'Speak English' Signs OK at Philly Shop

[katyowns]

I was impressed at how many people spoke English in Denmark and Holland - sometimes as well as, or better than, many Americans. If they can do it, in their own country, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask our own citizens to be able to speak the language of English in the United States.

Saying this only shows me how much we can learn from Europe. Most speak 2 or more languages. I feel like the statement you made up there proves that maybe WE are the ones that need to learn other languages, not exclude them, because as you just said, they do so in Holland and Denmark. We should be more like them, well educated and able to speak to foreigners in their native tongue.



I think we need to get our thumbs out of our butts and realize the world doesn't revolve around America anymore. The EU's Gross Domestic Product passed ours for the 1st time last week, and the euro is gonna hit 2 for $1 in the near future. We Americans are too fucking proud sometimes, and lazy it seems. I think the surge of bloated patriotism since 9/11 has done more worse than good. So many people could care fucking less about the rest of the world.

Sorry if that seemed rantish, I just hate the new form of naive nationalism in this country.

[Mr. Clandestine]

We should be more like them, well educated and able to speak to foreigners in their native tongue.

It's also worth mentioning that in many countries throughout Europe, a lot of people make frequent visits to other countries for business or leisure... and may have more incentive to learn due to their proximity with countries that have different languages than their own. Though, I'm willing to bet that someone who decides to permanently move from Germany to France will probably take the time to learn how to speak French before they go, or while they're there. They don't piss and moan and attempt to get the whole of France to up and speak German. It's a common courtesy to learn the language of the country you decide to move to, even if you only speak that language in certain places.

[Breukelen advocaat]

Saying this only shows me how much we can learn from Europe. Most speak 2 or more languages. I feel like the statement you made up there proves that maybe WE are the ones that need to learn other languages, not exclude them, because as you just said, they do so in Holland and Denmark. We should be more like them, well educated and able to speak to foreigners in their native tongue.

I think we need to get our thumbs out of our butts and realize the world doesn't revolve around America anymore. The EU's Gross Domestic Product passed ours for the 1st time last week, and the euro is gonna hit 2 for $1 in the near future. We Americans are too fucking proud sometimes, and lazy it seems. I think the surge of bloated patriotism since 9/11 has done more worse than good. So many people could care fucking less about the rest of the world.

Sorry if that seemed rantish, I just hate the new form of naive nationalism in this country.

Did I just hear somebody say that Americans are "lazy"?

Maybe working Americans are too busy working 48 hours a week on the average, while Europeans work less, get five weeks vacation, more holidays, much earlier retirement packages, cradle to grave health benefits, and other perks. In addition, there's all the foreign aid that our taxes and charitable donations go to. This money comes from labor, which leaves many people with little free time to take language courses or dabble with online computer methods.

The New York newspaper El Diario, in Spanish, is written for people with a sixth grade reading level. So if they also have a fourth grade reading level of English, does that make them better than most of us because they are bilingual?

We saved Europe from Fascism, Communism, and now WE are the ones that are reviled. We're STILL protecting their asses. It's about time we started taking care of our own.

We used to have the best manufacturing and capital-rasing system in the world. That's what we should strive to bring back to the United States. Unfortunatley, greed and other factors are ruining it - but it's not "everybodys" fault.

[katyowns]

Did I just hear somebody say that Americans are "lazy"?

Maybe working Americans are too busy working 48 hours a week on the average, while Europeans work less, get five weeks vacation, more holidays, much earlier retirement packages, cradle to grave health benefits, and other perks. In addition, there's all the foreign aid that our taxes and charitable donations go to. This money comes from labor, which leaves many people with little free time to take language courses or dabble with online computer methods.

The New York newspaper El Diario, in Spanish, is written for people with a sixth grade reading level. So if they also have a fourth grade reading level of English, does that make them better than most of us because they are bilingual?

We saved Europe from Fascism, Communism, and now WE are the ones that are reviled. We're STILL protecting their asses. It's about time we started taking care of our own.

We used to have the best manufacturing and capital-rasing system in the world. That's what we should strive to bring back to the United States. Unfortunatley, greed and other factors are ruining it - but it's not "everybodys" fault.

Yes, we're quite lazy when it comes to learning other languages, I never commented on their work ethic. You seem to have said a whole lot of nothing in your reply to be honest, and put many words into my mouth. If the rest of the world see's us in a bad light, maybe thats a hint we should re-evaluate our habits?

[yokinazu]

i lived in germany for 2 years and even tho most people their speak english i made the effort to learn german. i have 2 neices who live in germany and their school is taught in german. not english to accomadate them.

most people in europe yes they are bilingual, french/english, german/english, danish/english. see a pattern here. they are not learning to speak 2 languages because they want to, they are learnig because after WW II the US and england set up the world so that all commerce would be conducted in english. you do find the occasional person who speaks french/german. but it is still mandatory they learn english in school.

what we need is to make english our official language then make it mandatory that in ordor to become an american citezen you have a working knowlage of our language. and a 4th grade grasp would more than likly be sufficiant to communicate in out country effectivly

[8182KSKUSH]

Thank god a victory for common sense! Good for that guy for sticking to his guns! When you are right you are right.:thumbsup: