English...

[Akame]

I'd like to think after living on both coasts of the US and in the Caribbean for over a decade, I'm pretty culturally diverse. But so help me, if you cannot speak English at even a conversational level you've got no place working for a State college's accounting office. It wastes MY time to have to have two phone conversations and then two more emails trying to reword the same thing so you can understand it.

Your company doesn't pay ME to do your job for you.


/kicks soapbox
/rant off

[Kainzo]

I work for a system's support line for a major Tax Accounting Software Development company... I understand your pain. I get calls from India, Japan, England ... can barely understand or comprehend what they are saying at times.

A callers name was Vajyahannada Mudhaahdmdare (not even remotely kidding)
How can I help you..... V-J? hah

[jilena]

Damnit. I was expecting a Samuel L. Jackson: "...DO YOU SPEAK IT?!"

[Akame]

Originally Posted by jilena [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Damnit. I was expecting a Samuel L. Jackson: "...DO YOU SPEAK IT?!"

I was very (very) tempted to do that. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[pickled_heretic]

In the interest of keeping this thread interesting, I want to mention that USA does not have an official language. Legally, public institutions have to accomodate any sort of language you could imagine, including Klingon. Conversely, public employees, given they are US Citizens, should not be legally obligated to speak English given the current legal requirement.

Would you support declaring English the official language of the United States? Should there be any secondary/tertiary official languages declared?

[Akame]

Originally Posted by pickled_heretic [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

In the interest of keeping this thread interesting, I want to mention that USA does not have an official language. Legally, public institutions have to accommodate any sort of language you could imagine, including Klingon. Conversely, public employees, given they are US Citizens, should not be legally obligated to speak English given the current legal requirement.

Would you support declaring English the official language of the United States? Should there be any secondary/tertiary official languages declared?

I would support declaring English as the official language but at the same time my insides cringe because that would officially mean asinine words in the English dictionary would be "official" as well (Such as ginormous [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] ).

But, if public institutions have to accommodate languages then wouldn't they have to accommodate the fact that the small business I work for speaks English? The translation requirements seem awfully swapped here.

[PhelanKA]

So long as the lingua franca is English, people working in the US should be expected to speak English fluently. That's just simple logic. When/if the lingua franca changes then I'll be glad to learn that language to accomodate civilization.

[pickled_heretic]

Originally Posted by PhelanKA [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

So long as the lingua franca is English, people working in the US should be expected to speak English fluently. That's just simple logic. When/if the lingua franca changes then I'll be glad to learn that language to accomodate civilization.

"should be expected" is not a policy change. Are you saying the status quo is acceptable, or are you saying that English should be made the Official language of the United States?

[guineapig]

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[guineapig]

Originally Posted by guineapig [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

(I was not born in the United States [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.])