Originally posted by: Fritzo
Make sure you follow your own rules if you travel overseas.
I do - I'll always
at a minimum make an attempt at bungling the language of the land before resorting to English.
My view on this is that the world (yes -
world) would be better off with a single common language. I'm actually rather impartial to what language that ends up being (my inner lazy bastard says English would be great) - there are many, many factors that would go into choosing it.
However, that's impractical. It's equally impractical to expect a state to operate in more than one language. I understand we have many Spanish speakers in the US; that in itself doesn't bother me. I think it makes good business sense for anyone with a business in an area with many Spanish-speakers to have some bi-lingual people working there. I draw the line, however, at using
my tax dollars to make extra signs, manuals, reference materials, schoolbooks, pay for training or anything else on a state level that in effect removes the impetus to learn the language of the land.
America is "The Melting Pot" - or so I learned as a child. It's not the "Chunky-Stew-where-everything-enjoys-the-sauce-but-maintains-it's-own-independence-at-the-same-time Pot"