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Restaurant wins challenge over 'speak English' signs

#82
john turner said:
not nearly as off-putting as the majority of the population of paris. try ordering something there in english. lol :)
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must be (I am assuming here) your drawl, John.


I have been a regular business traveller to Paris since 2000, have visited many smaller towns on the southern part of wine country, speak no French, and never have difficulties conversing with the local population.

all the best,

R
 
#86
Having traveled a little in Brazil, I was shocked at the percentage of Brazilians that knew English very fluently. About everyone who has received a HS education has learned English as a second language and certainly were far more fluent then my Portuguese. I have heard in Japan a HS education requires English classes and a vast majority are bilingual. I do think it's sad that learning a second language isn't required in American HS. Of course, there is the old joke:
What do you call someone who knows three languages? Trilingual
What do you call someone who knows two languages? Bilingual
What do you call someone who knows one language? American:)

OTOH, I think it is height of arrogance for anyone to immigrate to a country and DEMAND accommodation on language. Especially when it comes to official business. To request accommodation is OK to demand it is presumption.
 
#87
Rodent said:
I have been a regular business traveller to Paris since 2000, have visited many smaller towns on the southern part of wine country, speak no French, and never have difficulties conversing with the local population.

all the best,

R
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I've been there a few times and have never had issues in the smaller towns. I did get a little flack when trying to speak French in Paris....a disgusted look. I got the same in Monte Carlo (yes, it's not France). In both of those cities I felt a definite undercurrent of arrogance and snobbery. In other countries, especially Mexico, they seem to universally like it when you attempt to speak the native tongue.
 
#88
at my job, clients will sometimes request an english speaker after speaking with me. funny thing is, i am a native english speaker (of the queen's english), i've been a language specialist, and i've taught ESL. :D so, grains of salt and all that...

i'm goin to be in philly next week...i guess i won't be goin to this landmark.
 
#89
Whenever we vacation in Mexico, I try to make an effort to speak Spanish, even though I am not fluent. Whenever I shop here in Texas, I see many, many "Undocumented Workers" in stores. When they start jibber-jabbering away in only Spanish, it irks me. I usually say "Ingles, por favor!" and one of two things happens- they either suddenly remember how to speak English, or they get a snotty, arrogant attitude, and start up the machine-gun rapido-fire Spanish. I guess they think that if they overtly refuse to speak English, we'll suddenly start speaking Spanish.

It's the ones who start yammering away at 90 mph, angry at us for not speaking their language that really make me mad. I know enough Spanish that I'd try to help them, if they made an effort to speak English AT ALL. If they get mad, I revert to my "Peggy Hill"-style of Texican Spanglish, complete with mispronunciation and a THICK East Texas accent.

The thing is, I do try to speak their language enough to get by. They don't, and they don't WANT to. They are having everything handed to them on a silver platter, but still refuse to learn. So the onus is on US to learn their language, and to do it NOW.

I feel that if they are in their own home, not trying to communicate with ME, they can speak whatever language they want to. If they are more comfortable en Espanol, more power to em. But if you're out and about trying to communicate with Americans, use the language of the land, the language of international commerce, English. I could care less if they speak Spanish to each other. You're placing an order in a restaurant, there is no law that specifies what language to speak, but use common sense. If you haven't any common sense, perhaps you can find some in a museum someplace...

If you're trying for the "Reconquista" thing because you believe that the US "stole your land", I refer you to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848, ending the Mexican-American War and ceding Texas to the USA. It's in something called a history book. They keep those in libraries...
 
#92
Bassic83 said:
Whenever we vacation in Mexico, I try to make an effort to speak Spanish, even though I am not fluent. Whenever I shop here in Texas, I see many, many "Undocumented Workers" in stores. When they start jibber-jabbering away in only Spanish, it irks me. I usually say "Ingles, por favor!" and one of two things happens- they either suddenly remember how to speak English, or they get a snotty, arrogant attitude, and start up the machine-gun rapido-fire Spanish. I guess they think that if they overtly refuse to speak English, we'll suddenly start speaking Spanish.

It's the ones who start yammering away at 90 mph, angry at us for not speaking their language that really make me mad. I know enough Spanish that I'd try to help them, if they made an effort to speak English AT ALL. If they get mad, I revert to my "Peggy Hill"-style of Texican Spanglish, complete with mispronunciation and a THICK East Texas accent.

The thing is, I do try to speak their language enough to get by. They don't, and they don't WANT to. They are having everything handed to them on a silver platter, but still refuse to learn. So the onus is on US to learn their language, and to do it NOW.

I feel that if they are in their own home, not trying to communicate with ME, they can speak whatever language they want to. If they are more comfortable en Espanol, more power to em. But if you're out and about trying to communicate with Americans, use the language of the land, the language of international commerce, English. I could care less if they speak Spanish to each other. You're placing an order in a restaurant, there is no law that specifies what language to speak, but use common sense. If you haven't any common sense, perhaps you can find some in a museum someplace...

If you're trying for the "Reconquista" thing because you believe that the US "stole your land", I refer you to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848, ending the Mexican-American War and ceding Texas to the USA. It's in something called a history book. They keep those in libraries...
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there you go again eric making perfet sense. where do you expect to get in life making sense. silly bass player :rollno::D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
 
#96
jrthebassguy said:
There's a Cadillac B&G here in the Houston area too....it's pretty good, but slightly overpriced. There's some amazing Mexican food here in Tx.
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My favorite place to eat in Texas is Roadrunners Grill in Corpus Cristi and Chico's in El Paso. Also I ate some really great mexican food in San Antonio, forgot exactly where it was though.

Tex Mex is pretty good. New Mexico Mexican food is great as well. Thing to understand is that every region from Mexico has it's own "brand" of Mexican food. Every region in the U.S. has it's own style as well. I think I dig Southern California the best though!
 
#97
Mark Latimour said:
Source: Invalid Link Removed

Well, I found it amusing! :)
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i'm confused.

sooo, foreign tourists are going up to the window and ordering in french? german? gaelic? that's the only reason why i can think of why someone would put a sign like that.

unless, joey doesnt like heavy accents which is pretty ignorant, not to mention arrogant considering how heavy his south philly accent is. besides, pretty obvious he isnt happy w/ all the asian and latin immigrants that have since moved into the historically italian american neighborhood.

and frankly, i dont know many people if at all that would rather eat at geno's than go across the street to pat's. any saturday night @ 3am will show that. but like it was said before, "any pub is good pub"? besides, if you're smart, you'll spend your hard earned at sarcone's or john's roast pork.

btw, funny how this story never showed up on the inquirer's website. guess they know what's newsworthy and what is not. but leave it to the good ol' daily news to go indepth:

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but hey, even mr. vento does have the constitutional right to speak his mind, no matter how xenophobic it may seem.
 
#98
Vento said that he was disturbed only by "illegals," who were taking jobs from Americans.

immigrant.gif


Source: http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=walmart
 
#100
I agree with the poster that it is a silly sign and a silly complaint. I don't know which is sillier & it doesn't matter. What ever happened to the golden rule? Even if you are not religious, it's a decent yardstick for your behavior. Some of the comments in this thread do not "measure up" to that standard. There are many persons present in the United States legally (tourists, permanant residents, citizens) whose English could use improvement. That may cause you irritation, but my advise is get over your own self importance issues and learn to live with it.
 

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