Who has a problem with people who can't speak ENGLISH in America?

Question

This question is not directed to maliciously hurt anyone but I'm very frustrated with people not being able to speak English. I work for a very popular insurance agency and today I've had two people call me regarding their insurance and they can barely speak English. In order to process the payment, I had to say the numbers in spanish so they could understand me. Now, tell me how this is fair to me and many other Americans? I really want to know.

By the way, I'm in no way prejudice. My husband is hispanic and speaks both Spanish and English.

I still want to know why I, an American that speaks perfect English should have to change the way I speak to suit others!? I understand that they have to learn the language but some of these people can BARELY I mean BARELY speak English and I wonder if they can even read their insurance policy or understand it?! If they can't understand their policy (that's printed only in English) then it's like they are making blind payments every month!

Answer 1

Well, I think YOU have a problem. Besides, you are INTOLERANT. You are right, you are not fair .
I have the feeling that you just don't want to strive to understand other peoples' needs. When the anglos came to this country, according to your words, they should have learnt the language of the Indians, but instead they made the poor Indians learn english.
Now you are getting a sample of your own medicine.
how, Pocahontas

Answer 2

Forgive my frankness, but I believe you are asking too much from immigrants. Learning a new language is a difficult endeavor, especially when these people have to work so many hours a day to put food on the table for their family. I'm not saying that they should not learn English, they should since it's important.

But ask yourself how many people who took Spanish in high school can understand an insurance policy written in Spanish? I don't know about you, but for me that number is very low. Some people are just not cut out for learning languages in a fast way. It's a slow process for many.

You asked how fair it is for you and other Americans. I think it's fair on some level. When Americans go overseas, they expect people in a certain country to speak English.

Also, I am Filipino. In 1898 the United States invaded the Philippines and killed no more than one million Filipinos in the process. In 1900 they forced English in all Filipino schools and English became the language of the country. The Americans left in 1946, but it's 2006 and English is still the official language! Tell me, is this fair?

The United States had been home to many languages for a few thousand years like Navajo, Sioux, Cree, Ojibwa, Hawaiian, etc. But Americans expect just English to be the only official language. Is that fair?

Heck, even Spanish was spoken in California, Oregon, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas before the first English-speaker set foot in those states. Is that fair?

Just some things I hope for you to take into consideration next time you feel frustrated.

Answer 3

It has never been the case that all Americans have been native speakers of English. The territory covered the United States has been occupied by people of different language backgrounds from day one. There were the people that we call Native Americans, of course, but even among the founders of the nation that we now have, there were speakers of languages such as French, Dutch, and Spanish in addition to English. Also, the ancestors of most African-Americans were speakers of African languages. So it's a false idea to assume that everybody should speak English, I think, just because English is the langauge of economic power in America.

Not to mention that most speakers of other languages that I know in the United States desperately want to learn to speak English and are making efforts to do so. Many immigrants can't afford to take English classes and often don't have the time anyway because they are so busy working at their low-paying jobs. Not to mention that it usually takes a period of several years before people are truly at an advanced level with a language, even if they get exposure to it all the time (which many immigrants don't).

Surely your insurance company has recognized that there are many potential customers who are not fluent enough in English to do business in that language. I say that it's good business practice of the company to take the business of speakers of other languages because this widens their potential customer base. I suppose that the company will be surely looking for more employees in the future who are comfortable speaking with customers of many language backgrounds. I'd say that your speaking to your customers in Spanish is exactly the kind of thing that your business wants.

Answer 4

I'm not going to talk about your particular problem. Maybe those people hadn't been here for a long time, although I would think that learning numbers in English is probably one of the first things foreigners should learn.

I'm not American: I'm French. Although I don't mind helping people on the streets if they can't speak French (tourists, for instance), I think that if you live in a foreign country, you have to learn the language. Of course, it won't be perfect at the beginning.

Also, I think that having signs in two languages and maybe TV programs translated are not that a good idea. Ok for TV news, because I think it's important to understand what's going on around you when you get to a new country (a lot of people don't come to America because they want to but be because they have to). But if you keep helping people by providing translation all the time, you're not helping them learning English.

I studied English at school, and before going to university, I went to England to be an au pair. Well, I learnt a lot during the first 5 days because I HAD to understand what they were saying! My English was not perfect, but I could get by. And it's the same for everyone I've known, even for those who really couldn't speak English. And those who were always staying with other French people were those whose English didn't improve that well.

I'm often very critical of American policies, whether they be foreign or domestic. But I don't understand why people criticize Americans for wanting other people to understand and speak correct English - or at least, to be able to communicate without help. It's just common sense! If you go to France and live there, learn French (ok, a lot of British people move their and live in sorts of British communities!)! If you go to Italy, learn Italian! If you go to Spain... And so on. It just makes things easier for everyone!

Answer 5

America doesn't have an pofficial language, but ti's de facto language is English. Perrsonally, as long as that non-english-speaking person can survive in a community where his language is dominant, I have no problem. Americans should stop being so ethnocentric and try to learn different languages. I myself have learned and can get by with Spanish, Korean, American Sign Lanugage, French, Japanese, Cantonese, and Mandarin.

Answer 6

I have no problem with a person who is struggling and obviously trying to learn English. It's a difficult language to learn if you are not a native speaker. I have nothing but the utmost admirition for people who set out to make a better life for themselves and their families by emmigrating to strange land and learning an even stranger language.

However, I do have a problem with people who come over here and demand that everyone else here learns their language and refuse to learn English. The national language here is English. If immigrants don't like it, they can go back home.

I know it sounds insensitive and maybe, to a degree, it is. But I have a problem when I go to a fancy hotel, run out of towels and have to stand in the bathroom freezing my you-know-what off while my husband goes to housekeeping to get a towel and then is gone for half an hour because the person working there doesn't even know what "towel" means because she can only say "Yes", "No", and "How are you?" in English. (Yes, this happened to me.) The woman should have at least known words that applied to her job.

You are right; it's not fair to Americans. We were born here, this is our country, we speak English. We have every right to expect a foreigner to speak our language or at least attempt to speak it. If I were to even visit another country, I would attempt to speak their language instead of insisting they speak English (and I have!) And if I went to live there, I would learn their language fluently, even if I had to stop everyone who passed by just to chat for practice.

Answer 7

Well the company welcomed their money right? They didn´t mind then that they did not speak English, money used to pay for you salary, you could tell them to take their money and go find an insurer that speaks their language and point out to the company that they only should do business with English speaking people and problem solved. In addition what if they are tourists? do they also have to speak the language to visit the country and to buy a travel insurance from your company?

Answer 8

I have an understanding of your issues however you're underestimating the inherent talent & proficiency of the Filipino. Let me ask you this, have you learnt what number of Hispanics from say Mexico, El Salvador, Ecuador, and so forth. and so forth. come to American with precisely the identical difficulty & even worse than that? As in 0 English, nada. And how approximately the persons from Africa, Asia & the small islands within the Pacific? All of them have the identical difficulty, so do not sweat it an excessive amount of. We as soon as have a Filipino neighbor who introduced his complete loved ones right here-youngsters, starting from 6 to sixteen, approximately 6 youngsters whole, got here from a farming/rural history within the Philippines. They have been precisely within the identical predicament, now over a 12 months later, all the youngsters speak in English with an American accessory. They all went to public faculties immediately, like a month or so from their arrival. So do not believe that Pinoys are not within the identical league and even larger than Hispanics, Asians & the opposite immigrants that come to America day in & time out. The quicker they combine & assimilate the larger for them, it would not be effortless however they're in a position of doing it. And relying to your discipline, faculties mainly have new youngsters coming in & out each and every 12 months continually of the 12 months, a few youngsters might be held again however that is simply how it's, it's for his or her possess well. And bullying is only a ceremony of passage that they must revel in, however it isn't that you simply & they are not able to do something approximately it.

Answer 9

The other day someone actually said to me, "I would be so embarrassed to speak Quebequois French, it's horrible French!" and I asked her if she thought that was a prejudiced statement. She said "I'm not prejudiced. And I can say that about Quebequois French because I lived in Montreal for 5 years."

I still thought it was prejudiced. And just because your husband is hispanic doesn't mean you don't have prejudiced feelings. I think you should be a bit more sympathetic. People don't always come to the US because they want to. Sometimes they come because they are escaping oppressive regimes or they want a decent standard of living. They belong to the majority of the world that doesn't have access to the things we take for granted. And learning English doesn't happen over night. In the meantime, people still need insurance.

Answer 10

Maybe those 2 persons haven't been here long enough to master the language. Give them time. Don't make quick judgement. To some people, learning a language is a very difficult task just like some can never be good at algebra or chemistry. If you know specific individuals who refuse to learn, you're OK to criticize them. Those who have been trying but have a hard time learning deserve to be helped with the learning.

Answer 11

I have to agree with you, learn English or go home. Why bother coming here to live in American Freedom if you don't want to learn to speak our language and be one of us? Why must we learn to speak yours in our country? Sorry for any hurt feelings