other then Canada. Multiculturalism has its strengths, but having the one language, and culture to bring everyone togehter is also critical to have.

Answer 5

I agree that a poly-lingual, poly-cultural and poly-shade usa of immigrants in a manner of existence of tolerance is the essential lifeblood of a socially valuable usa. I see that there is a undeniable loss of tolerance interior the feelings that have been expressed via you. I stay in India the place in one neighbourhood you may come upon human beings of greater effective than a one hundred different communities and sub-communities at each nook with linguistic divides, if we had such an mindset, India could have been a fragmented usa via now. The language that bridges the hollow between us is amazingly in lots of situations ,English .i can ok comprehend your ire at having the English language thrust upon you as a mandatory precise of passage into the yank community.even regardless of the undeniable fact that we could desire to recognize the reality that community English audio gadget will talk interior the language that they are conversant with, as you may talk in Spanish. the two languages could be presented as voluntary classes at student point and if considered rationally, some large advantages of discovering a clean languages a ways outweigh the disdvantages.This mindset of tolerance holds genuine for the English conversing community besides to keep away from the snobbish and egotistical inclinations they in lots of situations fall prey to.

Answer 6

The USA is the most Multi-cultural country I have even been in. There isn't one country nor one ethnicity which is not represented in the USA. You ever been to some countries where they won't even speak to you unless you address them in their own language, like some French even if they know the other language, especially if the other language is English.
In Belgium for instance there are 2 national languages; French and Dutch. If you go to the Dutch part of the country you cannot obtain official documents in French and vice-versa. It is forbidden by law.
I am European born naturalized US citizen. I have seen a lot of bigotry all over Europe.

Answer 7

Not all people are monolingual. Even if they wanted to be monolingual, a lot of us are forced to take another language in school. And the US is not monocultural. This is a very multicultural place.

Answer 8

Yes we are. I'm not, but everybody else is damn proud to be part of our one-party system. When we start to worry, we eat ice cream. Its the cure-all end-all. We could all vote if we wanted to, but who wants to get up that early? Eventually, the lefties and the righties are going to have another big fight, and maybe we'll wipe ourselves out. It'll be fun. Then you guys (Mexicanos) can have whats left of America. Enjoy.

Answer 9

If a Mexican was to go to Germany, would he be offended that no one could understand him, or give a care about what he is trying to say?
I am proud to be an American. Obviously, most of YOUR culture want to be American, too. The better question should be, why should we all become multilingual, just to suit you coming to our country? It's sickening the way we are supposed to bend over backward to accommodate all these illegals. I live in Ohio, and should never have to see the question, "English or Spanish" when I go to use the ATM machine. I went to the FedEx website, and it asked me if I wanted USA or the USA in Spanish. HELLO?! Are you kidding me?

Answer 10

Guten Tag.

Pride has nothing to do with it, and we aren't any of those things. More than 100 languages are spoken in California alone, and look on the internet for an ethnic group of your choice, and I'm pretty sure you will find one in the US.

Since we pay for ESL for the immigrants here who can't speak English to the point where we can't afford even PE, much less special language programs for our own children, it is a bit much for those immigrants to then run us down for not universally being bilingual. Particularly those here illegally, who stole those education funds from our children.