Press 1

Hey i came here from germany and never asked for the german version of something or demanded that it has to written in german. I speak english even to other germans. If you are to lazy to learn english fluently in five years, get your dumb a$$ home!!!!!!

Good one Conny - my aunt came to America as a LEGAL immigrant, she got here when she was 16, and this year (she's 65) will be 25 years as a LEGAL citizen.

If you come to America the LEGAL way, you do learn the language!

Here's a thought for the people that don't want to admit "English" is our language:

WHAT LANGUAGE WAS OUR CONSTITUTION WRITTEN IN???

I am so glad that people agree with me. I am so sick and tired of hearing spanish everywhere i go. What i dont get is how you can live in a country for 10-15years and dont understand what the people around you are saying. Are my kids supposed to learn a foreign language, in the country where they are born and raised, just because of a bunch of people who came here to mooch of our goverment.

Yes i am a legal alien, i do speak english , i have health and life insurance. i dont need goverment assistance

Doesn't anyone realize who placed the option there to press a number for a specific language? Doesn't anyone realize that it wasn't a legal or an illegal immigrant who demanded it? I mean come on who here thinks they have that kind of power? It was the company executives who decided to add the option. Being accesible to a larger audience means more business, more money. So if you are pissed off because you have to press 1 for english send a letter to the CEO of the company you called and ask them to remove it. Good luck! heh...

Language is no respecter of political boundaries. Fact of the matter is that the USA is in region in which the dominant language is Spanish, not English. With Hispanics now representing the largest minority, surely it can't be that much of jump to realize that the US is slowly becoming bilingual, whether we like it or not. The notion of an 'official' language is a political fiction; in a country like Suriname for example, the official language is Dutch, but most of its citizens speak other languages, like Sranan. In continents like Africa, Europe and Asia, multilingualism is a norm. Really, people, let's get real.

wingman, i believe that you are in danger of conflating political identity with cultural or ethnic identity. While all persons who hold US citizenship may be politically described as "American", that doesn't incorporate, nor does it reflect a particular identify, such as African American or Asian American, which people are entitled to so they choose. Secondly, your position completely ignores the fact that for much of the history of the USA, there were minorities (notably African Americans) who were systematically denied their humanity, much less their citizenship. In other words, they were not considered "American". The recognition of black people as equal citizens was something they struggled for, not something that was given to them. Accordingly, do you think it is any surprise that they wish to self identify as African Americans, as opposed to the bland, homogeneous term "American"? Finally, the term American as applied to US citizens is actually offensive to those of us who come from other parts of the Americas.