...and yet in my anecdotal experience, that comes up a *lot* when people flip out about immigrants speaking their native language. "If they weren't talking about me, they'd speak English..."
LOL, because there's absolutely no reason to speak any other language. Certainly not because you can actually communicate quickly and easily in your first language, and you have, y'know, work to do.
I was a barista for a small business one summer, and we worked with a guy from Venezuela. He could speak English but pretty slowly and had a hard time understanding it, especially with all the noise. I'm bilingual in Spanish and English, and at first the boss asked us to speak only in English (he thought it looked unprofessional to speak in Spanish). That lasted all of three days - we wasted so much time trying to speak slowly and clearly and repeat everything three or four times that the boss asked us to go back to Spanish.
To which my response is, "You think they don't have anything in their lives to talk about but YOU? Conceited much?"
Actually, this strikes me as the same class of argument as, "If you're worried about the government invading your privacy, it must be because you have something to hide."
My thought precisely. It says a lot about him that he didn't seem to think that him learning Spanish was any part of the solution. Heck, if I were in his situation, I don't think I'd try for fluency; I think I'd just try to get a basic vocabulary together ... and I'd find someone who could fill me in on the most common insult words. Then I'd practice. If he's really worried about employees being sneaky around him in Spanish, he could probably get away with mastering a few good boss-to-employee type phrases to use.
The story states that he lived in Texas for 24 years. Dude, learn Spanish! At least enough to convey basic information and recognize the gist of a conversation.
I work in the construction industry, and there are several variants on "Spanish for Contractors" out there. Teaches basic phrases and grammar so you can communicate with the large number of immigrants who work in the field. I've thought about getting one myself.
That being said we have two Russian speakers in our warehouse. They take obvious delight in talking about you in Russian right in front of you. All in fun, and I keep threatening to learn Russian just so I can join in.
I believe it. I've known several people in the construction industry here in Texas (roofers and electricians, for the most part), and they all knew at least a little bit of Spanish. Mostly for the purpose of casual conversation with their co-workers, as far as I know, but I can't imagine any of them actively refusing to learn more if they needed to. If nothing else, it would mean they'd be able to give orders in their employees' native language, which can help cut down on miscommunication. Time is money, after all.
It says a lot about him that he didn't seem to think that him learning Spanish was any part of the solution.
That's white privilege pure and simple. Why should HE have to learn peon language, it's up to THEM to learn HIS! I'll bet you a dinner that he also hates bilingual signs and is one of the "English-only" types.
I live in Texas. If I were a manager of a business, you'd better believe I'd be taking a course in conversational Spanish! But that's because I see people who speak Spanish as people, not one-step-up-from-slaves droids.
Right there with you. I'm a Texan myself, and while I don't have any professional incentive to learn Spanish right now, I've picked up the odd phrase here and there, thanks in part to the bilingual signs we have all over the greater Austin area and my (distant and rudimentary) elementary school lessons. If I were a manager of Spanish-speaking employees, I'd consider that a professional incentive to learn: not so much because I was afraid about what they might say about me, but because it would make my job easier.
(As it is, I've had professional incentive to stay fairly brushed up on German, and on dealing with words deriving from Latin and Greek. Being an English chauvinist would hurt me in a big way.)
I live in Texas as well. And I have no interest or need to learn a foreign language in my own home country. Anyone wanting to do business with me will need to speak English or see what I'm pointing at with my laser pointer. I'm very talented with math and science. But unfortunately, my brain's capacity for language is limited to one. There's a funny story about my getting thrown out of a spanish class for theorizing what made some words masculine instead of feminine...
I don't go to Mexico and demand everyone speak English to suit me. I expect the exact same courtesy in kind when people come here. Anything else is nothing more than the same thing the Hotel guy is doing - coming in from out of town and expecting everyone else to bend over backwards to suit him. Sorry, but I and the English language were here first.
Other folks wanna speak their own tongue? Fine with me. Why should I care? But getting all ticked off at me for not understanding what you are saying when you come to MY country and not learn the language? Homey don't play dat.
They weren't getting ticked. Their bullet-brained boss just wanted to impose white supremacy on his employees (very likely one of those "Texas secede" people, cause he's such a good patriotic American).
Only in America is it considered a virtue to only know one language --everywhere else in the world it's considered idiocy.
Wasn't Texas a Spanish-speaking Mexican land FIRST? So, yeah, Homey -- too bad you can't speak the correct native tongue of your state.
Local elementary school in my town had to do just that. The hispanic kids -were- using Spanish to insult and bully other kids, around adults that didn't speak it. When they got teachers in who did understand it and cought them, their parents threw a fit that their darlings would never do such a thing. No one ever complained before! Sued the school and lost over it, because the nuns banned Spanish outside of Spanish class in the building. I know just enough spanish to get me in trouble (mostly just the insults and the numbers) and have seen that happen around our school. The kids smile oh so sweetly, while calling another teen girl puta and such.
I'm certain, of course, that the school's policy of requiring students to bully their targets in English only has eliminated any instances of same, and even if it hasn't the parents have stopped throwing fits if their poor innocent darlings are punished for adhering to the new requirements.
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I was a barista for a small business one summer, and we worked with a guy from Venezuela. He could speak English but pretty slowly and had a hard time understanding it, especially with all the noise. I'm bilingual in Spanish and English, and at first the boss asked us to speak only in English (he thought it looked unprofessional to speak in Spanish). That lasted all of three days - we wasted so much time trying to speak slowly and clearly and repeat everything three or four times that the boss asked us to go back to Spanish.
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Actually, this strikes me as the same class of argument as, "If you're worried about the government invading your privacy, it must be because you have something to hide."
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I work in the construction industry, and there are several variants on "Spanish for Contractors" out there. Teaches basic phrases and grammar so you can communicate with the large number of immigrants who work in the field. I've thought about getting one myself.
That being said we have two Russian speakers in our warehouse. They take obvious delight in talking about you in Russian right in front of you. All in fun, and I keep threatening to learn Russian just so I can join in.
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That's white privilege pure and simple. Why should HE have to learn peon language, it's up to THEM to learn HIS! I'll bet you a dinner that he also hates bilingual signs and is one of the "English-only" types.
I live in Texas. If I were a manager of a business, you'd better believe I'd be taking a course in conversational Spanish! But that's because I see people who speak Spanish as people, not one-step-up-from-slaves droids.
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(As it is, I've had professional incentive to stay fairly brushed up on German, and on dealing with words deriving from Latin and Greek. Being an English chauvinist would hurt me in a big way.)
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I don't go to Mexico and demand everyone speak English to suit me. I expect the exact same courtesy in kind when people come here. Anything else is nothing more than the same thing the Hotel guy is doing - coming in from out of town and expecting everyone else to bend over backwards to suit him. Sorry, but I and the English language were here first.
Other folks wanna speak their own tongue? Fine with me. Why should I care? But getting all ticked off at me for not understanding what you are saying when you come to MY country and not learn the language? Homey don't play dat.
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Only in America is it considered a virtue to only know one language --everywhere else in the world it's considered idiocy.
Wasn't Texas a Spanish-speaking Mexican land FIRST? So, yeah, Homey -- too bad you can't speak the correct native tongue of your state.
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I would not be at all surprised if the first such language weren't spoken anywhere now.
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Oh, and no, neither you nor the English language were here first, so saying that just makes you look like an idiot.
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Oh, and at the founding "your" country had two major languages, German and English.
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