Why do people move to the US and not try to learn English?
144829
Where to you get your information?????  Only the older generation immigrant has problems learning a new language (English) but the younger ones eagerly learn it and unfortunately forget their native languages.\n\nYour opinion clearly shows your prejudices.  What is so very sad as can be seen from many posters is that many, many Americans are not able to write in English and needless to say in any other language.\n\nI have lived in many other countries where there are expatriate americans living and they do not speak the local language nor make any attempt to do so.  They are under the idea that everyone, everywhere must speak English (as though they could really understand it)\n\nPlease change your bigoted ideas.  Nearly all immigrants make a greater effort to learn and understand than the anglo-americans do to understand them.
615467
Actually I do know a lot of them do not. I lived in SF. In the mission district many illegals don't care about learning English because of the community. The same is for my fellow Asians. in China town there are many illegals and I asked them if they had the desire to learn English they told me no and its the same way in Dallas and New York in their Chinatown.
1140610
we're in AMERICA.  we speak ENGLISH.  when we go to their country they expect us to learn their language they need to learn ours.  I'm sick of people who live here who don't speak english.  I don't go to your country and expect you to understand me and accomodate me just because I can't speak your launguage.  sooo frustrating.
265307
Humans can get used to anything except not eating. I've been to Mexico City and there are many Americans there. There are super classy schools and universities with all American native speakers teaching there. Most MBA's are taught only in English and jobs for the highly qualified are very well paid. If you look in the local newspaper, all the good jobs are in English for bi-lingual speakers. Also there are many Japanese, British and Germans because of the companies that are established there.  What is very  discouraging is the crime and  lack of security that this metropolis has which makes it very hard to live in. It's an everyday fear when you leave home not knowing if you will come back home alive.
732882
If Americans had to learn the language of everyone who comes to America legally or illegally, then we would all be in language schools 24 hours a day.\n\nIt's the RESPONSIBILITY of the person coming to live in the U.S. to learn English, not the other way around.
571848
You are right.  Americans, who almost *never* learn a foreign language, don't appreciate how difficult it is to actually learn new languages!\n\nBy the way, you English is excellent (not perfect, but better than a lot of English-speakers I've seen!).  If you *do* want suggestions, use capital letters--at the beginning of a sentence, and when referring to languages and nationalities (English, England, France, French, Hindi, etc.).
534481
some people pick up on languages faster than others.  sounds like you cousin did a good job...but i can show you many other from germany that haven't picked it up all that well.\ni do think its only fair that if one plans to live in a country for any amount of time they should try to learn the language, but i think people are not near as tolerant as they should be about this...its hard, it takes time.  i spent a year in czech republic, and though i learned enough czech to get by, it was far from fluent, and not for lack of trying.\nthen it gets complicated, as people tend to try to live around those that are similar to them, its more comforting, and easier, and frankly given some of the xenophobia displayed lately i can't much blame anyone for not wanting to be the first south american in a neighborhood.  but this clustering makes it less urgent to learn the language and more difficult.\nas for the press 2...its a sure sign that immigrants (illegal) don't just suck the country dry.  business recognize there is money to be made by making their company more accessible to these people, or they wouldn't be putting in bi-lingual services...think large companies just do these things out of the goodness of their corporate heart? no.  its for money.
334967
I haven't been to many countries outside of the US but I think the situation goes both ways.  I live in Southern California and there are many Spanish speaking people who get angry at me for not understanding Spanish.  Many Asian people have also gotten mad because they assume I'm Vietnamese, Japanese, etc and are disappointed that I can't communicate with them.  I live in an area where tourism is very popular and I've seen many non-English speaking people flare up when they can't their idea across.  Language barriers can be very frustrating.  I wouldn't see it as arrogance but then again I don't travel much.    \n\n  A friend of mine commented, "Why move to another country and be so lazy you don't even learn the main language?"  I wouldn't call them lazy because I know how hard it is to learn a new language.  I do however, wish that people at least take the time to ask "Do you speak [insert language here]?" before they start firing off lectures and interrogations in their language.  I made sure to learn how to ask that in Tagalog before I went traveling to the Philippines.
1134099
Think about it. If you were to emigrate to another country that speaks Spanish, do you think the locals would all learn English just for you? Hell no. They would expect you to learn the country's official language. I don't see why that is such a hard concept for some people to grasp.
717965
Yes ur right..When someone moves to another country for a job that person is supposed to know the native language.\nI am an indian and i know how the west feels about us but you are right about speaking the native language..its not just them but the local people suffer because of not able to communicate too..\nGuess the embassy in every country has to take care of that..
987784
We have become a lazy country - now expecting everyone around the world to understand our language. We used to study foreign languages in high school. Does anyone care any more? \n30 years ago I lived in Japan for awhile. Speaking  English was a ticket to a promotion for most people in business. To graduate high school a student had to study English for 6 years. Classes in English were available to adults who would stand in lines to sign up. \nI get angry when people emigrate here and don't want to learn our language but I also feel that we should be studying other languages to communicate better when we travel or do business abroad.\nWe need to
462655
Beacause Americans are too lazy to learn something interesting in a classroom and are always playing video games all day long and watching too much garbage on TV!!!! I for one was born here in the U.S. know what part of the world a country is located and I'm bilingual so that makes me smarter than the one-dimensional, one language American that wants to be ignorant and dumb. Most Americans don't even know how to read a gas gauge on a car when it runs out empty on them.
794214
Amen to that.  I don't understand why we have to change to suit people moving to America but then we are STILL asked to change when going to another country.  wtf.
143950
I think it is a little extreme, but I can understand the frustration.  Here in Texas, I get annoyed when people of Hispanic origin refuse to learn English, and our society and government enables them to do this by not requiring immigrants to learn english, and even forcing government employees to speak spanish.  Also, our local and national businesses learn spanish to accomodate those who do not speak our language.\n\nI am all for immigration....that is what the makes the U.S. An intresting place to live, but I doubt that if I moved to Mexico or Spain or any other spanish speaking country, that they would learn english to accomadate me.  I understand why they would not....pride in their culture...we have the same and would appreciate immigrants having enough respect to learn it.  After all, it is free from our government.  \n\nSo, I guess my final thought on your question is that I agree that it is a little extreme to forbid it, but at the same time, I see why and understand the reason.\n\nTake care and God bless.
966635
Oh stop! ...from what I have seen the Irish have never learned to speak English even now. Besides that is part and parcel of any group coming to America, or any other country for that matter. That is why they gather into ghettos like little Havana and little Haiti in Miami or Ybor City in Tampa and what about the China towns in cities all over this this country and Canada. The older immigrants have a real hard time learning a new language. Your ability to learn a new language is greatly diminished after the age of twelve, that was determined in many studies conducted throughout the 20th century. I was In the Air Force  years ago, and my tests indicated I might be able to learn a language and become a translator. The test consisted of spoken sentences which sound like this... "IF IGNATZ WHA BENEY, means she is a nice girl... then what does, "YAHOOLY CO DESPECZENY!" Mean? HUH!!! Needless to say I still speak only English. If I was forced to move to another country for whatever reason, I truly know in my heart I could never learn another language and I would have to hide in a ghetto speaking American English to all the other immigrants who had come to China to find work after the collapse of the Bush Brothers economy. Give it up. These people are not lazy!!!  I would like to see some of your other answerees here spend 12 to 14 hours day in the hot sun picking the tomatoes and other crops these people pick for less then minimum wages, consistantly year after year. You might call them uneducated, and have some meaning, but to call them lazy just points out your own blatant ignorance. Capitalism, as a system, needs a large underpaid working class to function. Our own Middle Class, which consists of nearly everyone but the ultra rich, would never do what these people do. Look what happened to Ford, GM, and Chrysler (before the Germans bought them) when everyone who worked for them became middle class, even if they only swept floors... Bankruptcy. The same will happen to this country as a whole when we throw all 12 million of these "illegal" immigrants out. Oh they do create problems, but so does all population growth. Every American state government knows that new arrivals only pay for 84% of the infrastructure it takes to manage their arrival, even if they are rich Americans. Go Figure...? Besides, Hispanics will be the majority population (51%) in 2051. Then they will vote Spanish in as the only spoken language in America, and you will have to push #2 to hear it in english, and then you will know how hard it is to learn a language (even if it is free) after having spent 12 hours in the fields picking hot peppers for the rich Hispanics who will then be running this country.
436532
Because of the same reasons the Pilgrims migrated to the US hundreds of years ago. Check out US history and youll see its a country of immigrants.\n\nThere are many reasons why people migrate to the USA, there are better job oportunities,  social, political and religious freedom.\n\nThings that you might take for granted, like running water and electricity, are almost luxuries in some countries.\n\nIt might surprise you but not everyone who migrates really wants to. Some are forced to do it  because of their economical situation.\nI know a lot of people who live in the US and are dying to retire to go back to their countries, they think people there are way too slutty.
1103715
Don't overgeneralize.  I have known many people from many countries, and I have lived in another country on the other side of the world.  \n\nThe truth of the matter is that the majority of people in any country do not want to learn another country.  Most often, people who have not learned a second language equate that with a lack of education -- those uneducated people will not have a job that brings them to the notice of a foreigner.  \n\nMany people learn a second language to a point, in order to survive in their own mult-lingual environment.  Americans are no exception to that rule, with the international areas of the country.  \n\nHowever, specialists in many fields, in many countries, are limited to one language themselves.  This is because a careful study of one field, such as physics, will preclude the type of careful attention needed to become fluent in another language.