i thought this was america, people

Thursday, March 20, 2008
in october 2005, a philadelphia cheese steak shop owner posted this sign: THIS IS AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH. according to cnn.com, it was ruled that this was not discriminatory. is it?

i know that when americans travel to france, italy, and other popular destinations we dont speak the nation's language. is it really fair in a major US city to say something like that? i wonder because of the supposed principles this nation was founded on.

on a related note, i am very annoyed at the fact that many job postings i come across in my profession pretty much require that the applicant be bilingual. nine times out of ten they want that second language to be spanish. only once did i see amharic which i think is an ethiopian language. i'm torn. anyway, thoughts?

3 thought(s):

Don said...

I don't think it's offensive, but I do see the bad taste (pun intended).

T said...

Latinos are a minority, as are African-Americans. It's easier to single out AA at HBCUs and as members of black professional organizations, but a company looking to diversify it's workforce may have a harder time finding a Latino person.

So to foster diversity, companies sometimes post a job twice, one posting without a language requirement and another requesting a bilingual speaker.

As a recruiter, I can honestly say it wouldn't hurt to learn Spanish to make yourself a more viable candidate in the marketplace, but I see how that could be difficult since you're graduating soon.

EspaƱol es una lengua muy facil para entender.

Congrats btw! Also btw, I'm a new reader and I love your blog.

antithesis said...

mainly, i feel regret for merely fullfilling the foreign language requirement and not continuing on and becoming fluent. si, es muy facil pero soy...como se dice "lazy"?