Why aren't more Americans bi-lingual?
473561
Because they're too busy complaining about immigrants not speaking english, instead of taking the time to appreciate different cultures.
406767
I think people miss the point of that.  Why do people hold the U.S. to a different standard than other countries.  EVERY country has an official language, and they all have people from other nationalities living to them.  If EVERY country tried to cater to EVERY language spoken in it, no one would get anything done ever.  Just because English is the national language of the U.S. does not mean that the U.S. is somehow slapping other languages in the face.  If you want to live here, work here, and thrive here...learn the language.  That does not mean that there is anything wrong with other languages or that we as U.S. citizens should not learn other languages, we should.  However, just like any other country we do have a national language and people should learn it to function here.  That is no different than if I went to Germany, Russia, Cuba, Japan...those countries businesses and schools will not cater to me...its in my best interest if I want to succeed in their country, to learn their language.  That is true of the U.S. also.  So, yes,it bothers me to with the press one or two thing....learn the language...but don't come here to BE an American and then DEMAND that everyone else here conform to your language so that you can function.  If you choose to operate here, then learn how we operate and do it.  I would have to do it in another country, so anyone who comes here should have to do it here.
553888
Its silly. In my opinion if a country has a national language, you should try to speak that language. \n\nI have no problem with people in America not speaking English, because there is no official language in the United States. People say its English, and unofficially it is, but you cannot discriminate on language barriers because it is not in the constitution.
1164689
Amen!\n\nI see no reason for us to be bilingual & why the heck should we "press one for English", it's the damn United States of America; English is our National Language!\n\nI think English should be more empashied as our first language.\n\nI can only see it when you are doing business Internationally and that's it!  Why the hell should I have to have two years of Spanish to teach school?  It's not right!  They should have two years or more to speak English!\n\nMedicaid & Food Stamps - You have to have a SSN but they can just "buy" them from someone who is making them illegally.  Besides, there are so many loopholes in the system it isn't funny!
694349
I will never accept that.\nThe US is multi-lingual
367282
Q: What do you call someone who speaks two languages?\nA: Bilingual.\n\nQ: What do you call someone who speak one language?\nA: American.\n\nIn many parts of the world, it's common to speak two or three languages.  Many places speak a European language as a second to their own, or a "lingua franca" for their region, such as Arabic (you can hear it from Morocco to Afghanistan) or Swahili (20+ African countries and 50+ million people).  \n\nThe Europeans, North Africans and Middle Easterners speak several languages because they are exposed to them regularly.  You'll find many Scandinavian and Baltic (Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian) athletes who compete at the world level speak English because they receive English TV transmissions.  (The Baltic states listened to Finnish transmissions illegally.  The Finns didn't mind, but Moscow did!)\n\nFortunately, most who do listen to English broadcasts listen to BBC, and NOT to Mouthpiece of America - oops, Voice - VOA.  Sad to say, it's the English speakers who are the biggest morons and don't speak more than our own tongue.  Not taking my French classes seriously in elementary and high school was the second biggest mistake of my life.  (Listening to my parents was #1.)\n\nAnd to see idiot reichwingers in the US who think Americans speaking Spanish is a problem, I can only shake my head.  South America is 500+ million in size, is a growing economic power, they speak Spanish (except for Brazil), and the US wants to ban Spanish in schools and government.  Incredible. 9_9
533540
More power to them!  My ancestors (and yours probably) came from another country, did not speak English and more than likely had an accent.  People who come to the US generally WANT to learn English, but learning a new language is very difficult, particulary for adults.  Give the new immigrants a generation or so to assimilate.
762376
The question is whether those who live here and didn't have expensive ESL education, making them bilingual in Spanish and English, should be expected or required to have any knowledge of that language.\n\nMany would like to be bilingual, but when I went through the LAUSD I could choose French, German or Spanish as my language (I chose French).  Now the program cuts are so severe, our children are only offered Spanish, if that, and many aren't interested in learning Spanish.
418632
Probably because English is the world's most prominent trade language. You are fortunate to be so multi-lingual. It may stand you in good stead in the future. Also, as you know, the New Testament was written in Greek (also a prominent trade language in its time). \n\nI can only speak English (and a smattering of Spanish) I also think that English is a very expressive Language, with more words in English than any language in the world (probably because so many other languages have contributed to English in its history). It is very difficult to get instruction in contemporary Greek in the United States. Many people know New Testament Greek, However.\n\nCAC from US
924916
As long as they're legal I don't care.  It's the illegal ones that I have a problem with.  And English "is" our National language.  And no, Native Americans are not our ancestors.  The majority of Americans are of European descent.  That's why we speak English.  No, it has nothing to do with culture diversity.  It has to do with intelligence.  The morons who think it's better to have multiple languages are that, morons.  How many teachers are we going to hire to teach all these languages?  How many interpreters do we have to hire because not everyone is going to know "all" the languages.  I took French in high school.  Why?  Because I wanted to.  Did I "need" to?  No.  Do I speak it now?  No.  You want to live in the United States, learn English. I was in the military and went to Germany.  Guess what?   I learned German.  At least enough to get by.  I didn't force them to learn English.  When in Rome, do as the Romans do.  Nuff said.
1178521
That's a good question. I guess one reason would be that no American would really watch the foreign channels. People in other parts of the world can usually speak more than one language, most Americans can't, and don't want to. So we watch what we're used to; American shows. Censorship may also be an issue; they can't show certain things that might appear on a foreign program. Oh well.
1038405
Yep, Spanish is the new English.\n\nSeriously, though, in many other countries it is expected that everyone is fluent in at least two langagues.  Especially in Europe.  \n\nAs more immigrants come to the US, the English-only speakers will become more and more isolated as the minorities become majorities  This trend is prevalent in Texas, and shows no signs of reversing.  Better that you know more (learn Spanish) and gain the advantage over your competition.
27513
If you have access to American television shows, watch a lot of them. We don't speak the king's (British) English, which is what is taught in most foreign countries. \nWe use a lot of slang and contractions, among other things. And we also spell and pronounce a lot of words differently.\nReading books by American authors would help somewhat, but you still would not know how we pronounce things, or how we like to run words together.
1167314
You know, it's funny because some other people from the USA, probably not yourself, would claim that immigrants who go to your country should be demanded to communicate in English, and you want people in their native countries to try to communicate with you "half way" between their language and English.\n\nI would rather agree with you. All human beings are genetically, 99.9% the same, and only a 0.1% is different. We shouldn't let artificial barriers come among us. And language is one of the highest barriers of all.\n\nAs for the idea of one language for the whole world, let me tell you there have been several attempts to find one. The most important one was Esperanto, created around 1880. And probably the second most important is Ido, which was born in 1907, as a reformed version of Esperanto. Both of them are still alive, and I am myself an Idist (that means I practise and study Ido). Other international languages are Interlingua, Interlingue (yes, two different languages, there) and Novial. But internal differences, personal prides, and most importantly, the political determination NOT to let one language replace English, have made all of these attempts fail so far.\n\nBTW, if you're interested in Ido, here's a link to begin with. Notice this isn't a commercial activity, so this cannot possibly be considered as spam or publicity. I'm not selling anything, for there's nothing to sell.
238728
Because its artificial. No one speaks it as a native tongue, so those of us who are too lazy to learn a second language (and there are a lot of us) keep our native languages in play.
18023
Because it is very difficult to learn both the languages.
373033
Because for some reason our education system thinks that it is a foreign language when the truth is that English is not the primary  language in the US. English and Spanish are pretty much  equally used.