English please..

I do know a little bit of english. I am happy about it because I can post here in almost any thread and not just in the whoring or pimping one... :)
 
"I wonder what the % breakdown of English to Spanish speaking citizens are in the U.S.? [/QUOTE]
Rank and State Percent  for Spanish speaking 5 years and older. From the 2000 census.......
   
1 New Mexico 28.3  
2 Texas 27.6  
3 California 25.7
4 Arizona 19.9
5 Florida 15.7  
6 Nevada 15.2
7 New York 13.8  
8 New Jersey 12.4  
9 Illinois 10.8  
10 Colorado 10.0  
11 Connecticut 8.5  
12 Rhode Island 8.1
13 District of Columbia 8.0  
14 Utah 6.6
15 Massachusetts 6.2
16 Idaho 5.9
17 Oregon 5.6  
18 Georgia 4.9  
19 Nebraska 4.8  
20 North Carolina 4.8
21 Washington 4.8  
22 Virginia 4.4
23 Delaware 4.2  
24 Maryland 4.2  
25 Oklahoma 3.8
26 Wyoming 3.5  
27 Kansas 3.2
28 Wisconsin 3.2  
29 Iowa 3.1  
30 Minnesota 3.1
31 Pennsylvania 2.7  
32 Alaska 2.6
33 Indiana 2.6
34 Michigan 2.5
35 Tennessee 2.5  
36 South Carolina 2.4  
37 Arkansas 2.2  
38 Louisiana 2.1  
39 Missouri 2.1
40 Alabama 1.8  
41 Ohio 1.8
42 South Dakota 1.8
43 Hawaii 1.6  
44 Kentucky 1.6  
45 Mississippi 1.4  
46 Montana 1.4  
47 New Hampshire 1.4  
48 North Dakota 1.2  
49 Vermont 0.8
50 Maine 0.7  
51 West Virginia 0.7
 
Wow, what a topic!!! I do agree that we Americans are spoiled. I have traveled all over the world, and in most countries, they speak english. But when they don't, we want to get an attitude. When I was in Italy they didn't even try to speak english and looked at me like I was crazy when I couldn't believe that NO ONE at the train station spoke english. Same thing in France. I went to school for a summer in France and they made no attempt to speak to me in english. I had to learn french to get by, either that or starve and be lost. I did at least make an attempt to adapt to my environment and learn the language.

What pisses me off about all of this is those that come here to LIVE and don't try to learn english. I have many patients that speak spanish only. Fortunately I am fluent in spanish and can assist them, but what if I wasn't??? How can you expect to live in a country and not even attempt to learn the language?? I ask them are they taking classes to learn english and they say "No, porque?" translation: " NO, WHY IN THE HELL SHOULD I IF I DON'T HAVE TO!" I have no spanish heritage, I learned spanish as a second language because I thought it would help me in business. I never realized how much I would be using it in MY own country.

:rant: Sorry bout that. What was the original topic here, hurricane names?? Yea, I like the Hurricane Hayabusa theme!

Lo
 
I have those same opinions Lo. I know spanish, and had to use it all the time back in TX.
 
Same thing in France.  I went to school for a summer in France and they made no attempt to speak to me in english.
That's the french for you. They're just to plain chauvinistic to learn any other language than french, and even if they DO understand you, they will not answer. We have the same problem in our country. 60% speaks flemish, 5% german and another 35% speaks french. You can bet your ass all flemish people speak french, and most do speak german as well as english. Same goes for the german part, they speak french as well as english, and a good part of them speaks flemish. Guess what the french ones speak. No flemish (altough it still is the national language), no german, no english. Then they're surprised they are not easily employed. And the bi-lingual requirement they see as unfair to them. I'll be happy when all of the (civilised) world will speak one language: english ... oh wait ... they already do ...
:rant:
 
My experiance over seas is that if you make an effort to speak the local language or you ask questions about how to properly say what it is you are trying to say that you get treated very well. Even in France, if you are polite and learn a few key phrases your good to go, they will figure out soon enough what your problem is and usually will start right into speaking better english than most of us use.

People are pretty much the same everywhere, if you are polite and smile you will usually get the local version of the same treatment. I have learned this from personal experiance and from my Bro's stories of his travels. Be patient, friendly, and most importantly loose the "Self Important" "I'm an American" Shtick and you will get treated pretty well...

Failing that, stay the hell out of the big cities and watch how well you get treated. Paris, London, and other large cities are just like big cities in the US, everyone is in a hurry, lots of folks are political...Get out into the countryside and suddenly your a treat, a novelty and get treated really well. In London I am treated like crap, get back to Wales, in Aber-Arth, and I am treated like a VIP everywhere I go...
 
I had decided this year that I wanted to speak a couple of foriegn languages fluently since I never took any languages while in High School. I just finished my first semester of Spanish at the Community College and I now have a new respect for those who have learned English which is suppose to be the hardest language to learn. I don't really know anyone who only speaks Spanish, I just wanted to learn another language to be more rounded. I have a couple of pamphlets about studying abroad, so after a few more classes I may do that. Also, learning one language is ambitious enough. :)
 
I think that's good Sane_man...I often wish I were bilingual...

I spent all my high school years in French class, and had no desire to keep learning it...in college I had one semester of beginner's Spanish, hated the professor, and switched over to French again...none of it was enough to be fluent...

Hubby knows some Japanese...I can sometimes count to ten in Japanese :D

:bounce:
 
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