"Press 1 if you want to continue this call in English..."

Warning: This is NOT a 'Politically Correct" article!

How many times have you called a 1-800 number and heard the words "Press 1 if you want to continue this call in English"?

If I were going to move to another country to work, even if I wasn't planning on staying forever, just long enough to make money to send home before returning myself, I would learn the language of that country.

In some countries, if you don't learn the language, you're not going to be allowed to stay in that country and work for very long.

Used to be that in order to become a US citizen, immigrants (legal immigrants) had to learn English. To get a license for most jobs, you have to be able to speak and read English. I know that back in the early 80s, when my husband and I got our licenses to drive taxis in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, we were told that the test was in English. JUST English. Even back then, there was some kind of loophole that allowed people who could barely speak English to get their 'hack' license.

Of course, the illegal immigrants aren't required to learn the language. They don't want to be US Citizens - except when it comes to getting the freebies from the government. They don't plan to stay here forever, only until they make enough money to retire comfortably back in Mexico or wherever they are from.  And they are catered to by many companies, mostly because if the company doesn't, they fear being branded as bigots or racists.

Most everything is printed in at least English and Spanish (and occasionally other languages as well, usually French for the French Canadians in the north). Even our voting ballots are in both languages so that people who don't speak English can vote.  Excuse me --- if you become a US citizen, then  you should be able to speak and read English. If you can't, then you're likely not eligible to vote in our elections.

It's very frustrating when  you're trying to deal with someone who speaks another language. And it's more frustrating when you know that they're not even trying to learn the language.

Years ago, when I worked for a family owned chain of restaurants in Dallas, there were a lot of Mexicans working as busboys and a few of them also did other jobs. But the majority of them barely spoke English. I'm pretty sure that few of them were legally in this country. One of them was sending money back to Mexico to his family who was running his ranch there. He planned to eventually return to that ranch and live on the money he made here.

While most of the men didn't speak English, their wives were sometimes an exception. Back in the 80s, there were few options on TV other than English language programming. So the wives, who usually stayed at home to cook and clean and take care of the children, would watch US soap operas, and would learn the language from the TV.

Now, they don't have to do that. There are many Spanish channels that carry the novellas in Spanish so they don't have reason to learn English. They end up letting their children who are in the US school system and learn to speak it (at school, at least, not usually at home) translate for them when they go out.

We need to start requiring anyone who stays here for more than, say, two months, to learn English to a degree that they can communicate without any problem. If they aren't willing to do that, then they need to be returned to their home country.

I know this country was founded and built on immigrants, but it was legal immigration. And it's past time that we make English the official language of the United States of America, and require all paperwork to be only in that language.  Think of the money we would save by not having to print things twice or three times in different languages! Not to mention the trees.

And a hint to those companies who answer their phones with a request to 'press 1 for English' --- Why not simply do business in English. If you must shuttle someone to Spanish, do by requiring the user to press a button, not those who have taken the time and cared enough to learn English.