The Super Bowl Coca-Cola ad...

[BYoNexus]

should only be sung in english?

Yeah, cause you know, every person in the US only speaks english.

Language controversy is nothing new here in Quebec. It's ideas like that that fuel these kinds of issues :c

I liked the commercial, seeing it now, simply because it shows the many aspects of what would make america storng, except for the types who thought this was a horrible idea... Who balance the scales strongly in the opposite direction

[MisterTinkles]

To me, if this was the case, then all Americans should be barred from singing;

Feliz Navidad
Frere Jacques

Forbade to use loan words such as;

Menage' a Tois
Deja Vu
Collage

And stripped of all "non-american" food. Because these things are significant and come from a separate culture from America, so why does America freely use other countries recipes, words, songs?

Americans are too sensitive I think to their culture. It's not like you're small enough that within a generation or two it will disappear

You guys are not understanding the basic philosophy behind people who get upset over stuff like this. We DONT CARE if you speak other languages, but American English needs to be one of them. You show disrespect and hatred towards this country by not learning the most significant language here. And NO, its not Spanish!!!

I had a teacher in high school who traveled the world. She would tell us all sorts of stories about how Americans are treated in other countries. I even heard a few of these stories from my sister, who has also traveled the world---

In France, if you dont know enough French to order a coffee and croissant in a cafe, the French consider that rude, hateful, and extremely insulting....therefore they treat you like crap, ignore you, spit on you, etc....

In Germany, my sister (who never learned German) could not get help when shopping, as nobody would wait on her. When she DID get help, she was leered at and told to never come back. She was shoved into the street off the sidewalk, into passing traffic (luckily she never actually got hit by a vehicle).

In Mexico, if you dont speak Spanish or you dress like an "American Pig", you will get stabbed, poisoned, raped, killed, mugged, etc...

I have heard enough horror stories from world travelers, that I NEVER want to travel around the world, much less leave the USA. Does this stuff happen to all who travel abroad? Obviously not, but it DOES happen.

The point IS........you pay respect to the country and its people by speaking their native language. Even if it's bad and you cant speak it well, at least you are TRYING.

And to flagrantly "shove" this in peoples faces in commercials, TV shows, and what nots......is just another degrading insult.

We are not "too sensitive", we just want the people who are coming over here in droves to at least have enough respect for the country they are coming too, to speak the main language here. Not insult us and disrespect us by refusing to speak it.

WHY is the expectation of a little respect from immigrants being "too sensitive" or "asking too much"????

[TonyAndonuts]

Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't think not learning a country's language is "disrespectful" at all. You can love a country, but not learn the language. Learning another language is hard...it's really hard. I remember when I was young, I wanted to learn to speak and read Japanese fluently because I was such a massive otaku. I wanted to move to Japan because I loved the place so much. Well, I took Japanese classes in college and barely passed... The differences between our languages was greater than I'd expected. In the end, I kind of gave up learning Japanese fluently, but I still love Japan and wish to go there someday. Probably not live there, but maybe spend a summer there or something like that. To say that being in a country and not learning the language means you don't respect the country is insinuating way too much. Whenever I watch anime, I personally prefer to watch it dubbed in English because I don't have to bother reading subtitles and trying to pay attention to the show at the same time. When companies dub anime and other foreign shows in English, is that disrespecting the product and the country it came from? I don't think so. They're just making it universally enjoyable. The only time it does irritate me is when they actually CHANGE things to make it more appealing to our culture. But just a simple literal translation? What's wrong with that?

[Pix]

^^

Are you saying you wanted to move to Japan, which you love and respect, because you're so into anime? :confused:

Btw, thought you might want to see this (especially definition 2):

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=otaku

[Pix]

I wish I could find that vid again where an American, sick of being told he can't smoke anywhere, takes a boat (raft?) to Japan where women greet him on the beach with many cigarettes and everywhere he went people gave him cigarettes (I'm pretty sure they all spoke English, too) as he praised the great land he found himself in. I found it hilarious when I first saw it.

Still, lots of vids on American expats in Japan, if you're interested.

[Hikari]

Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't think not learning a country's language is "disrespectful" at all. You can love a country, but not learn the language. Learning another language is hard...it's really hard. I remember when I was young, I wanted to learn to speak and read Japanese fluently because I was such a massive otaku. I wanted to move to Japan because I loved the place so much. Well, I took Japanese classes in college and barely passed... The differences between our languages was greater than I'd expected. In the end, I kind of gave up learning Japanese fluently, but I still love Japan and wish to go there someday. Probably not live there, but maybe spend a summer there or something like that. To say that being in a country and not learning the language means you don't respect the country is insinuating way too much. Whenever I watch anime, I personally prefer to watch it dubbed in English because I don't have to bother reading subtitles and trying to pay attention to the show at the same time. When companies dub anime and other foreign shows in English, is that disrespecting the product and the country it came from? I don't think so. They're just making it universally enjoyable. The only time it does irritate me is when they actually CHANGE things to make it more appealing to our culture. But just a simple literal translation? What's wrong with that?

If you are in Japan but do not know how to speak any Japanese then I think you will have a bad time . Because not a lot of Japanese people can speak English well , so they will not talk to you . . .
Also some places , like bar or restaurant , will maybe not let you in if you can not speak Japanese . . .

You should not call yourself "Otaku" in Japan . It is not good word there so I think people will laugh at you (^^*)

[TonyAndonuts]

^^

Are you saying you wanted to move to Japan, which you love and respect, because you're so into anime? :confused:

Btw, thought you might want to see this (especially definition 2):

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=otaku

Pretty much, yeah. All my favorite shows were anime and my favorite games were made in Japan. So I just assumed Japan was the greatest place on Earth and wanted everything to do with it. I'm definitely not that obsessed anymore though. I'm content staying in America for now, but it'd be nice to visit Japan someday. And yes, I know otaku is a negative term, which is why I used it. I was referring to my past self, although when I think about it, I still kind of am. All I ever do is surf the web, play video games, and never go out. I'm trying to change that and get more of a social life, but I haven't exactly made huge progress. Mostly because I don't like the people around me so I cage myself off from them.......but I'm getting off topic. How bout dat commerical?

[marshlander]

In France, if you dont know enough French to order a coffee and croissant in a cafe, the French consider that rude, hateful, and extremely insulting....therefore they treat you like crap, ignore you, spit on you, etc....

In Germany, my sister (who never learned German) could not get help when shopping, as nobody would wait on her. When she DID get help, she was leered at and told to never come back. She was shoved into the street off the sidewalk, into passing traffic (luckily she never actually got hit by a vehicle).

I'm glad your sister is okay. I am also glad to say that what you say is not my experience in either of those countries.

Having a bilingual French partner I am often in France, but my own command of French is very basic. I make an effort to communicate in French when out and about without him, because I don't expect anyone else to be able to speak English (even if they can). I think I probably miss 80% of what is said to me, but I do try. Consequently I find that people are very willing to do what they can to help me out. I have never been spat at in France. The people I know would consider that very bad manners indeed. I have heard it said that Paris is different from the rest of France in many ways. I haven't been to Germany for many years, but I have experienced similar there. If anything there were more people wanting to try out their English and would not give me much of a chance to speak German.

However, I came unstuck in Belgium when I thought it would be polite to speak to a greengrocer in French, one of the two official languages. He seemed very unhappy and replied in English. I realised later that I should have attempted Flemish. I had just managed an error of the highest order. I actually attracted laughter from a shopkeeper in Holland when I attempted to conduct a purchase in Dutch. He thought it was very funny that I would try to speak Dutch when everyone spoke English.

One of the most impressive experiences of languages (apart from being with PA who switches between many languages when we have guests round the dinner table) I have experienced was in El Rastro in Madrid. El Rastro is a big open air market. PA and I were browsing through the goods on a stall selling shiny trinkets and PA started to speak to the stallholder in Spanish. PA was also speaking to me in English. Realising PA was French the stallholder decided to speak to both of us in our native languages and he did it very well. He put me to shame. He seemed more surprised that PA and I were in a relationship without going to war

I suppose I have learned that when travelling, do a bit of homework about attitudes and about the language. Note to self - must buy an Italian phrasebook.

[Sylph]

You guys are not understanding the basic philosophy behind people who get upset over stuff like this. We DONT CARE if you speak other languages, but American English needs to be one of them. You show disrespect and hatred towards this country by not learning the most significant language here. And NO, its not Spanish!!!

I had a teacher in high school who traveled the world. She would tell us all sorts of stories about how Americans are treated in other countries. I even heard a few of these stories from my sister, who has also traveled the world---

In France, if you dont know enough French to order a coffee and croissant in a cafe, the French consider that rude, hateful, and extremely insulting....therefore they treat you like crap, ignore you, spit on you, etc....

In Germany, my sister (who never learned German) could not get help when shopping, as nobody would wait on her. When she DID get help, she was leered at and told to never come back. She was shoved into the street off the sidewalk, into passing traffic (luckily she never actually got hit by a vehicle).

In Mexico, if you dont speak Spanish or you dress like an "American Pig", you will get stabbed, poisoned, raped, killed, mugged, etc...

I have heard enough horror stories from world travelers, that I NEVER want to travel around the world, much less leave the USA. Does this stuff happen to all who travel abroad? Obviously not, but it DOES happen.

The point IS........you pay respect to the country and its people by speaking their native language. Even if it's bad and you cant speak it well, at least you are TRYING.

And to flagrantly "shove" this in peoples faces in commercials, TV shows, and what nots......is just another degrading insult.

We are not "too sensitive", we just want the people who are coming over here in droves to at least have enough respect for the country they are coming too, to speak the main language here. Not insult us and disrespect us by refusing to speak it.

WHY is the expectation of a little respect from immigrants being "too sensitive" or "asking too much"????

Lol, there ya go again getting your tits all in a knot.

Perhaps I just don't care, cause here we have Indians,Asians,Other West Indians and a whole slew of other cultures, and we tend to get along fine for the most part. The only problem we have with them is when it comes to jobs, but otherwise were all good.

For instance, I made fast friends with this Pino(Phillipine) woman, and we would see each other every morning before work and talk and stuff. Funny thing, she could hardly speak that good of English, let alone our English, which I never judged her for. Our own form of English is one you might scoff at, which is also partially why I defend foreign speakers.

If I came to America and used words, phrases or pronunciations you didn't like or understand, you'd have me speak "American" English, but do you know exactly how bladdey well hard it is to do so? Just cause I can type it doesn't mean its easy to say such words as;
Door
Sure
Cloud
The

We'd actually prefer an American to speak their way here, rather than try to learn our way, which is what we'd find as offensive, because generally you never take it seriously enough. You try to speak our way, your way

So I think its fabulous America has all these different peoples expressing the same pride, just in another language.

I would maybe even venture to say they have more pride and respect than you do, because they don't take it for granted. "Land of Opportunities" "Home of the Free" "American Dream" , it's usually foreigners who refer to these things when speaking of America, right?

[Ekwarph]

Menage' a Tois

Seriously, Americans say that ?


Anyway, there's no official language in the whole United States, so I don't see the point.