?Hablas espanol, Mickey?

[kiawahman]

English is our official language.. you want to be here, then you need to learn it.

 

[Teenchy]

I think what most people are afraid of is that it is discouraging those who speak other languages than English. With everyone catering to them, they don't even have to bother learning English. They can get by just fine speaking Spanish.

You got it.

My better half works in the ER of a major children's medical center. And there are often times when parents come in that only speak Spanish and they get upset when there isn't someone there immediately that can speak Spanish.
They have to get a translator to help. But thats just a perfect example of how learning the language of the country you choose to live in can make a huge difference, who knows maybe a life and death difference.

 

[MickeyTigg]

I know there's been issues at hospitals where a translator was brought in based on "perceived" nationality and they were wrong. They are then made to feel guilty of "stereotyping" based on race/language. What started out as an attempt to help the patient turns into an issue. As we all know, when an issue involves a large corporation, phone calls to lawyers are quickly made.

Todd....the cases you mention are because of a poorly written policy...I think the Disney legals are smart enough to write something into the policy to the effect...."Initiate communication in English...if spoken to in Spanish or you're requested to speak in Spanish, then and only then address the guest in Spanish."

As I stated earlier....the bilingual signs are already there. If you wanted to stop this, the time to stop it would have been before the signs were posted. While I don't necessarily want Spanish version of shows I just don't see the harm in having the speaking characters being able to speak some fundamental phrases in Spanish if it's needed.

 

[wannab@dis]

Todd....the cases you mention are because of a poorly written policy...I think the Disney legals are smart enough to write something into the policy to the effect...."Initiate communication in English...if spoken to in Spanish or you're requested to speak in Spanish, then and only then address the guest in Spanish."

As I stated earlier....the bilingual signs are already there. If you wanted to stop this, the time to stop it would have been before the signs were posted. While I don't necessarily want Spanish version of shows I just don't see the harm in having the speaking characters being able to speak some fundamental phrases in Spanish if it's needed.

I understand you point and I agree to an extent. :wave:

 

[darthjohnny]

If they only hire people that speak other languages, it will certainly limit the number of job opportunities for people.

 

[drei]

Disney is simply making a business decision to cater to the spanish speaking population. Disney is not the government, trying to make everything bilingual. It is trying to tap into a lucrative market. It makes perfect sense and Disney has every right to do this to increase their profit.

 

[blakesse06]

though i agree with most of you on here i look at the issue like this:
micky mouse loves money and he will go by what ever means nessary to make more and if it means learning to speak spanish too do it he will. this being said reguardless of how anyone feels this is just simply a way to get park attendance numbers up witch means more money for disney
im sure they could care less of anyones opion on wether or not guest shouldd be expected to know english (though i agree they should at least a little)

 

[ilovepluto23]

I definetly agree that it should be on a voluntary basis, but I don't think it is right to say that they are shoving their language on us. We as a culture are very rude when it comes to issues like this...why do you think that so many other countries teach their children english from a young age. The majority of our schools have the kids take one language..and it generally doesn't start until middle school/high school. Sure there are more and more schools here that are starting to teach children a language at a young age, but I think it would be fair to say that most of us can only speak english fluently. Look at most European countries and you will find that most of the younger generations can speak English very well.
Its not like they are talking about all CMs being fluent in Spanish and using it as their primary language...they are thinking about a select few people to speak Spanish to make a childs day and encourage more visitors.

You have your opinion and I have mine about language. I think it's ridiculous when I go to McDonald's and everything is in Spanish below it, or when I open a manual to an appliance that I bought at Walmart and it's not even in English.

I don't have anything against people being bilingual or children learning other languages in school. The really sad thing is though, many children can't even speak English in this country (especially around here in New Orleans b/c our state is so behind in education). I can hardly undertstand what half the kids/teenagers are saying around this area most of the time...and they're speaking my language!

And I didn't say ALL CMs should learn multiple languages. I said that they should have CMs around who DO speak multiple languages to accommodate guests from other countries (which they probably do, they obviously have them in Epcot). I never said ALL in that sentence.
And I agreed with characters learning languages to interact with foreign guests as long as it was voluntary.

Please read comments entirely before you question them...the answer may already be there.

 

[ilovepluto23]

ok..so before you get mad at me for my previous post...I think some of us are thinking different things. I totally agree that if you want to live and work in this country and become a citizen then you need to speak English.....I was thinking more about bringing in tourists.

No, if you read my post I did say I was starting to get into all the illegal immigrant B.S. going on in the country, and I apologized for going off the subject a little.

I don't have a problem with tourists who don't speak English, just as long as they know SOME of the language so that you can communicate at some level with them (you know like "excuse me," "Sorry" or whatever if they bump into you or something)...and that they're courteous/respectful while visiting another country. This was discussed in another post a few weeks ago, so I won't get into this.

 

[ilovepluto23]

Should Disney advertise on Hispanic television? Absolutely, but not with the promise that once you get there Cinderella speaks Spanish? Just advertise that Hispanic people can enjoy riding Dumbo as much as any other family. My blood boils with all the people that come to america with no intentions of adapting to our culture/language and then expect me to learn their language to cater to them. And if someone is coming here as a tourist then they should be able to cope. When I travel to other countries I dont expect anyone to speak English, and I get by just fine. Maybe this topic really boils my blood since my husbands mother has lived here 30 years and has never bothered to learn the language, however managed to muster up enough English a few weeks ago to tell me that I need to start teaching my daughter Polish. (I dont speak Polish and never will.) :fork: Yes, the holidays are really a lot of fun. :hurl:

I completely agree with your view!

 

[Scar Junior]

....most if not all instructions are bilingual anyway.

As if that's not annoying enough...

 

[Scar Junior]

America is a Melting Pot and there is no "Main Race". There are many people in this country who were born here and yet they speak a language other than english. In that case, the whole "America is for Americans" argument goes out the window.

There is a main language though. A language that is required to do many things. Race has nothing to do with it.

Do you honestly think that this will not affect jobs? Like the firefighter in Oregon who lost his job after 20+ years because he didn't know spanish? Secondary language shouldn't be required to work at Disney. End of story.

 

[Scar Junior]

In all reality we in the US are far benhind many other countries when it comes to speaking multiple languages. There are a lot of countries who teach children english at a very young age. In Europe it is not uncommon for people to speak 3 or 4 languages.

Ummm... no. We're not "far behind" we are "just differently abled" as some on this board would say. :animwink: "In all reality" it is necessary to learn 3 or more languages when you live in Europe because homogenius cultures are right next to each other. Spain, Portugal, England, Scandanavian countries, France, Germany, Italy.... all different languages/cultures and thus the need for learning multiple languages. Plus, in France they need to know a lot of languages because they never know what country is going to defeat them next.

These cultures all have emigrated to America and the great equalizer has been English. Not to mention how most have learned English who live in those countries anyway.

 

[Scar Junior]

A few more notes after reading the entire thread...

Assuming they implement this ---- What happens when a hispanic child goes to WDW and Cinderella speaks to her in Spanish. She is very happy. Yay. Good for her. So the family decides to go back to Disney World and she sees the character again, but this time Cinderella has no idea what the little girl is saying because it's a different performer........... That would be sad, but kind of funny actually.

Also, I'm assuming when I say this, but: the reason for bilingual signs and announcements are most likely for safety and legal reasons.

 

[PSU_Princess]

iloveplute--
the reason I wrote that second post was because I realized that I was thinking something different than other people. As I said in a previous post I definetly believe that if you want to live and work in this country you need to speak english. I mis-read some things and was looking at it as bringing in tourists. I wasn't trying to be rude and I apologize if it came off that way. The only point that I was trying to make is that in a lot of other countries around the world the accomadate us by learning English. Trust me I know first hand what it is like to be surrounded by people who only speak spanish..as someone else posted about working in an emergency room...it is extremely hard and very frustrating to take a medical history and do a physical exam when you can't speak the language. I apologize again! :wave:

 

[PSU_Princess]

Ummm... no. We're not "far behind" we are "just differently abled" as some on this board would say. :animwink: "In all reality" it is necessary to learn 3 or more languages when you live in Europe because homogenius cultures are right next to each other. Spain, Portugal, England, Scandanavian countries, France, Germany, Italy.... all different languages/cultures and thus the need for learning multiple languages. Plus, in France they need to know a lot of languages because they never know what country is going to defeat them next.

These cultures all have emigrated to America and the great equalizer has been English. Not to mention how most have learned English who live in those countries anyway.

It is very true that this is why they learn so many languages, but English is generally the first language they learn in school eventhough there are a lot of other countries close by. Nice point about France

 

[NeedABreak]

I don't blame Disney for what they are doing at all. A business survives by understanding the world around it and learning to make a profit from that world. Just a fact. The state of our culture requires that they be prepared for U.S. citizens that do not speak english.

This is not to say that I approve of what the U.S. has become. We used to be the melting pot. Not anymore. People don't melt anymore. The term "melting pot" means that people were entering America and becomeing Americans. They still had there old culture and lauguage but they melted took on other cultures and a new language to get along in day to day life.

Haveing pride in the culture of the nation your roots lie in is one thing but I feel that being an American comes first.

 

[ilovepluto23]

iloveplute--
the reason I wrote that second post was because I realized that I was thinking something different than other people. As I said in a previous post I definetly believe that if you want to live and work in this country you need to speak english. I mis-read some things and was looking at it as bringing in tourists. I wasn't trying to be rude and I apologize if it came off that way. The only point that I was trying to make is that in a lot of other countries around the world the accomadate us by learning English. Trust me I know first hand what it is like to be surrounded by people who only speak spanish..as someone else posted about working in an emergency room...it is extremely hard and very frustrating to take a medical history and do a physical exam when you can't speak the language. I apologize again! :wave:

It's cool. I understand what you're saying, but ScarJunior had a very good point about those countries being surrounded by so many others. Canada can speak English and Mexico is the only country we'd have to accommodate to.
In all honesty, some other countries have better educational systems alltogether than the USA's, and every portion of the country differs in the educational system as well. Many factors play a role in languages.

I apologize as well if I came off as defensive and a bit rude. But I do believe that many users on here do not fully read posts before commenting (I even sometimes do it! )

 

[ilovejr71292]

its hard to say because america seems like one of the most diverse countries in the world but then again we are in america when the primary language is supossed to be english so its hard to decide

 

[DisneyBride94]

I don't see the big deal... As someone here said, Disney attracts tourists from around the globe. Tourists should not be expected to learn the languages of every country they visit... That's a lot to expect of someone. I can assure you that if I am ever fortunate to visit China, I'll be lucky to be able to master please, thank you, and "can you point me in the direction of the nearest bathroom?"

I myself am conversant in Spanish... I'd love to learn some other languages as well...and if I were doing business with a particular country, or moving there to live, I would definitely learn the language... but not just to vacation somewhere...

I am a firm believer that the US should expect all citizens to speak English...but I don't think that expectation should be imposed on citizens of other nations who come to visit here and spend their money here.

If Disney wants to spend the extra money to train face characters to speak Spanish... what's wrong with that? If they can attract more guests form Spanish-speaking countries, I see nothing wrong with that...

I LOVE going to San Angel Inn and conducting all my conversation with the CMs there in Spanish.