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Is it racist to ask for immigrants to speak English?

Is it racist to ask immigrants to speak English?


  • Total voters
    118
Racist has nothing to do with it. We dumb Polacks are expected to speak English in America, however hard it may be for us :)

It depends on what you mean by "ask" and "public places". Should there be laws and regulations banning other languages from streets, buses and concert halls? Of course not. And that's not what we are discussing, I'm sure.

Should English be the sole lingua franca of administrative transactions? I would say "yes", but details ought to be left to the discretion of local authorities: clearly, everyone benefits from epidemiologial or other public safety information being distributed in as many languages as practical.

If you mean workplaces, it depends. Naturally, I cannot hire someone with whom I cannot communicate effectively. This is hardly "racism" or discrimination. When two people discuss something work-related in Mandarin or Hindi in the privacy (so to speak) of their cubicle - that's fine, especially if it allows them to think more clearly about the problem they are solving. But to speak anything but English in a room full of people who do not understand Mandarin or Hindi - that's just RUDE.
 
Although I agree, that it is not racist, quite the opposite, it is common sense to expect people who go to LIVE and WORK in a country to speak the language of that country, the jokes' on people who only stick to one language.
Just because it'd be decent of all immigrants to the US to speak English properly, it would be beneficial to americans to learn foreign languages too, and not stick just to English.

Learn Spanish and you can talk to about half a billion people worldwide. Not to mention that knowing more than one language reduces the chance of getting a brain disease (like alzheimmers). I mean it. It's proven.

And Spanish is the easiest language to learn. Then you have Italian... another very easy language to learn and quite useful with the ladies....
 
I hear people talking about this subject all the time, and I'm just curious.

Is it racist to ask immigrants to speak English (or whatever language the country they immigrated to speaks) when in public places?

It depends. If they are having a private conversation....then it is no business of yours and it is completely racist to ask them to speak in English.

If you are talking about asking them to speak English in a social setting such as at a restaurant or market or something involving the need to communicate with others outside a private conversation...then no...


The reality is that most people WANT to speak English...but English is a very difficult language to learn and some people are better at learning languages than others. I have friends whose first language in not English. Some speak very well...others not so much. The ones that don't speak well, actually speak better than they think, but they are too embarrassed to try sometimes.

The fact is.....in the early 1800's, there were many immigrants who retained their languages, however, today most people complain because the immigrants today are not of European descent.
 
It is definitely not racist and should be a requirement to be a citizen of this great country.
 
I hear people talking about this subject all the time, and I'm just curious.

Is it racist to ask immigrants to speak English (or whatever language the country they immigrated to speaks) when in public places?

I support English in official government business and commerce. I think its intrusive for the government to interject itself into people's private conversations that have nothing to do with commerce or government affairs. Somebody at a public park having a private conversation with his girlfriend and the police overhear their conversation is not in English and proceed with whatever law enforcement action? That's ridiculous.
 
I support English in official government business and commerce. I think its intrusive for the government to interject itself into people's private conversations that have nothing to do with commerce or government affairs. Somebody at a public park having a private conversation with his girlfriend and the police overhear their conversation is not in English and proceed with whatever law enforcement action? That's ridiculous.

Yeah, I should have clarified a little better; I meant specifically when they try to speak to someone who primarily speaks English. For instance, at a grocery store or something of the kind.
 
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