Posted on 08/06/2006 4:54:36 PM PDT by World_Events
By Sonia Moghe ASSOCIATED PRESS
11:40 a.m. August 4, 2006
RICHARDSON, Texas – When Ron Patel talks to customers at the Super 8 Motel he owns, he usually does so in English. When he speaks to the housekeeping staff it's often in Spanish. When he talks to his wife, it's in the Indian language Gujarati. It's a complicated but increasingly common scene in U.S. hotels and motels, about one-third of which are owned by Indians, according to the Asian American Hotel Owners Association.
To help keep order in the multilanguage environment, many hotel operators are turning to a Gujarati-Spanish phrasebook developed for hotel owners and being expanded and more widely distributed by the end of 2006. “Especially the part of Texas we live in – you have to have a few words in hospitality; otherwise you lose the customer,” said Vijay Lala, who keeps the book at his front desk at the Pine Lodge Motel he owns in Jacksonville to help him deal with Spanish-speaking customers and employees.
(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...
Boy, I'm gonna have a hard time sleeping tonight, worrying about how Habib converses with Hernando
Welcome to America, now SPEAK ENGLISH.
On a cross country trip a few years ago (Route 66 trek) I was surprised by the number of motels operated by Indians. Stayed in several and they were all very clean and seemed to be well run. The offices when attached to the owners quarters did smell of curry though.
Stories like this are one of the reasons I so love America. It will all work out. Commerce in action.
This is considered quite declasse nowadays. The second generation of Patels are getting BAs in hotel managemnt, and then MBAs from good schools, and are aiming for the executive ranks of some of the major hotel chains.
Don't doubt it a bit, and they're mostly good people. But the socialist-commie-inspired *balkanization* of our culture, and way of life, continues.
I have Indian friends who own a 7-11, and the wife is currently taking spanish classes because of the number of patrons who know NO english. It's a business decision, which I understand...because the immigrants could easily go down the road to the Persian owned 6-12 market.
My sister is looking for a new job as a Social Worker and finds most employers want social workers who can speak Spanish as well as English.
Yo, Patel! Don't hire illegals and you won't have to learn Spanish.
BTW, we were in Austin yesterday and went shopping at Highland Mall. The kids asked why everyone was speaking Spanish, so I had to explain Austin is a sanctuary city. Then we wandered downstairs and low and behold I found Mexcio. Yep, there was a clothing store ("Exit" or some such) that, I swear, the entire enventory and the employees were sneaked past customs in the back of a '57 Chevy. I just HAD to go in and check it out. Every thing was $10 or less - jeans were $10, ball gowns were $6. When there were labels, they were in Spanish and most didn't have sizes. The employees were all speaking Spanish and the cashiers were telling puzzled customers the totals in Spanish.
Folks, in case you aren't aware, the invasion has begun and is nearly complete.
How do you say, "Oh, crap!" in Spanish??
I believe this is called 'enabling' and is doing
Spanish-speakers (or any other language) living in America a disservice--if English became the legal national language of the USA, then all this expensive redundancy and bureacracy wouldn't be necessary! Think how much paper could be saved if things didn't have to be copied multiple times in multiple languages! How many trees are recklessly destroyed for this foolishness every year?
Hey, yeah! Let's get the tree huggers involved! Maybe they'll find a way to stop this idiocy. ;-)
Press 2 for Spanish.
Press 3 for Gujarati.
FMCDH(BITS)
Like I said on the earlier thread (this has been posted earlier today), we frequently stay at a Super 8 in central Minnesota; it's kinda fun hearing Patel (and yes, that's his name) saying Uffda and Doncha Know and You Betcha.
It is Balkanization, or is it a recreation of remnants of the Indian caste system? Either way, it's the same system that many middle age Indian Americans were born into in India. Language is one of the major determinants of caste in Indian society today. Spanish is just another dialect of the Indian Diaspora's business empires.
Also, my company's Patel clients have all been very decent people, a pleasure to work with, with almost everyone one of their kids going on to college. The children, now in their 20's and 30's are all very Americanized, except the fat daughters. That might be a stereotype, but it's been 100% true in my experiences in NY/NJ.
Sadly, I found that my Spanish skills helped me a great deal in traveling throughout the Midwest, and other parts of the country. I always got better service from the hotel and restaurant staff when I spoke to them in Spanish.
It shouldn't be that way in OUR country, and I know I was enabling them, but I was simply looking out for #1, trying to get the best service I could.
"Language is one of the major determinants of caste in Indian society today."
Oh really? Do people belonging to different caste groups speak in different languages? Tell me about it.
"You have no idea!!"
Check my home page ;-D
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