should you have to learn english to live in america?

Question

now at the supermarket they label things in spanish wtf i thought this was america

Answer 1

Thank you! I have thought that for a LONG time. I live in TX, which is mostly Hispanic. That doesn't bother me a bit, however, EVERYTHING is in English AND Spanish. Signs, Instructions, PTA meetings, retail items, etc. It is driving me CRAZY. I know if I went to Mexico - everything would be in Spanish. Or if I went to Japan it would be in Japanese. Why are we acting like it would be so terrible to put everything in English?? And why does Congress repeatedly vote AGAINST having English as our official language???
Sorry, I had to vent...

Answer 2

You live in the wrong place. Move around. If there are enough customers in the area supermarkets will label in English and
French (or hadn't you noticed stuff from Canada)
German
Vietnamese (Central Dallas and Parts of Irving)
Chinese
and I am sure others I have missed.
And, by the way, you need to learn English because Should, English, and America should have been capitalized in your question as well as Now, Spanish, and America in your add on.

Answer 3

I would hate to force it because I believe in freedom,I don't think the government should print forms or provide translators for free unless it benefits the people IE; a witness in court for example. If forms or translators are need the person who needs them should pay.some of the immigrants today do not respect our society and culture. It's not that they can't adapt they are unwilling to adapt.We have many year Bosnians in my area they all seem to learn the language quickly,However the Mexicans seem unwilling to learn and they suffer for it. They only get low paying jobs and they will never advance. I am now having to learn Spanish because they are unwilling to learn English.

Answer 4

i think that no matter where you live you should learn the native language. If i was going to live in france i wouldnt expect everyone to start labeling things in english, or when i lived in madagascar i didnt expect to see english all over the place - i learned Malagasy so that I knew what i was doing and everyone else to.
although retailers will continue to put as many languages on things as possible because then they can expand the target market. Which i also happen to think is a good idea and if i was retailing something i also would put it in spanish - that doesnt eliminate customers only adds to them

Answer 5

I know the US is the land of opportunity, yadda yadda yadda...but when the kids bring notices home from school that are in English, Spanish, AND tagalog it's getting to be a bit much.

So, to answer your question, yes. I'd fully expect if I was going to go to another country to live that I would learn the language.

Answer 6

No, this is the United States. "America" is all of North, Central and South America.

Having said that, if I were to move to another country, I would certainly take it upon myself to be able to converse and read in their language. But I have the education and the resources to be able to do this. Not everyone does.

Do they ONLY label things in Spanish? I would have a problem with that. But if you can still read English, you should not find that this impedes your experience.

Since when did including others become such a burden?

Answer 7

In America one could expect to speak English. If immigrants (they should be legal immigrants) want to get a job here and prosper, they should learn our language. The only exception is for our government to fund translators in emergency rooms.

Answer 8

You shouldn't be required to learn it. But you shouldn't expect people to learn your language. If you can miraculously be an upstanding productive citizen without learning it, then more power to you. If you can pass the written citizenship test without learning it, then more power to you. You would really have to try hard at not assimilating to avoid learning at least a dozen important phrases.

Companies do that because they know that Mexicans are shopping there. If they appear to be Spanish speaking friendly, then they will get more business - it's simple marketing.

Answer 9

since america doesnt have an official language, then no. they dont have to learn english, but i think that if i were moving to a new country, id try to learn the predominantly spoken language. america is a melting pot of cultures.

but i think that after this whole immigration bit is delt with, we might just have english as an official languange, which will be nice!

Answer 10

I think that they should. After all, if the non English speakers went anywhere else, they would have to learn the language there, so why not here?