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Why do some Americans get angry at other people for not speaking English? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I've hears stories of some Americans telling other people who are speaking a non-English language "This is America, speak English!" even if the conversation has nothing to do with them. Why do they do this?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I thought this first too. But then I remembered an interaction where one colleague of mine told another pair who were speaking another language that "secrets don't make friends" or some such. I think it was intended as a jokey way to express that he was uncomfortable with the conversation that he couldn't understand. He also joked that they were probably talking poorly of him. I noticed this person was normalizing controlling the discussion by throwing negative or secretive intentions onto the others' discussions. In reality, they're just friends discussing something in their primary language.

Anyway, long story long, I don't think this colleague would tell us he has a problem with others speaking a language besides English, but then he'd probably follow that up with a bunch of clarifiers that indicate he does in fact have a problem with it.

[–] Hikermick 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I used to work with Croatians and Slovenians that spoke English fluently but switch to their language abruptly as I was standing there. I thought that rude of them

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, pretty rude if they do that to exclude you specifically, for sure. Im sorry you had colleagues do this to you. Work is much better with good people.

[–] Hikermick 1 points 4 months ago

Thanks. They were actually great people so I didn't take it too hard