why is the US so freaked out about other languages being spoken?

Answer 1

Because many Americans are racist bigots or just plain xenophobes.

Answer 2

The language spoken in a country should UNIFY. The unofficial language spoken in the United States has been English. I speak German and Latin, in addition to English. Although, to be fair, both are a bit rusty. When my ancestors got here, no one gave them a break. They learned English. Period.

I am not saying we should not help people. We should. I would not expect to move to another country and have them bend over backwards so that I did not have to learn their language. If I was moving there to live and work, I need to learn their language, not the other way around.

I dated a Chinese girl who came to America with her family when she was 7. Her father forbade them to speak Chinese at home, except to ask how to say things that they did not know. If he did not know how to say it, he found out. He said it was because they were Americans now and should speak the language of America.

Is it fair to me as a consumer to make me pay more for a product or service because the instructions and labels all have to be in two or three languages? Is it fair to me that I had to resort to pantomime and pointing to get the services that I needed at a hotel?

I say help immigrants to learn English, don't make excuses for them.

Answer 3

i have no problem with anyone speaking another language other than English. i do however freak out when i go to a store, or restaurant and the waiter or cashier, or whoever i am being assisted by cant speak English. u cant tell me especially when u are calling a business and are discussing fiances, ur credit, late payments, etc.. and the person on the other line u cant understand for the life of u. u get so frustrated trying to understand them and trying to make them understand u that it makes u hate other languages and wish everyone spoke English. another issue is why am i forced to learn another language to understand people who came from another country when they are the ones who moved here. when my grandma and other family members came to America they learned English. if i want to learn another language i will. i shouldn't be forced to learn it in my country where i was born and raised. I'm not saying u should forget ur culture and ancestry, but be considerate of the people who were born in this country and cant understand you. if i moved to Spain or wherever i would learn whatever language is spoken there.

Answer 4

No Americans are "freaked out" about languages other than English being spoken by some in the US. What we don't appreciated is the cost of printing all products with both English and Spanish, with the cost of educating in a language that is not of this country, with the cost of having to hire an intepretator for each and every language spoken on earth for medical service providers, with the cost of money and time used to offer both English and Spanish in every transaction, with the cost to tax payers that force all government paper work be available in Spanish and English, etc. Get the picture. I speak 3 languages relatively well (English, Spanish, French) and I can communicate poorly in Finnish. I do not think that I should have each of this languages offered to me in all circumstances of my life.

Answer 5

Because when our ancestors came here at the turn of the century they learned the language. we were not expected to learn theres to understand them, they learned ours. I'm a Nurse and worked for 3 years in a ER. Do you know how hard it is to take care of people who don't speak English? I'm not talking about people who may be on vacation, I'm talking about residents.
I have had children interpreting for there parent and I ask how long have they been in the US, there reply Oh 40 years or so. HUH!!! That along with the current wave of immigrants legal or otherwise, it its not a isolated incident its Common. Because we make it easy for them not to learn. also When you have someone taking care if you on the phone or in person and even online, who doesn't speak the language, not only can you not understand them, they don't get what you are talking about because they don't understand the language and terms for things and how our language is used. It is a great barrier. I could careless what they do at home or when they talking to each other But they should learn basic English I don't care were they come from. I would not go to another country and expect them to learn my language, I would learn there Language.

Answer 6

Hooray for you if you speak one or more languages- my family does. Its a help at work and socially but I think if you live in a country and esp. if you want to become a citizen then you should speak enough of the native (overall) language to be understood and get around and I must admit I HATE having to chose english when I call the computer help lines, the choice should be there for other languages, we are all Americans, but I shouldn't have to chose English- Or AMERICAN- since the other answerer is right- we don't speak english- we speak american,based on English- and mine is with a So Cal twinge! I'm not freaked out, it just seems like if we were in another country this would be true also?

Answer 7

Your question presumes that the US is freaked out - it's not. To call the desire to have US immigrants speak English 'racist' is a red herring - don't buy into it. US citizens simply want those people wishing to move here to be able to speak the national language, to embrace our culture, our attitudes and our way of life. These are the things that make this country great and make it so desirable to live here. We're happy if our countrymen speak 10 other languages too - it adds to our wonderful diversity!

Answer 8

Not freaked out but it's pretty scary to know that you can loose your job just because you don't speak Spanish and this is America. If I went to China, I wouldn't expect the Chinese to speak English but over here, companies are turning down qualified workers all on the account of "NOT BI-LINGUAL". I have no problem with other languages spoken in America but I don't want any other language's as equal as English (in America) . Spanish should not be equal to the English language IN AMERICA.

Answer 9

because it is discriminatory against other than Spanish speaking immigrants. Noone except Mexicans expects Americans learning Chinese, French, Russian or Italian just because they came here. Than why do we have to learn Spanish? I'm already bi-lingual, i don't get irritated if people can not understand me right away, i KNOW i speak with the accent, i have no problem repeating myself or changing the sentences. So do not call Americans or republicans stupid, or ignorant. We are as NEW AMERICANS fed up with the laws. BTW why do we have to pay taxes and Somalians don't, huh?

Answer 10

For the most part people always fear that which they dont understand. But the feeling is mutual for the immigrants who dont understand English. They get intimidated as well when people are speaking english all around them, they also feel they are being talked about just as those who dont speak Spanish do. And usually if they dont speak english its not because they dont want to, they just havent had the time because they came here to work not have conversations with the locals or they dont know how to look for the proper resources to do so. ONe thing is for you to think that they dont want to assimilate to our culture another is understand that it may be difficult to. We must learn to tell the difference.

Answer 11

If you are visiting a country on vacation and you do not speak the language of that country, that is 1 thing. However, if you plan to live in that country, you most certainly should learn to speak the language of that country. I consider it rude and crude for anyone to decide to live in any country and not learn the language. If I were going to live in France then I most certainly should learn french, German learn german, etc.