"Most Americans Don't Like Speaking Spanish."

[panamania79 2]

I went to a new barber today - a Latina immigrant who struggled with English. She was amazed that I didn't mind speaking Spanish with her. "Most Americans don't like to hear, let alone speak Spanish!" she told me while she cut my hair. I hear this all of the time.

What are your opinions on this comment?

Most Americans don't like speaking anything else.I always run into this when I go to the cell phone place and speak my broken French to the owner.He says the same thing.

On the same token,I get very annoyed at people like my ex-best friend who are here for 25 friggin' years and refuse to learn English.And if anyone dares to suggest he learn English,he calls them a racist !

[Ban Hammer 12,899]

On the same token,I get very annoyed at people like my ex-best friend who are here for 25 friggin' years and refuse to learn English.And if anyone dares to suggest he learn English,he calls them a racist !

i've run into a guy that has been here as long and can't even carry on a conversation in english. 1986 amnesty winner too.......

[panamania79 2]

On the same token,I get very annoyed at people like my ex-best friend who are here for 25 friggin' years and refuse to learn English.And if anyone dares to suggest he learn English,he calls them a racist !

i've run into a guy that has been here as long and can't even carry on a conversation in english. 1986 amnesty winner too.......

OMG ! My ex-best friend is an 1986 amnesty winner also.Are we talking about the same dude by any chance ?

[Ban Hammer 12,899]

On the same token,I get very annoyed at people like my ex-best friend who are here for 25 friggin' years and refuse to learn English.And if anyone dares to suggest he learn English,he calls them a racist !

i've run into a guy that has been here as long and can't even carry on a conversation in english. 1986 amnesty winner too.......

OMG ! My ex-best friend is an 1986 amnesty winner also.Are we talking about the same dude by any chance ?

not unless he lives in texas.

[jundp 191]

I love speaking and hearing Spanish. I especially love that because I'm the super white girl with the reddish hair, no one expects me to understand anything in Spanish

Seriously, I don't have a problem with any other language being spoken around me, not even if people in a store speak it. However, I do have a problem with people living in the US and not making ANY attempt to speak/learn English. Especially if they are WORKING in a store. Call me a racist if you wish, but were I to go to Germany and try to get a job, I would be expected to speak German.

[childress_london 3]

I don't speak Spanish, so if you want to communicate with me, it needs to be in English. However, I don't care what language you use to speak to someone else. That's your business.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

I'm speak Spanish fluently and take every opportunity to do so. My kids are often mistaken for Hispanics, but only the two oldest speak the language, because we used to live in South America. People do get angry with the younger ones who don't speak it because they assume they should. No one assumes I should, so when i do, there is such a look of surprise tat is so amusing. I remember one time I was at hammam with my MIL, and a Moroccan woman started speaking Spanish. I responded, and we lapsed into a spirited conversation. My MIL's mouth dropped to the floor! It was so funny!

I speak 4 languages everyday at work, and find my English is only getting worse

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I'm speak Spanish fluently and take every opportunity to do so. My kids are often mistaken for Hispanics, but only the two oldest speak the language, because we used to live in South America. People do get angry with the younger ones who don't speak it because they assume they should. No one assumes I should, so when i do, there is such a look of surprise tat is so amusing. I remember one time I was at hammam with my MIL, and a Moroccan woman started speaking Spanish. I responded, and we lapsed into a spirited conversation. My MIL's mouth dropped to the floor! It was so funny!

I speak 4 languages everyday at work, and find my English is only getting worse

tu es muy caliente.

[msu17 0]

I unfortunately have lost most of my spanish and really can't understand much anymore (can't wait till I have the time to fix that...). I absolutely don't mind people speaking in another language around me, but if I am going into a store in the US I expect to speak English and have what I say be minimally understood and to be greeted in English. When I got to a non-english speaking country I try to know the minimum please/thank you/hi kinda stuff so I expect someone living and working here to be able to do at least a bit better than that.

And Sophyyia, where did you get the time to learn 4 languages???? SO jealous!

Edited June 18, 2009 by msu17

[Ladylethal 12]

I'm speak Spanish fluently and take every opportunity to do so. My kids are often mistaken for Hispanics, but only the two oldest speak the language, because we used to live in South America. People do get angry with the younger ones who don't speak it because they assume they should. No one assumes I should, so when i do, there is such a look of surprise tat is so amusing. I remember one time I was at hammam with my MIL, and a Moroccan woman started speaking Spanish. I responded, and we lapsed into a spirited conversation. My MIL's mouth dropped to the floor! It was so funny!

I speak 4 languages everyday at work, and find my English is only getting worse

tu es muy caliente.

..eres...

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I'm speak Spanish fluently and take every opportunity to do so. My kids are often mistaken for Hispanics, but only the two oldest speak the language, because we used to live in South America. People do get angry with the younger ones who don't speak it because they assume they should. No one assumes I should, so when i do, there is such a look of surprise tat is so amusing. I remember one time I was at hammam with my MIL, and a Moroccan woman started speaking Spanish. I responded, and we lapsed into a spirited conversation. My MIL's mouth dropped to the floor! It was so funny!

I speak 4 languages everyday at work, and find my English is only getting worse

tu es muy caliente.

..eres...

there goes my Spanglish.

[almaty 19]

i use to speak Spanish..not well..but enjoyed it and still do

[Nessa 23]

nobody thinks i'm latina, because i have fair skin and light eyes, so they keep assuming i'm german and when i say i'm brazilian sometimes people talk to me in spanish lol. it used to piss me off, but when i think about now, I don't know all languages spoken in all countries, do why should i expect them to know that.

[Ban Hammer 12,899]

I'm speak Spanish fluently and take every opportunity to do so. My kids are often mistaken for Hispanics, but only the two oldest speak the language, because we used to live in South America. People do get angry with the younger ones who don't speak it because they assume they should. No one assumes I should, so when i do, there is such a look of surprise tat is so amusing. I remember one time I was at hammam with my MIL, and a Moroccan woman started speaking Spanish. I responded, and we lapsed into a spirited conversation. My MIL's mouth dropped to the floor! It was so funny!

I speak 4 languages everyday at work, and find my English is only getting worse

tu es muy caliente.

get in line, i saw her first!

[scandal 951]

Not exactly on topic, but this is "Off Topic", so here goes.

Israel has a very large Russian population. Most of them came in the early 1990s right after the fall of the Soviet Union when they could finally travel freely. There are about 1 million of them in Israel, and there are occassional heated exchanges between Russians and "native" Hebrew speakers who resent the influx of Russian speaking people, signs, radio, newspapers, etc. For the most part they are assimilating though and speak Hebrew, especially the younger ones.

However, enterprising businesses are always looking for opportunities, so they cater to this large demographic with things like dedicated all-Russian cable TV channels (like Telemundo etc. here do for the Latino community).

My last name is Russian in origin, since my grandfather left Russia in the 1920s. I've never been there, don't speak a word other than "da" and "nyet".

But somehow my last name showed up in the cable marketers sights as an obvious Russian. For years living there I was getting regular junk mail entirely in Russian inviting me to subscribe to their Russian TV packages. Needless to say, not being able to read a word, they got tossed out even faster than the regular Hebrew junk mail which at least got glanced at.