Woman kicked out of a Starbucks, was complaining that other customers were speaking Korean

[bcla]

Well the one I talked to today didn't quite grasp the concept if my hotel in Puerto Rico wasn't reopening until June 30 2018, why I needed to cancel my reservation for April 26, 2018, so English not so much.

Customer service is a completely different matter. I've dealt with coworkers originally from India who could fully speak American English without a hitch and with minimal use of Indian English idioms. However, they adjusted to life in the US. Over the years I've dealt with recruiters from India, and what they speak is almost a completely different language than English.

 

[Disney Doll]

I don't consider drunk and "off" to be the same thing.

Then you’ve never worked in an ER.

 

[Disney Doll]

If you own a business in the United States, I think you should be able to communicate to your customers in the common language of the country, which is English.

I’ve been to a few foreign countries in my day and I have no expectation that they should know English. I’m always grateful if they do but I don’t expect it.

And if they’re talking to each other about me in their native language...oh well.

 

[sam_gordon]

That’s not necessarily true. At my new job, our trainer is from India as well as a few of the trainees. I learned today that India has 26(?) states and that they all speak a different language. Our trainer ‘only’ spoke Hindi, and two others that I can’t remember. So, no, you won’t learn new languages if your country has different ones.

So the trainer spoke three languages from India, but you don't think you'd learn a new language if there are different ones in the country?

 

[Suger Mag]

5 years of Latin... considering I am not Catholic, definitely taken for fun/ interest... however is not without its uses... it has given me the ability to do pretty good deciphering the meaning with written Romance languages, but no help with spoken LOL. Thinking of going back and taking Spanish again, I teach at a college and can take classes for free so why not...

 

[punkin]

Oh please...this woman is an outlier. That's why she made news. I speak two languages fluently and a third quite well. My children are also multilingual. I live in a community of many immigrants. Foreign languages are common at the Starbucks near me. Whenever these discussions come up, I always wonder where these silly "ugly American" stereotypes come from. I've never personally witnessed bad behavior abroad (and I've travelled a lot).

 

[ronandannette]

That may be fine in the setting you describe but it certainly doesn't apply in a public place like a coffee shop.

I also didn't realise you could tell a person was off by looking at them.

Of course you can - non-verbal communication is a thing. Aside from being "altered", often a person will just "vibe" anxiety or hostility or just a nebulous negativity that is easily observed through their countenance. I'm not saying this is the case for the person in the article - that picture is not too conclusive IMO.

People get intoxicated with all kinds of substances every day.

That's why I questioned your statement in the first place. You asserted you cannot tell someone is off simply by looking at them. You may not know what, but often you can observe something is "off".

Absolutely!

I would think nothing of an employee speaking another language to a fellow coworker, especially if the other employee is being asked to help with serving me and instructions are being passed on from the person dealing directly with me. I come from a country where we expect government employees to speak a minimum of 2 languages, if not more when dealing with the public. Speaking languages other than English is a good thing. It certainly would never cross my mind to get upset at fellow customers in a shop conversing in their language of choice.

It is not at all uncommon in Canada for older, first-generation immigrants to never learn English - many of them live in insular communities and we have no expectation of the "cultural melting pot" that exists in America. While it may be functionally problematic in some settings, we're certainly unlikely to ever be offended by it.

...He was irate & filled the manager in on what the employees were saying about the costumers. They were saying some really nasty stuff thinking no one in line could understand them. I don't know, if anything ever came of it, but this guy made sure the manager knew he'd be reporting it to cooperate. FWIW, it appeared the manager didn't speak that language either.

LOVE this! I have pretty high standards for courteous customer service and what your describing is outrageous.

I dunno. You don't have to read very far into to Trip Advisor reviews to find Americans "complaining" that the staff at a Mexican resort doesn't speak English well. It constantly amazes me that people travel to a foreign country and EXPECT that everyone will speak English. That's an ugly American thing. And, it's more common than we thing. When I travel to a foreign country, where English isn't the norm, I make it a point to learn a few simple phrases in the native language. That's called courtesy and cultural awareness. My general experience is that people in other industrialized countries place far more importance on learning another language than Americans do.

I am a unilingual English speaker, and I'm certainly aware the problem is on my end. I've travelled to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and Europe and felt very, very awkward about MY inability to communicate with THEM. It wouldn't occur to me to view it the other way.

I wonder how many people you know who expect English to be spoken in foreign destinations. But my guess would be that them wanting people to speak English in the US is that they feel that people living there should learn to speak English. There is only one official language in the US. It's not right that my voting card and info in Florida comes in Spanish. I'm getting telemarketing calls in Spanish. The stop signs now in construction areas along I-4 are now in Spanish. In Canada things are in French and English as there are 2 official languages. That's the way it should be in that case. Unless the US becomes officially a duel language country, every thing should be in English only.

Sounds practical to me. And in my part of Canada there's virtually NO French signage of any kind or any services available in French outside the federal building. Visit Vancouver some time. If you were simply going by signage and available services, you'd almost certainly guess the 2nd official language was a Chinese dialect, not French. Again, it's a matter of practicality.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Sounds practical to me. And in my part of Canada there's virtually NO French signage of any kind or any services available in French outside the federal building. Visit Vancouver some time. If you were simply going by signage and available services, you'd almost certainly guess the 2nd official language was a Chinese dialect, not French. Again, it's a matter of practicality.

You know I find this actually interesting and it makes me wondering if it's a geographical thing.

Quebec is predominantly french and its official language is french (and thanks to french classes I almost always say with the french pronunciation).

British Columbia is predominantly english and its official language is english.

I say geographical thing because Quebec is a province far east with easier access to France and other parts of the world that speak french and British Columbia is far west with easier access to China and countries that speak chinese. I *think* the vast difference could be largely due to where immigration as well as settlement occurred.

Now I'm not trying to sound ignorant lol so apologies if I'm way off base or way simplifying it it was just a thought that occurred in my mind.

Slightly off topic but my husband's family on his dad's side hails mostly from Scandinavia though also a few from Germany (coming to the U.S. by way of Canada actually in the mid-late 1800s) and they settled in Minnesota--Minnesota has a very large Scandinavian culture/settlement (and is in fact one of the center points in the U.S. for Scandinavian-American culture). They actually changed their spelling from Mickkelson to Mickelson when they came over (I actually can't remember if it was Mickkelsen or Mickkelson before they changed it).

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

That may be fine in the setting you describe but it certainly doesn't apply in a public place like a coffee shop.

I also didn't realise you could tell a person was off by looking at them.

You have obviously never met my MIL who had every dirty look in the book and then some.

 

[kimblebee]

So the trainer spoke three languages from India, but you don't think you'd learn a new language if there are different ones in the country?

One was English and the other is the language her husband speaks (he’s from a different state) and she said she only knows basic phrases.

No, I don’t think I’d learn a different language. Like I said, I’m Canadian, where there are TWO official languages and I only speak one fluently. I am hardly in the minority.

 

[ronandannette]

You know I find this actually interesting and it makes me wondering if it's a geographical thing.

Quebec is predominantly french and its official language is french (and thanks to french classes I almost always say with the french pronunciation).

British Columbia is predominantly english and its official language is english.

I say geographical thing because Quebec is a province far east with easier access to France and other parts of the world that speak french and British Columbia is far west with easier access to China and countries that speak chinese. I *think* the vast difference could be largely due to where immigration as well as settlement occurred.

Now I'm not trying to sound ignorant lol so apologies if I'm way off base or way simplifying it it was just a thought that occurred in my mind.

Slightly off topic but my husband's family on his dad's side hails mostly from Scandinavia though also a few from Germany (coming to the U.S. by way of Canada actually in the mid-late 1800s) and they settled in Minnesota--Minnesota has a very large Scandinavian culture/settlement (and is in fact one of the center points in the U.S. for Scandinavian-American culture). They actually changed their spelling from Mickkelson to Mickelson when they came over (I actually can't remember if it was Mickkelsen or Mickkelson before they changed it).

Of course it is. Quebec was founded by the French and western Canada was settled a century later; predominantly by Brits and Scots. In many parts of Canada today later waves of immigration have skewed the prevalence of languages even further. For example, here in Calgary I'm sure Hindi or Punjabi or Arabic speakers outnumber French speakers at least 100-to-1. On the west coast the single, predominant non-anglo population is Chinese and as economic considerations naturally dictate, their native language(s) are also prominent. (As I mentioned in my first post, it's not uncommon here for immigrants to retain their own languages to a far greater degree than in the States. Culturally, there's really no expectation of English or French being the norm and it's really a matter of functionality. Of course subsequent generations are educated in either English or French but it's the first-generation people I'm talking about.)

 

[CarolAnn856]

WOW.....
painting with a very very broad and negative brush, aren't you.

Huh, perhaps you missed the part where I specifically said "IRL," meaning I actually know these people. Odd that you would choose to take my comment the wrong way.

 

[sam_gordon]

One was English and the other is the language her husband speaks (he’s from a different state) and she said she only knows basic phrases.

You said she knew "two others taht you don't remember", so I had assumed English wasn't one of those two.

No, I don’t think I’d learn a different language. Like I said, I’m Canadian, where there are TWO official languages and I only speak one fluently. I am hardly in the minority.

So if Florida spoke an entirely different language, you don't think you'd learn some of that language for multiple trips to Disney?

 

[Gumbo4x4]

One was English and the other is the language her husband speaks (he’s from a different state) and she said she only knows basic phrases.

No, I don’t think I’d learn a different language. Like I said, I’m Canadian, where there are TWO official languages and I only speak one fluently. I am hardly in the minority.

That's the point though. If you had nearly constant exposure to another language, and if many who spoke that language were less than fluent in yours, by necessity you'd pick some up and maybe even become fluent.

But, because you live in the middle of Canada where pretty much everyone is fluent in English, there is no practical reason for you to learn a second language. That doesn't make you lazy or arrogant.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So if Florida spoke an entirely different language, you don't think you'd learn some of that language for multiple trips to Disney?

I'm not the poster but I think that is very much a personal option rather than something most think you should.

I mean do all travelers go to Toyko Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Shanghai Disneyland or Hong Kong Disneyland (though Hong Kong has english and chinese as official language) learn the language of those countries when they visit? I mean sure you may pick up a few phrases here and there but there are travelers to WDW who do not speak english nor really understand it but they still visit WDW. In the grande scheme of things if you went to another Disney park you'd probably pick up a map that was in your language (or hope that they have a map in your language) and fuddle through it--even if you did multiple trips you'd probably only pick up a handful of phrases. I would say that's the majority of folks; some may go all out and learn a fair amount of the other language. I *think* that most of the other non-domestic parks have quite a few things in english anyways at least in terms of signs and whatnot but not necessarily all the park staff you run into at the parks. Admittedly I haven't researched each and every non-domestic park to see if they have signs in english or not but I know Toyko does and I'm guessing here but Hong Kong probably does since one of its official languages is english.

My guess is even if hypothetically Florida spoke another language there would be plenty of things inside WDW that would be in english; they may have the other language on signs and whatnot as well but they would likely be english as well. It would also make sense if the rest of the U.S. spoke english but only Florida spoke an entirely different language. By necessity, proximity, tourism, etc they would want to have english as a language supported.

 

[JPPT1974]

As an Amerasian I am proud of my heritage. Even though as a kid I was not. People that act that way we do not need. As if they do not like it, then move. But the USA is the land of the free, home of the brave!

 

[BLAZEY]

I am on the west coast of Canada and my husband and I made the decision to educate our daughter, now eight in French. Our public schools offer a programme called French Immersion in which the students take all of their subject in French until middle school when elective courses are added and they are in English. My husband completed his schooling the same way. DD8 now goes to the same elementary school I did which had just introduce French Immersion the year before I started kindergarten in 1982. The programme has grown to the point where the school population is 75% French and 25% English classes. It is so popular for 2 reasons. It is a great way to ensure that your child becomes bilingual,especially with all the learning and mental benefits, that opens the door to many more job and career opportunities especially with the Federal government. And the second, during the cut backs to education, student learning assistance was reduced to a point where teachers had many special needs students in the class with little or no extra support for these students. Most times the French immersion classes didn't have these students , or had fewer of them and less severe cases. Many parents with children who have learning difficulties are not going to put another obstacle in front of their child when it come to their education. I know in the Vancouver area Mandarin immersion programmes are also available through the public school system in addition to the French immersion.

 

[ronandannette]

I am on the west coast of Canada and my husband and I made the decision to educate our daughter, now eight in French. Our public schools offer a programme called French Immersion in which the students take all of their subject in French until middle school when elective courses are added and they are in English. My husband completed his schooling the same way. DD8 now goes to the same elementary school I did which had just introduce French Immersion the year before I started kindergarten in 1982. The programme has grown to the point where the school population is 75% French and 25% English classes. It is so popular for 2 reasons. It is a great way to ensure that your child becomes bilingual,especially with all the learning and mental benefits, that opens the door to many more job and career opportunities especially with the Federal government. And the second, during the cut backs to education, student learning assistance was reduced to a point where teachers had many special needs students in the class with little or no extra support for these students. Most times the French immersion classes didn't have these students , or had fewer of them and less severe cases. Many parents with children who have learning difficulties are not going to put another obstacle in front of their child when it come to their education. I know in the Vancouver area Mandarin immersion programmes are also available through the public school system in addition to the French immersion.

DH's daughters were in French immersion from K through Grade 9 in the early 90's and were AFAIK, reasonably successful. Residing in Edmonton, however, and having almost no need or opportunity to practise, neither of them has retained any fluency.

 

[BLAZEY]

DH's daughters were in French immersion from K through Grade 9 in the early 90's and were AFAIK, reasonably successful. Residing in Edmonton, however, and having almost no need or opportunity to practise, neither of them has retained any fluency.

DH thought the same way until DD started school. Oh, how it all come back. Helping DD with her school work has definitely made it come back as we are actually using it. I only took French as a Second Language (30 mins a day gr 4-12) and while I can read and write it my speaking is a different story. But it is coming back as we are using it.

 

[DopeyDame]

When it's clear that the other employee is asked to help and is being given directions, it's not a problem. I have been in places where I am being served but the employees are having a private conversation in another language that has nothing to do with business. I know this for sure because while I am not fluent in other languages, I can understand a bit of conversational language in a couple languages. Of course, the chuckling doesn't help.

I never have a problem with other customers speaking a different language.

So your problem is with employees having private, non work related conversations. And that is a totally legit complaint. The language in which they are having those conversations is totally irrelevant.