• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Is it important to be considerate to those who can't speak English well?

Is it important to be considerate to those who can't speak English well?

  • No, they should not be here if they can't already communicate well in English.

    Votes: 1 2.6%

  • Yes, of course. As long as the person is trying, we should cut him some slack.

    Votes: 33 84.6%

  • Not sure

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other (explain)

    Votes: 5 12.8%
  • Total voters
    39
It's important to follow the golden rule.

That should answer the above question.
 
If you're here legally and are actually trying to learn English then I'll be patient with you. If you're illegal and/or you expect Americans to offer school and more in your native language then all I have to say to you is "go back where you came from."
 
Mathematician said:
If you're here legally and are actually trying to learn English then I'll be patient with you. If you're illegal and/or you expect Americans to offer school and more in your native language then all I have to say to you is "go back where you came from."
Click to expand...

My position exactly
 
Tigger said:
I selected "Other". In my mind it's a matter of time and intent. When you decide to come to a new country, I would like think that one of the first things you would do is to learn the main language spoken in that country. Even if you're not fluent in it when you arrive, I would suggest that it should be a main priority until you speak/read/write the language reasonably well. For a period of time (I'll say 18 months as a guess) there should be some accomodations made for these people. Those accomodations should be people to assist them in filling out the english-language forms for whatever they may need. After that 18 month period, they would need to find someone on their own to assist them in filling out forms, dealing with government agencies, etc....
Click to expand...

I think it should also depend on geopolitics. There should be permanent accommodations for Spanish speakers because Puerto Rico is part of the United States (I hear they speak English fairly well there, though) and because the southwest US is ex-Mexican territories.
 
MadLib said:
I think it should also depend on geopolitics. There should be permanent accommodations for Spanish speakers because Puerto Rico is part of the United States (I hear they speak English fairly well there, though) and because the southwest US is ex-Mexican territories.
Click to expand...

Puerto Rico and the Southwest have been US territory long enough for the population to convert from Spanish to English.
 
Luna Tick said:
I speak three languages: English (my native language), German (fluently as a 2nd language), and French (on a rudimentary level). I can tell you that it's hard to learn another language. It's not something that you accomplish in easily in 30 days, despite what some marketers of language courses may tell you. I feel for people new to the country who are struggling to get up and running with English, but are not always treated respectfully.

Hence, my question on whether it's important to be considerate toward people who aren't good at speaking English yet. Note: The poll is not about people who come to the US and never bother to learn English. It's about people who come here and commit to learning the language, but who have not yet reached proficiency. They may speak with a heavy accent, use bad grammar, use poor word choices, or lack the vocabulary to say what they mean. But they're trying.

By being considerate to them, I mean speaking slowly to help them understand or sticking to basic vocabulary, or defining a word for them if they say they don't understand it. It could mean speaking in their language if you happen to know it.
Click to expand...

It depends on how long they've been here. If they have lived here for 10 years and you still cant understand them, then I can only be so considerate. Those people are not trying.
 
I speak five different languages but no one understands a word I say.:)

So yes, be kind.:)
 
We should be considerate of everyone. :shrug:
 
jonny5 said:
It depends on how long they've been here. If they have lived here for 10 years and you still cant understand them, then I can only be so considerate. Those people are not trying.
Click to expand...

You don't know that. English pronunciation is very, very hard for a person from an Asian country. No Asian language is pronounced even remotely like English. This makes English a serious tongue twister for Asian speakers. It's the same reason why it's so very much harder for an English speaker to learn Korean than French, Spanish, or German. It's entirely possible for a person to come here from Korea, China, Japan, or another Asian country and to work hard to learn the grammar and to expand his vocabulary very well, but to have a rough time with pronunciation. Just like anything, some people are more talented at learning languages than others. You might have one person come from Korea and work hard to learn English and barely have any accent in three years. Another person might work just as hard, but still have a heavy accent in 10 years. I met an Asian man who was saying a word to me that I just for the life of me could not understand. Finally I had him write it down. It wasn't that he didn't know the right word to use. It was just hard for him to pronounce.
 
Luna Tick said:
You don't know that. English pronunciation is very, very hard for a person from an Asian country. No Asian language is pronounced even remotely like English. This makes English a serious tongue twister for Asian speakers. It's the same reason why it's so very much harder for an English speaker to learn Korean than French, Spanish, or German. It's entirely possible for a person to come here from Korea, China, Japan, or another Asian country and to work hard to learn the grammar and to expand his vocabulary very well, but to have a rough time with pronunciation. Just like anything, some people are more talented at learning languages than others. You might have one person come from Korea and work hard to learn English and barely have any accent in three years. Another person might work just as hard, but still have a heavy accent in 10 years. I met an Asian man who was saying a word to me that I just for the life of me could not understand. Finally I had him write it down. It wasn't that he didn't know the right word to use. It was just hard for him to pronounce.
Click to expand...

10 years immersion and working in a professional job should make you figure out how to communicate with Americans. The problem is they go home and speak Chinese or whatever, I would think.
 
Luna Tick said:
I speak three languages: English (my native language), German (fluently as a 2nd language), and French (on a rudimentary level). I can tell you that it's hard to learn another language. It's not something that you accomplish in easily in 30 days, despite what some marketers of language courses may tell you. I feel for people new to the country who are struggling to get up and running with English, but are not always treated respectfully.

Hence, my question on whether it's important to be considerate toward people who aren't good at speaking English yet. Note: The poll is not about people who come to the US and never bother to learn English. It's about people who come here and commit to learning the language, but who have not yet reached proficiency. They may speak with a heavy accent, use bad grammar, use poor word choices, or lack the vocabulary to say what they mean. But they're trying.

By being considerate to them, I mean speaking slowly to help them understand or sticking to basic vocabulary, or defining a word for them if they say they don't understand it. It could mean speaking in their language if you happen to know it.
Click to expand...

Of course, we should be considerate of everyone.
 
jonny5 said:
10 years immersion and working in a professional job should make you figure out how to communicate with Americans. The problem is they go home and speak Chinese or whatever, I would think.
Click to expand...

The native language is the one that gets ingrained. Some people have the natural ability to learn another language with minimal accent. Others don't. Some people will have a heavy accent no matter how long they're in the United States or how hard they work to learn the new language. It's just the way it is.
 
The first 40 seconds....


 
To illustrate how stupid the English language is, and why it's so godamned difficult to learn, I present this:

ghoti-fish-english.png
 
Imo, you should be considerate to everyone in general, not based on their mastery of the English language. That being said, I don't think it's our responsibility to learn another language, or supply interpreters, just because someone else can't speak the language. If someone comes here, it is their responsibility to learn how to communicate for maximum personal benefit. If they don't, I don't care, but it's their own problem to take care of, not ours collectively.
 
Most Americans can't speak English worth a damn in my experience, so I don't know what the problem is. Seriously, I have met many foreigners with a far greater mastery of the language, and multiple languages, than your typical redneck native. I would rather deport the latter.
 
Luna Tick said:
The native language is the one that gets ingrained. Some people have the natural ability to learn another language with minimal accent. Others don't. Some people will have a heavy accent no matter how long they're in the United States or how hard they work to learn the new language. It's just the way it is.
Click to expand...

I don't agree. Its just a matter of thinking and practicing. There are plenty of people who have done it. Thus everyone can do it.
 
chromium said:
Most Americans can't speak English worth a damn in my experience, so I don't know what the problem is. Seriously, I have met many foreigners with a far greater mastery of the language, and multiple languages, than your typical redneck native. I would rather deport the latter.
Click to expand...

They speak English just fine. That is just their local dialect, and if youre in their region, then its their prerogative. However, if they moved to a different region I would expect them to adapt as well.
 
jonny5 said:
I don't agree. Its just a matter of thinking and practicing. There are plenty of people who have done it. Thus everyone can do it.
Click to expand...

Having lived in several foreign countries..I find that people tend to live near and with their countrymen...always speaking their native languages..and just learning enough of the adopted language to get by..

The only real way to learn a language is to live amongst the native speakers and never speak your own..

It is hard..can't understand TV..If people look at you and you can't understand them, you think they are saying something negative about you..you cannot read a newspaper..it is very lonely until you pick the language up!!
 
I usually reserve my disdain for those who were born and rasied in an English speaking country and still don't know how to weild the language.

Interestingly, it is usually people such as these who are the most likely to ridicule those trying to learn English as a second language.
 
chromium said:
Most Americans can't speak English worth a damn in my experience, so I don't know what the problem is. Seriously, I have met many foreigners with a far greater mastery of the language, and multiple languages, than your typical redneck native. I would rather deport the latter.
Click to expand...

I'll agree that Americans make many English errors. Haven't you noticed that only the most well-educated blacks seem to speak grammatically correctly? So make sure you throw the vast majority of blacks in with the rednecks you want to deport.

By the way, one of my pet peeves is the overgeneralization of using "I" instead of "me".
 
jonny5 said:
I don't agree. Its just a matter of thinking and practicing. There are plenty of people who have done it. Thus everyone can do it.
Click to expand...

Do you speak another language? I'd bet you don't because you're not showing much knowledge of the topic. You can check with any linguist. The fact is most people who learn a second language as an adult will always have at least somewhat of an accent no matter how hard they work. Twenty years later they'll still have an accent. That's most people. Some people with exceptional talent manage to completely shed their accent. That's the very few. Some people, the less talented, will have a very heavy accent permanently no matter how hard they work or how long. Language is something that not everyone has the same natural ability at. It's a classic bell curve and it's a fact.

I wrote this poll because I see some Americans being rude to foreigners out of ignorance. Most of the time it's unintentional. Someone might rattle off fast English and not slow down when the person clearly doesn't understand. Sometimes people throw fits saying, "They should learn English" when the person is learning it, but isn't good at it yet. Sometimes people complain over accents that the person can't help.
 
wolfie said:
Having lived in several foreign countries..I find that people tend to live near and with their countrymen...always speaking their native languages..and just learning enough of the adopted language to get by..

The only real way to learn a language is to live amongst the native speakers and never speak your own..

It is hard..can't understand TV..If people look at you and you can't understand them, you think they are saying something negative about you..you cannot read a newspaper..it is very lonely until you pick the language up!!
Click to expand...

I agree with almost everything you wrote. The only thing I take issue with is the notion that you have to never speak your own language. They tell exchange students to not speak English in the foreign country because they don't want them to do as you've described. They don't want them to congregate with other Americans and speak English all the time, thus never learning the foreign language. However, as long as you get daily practice with the new language, you'll learn more and more of it each day. You can sometimes switch back to English and still learn the other language. The problem comes when people end up relying on English and not practicing the language they went over there to learn.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom