"When Ordering, Please Speak English"

[bagpipe turtle]

chibichan said:

Down in Texas, you normally can't get a job unless you're bilingual.

Do you live in Texas? Because I do, and I haven't seen this.
If a person if bilingual, it gives them an advantage over other applicants, but speaking another language is not a requirement for jobs.
I know many monolingual people who have jobs.

Okay, anyway.

I think this man was right in asking his customers to order in English, but he could have been a lot more polite about it.
Better wording for the sign (Rather than the kind of rude: This is America, order in English), IMO, would be something polite and to the point, like "Please place orders in English." (Or a translation in the language he is having trouble with people ordering in)
Or he could just ask the people to repeat their orders in English.
Unless it is a really prevalent problem (as in, more than 50 or 60 percent of customers ordering in another language), I don't see the need for a sign in the first place.

[Sheogorath]

bagpipeturtle said:

chibichan said:

Down in Texas, you normally can't get a job unless you're bilingual.

Do you live in Texas? Because I do, and I haven't seen this.
If a person if bilingual, it gives them an advantage over other applicants, but speaking another language is not a requirement for jobs.
I know many monolingual people who have jobs.

Heh, "is not a requirement for jobs," huh? Then you should look at the want ads in papers here in Indiana. Enough of them to make you notice say "Must speak English and Spanish" or "Must be bilingual." "Is not a requirement for jobs"? More like "should not be a requirement for jobs."

And I can see where the shop owner is coming from, wanting the guests to speak English so that they can properly communicate with with him and his co-workers/employees. Is it too much to ask to want to be able to understand what someone is trying to say to you? No. I could go to Burger King and place a full order in perfect Japanese, but the only nation my Japanese skills would serve me is in Japan. I mean, Geno's is a famous place, as is the place across the street, and so you'd think that, being in Philadelphia, even with all the Italian families there, people would order in English, and one would come to expect everyone entering those shops would order in English.

Now, there I feel that there could have been a nicer way to request that orders be placed in English other than simply stating "This is America, Order In English" but the fact that America is an English speaking nation is true enough. I, myself, feel that we born in America shouldn't have to learn another language just to be able to properly communicate with another person whom may or not may speak enough English to get them by, only that we should if we want to. I feel that learning enough English to communicate the jist of what you're trying to say in a public place should be a requirement for U.S. citizenship, though, that's another can of worms altogether, and one we won't get into here. As far as the sign itself goes, I feel it was necessary only in that it should be used to convey the owner's desire that guests order in English, because you're not going to have people who don't understand English all that well understand what the guy or girl at the counter was saying when they said, "Please speak English." I mean, I feel a polite sign, one that says the owner's request that the guests order in English in as many languages that are common to those who come in who either do not speak English at all or not all that well to understand the request, would be enough. Now, I don't feel signs saying such are discriminatory. There's plenty of people out there who know multiple languages who can help those who aren't particularly good with English when they go into such places. Like me, I am bilingual, but I'm bilingual at English and Japanese, and so, I'm best suited to help a Japanese emigrant, but I do know enough Spanish and Greek to communicate with Mexican and Greek emigrants, as well, though, I'm not good enough at either Spanish or Greek to get one of those jobs I stated before that have being bilingual as a requirement.

[bagpipe turtle]

ozaifan said:

bagpipeturtle said:

Do you live in Texas? Because I do, and I haven't seen this.
If a person if bilingual, it gives them an advantage over other applicants, but speaking another language is not a requirement for jobs.
I know many monolingual people who have jobs.

Heh, "is not a requirement for jobs," huh? Then you should look at the want ads in papers here in Indiana. Enough of them to make you notice say "Must speak English and Spanish" or "Must be bilingual." "Is not a requirement for jobs"? More like "should not be a requirement for jobs."

I was talking about jobs in general, in Texas. As in, not every single job requires bilinguality (is that a word?).
Like I said, it usually gives the applicant an advantage; but not every single job requires a person to speak more than one language.

This was a bit off topic. My bad.

[Sheogorath]

bagpipeturtle said:

ozaifan said:

Heh, "is not a requirement for jobs," huh? Then you should look at the want ads in papers here in Indiana. Enough of them to make you notice say "Must speak English and Spanish" or "Must be bilingual." "Is not a requirement for jobs"? More like "should not be a requirement for jobs."

I was talking about jobs in general, in Texas. As in, not every single job requires bilinguality (is that a word?).
Like I said, it usually gives the applicant an advantage; but not every single job requires a person to speak more than one language.

This was a bit off topic. My bad.

Bilinguality is porbably not a word, but you typed it, so that makes it a word for the moment. And I know what you meant, but I'm just saying it's becoming a trend that one has to be bilingual to get a job. And as I said, I feel we shouldn't have to learn another language unless we want to.

[username]

Nobody should be "required" to learn any language. If I go to France, I shouldn't have to learn French, nor should I expect the language barrier to not be an issue.

If you don't speak english, don't expect people to bend over backwards for you and learn your language. One should just act in their own best interest, which would probably involve learning some basic english. However, even this would be entirely optional.

It's not like the guy had a sign saying "no mexicans," his decision to request orders be made in english was perfectly logical. People get upset so easily. Languages are a very human creation, just various forms of communication, rules should not be made regarding them. Language is the kind of thing an individual has free reign over,, and whatever happens, happens.

[Sheogorath]

username said:

Nobody should be "required" to learn any language. If I go to France, I shouldn't have to learn French, nor should I expect the language barrier to not be an issue.

If you don't speak english, don't expect people to bend over backwards for you and learn your language. One should just act in their own best interest, which would probably involve learning some basic english. However, even this would be entirely optional.

It's not like the guy had a sign saying "no mexicans," his decision to request orders be made in english was perfectly logical. People get upset so easily. Languages are a very human creation, just various forms of communication, rules should not be made regarding them. Language is the kind of thing an individual has free reign over,, and whatever happens, happens.

Thank you. You said in three paragraphs what I've been trying to say in various threads for months. For that, you, my "friend", get a point of Karma.