How much do you really hold it against Americans that only speak English?

[Lord O' Bones]

When I was younger, I tried to learn the Japanese language, but when I arrived in Japan, so many spoke english anyway and either laughed at or appreciated (or both) my attempts.

How important is that effort? How important is the ability?

[MinDonner]

Same for Brits, really; we have a well-deserved reputation for being crap and lazy about learning other languages. I feel terrible if I go to a country and haven't bothered to learn a bit of the language; the indulgence of the locals in helping me out with their excellent English is shaming. :blush:

[kungtotte]

I think the effort is more important than the ability, shows that people at least care about not being bilingual. It's OK when Americans can't speak my language (because really, we're a nation of nine million people), but some Americans I've met act like it's the responsibility of the world to learn English so that Americans don't have to learn any other languages and that irks me.

Whenever I've traveled in the world I've made an effort to pick up some of the very basics of the language(s) spoken where I'm going. Like super-simple stuff, hello, good-bye, thank you, can you speak English, that sort of thing. Just that last one makes a huge difference in how people will view you.

If you walk up to someone and say "Excuse me, do you speak English?" you're making the assumption that they know English already. If you walk up to them and say "Ursäkta, talar du Engelska?" (Swedish), or "Untschuldigung, sprechen Sie Englisch?" (German), or "Perdone, usted habla Inglés?" (Spanish), you don't put any kind of onus on them knowing your language, which means you seem much cooler.

Of course when I was in Spain, I ended up speaking English with everybody, and they all replied in Spanish. Worked out fantastically, no misunderstandings at all :)

[S John]

America is so vast that you can (and many people do) live and die without leaving its borders. Geographically, we are pretty isolated from exposure to other languages save Spanish in some regions of the country and small pockets of French.

So.. I would say that there really isn't a great need for 90% of Americans to know any other language but English, and I think that is why you don't see much emphasis on it in our school system. Unless you are an academic, a diplomat, a spy, in international business, etc, you are probably not going to come across many situations that require knowledge of a foreign language. Also I think its important to note that if there is anything approaching an international language, its probably English.

That said, I personally would love to know a foreign language. Especially Spanish or Arabic. And, I think its advisable to learn as many common / basic phrases as you can before visiting another place. Even if you don't come anywhere near competence in the language I think the locals appreciate the effort in most cases. I guess its the polite thing to do, at least.

I remember before I visited the UK I learned how to say, 'capital, old bean!' and I made sure to watch a lot of Speedy Gonzales re-runs before my trip to Mexico.

[Datepalm]

Hold against? Not really, any individual american is mostly not to blame. To be honest, the languages I know I learned through lucky immigration, not any personal talent and effort. Languages I actually sat down to learn I sucked at (fingers crossed on the current learning arabic project which is going okaish atm). As tourists, its a question of manner - a few words are a nice effort, but it takes that oblivious, loud ,"oh why don't they speak english" to really be annoying, and I think that may be something of a stereotype more than a reality. I find plenty of other things to be annoyed at tourist by, but linguistic superiority isn't necessarily one of them. Most people seem properly abashed at not knowing the language.

[Brude]

A century and a half of British Empire followed directly by 3/4 of a century of American Empire will do that. Before that everyone learned French or Spanish and before that...Latin, I guess. I'm sure when Egypt was dominant, everyone in the region learned Egyptian.

[mashiara]

I think the effort is more important than the ability, shows that people at least care about not being bilingual. It's OK when Americans can't speak my language (because really, we're a nation of nine million people), but some Americans I've met act like it's the responsibility of the world to learn English so that Americans don't have to learn any other languages and that irks me.

That's exactly what I wanted to say. Making an effort is what matters most. My language is hard to learn and pronounce, I don't expect people to know it but I do appreciate it when they are visiting for a few days and they are at least learning some simple words. I did the same when I was in Italy, I would do the same were I to visit any other country.

I don't really hold it against Americans -or Brits- that they often don't speak any other language than theirs. It's the assumption that everyone else must speak English that bothers me.

[Guest Ro_]

I think most Americans are downright afraid of 'foreign languages'. A huge cry of the bigot crowd is that all immigrants should learn English, or even not be allowed to legally immigrate until they speak English. And not just English, but American (fuck yeah).

I know I had a far better time in Mexico because I spoke passable Spanish. I got better prices and service and was able to have more fun with locals (new friends!!).

Americans should be better about learning languages. Its a national embarrassment.

[Seventh Pup]

When I went to France I thought I spoke some French. (Turns out my accent is so horrible they couldn't understand a word coming out of my mouth, and they spoke to fast for me to catch more then an odd word or two.) Still I tried, and I think as a result I very rarely came across the rude French sterotype. In all a little effort goes a long way.

[Ser_not_appearing_yet]

My cousin learnt Mandarin before moving to China for a year, and he was infuriated by the fact that everyone immediately spoke to him in english. They all assumed a big white guy would have no clue about mandarin.

[Nous]

I don't really have a problem with Americans not speaking foreign languages, in general. For most of them, learning foreign languages would be waste of time. English is the closest thing to universal language there is. That doesn't mean that people living in foreign countries shouldn't take time to learn the local language.

I think most Americans are downright afraid of 'foreign languages'. A huge cry of the bigot crowd is that all immigrants should learn English, [...]

Isn't that just common sense? If I immigrated, I certainly would take effort to learn the language of whatever country I immigrated to.

[Lightning Lord]

When I went to France I thought I spoke some French. (Turns out my accent is so horrible they couldn't understand a word coming out of my mouth, and they spoke to fast for me to catch more then an odd word or two.) Still I tried, and I think as a result I very rarely came across the rude French sterotype. In all a little effort goes a long way.

I had the same experience. I'd heard that Parisians were very rude, but my two trips there were incredibly pleasant, possibly because I at least tried French first. Even if the second sentence was almost always "Je ne comprend pas" :ohwell:

I do dislike the indifferent attitude towards foreign languages many English speakers adopt. I lucked out to be born learning the international language of the day, but I still try to learn how to converse in local languages.

I think Americans should have to learn Spanish in school and that a third language should be an elective.

[Errant Bard]

To repeat what has been already said, from a "local" perspective, I don't hold it against anyone that they only speak their language, I hold it against them that they assume I should be speaking theirs. And attitudes like this are 100% carried by non-verbal clues, those are quite universal.

[Slick Mongoose]

I see American tourists around here all the time, and they never even try to speak anything but English. :rolleyes:

[sologdin]

lotsa tourists come to new orleans from the united states. they are nearly universally monolingual, though, sometimes, they take a phrase book out of their fanny packs.

[Marshall Banana]

what always strikes me as kind of very wierd with "da 'merikans" is that if you ask them where they are from they don't say "the usa" or "teh us" or alike, but ALWAYS "from california" or "from texas" (or whatever fits) like all the world just needs to know all the states of the usa (i mean, many do, but anyways)...

so now i just downright answer alike and say "i am from hessen" (always earns me a very puzzled look)

am i a douchebag?

[zollo]

what always strikes me as kind of very wierd with "da 'merikans" is that if you ask them where they are from they don't say "the usa" or "teh us" or alike, but ALWAYS "from california" or "from texas" (or whatever fits) like all the world just needs to know all the states of the usa (i mean, many do, but anyways)...

so now i just downright answer alike and say "i am from hessen" (always earns me a very puzzled look)

am i a douchebag?

Hessen is a black hole, that is all. :P

[Errant Bard]

am i a douchebag?

You are an indigene, they are just surprised that you can speak.

[MercenaryChef]

I think most Americans are downright afraid of 'foreign languages'. A huge cry of the bigot crowd is that all immigrants should learn English, or even not be allowed to legally immigrate until they speak English. And not just English, but American (fuck yeah).

I know I had a far better time in Mexico because I spoke passable Spanish. I got better prices and service and was able to have more fun with locals (new friends!!).

Americans should be better about learning languages. Its a national embarrassment.

honestly? a national embarrassment because we are fluent in our national language and not as bilingual as most europeans? let us look at if logically. as john mentioned we have a very large country. a whole lot of people will never ever leave it. so, if i know i am never ever leaving the country how am i an embarrassment because i do not speak spanish, japanese, or any other language?

yes, we have a lot of immigrants from other nations. i love them. they bring us interesting food to eat, bolster our workforce and expand the cultural base of america. however, since they moved here it is up to them to be able to learn to communicate with me, not i with them. it is the responsibility of them to be able to get along in their new nation, we should not be adapting to them.

*i actually do speak spanish and it is invaluable in working in a kitchen with various hispanic peoples

[Guest Ro_]

what always strikes me as kind of very wierd with "da 'merikans" is that if you ask them where they are from they don't say "the usa" or "teh us" or alike, but ALWAYS "from california" or "from texas" (or whatever fits) like all the world just needs to know all the states of the usa (i mean, many do, but anyways)...

so now i just downright answer alike and say "i am from hessen" (always earns me a very puzzled look)

am i a douchebag?

Well, compare the size of the States vs one European country. Or even ALL the European countries. If someone asked you where you are from, you don't say Europe, right? Its our way of trying to be specific.

And yeah, you should learn the language of the country you are going to live in, however a great many of our ancestors didn't learn English once they got here. Shit, in some towns here in Minnesota, the older folks *still* don't speak English, but use German/Sweden/Dutch.