Went to Social Security office in Texas and didn't hear English spoken for 30 minutes

My words will probably be wasted here, but what the hell.... I have something to say about it. I moved from Eastern Europe and ended up in Germany. First thing my family did was to learn to speak German. After two years living in Germany we spoke fluently... and I mean that Germans couldn't tell we were foreigners at all. After those two years we decided to try our luck in the U.S. We came to the U.S. (legally) and first things first, we learned English. Nowhere did I expect anyone to speak my language, though it sure was nice if someone did. I never took advantage of that. None of us did. I come to live in a country where German or English is the national language, and that's the language I will speak... because I want to be able to communicate with others. That's how you show respect to the country and it's people who took you in, helped you get on your feet and allowed you to participate in their community.

You don't come here and start taking advantage or try to change them. You came from a country that was obviously dysfunctional in some way and you sought a better life here. Why would you want to bring that here with you and let it continue? There's nothing wrong with speaking your language with your friends and family at home, but it's rude to expect others to speak your language everywhere else. I retain my culture in my own home. When I walk outside, I behave according to American customs. It's this continued disrespect of the laws and common decency that is slowly eroding this country. There are many foreigners who do what they can to get assimilated, but there are thousands...even millions of foreigners who refuse to adapt to the new ways. I don't care if you're 30 or 50 when you come here, least thing you could do is learn a few basic words. It IS possible. There are free English classes being offered. One hour a day won't kill anyone. You'd do yourself a favor.

WORD TO THIS THREAT... woops I mean thread****, S&F.


On a serious note, I'm from a little place called Prince Edward Island. Almost all Americans I have talked to have no idea where or what it is. I hope someone here does. In relation to your bio-diversity problem, be happy its only mosque-goers and grass-mowers. (LOL AT THAT, YES IM LAUGHING AT MY OWN JOKE) Here on P.E.I we are being outnumbered by ... well almost all countries that have been effected by an earthquake or tsunami .. ever, and then some. I work at Wendy's, yes flipping burgers and our whole staff is Sri-lankan, or Indonesian, or Japanese or .... you get it. In fact we have multiple customers every day who complain about the terrible service either on front counter or drive-thru because no one can understand a god forsaken word they say. The reason for all this in case you're wondering? Our lovely government has a program, which offers to pay half the wages to new -comers, and the employer only has to pay half. MIN wage here is 10 dollars even, so 5 from gov, 5 from wendys. get it? Although a few I have "tried" to talk to all have the same strange opinion. They are not making 10 dollars an hour....

reply to post by 2manyquestions


Kudos to you and your family for doing the right thing.
I find that most 'legal' immigrants come here with great respect while illegals do not. I think the problem lies with the invasion of millions of illegals who do not wish to follow our laws, become legal or speak our language.

THIS is even worse in England! The company i work for (worked there for 15 years) used to have to put the fire escape signs up in 'Urdu' next to the English signs (surely if the employed people cant speak English then they shouldn't be employed as all the invoices we get are in English). I AM BY NO MEANS RACIST! But now those URDO signs have been replaced by POLISH or other similar signs! The muslim workforce that there once was has bee overtaken by the eastern europeans! I WILL AGAIN STATE THAT I AM NOT RACIST! ( Ive had sexual relations with a number of them) But half of the people my workforce employ cannot understand or speak English and surely THAT is some kind of health and safety issue!

reply to post by WoMaNfIsH


Of course it is a health and safety issue.

Where I used to work, we had a lot of Spanish speaking people, also Asians, Africans and others. The others who spoke a different language would get upset because they had signs in English and Spanish but not their language. With over 300 different languages spoken in the USA, it is essential to have one language to unite us all.

Originally posted by Djayed
reply to post by xedocodex

 

I agree, with this type of logic on this thread we are the ones who should get kicked out and let the Native Americans have their country back. But most Americans like to ignore the genocide and torture of millions of Native Americans when we came and took over their country.

On a side note, I always wondered what "America" or whatever it would be called would be like if the Native Americans were able to thrive as a cultural and become a nation instead of individual tribes.

Ummm.....The Native American part of me takes great offence at what you just said, along with the Scotch/Welsch part that is.................Get it through your head....WE didn't slaughter anyone...WE didn't enslave anyone...WE happen to be sitting here a couple of centuries removed from all that...If you want to feel the guilt for every fart that was let, by all means...go ahead, but do it all by yourself in a corner alone. I, had nothing to do with any of that, neither my "Blue blood" from Wales and Scottland or my Red Hopi blood. Let the past lay down with it's own ghosts, there's no need to take up and wear that burden. There are enough causes to champion that are up front fresh and current, so stop blaming yourself and everybody else for being born into the skin you find yourself in.

YouSir

reply to post by YouSir


Well said! None of us alive today had anything at all to do with what happened that many years ago. I too have Native Americn ancestory and our tribe was almost completely wiped out, not by the white men, but by another tribe!

reply to post by 2manyquestions


I don't normally post "I agree" posts, but on all your points: exactly!

reply to post by Cornczech


To directly answer your question..

Yes, you are being racist.

Originally posted by xedocodex
reply to post by Cornczech

 

At the base of it, you were offended that they were speaking one European language instead of a different European language, ever stop to think how silly that sounds?

And are you honestly saying that American culture (that was largely based on freedom of religion) is being destroyed because we are allowing the freedom of practicing any religion an individual chooses? Ironic.

Actually, America was founded to get away from religious freedom, the religious freedom America was founded on was the right of Americans to practice Christianity without interference from government(which is what the first Amendment is truly about but sicko atheists have distorted it's meaning).

And technically, English is a Germanic Language and Spanish is a Romantic Language, it is like trying to compare Mandarin and Slavic(after all those languages are spoken on the same continent).

reply to post by something wicked


Don't shoot the messenger, read their own words.

reply to post by korathin


No offense, but you seriously need to do some research. I mean that constructively. Okay, America is here, on this map (here being its current real location). You would be .... no where on that map. That is how far off base you are. If you use a sling shot maneuver at Jupiter, you may make it back to Earth ( aka, reality; depending upon your conceptual ideas of course. )

The most depressing aspect of this thread is how many people stated they were not racist before expressing their opinions on the topic. Who cares if you are racist or not?

I think what "annoys" English speaking American's the most is that non-English speakers come here and, rather than learning the language, we must cater to them. It isn't right and, more importantly, it prevents those people from ever realizing that this country offers anything more than welfare and other handouts.

reply to post by MDDoxs


Our language is "English" LEARN IT or LEAVE!


How would the "South of the Border" Government --- or residents treat us speaking our native language

reply to post by tgidkp

in california, on the fifth of may (and likely Texas), you will often see the Mexican flag hung above the USA flag....paraded around and so forth. flaunting and taunting and never TRULY making an effort to coexist. this belays some hidden motivation aside from cultural preservation, don't you think?

Oh my goodness...you mean to tell me that one day out of an entire year, a day that celebrates the Mexican army's victory over France, in a state that according to our census has a roughly 40% hispanic/latino population, the state chooses to raise a Mexican flag over our own, pristine American flag. ... The absolute audacity of it all.

And to the person that stated that on Cinco de Mayo the cops choose to do DUI checkpoints, yet they somehow do not do them on 4th of July...I'm sorry, that is almost unbelievable. You either have an incredibly slack police force, or no one in your area ever drinks on 4th of July. And the latter certainly isn't the case anywhere that I have lived.

We have police check points on almost every holiday. Even Christmas and Thanksgiving.

reply to post by Cornczech


"Tolerance" is what it's called. A socialist/communist code word for "destabilization of society". You can't introduce socialism until you destabilize the cultural fabric and create a large dependent class who will welcome communism with open arms.

I'm temporally stationed here at NAS Ft. Worth JRB, I too am appalled at having to
hablan español, practically everywhere I go off base.

Originally posted by SANTA CLAWS
reply to post by MDDoxs

 

Our language is "English" LEARN IT or LEAVE!

How would the "South of the Border" Government --- or residents treat us speaking our native language

edit on 7-12-2012 by SANTA CLAWS because: (no reason given)

Star 4 U.
I second that opinion.

reply to post by Cornczech


DEY TOOK ER JERRRRRBSS!

Originally posted by Violater1

Originally posted by SANTA CLAWS
reply to post by MDDoxs

 

Our language is "English" LEARN IT or LEAVE!

How would the "South of the Border" Government --- or residents treat us speaking our native language

edit on 7-12-2012 by SANTA CLAWS because: (no reason given)

Star 4 U.
I second that opinion.

I'm assuming by "our" you mean racist white folk.

English is the de facto national language of the United States, with 82% of the population claiming it as a mother tongue, and some 96% claiming to speak it "well" or "very well".[5] However, no official language exists at the federal level. There have been several proposals to make English the national language in amendments to immigration reform bills,[6][7] but none of these bills has become law with the amendment intact.

I swear the Bible said love thy neighbor and turn the other cheek, not act like a bigot and make other people conform to how you'd like them to be.