Press 1 for English

I'm am getting so tired of hearing "press 1 for English" when I call a company. I speak English and I live in the U. S. which is an English speaking country. Why the hell should I have to press anything for English?

Although I would support a message that said, "If you speak English press 1 and we'll be with you shortly. If you don't speak English, please hold while we contact immigration and trace your number."

- Sir Ventalot

Rating:3.57

Comments

31
(#17 back again!)

number 30.... "Everyone that posted in this thread supporting a bilingual system has no clue about the real world. "

excuse me?

i dont know about the real world? i'm dutch, english and australian. i grew up in italy and germany. i think, mate, you'll find i do know about it.

so let me get this straight - you think it's fine that they all learn english, but 'oh no we shouldnt have to try and learn their languages. for fucks sake, they can do all the work'. the only reason it might be becoming a world language is because we're all too fucking lazy to learn anything, and everyone else is intelligent and smart and polite, so they do what they can so they can get through to us.

also, you say a bilingual system is a feature of a fantasy world. then you give an example of belgium where they speak french, flemish and english... wait a sec, last time i checked belgium was a real country, not a fantasy world.

Posted 3 months ago | Report
32
#31. I live in the U. S. and I speak Englsih, why should I learn to speak another language? I expect the people that move to this country to live to learn to speak the language that we speak in this country, which is English. If I moved to France to live, I would learn their language, I wouldn't expect them to cater to me because I was too lazy to learn their language.

And this isn't about making things easy for tourists this is about people that live here. Go to Miami, Florida or San Diego, California and you'll think you're in Cuba or Mexico half the time and why, we're in the U. S.

And how did you miss my point about Belgium? My point was that even though English isn't the national language, most of the people that live in cities speak it and it's that way in most every country you go to. So, my point, that you either missed or ignored just so you could argue, is that eventually everyone will speak English and things will run far more efficiently as a planet when we do.

Fighting to retain one's heritage now that the earth has gotten so small thanks to technology is stupid. For you scifi fans out there, Star Trek is a good example. They were from earth but represented the United Federation of Planets. Another thing there won't be anymore of once we look at ourselves as earthlings rather than Frenchmen, Italians, Arabs, etc. is war. All this bitching about who owns what and where who's boundaries end or begin or who's religion is the real religion needs to stop.

Posted 3 months ago | Report
33
And for you people that are going to say it's typical of an American to expect everyone to speak English, I'd like to point out that English wasn't the national language of this country when the English from Great Britain settled it. Nor was English the national language of Canada. The fact is that English is spoken by more people in the world than any other language and I don't see why in a country that speaks English, I need to put up with bilingual signs or phone messages.

Posted 3 months ago | Report
34
And this is why Americans are the most irritating people on the planet.

Posted 3 months ago | Report
35
#32

If you go to France, you would learn their language.

It's just that easy right? I just got back from Spain, and I know what it feels like to be mocked on by the natives. I was the minority, and they didn't cater to me. You can't just "learn" it like that.. It takes a lottttt of practice and hard work. It sounds like you just say you would learn another language if you traveled, but I don't think the majority have a clue what it's like to HAVE to learn another language and keep up with native speaking.

Posted 3 months ago | Report
36
You rednecks with your "assimilate or go back to your country!" Why don't you go back to your country and leave the land to the Native Americans? Or learn one of their languages. I'd like to see that.

Posted 3 months ago | Report
37
(#17 again)

number 32 you said "The fact is that English is spoken by more people in the world than any other language"

get your facts straight. the number one spoken language is chinese. not english. so wait a sec... according to you, we should all go learn chinese now. right, bet all the english people will agree with you now.

also, can you explain the whole it's-impossible-to-have-a-bilingual-system thing even though they plainly exist in many countries? i'm confused by you.

Posted 3 months ago | Report
38
hahah! love number 34's comment! exactly.

Posted 3 months ago | Report
39
I kin d of agree that if you want to live in another country you should learn the language. I had to learn Spanish before I went to Spain for a month. It's easier to communicate with someone if you know their language, but pushing a button is not that big of a deal

Posted 3 months ago | Report
40
#36 no one is native to the U. S. they all walked over a land bridge thousands of years ago.

Posted 3 months ago | Report
41
they're a hell of a lot more "native" than the pilgrims and descendants

Posted 3 months ago | Report
42
question: is number 32 same as da OP?

Posted 3 months ago | Report
43
manderine chinese is the most common language, not English. And it isn't so easy to pick up a new language. Four years of Spanish and all I can really do is tell you that a purple monkey stole my car. And how often does that come up?

Posted 3 months ago | Report
44
HAHAHAH! love it, 43. you just made my day there!!

and i agree, like i said i grew up partly in germany, and yeah i can write letters or discuss why smoking's bad for you, or have a basic conversation - but put me in a room with a bunch of natives and i'm pretty well fucked. because it is so hard to learn a language 100% fluently. so why not just make it easier for everyone, and let the not-so-perfect-english-speakers sya what they want to say in their mothertongue?

Posted 3 months ago | Report
45
damn i enjoyed that discussion, whys it over now?

Posted 3 months ago | Report

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