Why do people care so much if someone speaks spanish instead of english?

Question

I really don't! Of course I don't live in the areas heavily populated by spanish speaking people. I just want to know why people are so angry about spanish being the next widely spoken language. Threatened by people who are acutally allowed to keep their culture alive? Mad because you can't oppress them like the blacks were?

Answer 1

ohh because people get agitated when they have to work at something. i mean, god forbid you have to translate! or even worse, god forbid you have to learn spanish! whoooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!

Answer 2

Slow down, Cute Girl. You seem to be targeting us gringos in the same way too many gringos are bigoted against Spanish speaking people. What I hear is not a great uproar against Spanish being the second most spoken language in the country. What I hear is a general disgust about the insistence that Spanish become the second official language of the US, which is another topic entirely.
If I move into another country, I expect to have to learn the local language and customs to get along in my new home. I expect nothing less of the immigrants here. I would still be able to practice the rituals of my own culture. I would be considered a foreigner, someone different and to be wary of. It would be up to me to establish a rapport with the locals so I wouldn't be just another not to be trusted gringo.

I won't deny they are discriminated against here. Every ethnic group that ever came over here was, but eventually most were accepted. (Of course, they were also white Europeans.) But even they would not have been accepted if they had they insisted we adopt their language as the 2nd official language.

Answer 3

I have to assume that you are in the US, as most of the respondents seem to be. Which is weird, because the page header reckons that this is Yahoo Answers Australia.

Anyway, as far as I am concerned, people should speak whatever language they feel comfortable with. Sure - a lot of people in the world speak English, and it is generally assumed that you can communicate with most people using English.

But, English still doesn't top the list of most speakers of a language: http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm
:-)

I do agree that if the national language of a country is X, and you have the opportunity to live in that country, then it is helpful to learn X. But, you should not be forced to unlearn any languages that you already know :-)

(I speak 3 languages and am learning 2 more, because the more languages you can speak, the more people you can communicate with, and communication is fun)

:-)

Answer 4

I think many people who complain about the language barrier for the most part dont really care about the issue, they just use this as a reason to segregate and condem people who they just assume are illegal immigrants.
People might say also that it would take away from history/tradition if everyone were to suddenly start speaking spanish. (*although this argument is hypocritical as if we were to honor heritage, we would all be speaking cherokee.)
Also people as a whole are lazy, and don't want to put effort into learning an entirely new language.
These are just opinions, so don't get mad folks.
BTW: sorry if my spelling was poor.

Answer 5

Because my tax dollars are being spent on multilingual ballots, tax forms, etc. If I lived in Mexico, do you think they would accommodate me by speaking English to me and printing everything in English? Highly unlikely.

If this continues and we don't encourage people from ALL foreign countries to learn English then we will be descending into the type of civil war that was fought in the Balkans. This Balkanization of America will be our undoing.

I can't understand why we need to treat these various ethnic groups differently than we treated other ethnic groups from the past. For 300 years immigrants learned English and they didn't seem to lose their culture.

Tell you what, go to Mexico City and demand to be spoken to in English. One of two things will happen, either you will be lynched (yes, they do that down there) or you will be arrested by the policia and deported.

Answer 6

No, not mad and it isn't being oppressed. This is america and the Public language is English. So that communication is effective and understood, everyone should speak English. By all means, keep your language fluent at home. This, coming from someone who married a Latin man who has children who are Hispanic. They also agree with this!

Answer 7

well you can speak in any language that you want provided that you make sure that people around you can understand you. it's just all about courtesy. if you're in a room with someone who speaks the same language, and there is also someone who doesn't understand you, it would be better to speak in english so that person would not feel as if you were talking about him. if you prefer to talk in your native language, at least excuse yourself.

Answer 8

It is because they do not understand what is being said. People usually feel threatened by things they do not understand. It has nothing to do with keeping their culture alive, they are just unable to be accepting of others different from themselves. People seem to forget that the US started out as a country of immigrants who stole land from a native people. If anyone should be offended it should be the Native Americans because the US official language is English and not one of their native languages.

Answer 9

i think its cuz they dont understand wat the spanish speaker is sayin n theyre really curious!

for sum reason, a lot of people think that when we speak spanish, we're talking about them...which isnt true cuz i dont give a damn about the person standin next to me. i dont see anythin wrong wit speaking spanish in public. i learned english when i came here, i speak english when i have to, i can read n write in english--i dont see why i cant speak spanish. in the US, u can speak watever language u want!

Answer 10

Because we live in America and we speak english here. If you can't speak english I do't know how you can be an American citizen. I am sure that everyone is mad because we can't oppress millions of foriegn criminals. You are way off base and I don't think Jen M knows jack about "native americans". 98% of them don't have a clue how to speak their language and we didn't steal anything from them, we bought it. It's not my fault that they took beads and blankets as payment, that crap happened hundreds of years ago.

Answer 11

It is normal because the majority knows English