Why do you choose to not SPEAK ENGLISH? You live/Work in the US but wont learn the language?

First of all maybe they just moved here, sometimes other family members are here before them and they already know English hence the translating kids,then there is english spoken at school where the kids learn it and have you ever tried to learn a language other than your own as an older adult? give them a break you don't know the circumstances. If they have been in this country for a long time than that is a different story. Everyone should learn enough to get along but not neccesary to have a full blown converstion

Wow. The pure hatred in your post took my breath away. I ended up living in Japan for a year quite by accident. I was sent on 5 days notice to help in the Tokyo office. I spoke no Japanese. I ended up staying for a year. I worked at learning as much of the language as possible but that was certainly not enough to converse with a customer service person. I found the Japanese to be so very polite and helpful and because of their willingness to try to help me I found I was more inclined to work harder to learn the language. America is the melting pot and always has been. Doubtless your own family showed up here unable to speak english. It's people like you who make me embarrassed to be American.

I quite agree with you, and the problem is not just American. There are Moroccans in the Netherlands who have lived here for over 30 years and don't speak Dutch. No matter how you look at it, it is never wise to cut yourself off from the main stream in the country you live in.

How can they answer this question if they can't speak english? And perhaps they don't have the opportunity to learn english. Perhaps they have just moved to this country. the child is learning english because the parent had sense enough to place him.her in an english speaking school. or perhaps they are very old. or have come with their family and are so afraid of this new world that they are afraid to go outside of their home alone. Or perhaps they weren't all that thrilled about leaving their own country but had no choice. somewhere way back when you had an ancestor who was in the same boat. perhaps yours were english speaking to begin with but they were still afraid when they landed here. try a little more understanding and a little less smugness next time you are met with this situation.

Dude don't refer USA as America, Mexico Canada and all of south America they are all America. Look man like you said they they let everybody in here, this is the country of all languages and this is a great country, but hey they are obviously doing something right when everybody who comes from another country is doing better then as you say "Americans" I talked to this Greek man who is a millionaire who don't speak English something you don't have to speak English to succeed in the US so why bother. instead of whining why don't you do something constructive with your time and learn other languages. I mean you talking about is not going to change anything, what was that maybe twenty mins of your life that you lost on that cust, and this is what you are doing to make up for it.

Yes I totally agree!!!

ixnay on the engrish

Thanks and amen. If i went to any other country I would have to learn to speak that language. I think it should be part of becoming a US citizen.

I agree on what you have written. English is the universal language. La lingua pura. Everybody should know the basics of it (I'm not native myself). I know about the morrocans in the Netherlands that someone reffered, I worked there for 6 months. Now I'm in Germany, where the same applies to Turkish and Italian communities. But I find it even more serious that people like german, french, italian, etc, don't have a basic knowledge of english...