Do you think its rude to speak a foreign langauge in front of people that dont understand?

Question

American etiquette forbids telling secrets in front of people, this is construde as rude- dont you think learning english should be the first step in embracing our culture of internal unity?

Answer 1

I definitely agree. I want to put a bumper sticker on my car and a t-shirt I wear to say "You're in America. Now please speak English." People come into this country and don't know how to speak the language. They expect us to know their language when we go in their country. They can at least know our language before they come here.

Answer 2

Our culture of internal unity? Maybe what you are trying to say is that we should scrap English and all learn a TRUE American language - like Cherokee!!!
I think you might need to get out more. If you are in NYC, Paris, London, Munich, Madrid, Lisbon or any number of larger cities, you will see people talking in all kinds of different languages and not taking offense about it.
My prescription is to take a few Spanish classes. Not because you should be able to speak it fluently, just that it would sure be nice to know the guy isn't being rude, he's asking if he can help you with something. Just a little bit - you don't have to learn the whole thing. Or stay on the farm and be a xenophobe.

Answer 3

It depends.
For example, if you're with a group of friends and two people from the group start speaking to each other in Japanese, I think that's a bit rude.
However, if two or more people are hanging out on their own and they're all speaking a foreign language, I see no problem. I mean, you're not involved in the conversation, you're not hanging out with them, it's really no one else's business what they talk about let alone what language they're speaking in. I think if anything, it's much more rude to look down at others for speaking in a language different than the official language of the nation. The U.S. a melting pot for a reason. Besides, just because they're speaking in a language other than English, does not necessarily mean that they haven't learned English. My parents, grandparents, and whatnot, who were all born and raised in the Philippines, all speak English fluently, but prefer to speak Tagalog. It's natural and comfortable, and it's not hurting anyone.

Answer 4

It is in a private setting/social gathering. All etiquette professionals tell you that it is rude to start a conversation in a language that can't be understood by all participants of said gathering.
I have been in this situation and let me tell you I felt uncomfortable and left out. The only time it is acceptable is if the person speaking the foreign language can't speak English. Otherwise it is considered to be quite rude.

Out in public I could care less what you or anyone else wants to speak, heck speak Kling-on if you must.

Answer 5

Being around people speaking in foreign tongues is disconcerting, to say the least. In WWII, the Navajo indians served as 'code talkers' because their language was so rare, and the japanese couldn't decipher what they were saying.
They made a movie about it.

Assimilation means learning your new country's language, among other things, and cleaving to new customs, cultures, and
distancing yourself in some ways from the place you came from.
The people that are refusing to learn english don't quite 'get it'.
English is also WAY easier to learn than some languages.
I wouldn't bet next month's paycheck on my ability to learn, say, russian, or chinese. Also, as we get older, it gets harder and harder to do that stuff. We get old, we get set in our ways, and language is just one of those 'ways'. That having been said, nothing's impossible until you flat-quit, you give up, you don't even try. There's people that become 'lifelong learners', get 2 and 3 bachelor's degrees, and so forth. The web makes all that stuff a lot easier. I think our K-12 system should be focused on teaching american kids 2,3,4 different languages. Other countries do that...

Answer 6

Sometimes I think it is but I have a lot of international friends and they speak in a different language even though I don't know what they are saying. If you ask them to speak English instead of the language and they don't...then it's rude. America is a melting pots of cultures and languages...I highly doubt if you went to France with an English speaking friend and knew how to speak French, that you would actually do it because speaking English would be easier for you. You need to learn a lot about cultures...

Answer 7

I so think that it is very rude to speak a foreign language in front of others that don't understand it. It happens all the time tho & even got some people into trouble in Amarillo, TX. There were some women hired to sell insurance at a insurance agency and were to target Spanish speaking coustomers. The women started talking in Spanish all the time & the Non-Spanish speaking workers got upset because they felt that they were being talked about. The owner told the Spanish-speaking employees that when they were not on the phone with customers they were to speak english so that no one felt slighted. The Spaninsh-speaking employees had a news conference and the ACLU & a couple of Latin rights groups protest the agency. This is just one example I have SEVERAL!!!

Answer 8

According to Emily Post, it is rude to speak another language if your company does not know it. However, these days, everyone has poor manners. I think they should learn English, but also that Americans should not be so afraid of other languages. I speak quite a few languages, and in my experience, most of the conversations are innocent and not something to worry about.

Answer 9

No......I travel and I speak English were ever I go...I do try to learn some basic words in the respective country.....The longer I intend to stay the more words I try to learn.....

So if your here in Us for a short time speak whatever you like its not rude.....but if your here for ever in the US....Your free to speak whatever langauge you like....but yeah it is rude to not even try to learn the langauge

oh and also you speak of cultural unity.....cultural unity that is a higher ideal....a greater virtue then what is espoused by Polical correctness...........However the current trend of Politcal correctness does not think the populace can handle True Unity in its purest and most virtuos form and so it forces upon us diversity which celebrates how people are different....instead of how we are similar........ and that there in is the flaw of diversity....it does not unite it divides.....
We do need to respect differences .....and honor traditions and beliefs of others but we need also put forth Unifying themes else we will never have a melting pot just a new Babel

Answer 10

Its not always the case that they my be speaking about you or saying bad things, its just that if a person is speaking to another person from let's say Mexico and you are American and you just happen to be their, they want to make sure they understand each other first, and I'm sure if it involves you it would be OK to ask for some help in understanding what they are saying, another language is not easy to master and for sure not in a years or two its just not that easy , so if someone trys just a little to learn and speak they should get some amount of respect for trying shouldn't they ? my wife studied 7 days a week for 4 years on our computer and with books she learned and is still learning, she didn't go to any school classes away from home, so i give her an A* FOR THE EFFORT, so to answer your question no i don't think its rude, if i go to Mexico city they don't think I'm rude if i speak to my Spanish wife in English, but they do smile and show me respect if i try to speak Spanish to them at stores i go into, really very nice people down their, the main problem that i can see with my country if sometimes we want others to fit in and make a good showing, but sometimes we fail the test as fair as setting a good example for others to fallow, we are all just people and none of use can help where our home country happens to be, so good place or bad we as humans should not be burdened by the dislikes or hard feeling of others based soly on the country of our homeland or the color of ones skin tone, we all wake up the same and we will all die the same, life is short so i ask myself why would i want to wast even a day of it saying bad things about others when it is not possible for me to be any type of role model or imply others are not good enough to live up to my personel standards, because i know of all animals on this planet humans are the only species that refuse to just live in harmony and in my book of logic thats a wasted life, have a nice day and remember we are on our way back down the evolution ladder, because we can't live with the fact that we are just dumb animals too.

Answer 11

Speaking a foriegn language in front of someone who doesn't understand it isn't necessarily the telling of secrets, or the talking about of somebody. When English is someone's second language, sometimes it can be hard to keep up with conversations (especially rapid ones) and reverting to thier native language (at the disadvantage of those less skilled in tongues) can just be thier way of inputing into the conversation. And if the "in front of people" that you are reffering to is in a public place, and they are not talking to a Native english speaker, then there is nothing wrong with that. If someone is on a bus with thier friends and they want to start speaking in German, then let them. It shouldn't be your place to be listening in that circumstance in the first place.