I don't know if any one has seen the news about the up roar over a car dealership and a grocery store running ads in spanish. Actually , to me thats good business sense. We have alot of different cultures in this country and if I were in business, I would want everyones business. When I was in germany, I saw several ads in german AND english. I guess some feel this is America and every thing should only be in english. I don't feel that way. I also don't see what the big deal is about this. It's not like they are going to start doing every thing in a foreign language. In other cities I have lived in , San Fransico ads are in chinese , english, and other languages. New York, also. People need to lighten up and realize , not every one in this country can understand english. YET!
OH, and in my own home town , they are building a KIA plant and signs have been going up in Korean. NO one in my town is raising hell about it. And, I live in a very small southern town in Alabama.

Doesn't any one have a view on this subject?

cricket has a good point... other nations are pretty good about catering to those that speak english. we should be able to meet that same standard without a bunch of whining. most other countries also have a clearly defined national language, or more than one that is accepted as a national language. no biggie, one would think.

if one can bring themselves to appreciate food from a foreign culture, then why not the rest of it? where is the sense in trusting someone with what goes in the belly and being unable to tolerate where it comes from? its like saying 'oh you're good enough to cook for us, but not good enough to eat with us.'

people don't complain that much about eating enchiladas and beef fried rice.

folks (especially americans) need to get used to it because this is just the beginning. why fight it? it will happen despite all resistance. the US is importing every culture (and market) that the world has to bear while exporting its own brand of westernization. ordering a cheeseburger is the same pretty much anywhere you go.

i don't want to hear "press one for english" any more than the next english as a first language individual, but i'm used to it and there is no point in complaining. do something about it or shut up.

personally i don't have issue with seeing foreign languages on american soil. call me a xenophile, but other cultures interest me. american culture has become synonymous with the term "melting pot". that means all inclusive. nothing about it promotes exclusion.

on the other hand... i wouldn't visit a country where i didn't know enough of the language to get around or wasn't willing to learn how to communicate with the locals. i would expect the same from those visiting the US, especially if they plan on staying. here all of the road signs are in english... so if one expects to get around it may help to know a word or two. that may sound contrary, but there should be an even middle ground, a happy medium.

besides... wouldn't it be great to be able to understand all of those colorful insults? (and throw them back...)

I watched on the news this morning that they are now wanting to file a law suit. The rights of the people are going down the drain. Filing a law suit to stop the ads.

If you come to this country, which is a predominantly English-speaking country, you should at least know basic English. Why should I have to learn your language if you want to live here? If I go to other countries, I'm not going to expect everyone to know English. Part of gaining citizenship should be mastering basic English skills. I don't want to hear any of this "Oh, English is too hard to learn!" bullshit. If you have a problem with our predominant language, don't come here.

However, having bilingual advertisments isn't a bad idea.

as far as advertising goes... well its all a bit over the top if you ask me. regardless of language we are all bombarded with unrelenting commercialism and ruthless marketing, two of the ugliest whores to ever walk the strip. that is what is truly offensive. even if you can't read half of the ad its still an eyesore... and some asshole trying sell you something that you don't need or want.

i'd rather do without advertising in any language. at least if its in a language you do not understand it will take up less of your time because you won't pay much attention to it if any at all.

maybe its a little off topic, but... fuck consumerism altogether. that is what we should raise hell about.

And part of your responsibility as citizen of the world is to futher your understanding of the cultures of the beautiful and colorful human race. This can only be done by learning another cultures language such as spanish. I believe it to be very healthy and essential for all people to know 2 to 3 languages. Most people who come to this country from afar do learn english by the way but when talking amongst themselves they choose to use their native language.

The native English speaker faces a quandary, however. That is, which modern language does one choose to learn and why? For non-English speakers, English is the natural choice for them when making the decision as it is more or less a global standard and there is no other language with greater currency. That being so, it is of limited value to learn a foreign language unless one has serious involvement with some particular group who speaks that language, such as might be necessary for work where you are dealing with them day to day or you live in a country where the language is in wide use.

I don't understand this crap, english is about the easiest language to learn on earth and its everywhere, movies, satellite tv, music. But I can't stand how the U.S. changes important names of historical figures just to make the people feel more connected to them, pathetic.

I do not let it bother me much.
I speak only English.
The wife speaks both Spanish & English well.
When her family calls, they always speak in Spanish.
The wife watches one of them Spanish channels.

I think lawsuits against the ads is being foolish.
What real, honest, good do they think, this will bring?
They should leave well enough alone.

English is actually one of the hardest western languages to learn. In fact it is a pretty crappy language all around.

English is a VERY difficult language to learn.

Consider, among the hundreds of difficulties, the game it plays with negative and positive and question formation.

I go to the store. you use the verb (go) plainly. Subject comes first.

I don't go to the store. suddenly, if its negative, you need an auxillary verb (do) in there. We dont say I no go to the store (as you do in most languages).Subject comes first.

Do you go to the store? If its a QUESTION, the subject suddenly doesnt come first, there is an auxillary verb again, and it comes first.

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I agree with AJ though that when people come to a new country they should learn the language of the culture already there. So Im wondering what Native language AJ speaks? Oh. Wait. Odds are overwhelmingly that he doesnt. So what he means is.. "English speakers stole most of this land from non-English speaking people, not just Indians but also Mexicans.. and now we are going to insist you speak our language because we stole this land first!" Please.

You rip Mexico in half in a trumped up war, then insist people coing to an area that until fairly recently was in their cultural area speak "your" language? Please. America has no official language. Deal. People will learn English if they want to be successful, but in the transition phase of course they wont.

Regarding advertising.. I am afraid this reflects rather poorly on Alabama. Every city Ive been to in the US Ive always seen bilingual advertising of some type (Chinese, Navajo, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portugese, Arabic...). Whoever filed the law suit will lose. I doubt it will even get to court.

any language can be learned rapidly if you live among and interact with the native speakers on a daily basis. At my school all the foreigners learned english very quickly, obviously there is some grammatical errors, but they can be easily understood. Whats more is a lot of the americans kids have learned to speak a decent amount of spanish and bosnian because there is alot of hispanics and bosnians at our school.

There are places in america,southern texas, miami, LA, Chinatown, maybe some reservations (vetamur?) where you will be hard pressed to find english speakers.


BTW i got to agree with vet. all due respects but this is the white mans country only through theivery and a complete lack of respect for other cultures so demanding anything of hispanics, native americans, or whoever is ridiculous.

First of all, my ancestors didn't come to America until the 1920's. The Italians had no part in the land grab from Mexico.

The US took the land in the 1800's. It is now 2007, going on 2008. Since it's a bit too late to give them their land back (But they're doing that through "Reconquista"), they should at least make the effort to learn the English language if they're coming into what is now the US. English is the primary language here. Most people you deal with will speak this language. Wouldn't it be common sense to at least learn basic English?

And I am in no way supporting their land being stolen.

im sorry but alot of illegal immagrats that come to america from mexico buy fake identitys and get on welfare and still dont speak english, if they want to get into america so bad.....learn english its as simple as that......

No, the Italians had no part in the land grab.. but they sure didnt mine joining in the benefits of the previous thievery.

Indian land was being stolen at a prodigous rate all the way through the early 1960s (not 1860s..1960s). Among subjects you will want to Google on that subject is The Policy of Termination (that is the actual name of the US government policy in the 1930s and 1940s to get rid of Indian Reservations). The reservation I grew up on had land "temporarily" taken away during WWII for bombing practice. The war ended in 1945 and we havent been given it back yet.

And the point isnt that the land should be given back (how dare people insist the US follow its CONSTITUTION!!). The point is the US invaded lands of non-English speaker, and NOW many Americans turn around and have the audacity to say things like "When people are new to a land they should learn the language of the people already there!". But Texans, Nevadans, etc dont learn Spanish (the first Western nation which owned those areas was Spain then Mexico), and Ive only every met a handful of non-Natives who spoke an Indian language. Hypocracy. Blatant.

a believe a famous man once said "democracy is hypocrisy"