by Randy Davis

Created on: June 28, 2008   Last Updated: July 03, 2008

I realize that this has been going on for a while, but I'm getting pretty tired of calling companies and always hearing press 1 for English and 2 for Spanish. Why and how has this happened? The last time I checked the United States of America is an english speaking country. Not Spanish, not German, not French, or any other language for that matter except English. Do any other countries cater to another language than their own? I don't think so. If you moved to Mexico and needed to call a company or two would you get press 1 for Spanish and 2 for English? Of course not! But for some reason in the United States that's what has happened and I for one would like to know why? Americans shouldn't have to press a button on their phone to hear their own language this country was founded on. If you come to this country you should learn english period! It's no different than an American moving to Spain and having to learn Spanish.

Most people I'm sure are aware that it's not just over the phone where you hear this either. You see the English option using an ATM and every document you see anymore is in English and Spanish. Now I'm wondering what's next? Are fast food restaurants going to have a English line and a Spanish line? How about the gas stations? When you slide your credit card to pay for gas don't be suprised in the near future to see English as an option.

Our local, state, and federal government needs to fix this and go back to the way it was and the way it should be. The American public needs to say enough is enough and put pressure on our government representatives. And I have to say that I don't care if it affends the spanish speaking community. I'm offended as an American that I have to press a button on my phone to get a message or to speak with someone in English. It's gotten way out of hand and it needs to stop!

How difficult is it to ask a someone who wants to live in America to learn English? All I ask is that if you want to live in America you learn English plain and simple. Enough of this nonsense of catering to the spanish speaking community. We have but one language in the United States of America and that is English. Take classes, hire a tutor if you need one, but learn English and stop making Americans press 1 for english on their phones, not to mention every other document and ATM we use.

Certain American companies that have setup their phone systems this way need to stop. If someone in your company or a customer doesn't speak English then tell them sorry, but you'll have to speak English if you want to work here or to do business with us.

If we don't put a stop to it now then it will be too late. We'll all be speaking a combination of english and spanish probably in the not too distant future.

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