Speaking American

The whole debate over whether or not to make English the "official" language of various cities, the US, etc. annoys me. Do people really believe that we're going to wake up one morning and suddenly be required to speak Spanish? Or French? Perhaps Mandarin? Maybe Latin will make a resurgence...

I digress.

What irks me more than anything are the soundbites played in the media of people saying, "If they're gonna live here then they better learn to speak English!" or, "This is 'Merica. They need to speak 'Merican!"

I've traveled a fair amount overseas and am always struck by Americans' brazenness (and sometimes downright rude behavior) when it comes to speaking a foreign language in a foreign country. I'll never forget standing in a store in Paris while a woman very loudly and crudely asked the proprietor, "Parlay vouse Englaze?" When the man ignored her, she persisted, this time in her native tongue, "Do you speak English?" He continued to ignore her (rightly so) until she left the store. Such behavior was not an isolated case. The same people who insist that English should be spoken here because, dammit, this is America, won't be bothered to (properly) learn a few token phrases when vacationing in another country.

Tomorrow, I think, should be Foreign Language Day at Into the Thick of It. Bring your favorite foreign phrase and share it with the rest of the class.

Ciao!