Why are Americans so against speaking multiple languages?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have traveled to many countries and have always been impressed that the citizens in these countries could speak multiple languages fluently. The US is the only place I have ever been that the people are so stupid and think being fluent in multiple languages is a bad thing.

It isn't a bad thing but people get annoyed when they have to 'press 1' for English. Just curious in your country do you have press 1 for English?

I have immigrant parents, grew up bilingual (English and my family’s Indian language), studied three different languages in high school and college (minored in one) and as an adult still listen to podcasts in French daily and take every opportunity I get to use it. I think learning languages is a great thing and I absolutely agree that all American children should study a foreign language in school.

That said, I agree that English should be the default and official language of the US. I get somewhat annoyed when I have to push 1 for English too.

I spend a lot of time in France and am generally with them on this - you come to another country, it’s on you to make an effort in that country’s language. There shouldn't have to be official efforts to accommodate you (outside of obvious places like airports, etc.). And honestly, I think our society has gotten more fractured over the years in part because of all these efforts to pander to various linguistic, racial, and other identity-based groups. I’m okay with establishing an official language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because of racism, duh.

Yeah I'm sure Americans are racist against Europeans. Especially when any white American loves to talk about what European country they have ancestry in.
I have two coworkers, one is from the Philippines and is fluent in English and one is Black and often speaks in AAVE. The Filipina lady has absolutely no idea what the Black lady is saying. She says it sounds like another language and how do I (white) understand it? And the answer is just exposure.

[Anonymous]

It’s geography. The U.S. is bigger than most European or Asian countries and further away from many others except smaller islands. For this reason many don’t travel as far and so some don’t see the need or advantage of learning another language.

[Anonymous]

I blame British colonialism, which made the English the lingua franca in many parts of the world. Now, there is little need for native English speakers to learn another language.

Also, a PP mentioned something about English being an easy language to learn, I do not agree. Just look at how many US born English speakers cannot tell the difference between THEY’RE, THEIR and THERE. Imagine having to learn these words as a second language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have traveled to many countries and have always been impressed that the citizens in these countries could speak multiple languages fluently. The US is the only place I have ever been that the people are so stupid and think being fluent in multiple languages is a bad thing.

Because they’re bigoted and think they’re special.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have traveled to many countries and have always been impressed that the citizens in these countries could speak multiple languages fluently. The US is the only place I have ever been that the people are so stupid and think being fluent in multiple languages is a bad thing.

It isn't a bad thing but people get annoyed when they have to 'press 1' for English. Just curious in your country do you have press 1 for English?

I have immigrant parents, grew up bilingual (English and my family’s Indian language), studied three different languages in high school and college (minored in one) and as an adult still listen to podcasts in French daily and take every opportunity I get to use it. I think learning languages is a great thing and I absolutely agree that all American children should study a foreign language in school.

That said, I agree that English should be the default and official language of the US. I get somewhat annoyed when I have to push 1 for English too.

I spend a lot of time in France and am generally with them on this - you come to another country, it’s on you to make an effort in that country’s language. There shouldn't have to be official efforts to accommodate you (outside of obvious places like airports, etc.). And honestly, I think our society has gotten more fractured over the years in part because of all these efforts to pander to various linguistic, racial, and other identity-based groups. I’m okay with establishing an official language.

You poor thing.

[Anonymous]

I disagree that Americans are against speaking multiple languages.

Learning a language requires practice and is an ongoing commitment to maintain it. It’s not like riding a bike or learning to swim, where once you learn it, that’s it, it magically stays with you. It needs being exposed to it by listening, reading, speaking, and there is just not enough incentives to do this in the US for foreign languages.

If someone wants to put an extra effort, they can choose to watch Netflix in a foreign language, or choose to buy books in a foreign language or seek life long lessons. But I just don’t see why would someone do this, unless a person has links to a country with a foreign language.

It’s different than living in a country where 2 or more languages are used regularly, where people are exposed on daily basis to 2 languages. It’s just not the same.

[Anonymous]

It's funny, I was just saying at work yesterday that seeing as how Trump has renamed the Gulf Of Mexico to the Gulf Of America, it won't be long before he renames our English Language to American Language. That way we'll all be speaking American instead of English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have traveled to many countries and have always been impressed that the citizens in these countries could speak multiple languages fluently. The US is the only place I have ever been that the people are so stupid and think being fluent in multiple languages is a bad thing.

It isn't a bad thing but people get annoyed when they have to 'press 1' for English. Just curious in your country do you have press 1 for English?

I have immigrant parents, grew up bilingual (English and my family’s Indian language), studied three different languages in high school and college (minored in one) and as an adult still listen to podcasts in French daily and take every opportunity I get to use it. I think learning languages is a great thing and I absolutely agree that all American children should study a foreign language in school.

That said, I agree that English should be the default and official language of the US. I get somewhat annoyed when I have to push 1 for English too.

I spend a lot of time in France and am generally with them on this - you come to another country, it’s on you to make an effort in that country’s language. There shouldn't have to be official efforts to accommodate you (outside of obvious places like airports, etc.). And honestly, I think our society has gotten more fractured over the years in part because of all these efforts to pander to various linguistic, racial, and other identity-based groups. I’m okay with establishing an official language.

You poor thing.

Evidently there are a lot of us poor things out there. I didn’t vote for him, but it’s one of the reasons why Trump is in office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's funny, I was just saying at work yesterday that seeing as how Trump has renamed the Gulf Of Mexico to the Gulf Of America, it won't be long before he renames our English Language to American Language. That way we'll all be speaking American instead of English.

It would get too confusing. Which Native American language? Navajo, Nahuatl, Quechua? English is a European language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have traveled to many countries and have always been impressed that the citizens in these countries could speak multiple languages fluently. The US is the only place I have ever been that the people are so stupid and think being fluent in multiple languages is a bad thing.

It isn't a bad thing but people get annoyed when they have to 'press 1' for English. Just curious in your country do you have press 1 for English?

I have immigrant parents, grew up bilingual (English and my family’s Indian language), studied three different languages in high school and college (minored in one) and as an adult still listen to podcasts in French daily and take every opportunity I get to use it. I think learning languages is a great thing and I absolutely agree that all American children should study a foreign language in school.

That said, I agree that English should be the default and official language of the US. I get somewhat annoyed when I have to push 1 for English too.

I spend a lot of time in France and am generally with them on this - you come to another country, it’s on you to make an effort in that country’s language. There shouldn't have to be official efforts to accommodate you (outside of obvious places like airports, etc.). And honestly, I think our society has gotten more fractured over the years in part because of all these efforts to pander to various linguistic, racial, and other identity-based groups. I’m okay with establishing an official language.

You poor thing.

Evidently there are a lot of us poor things out there. I didn’t vote for him, but it’s one of the reasons why Trump is in office.

Yes, we know there are plenty of Americans that can’t handle being at most three extra seconds removed from what they want and getting it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny, I was just saying at work yesterday that seeing as how Trump has renamed the Gulf Of Mexico to the Gulf Of America, it won't be long before he renames our English Language to American Language. That way we'll all be speaking American instead of English.

It would get too confusing. Which Native American language? Navajo, Nahuatl, Quechua? English is a European language.

You think Trump would care about Navajo, Nahuatl, Quechua etc? His MAGA fanbase wouldn't care either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's funny, I was just saying at work yesterday that seeing as how Trump has renamed the Gulf Of Mexico to the Gulf Of America, it won't be long before he renames our English Language to American Language. That way we'll all be speaking American instead of English.

Sadly, some people think we do speak “American”

[Anonymous]

Because we already speak the universal language and with globalization and improvements in technology it gets more and more pointless to dedicate a lot of time to other languages that could be reinvested in other things to study (like STEM or English) literature. Also unlike England we have a continent sized country where business is run basically entirely in that language. Why dilute or disrupt the efficiency that comes from that?

I minored in a foreign language, it was fun but pointless and every high level professional from that country speaks English anyways.

It’s a different calculus if you are from a small non-English speaking country like the Netherlands and want to retain Dutch for heritage purposes and want to trade a lot with your big neighbor Germany and want to know the universal language. Then you learn three languages.

[Anonymous]

English is the language of business so other countries learn it.

Beyond that, there are many cultures in close proximity so of course people will learn more languages. Someone in Belgium or Switzerland will learn French and German. Someone near Montreal will learn French and English, bit maybe not someone in Vancouver.