To those who are upset about the lack of english speaking folks, EVEN who live in this country.......we have about TWELVE MILLION ILLEGAL immigrants in this country. I have no idea how many of them even attempt to learn the language.

We make it easy not to learn. We make it difficult for companies to require english standards.

If you research just Florida law, you will find how difficult it is to require employees to speak english. You must show that english is vital or the EEOC will be after you big time. Election ballots are printed in SEVERAL different languages.

I suggest, and this is just me and it is not well received, that english be required and the only "give" is that the company will pay for you to learn english in a specified amount of time or you lose employment. At least that creates the incentive to learn the language. Why learn it if you can get everything available without.

Wait until the debates begin on illegal immigration

As I said, NAFTA was just the beginning of the worldwide economy and is not the root problem for the issue being discussed. It is an ingrediant of an issue, world wide economy, that we just do not address because, and this is my opinion, it is not politically expediant.

I still think a complete revision of the tax code keeping all this in mind which would generate a code designed to keep jobs here.

To me, it is all about the taxes......listen to the pols tell you about it and then do nothing but create class warfare by raising and lowering general taxes just to get a headline or so

Got to give a thumbs up on this one. I could care less if a laborer in the fields is fluent in English, but I am a firm proponent of mandatory English for our application for housing, medical assistance, drivers license, state or federal aid programs and the like.

You certainly provide a compelling argument. I better go to bed before I turn conservative. I joke, but I do see your reasoning to have merit.

We lived in France for a period of time. When making a phone call I never heard ...FOR ENGLISH PRESS 1. I don't think this thread is about not being understanding of people who have accents or do not speak English. This thread is about primarily English speaking people calling a customer service number and NOT receiving customer service because the people they are speaking to do not have a good command of the English language. Why call if you can not understand the person you are speaking to? It is not bigoted or intolerant, it is just common sense. I called because I need information. if I cannot understand the information you are giving me the call is a waste of my time and a waste of money for the company paying a person that I cannot understand. As I said before, these calls are for communication. If one or the other does not understand the language, we are NOT communicating. It' as simple as that.

I don't think anyone is demeaning the human that they were speaking with. I think many are tired of the companies who choose to save money by paying people who are clearly not qualified to resolve our problems when we call customer service.

I don't see this issue as political or a immigration issue. It just makes sense that if one were planning to live in a country, to learn the native tongue.

Sorry, it did bother me when I worked at a place where there was a large amount on non english speaking employees and they demanded you to know their language.

Sorry, I just don't get their reasoning, thinking someone born in America, should know all languages.

I applaud those who do make an effort to learn other languages, and speak them fluently. My son had two years in HS and college in Spanish and can understand it, but still cannot speak more than a few sentence to convey his thoughts.

Nuff said......

English
 

YES!!!! You explained it the best........"calling a customer service number and NOT receiving customer service because the people they are speaking to do not have a good command of the English language. Why call if you can not understand the person you are speaking to? It is not bigoted or intolerant, it is just common sense"

To a lot of the people on the call systems, English IS NOT their first language. Let's get a bit of respect for these people that are actually getting a job and working!

Let's show some American backbone to those who are working even if it is in a different country.

Try and be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Well, one positive thing when you get someone from India or Philippines: THERE ARE REAL PEOPLE AT THE OTHER END - no machine. Isn't that already a progress? (just kidding)

That language lesson wouod be out of courtesy to the new country I moved to if I were to do that. It is wrong to expect millions who speak a language to learn English to accommodate me. If I cannot assimilate into a culture then I don't belong there.

You nailed it. If we can't communicate there is no customer service.

Maybe "no customer service" is the company's desired result, anyway. This lack of communication shields the company from customer complaints. Saves money in two ways.

Someone please explain to me why I must press 1 for English! :rant-rave:

Actually, there is some truth to that. Remember the days when automated phone menus dead-ended with a recorded message?

Wow, how this topic drifted.

The first generation of immigrants often do not learn perfect english, unless they were english speaking to begin with. The older the first generation, the less likely they will learn the new language.

This political hot potato has been debunked many times.

New immigrants, some of which are older and might not speak english well... their children assimilate to the new country and are often bilingual... speaking mainly the tongue of the country they live in. They learn the former language because of their parents mainly.

One generation to assimilate.

The reason for spanish signs, phone prompts, etc.... there are so many spanish people in our country, that businesses want to attract that business their way.

Illegal immigration is a bit of a different issue.

Both parties have been complicit. Cheap labor vs Advocating for Rights.

Both sides want the votes! That is probably the only common thread of concern.

May be a little off topic, but beware of someone who barely speaks English calling and claiming to be from Microsoft about your computer Windows. It's is a scam, folks. I got one yesterday and told the guy on the other end, "No, you are not from Microsoft. You are a scammer! I don't talk to scammers." And hung up.

Nobody will ever call you about "a problem with your Windows" no matter which provider, etc. They do not do business this way. Initiate your own calls if and when there is a real problem. There is always a support line or deal with a local "fixer".

Very good warning to all! Personally, I would not have said anything about knowing he is a scammer but would have just hung up - since I have heard of that scam before.

There is also a scam where someone supposed from the IRS sends an email asking for your bank account information and PIN's.

Just last week ago in the USA Today, it was reported that a lady in New York City gave a fortune teller around $217,000 to get rid of a curse. Hey, some folks are just too stupid to have money.

Perhaps that would work for the Chicago Cubs?

You have stepped way over the line with a comment even hinting that the Cubs could beat the curse.....that is a major violation of all protocol.

Oops...:o

Cuz pressing 2 is for Spanish. :doh:

I have tried to get service from a person in India who I literally could not understand, I was very polite but I had to keep saying, I'm sorry, I don't understand you. She hung up.

I agree with the posters-- press 1 for English should be dropped. We should not have Press 2 For Spanish. We should just speak English. People who come here should learn our language. Period. And we should not be ashamed or politically incorrect to demand it.

I myself have had enough of other language speaking people conversing in their language in front of me instead of using English---so I would not know what they were talking about..but for them that's ok -- that is not a problem….for them.

Bring those jobs back to the U.S. Demand immigrants learn English. My grandfather and my great grandfather had to and I am proud of that fact. They did what they had to do and made their way in the U.S. What is wrong with that idea? I'm signing off now. Those are my thoughts.

We should all learn Spanish.

We all should learn to be tolerant

It's difficult to be tolerant when you are 70 years old, on you hands and knees on the floor, behind the desk, trying to unplug some cable, counting to thirty or what was it that guy said? I can't understand him.:a20:

Rest my case

Plug your computer modem into a power strip so you can just flip the main power strip switch instead of crawling behind a desk. Bad for your knees but good for orthopedic surgeons.

I don't have those problems. I have Comcast and call 800-COMCAST if I have any problem. I always get a very good English speaker located in the USA who solves the issue.

For credit card issues, I call the customer service number on the card and always get someone in USA who speaks English and fixes the issue right away.

It does not bother me to press 1.

You have been really lucky. Comcast is perhaps, if not the worst, one of the worst with offshore customer service. Just hope you do not have difficulty on an off time :) FOR THEM I mean !!

WHY ? And make that case but tell me why those who do not speak english but live and work in an english speaking country should not learn english !!!!

Both of these.

Could it be explained to me why I MUST learn spanish ? Have we been invaded ? Those who speak only spanish have no obligation at all ?

Wonder if on the message boards in Mexico, they are saying how they MUST learn english so we do not feel uncomfortable when we visit !

Just explain to me WHY it is all one sided...thats all !!!

PS...I am slow....here is how I understand what you folks are saying. As an american, if I own a company and hire someone who speaks only spanish or WANT to do that, I cannot according to the EOC insist they learn english to do their job in America for an American compnay, BUT......as an american consumer, I am or should learn spanish to get help when I call an american company. Got it !

Sorry but hell would have to freeze before I speak anything but English in the United States.

Ah, the tolerance level of Villagers is ramping back up. :rant-rave:

Most of these calls centers are being moved to India, The Phillipines, and Indonesia, not Spanish speaking countries. BTW: Tarpon Springs is adopting Greek as it's second language, so another language to learn if planning a trip there.

It has nothing to do with tolerance or lack thereof. It simply has to do with common sense. We are an English speaking country officially or not. English has been the native language of this country for almost 250 years and it was the language of the colonists who inhabited this land for over 100 years before that.

You can hang your hats on silly technicalities if you want, but I prefer to live in reality and the reality is that this is an English speaking country.

When my grandparents and most every one on this boards grand parents or great grand parents or great great grand parents came here from another country, they learned to speak English. It had been that way for over 200 years and now within the past thirty years are so a group of people in this country have decided to deny reality.

Like I said, just common sense.

Yep, America for Americans - and they better speak American, too. :a20:

I don't know about EOC. We bring people up here from Spanish speaking countries to perform services we can't get our own people to do. Migrant workers come to mind. They bring their families and put their children in our schools. At our invitation. I just don't see the problem with trying to learn another language to accommodate these people so we can, say, have fruit on our table.

We lived in France for a while. Tried to speak their language. They would hear us and break into their English, which was way better than our French. Nobody EVER refused to communicate with us because we were not fluent in French. Most of what we had to do online--buying train tickets, renting cars, ordering dog food, etc.--was available to us in English, provided by the French web sites. Only in tiny rural towns did we encounter people who only spoke French. Why can we not do this for the 35 million Hispanics that live and work in our country?

It is a known fact that a foreign language is very difficult for an adult to master. Yet these workers' children are learning fluent English in their schools. We can't wait a bit?

It is the 21st century. It is a global community. Spanish is the second most used language in international communication. The Hispanic population in the United States has grown by 60% in just one decade. At present there are 35,5 million Hispanics, representing 12,5% of the total population. Hispanics are now the first minority.

I cannot see the justification for isolationism in this day and age.

I know I am about to get slammed.:throwtomatoes:

Why only Spanish? How about French and Italian and Chinese and Swahili? Hell why not every language in the world? We speak English here and the new folks need to learn it just like all of our ancestors.

The call of racism and intolerance are ramping up.

QUESTION.....so you believe truely that we should learn spanish to communicate with folks who do not, and in most cases, will not even try to learn english in our country. That in order for us to get customer service from an American company, we need to be tolerant with the fact we cannot understand the folks on the other end of the phone ? Let me clarify.....folks who sub contract with an American company to provide service to Americans, yet cannot speak english.

You really and truely believe this ?

All of this while spanish speaking people who want a job will jump to the head of the line because of our own laws, then if asked to learn english to perform that job, will refuse and have our own EOC defend them.

I must have crossed over somewhere if this makes any sense whatsoever...and then to have folks call me and others intolerant is just beyond any comprehension and those who make all these name calling posts do not realize that they are undercutting those who want desperately to be as tolerant as possible.