If you go to Mexico City, you'll be amazed at how many people there do speak English. You won't have to learn Spanish to visit there. In fact, that's the situation all over the world. English is spoken widely in most countries.
The reality is that tourists to the US (and we have lots and lots of them) often have a difficult time because they cannot find anyone who speaks their language. Generally, they have some English, since English is taught in the schools of most developed countries, but when the going gets tough, they find that locating a German, French, Japanese, or Russian speaker is very, very difficult. That's because we don't bother to teach languages any more in our schools.
Legal immigrants assimilate and learn English. It takes a while for that to happen in the first generation. It took a long time before the adult Swedish and Norwegian immigrants in the 19th century could speak English, too. Their children learned faster, but that's how it always goes.
The next generation, however, spoke unaccented English, while maintaining a bit of their old language. The third generation couldn't even speak Swedish or Norwegian.
Thus it is with the legal Spanish-speaking immigrants, too. In the meantime, the first generation adults will always struggle with English. Their kids will learn it well, and the third generation will barely be able to speak Spanish. I saw it in my California home town in the 50's and it's going on the same today.
Again, how many of the customers of that Dollar store do you suppose are Spanish-speakers. I'll bet it's a large percentage. Maybe the clerks' abilities to speak Spanish are a plus for the business. Maybe the boss just doesn't like hearing Spanish.
It's not that simple.
I have no argument with what you are saying. And as I understand it a lot of the customers were Latinos. What I am seeing is a group (not all) of people who refuse to learn English and assume we will change to suit them! And because it's so easy to sue someone here, they do and it just compounds the problem.
I just would not move to another country and not learn their language. The idea would be to make my life easier, not go out of my way to make the country I am living in change to suit me.
"I just would not move to another country and not learn their language. The idea would be to make my life easier, not go out of my way to make the country I am living in change to suit me.
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Sure. I won't even VISIT another country without learning enough of the language there to be polite, ask common questions, count, and order a meal. It doesn't take that long, but then, I seem to have a knack for languages.
That's not always the case with recent immigrants. English is tough to learn. I'll bet these workers can speak it well enough to handle their duties at the cash register, etc. But, when it comes time to discuss the coming marriage of their daughter, or their last trip to the doctor, it's often easier to speak in their native language to others who also speak that language.
This is not about interaction with customers. I'm sure the owner of the store is happy to have his clerks able to speak to his customers. This is about interactions between employees, if it's like most of these cases.
It's a lot different to tell a customer how much their purchase comes to and to wish them a nice day than it is to have a full conversation with a co-worker who happens to share a native language with you. It's only natural to carry out those conversations in the native language.
Yes, immigrants should learn English, and almost all do, at least well enough to get along. But, first-generation immigrants will continue to address people who speak their native language in that language. It's a lot easier and more information gets exchanged.
I'm just not an advocate of insisting that every immigrant be fluent in English the minute they step into the USA. That's impractical, and has never been the rule here.