Officials Call 'Speak English' Sign Discriminatory

[davidinalameda]

http://www.nbc4i.com/news/5070718/detail.html

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission has ruled a sign in the window of a southwest Ohio tavern declaring, "For Service, Speak English," is discriminatory.

The panel said Thursday the Pleasure Inn on U.S. 42 in Mason, northeast of Cincinnati, violated the state civil rights law.

Commission spokeswoman Christia Alou White said the tavern could be ordered to remove the sign, to pay for advertisements about nondiscrimination, and its staff could be ordered to undergo diversity training or cultural sensitivity training.

[tk2kewl]

1. what if it said please?

:shrug:

I am all for accommodating non-english speaking residents as much as possible, but are english only speakers actually required to learn foreign languages to avoid violating the rights of others?

[Missy M]

2. I agree with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, specially if you don't

know the English language how can you speak it.

[tk2kewl]

3. nor could you read the sign

[Captain Hilts]

4. When I lived in Moscow, I had to learn Russian...

whether it was "don't lean on subway doors," "danger," "women," etc.

We also hit the dilemma of what languages we are going to favor. In this area, everything is also in Spanish, despite the fact that we have a ton of Russian and Chinese immigrants here. Are Russians and Chinese - who come from languages with completely different alphabets - expected to read English, but Spanish not?

We play favorites to Spanish speakers too much.

[Missy M]

7. When my daughter lived and worked in Venezuela, American....

tourists who were there would get mad at the taxi drivers and restaurant workers etc. because they spoke Spanish and not English. Can you imagine that, the arrogance.

[YOY]

10. That's just stupid though

and rather pathetic.

[YOY]

9. My wife is Bulgarian...it pissed her off immensely when she

was told to learn Spanish by a colleague who did not speak much English...can't say I blame her.

but you can't blame businesses for marketing to Spanish speaking audiences...money to be made.

[jobycom]

8. That's the point. The sign isn't instructional, it's meant to make a

statement against people who don't speak English. It creates an atmosphere of opression.

I've been in bars where I didn't speak the language of the bartender. I didn't need a sign to tell me that would be difficult, and that it would be easier if I spoke French. But the bartenders usually liked my money enough to smile when I pointed and mimed.

I was also tossed out of a restaurant as a kid. It was owned by a friend's grandfather, and we had gone in to get some water. The man yelled at my across the room: "Hey kid, can you read?" I was proud of how well I could read, so I smiled and said yessir. He pointed at a sign that said "No long haired men allowed." I was about eight, but that qualified to him. He made me leave. Not fun.

Putting a sign up like that is just offensive.

[purduejake]

16. Very offensive, I am sure.

But isn't offensive speech protected? It does not target any nationalities, just languages people speak, which is not a protected characteristic. Bigots have gotten much smarter and are still able to effectively divide people. Personally I avoid places I know I'm not welcome, but it should not be that way and it cannot always be done. I understand the desire to make the person who put up the sign pay, but how can you do it in a way that is fair, legal, and doesn't punish people who really cannot understand orders in any language other than english?

[bammertheblue]

22. .

I've been in countries where I didn't speak the language, and at least in my experience, it makes a huge difference whether you act like an asshole about it, or are polite and smile.
The people putting this sign up are stupid. What's the point? Someone's not going to see that sign and think "Oh, I must go learn English because this asshole says so". They're obviously not going to be able to read the damn thing, which apparently someone forgot when they put the sign up.

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. Might as well have a sign that says "If you are blind, use the other door"

How's a non-English speaker gonna read the sign?

[Skarbrowe]

6. "Must Speak English" sign is on a help wanted ad at a pizza place here.

In South Florida there are so many different languages spoken I suppose the owner just wants to let anyone who might apply know they have to speak fluent English or not waste their time applying. He might possibly already have other language speaking employees.

I remember laughing at the sign. Laughing only because it felt odd to see a sign like that since I come from rural Indiana and although I'm getting real close, I still have problems with the culture shock.

I wasn't laughing at people who don't speak English, btw. I wish I could speak several languages.

[purduejake]

12. I think it is a common requirement.

My company occasionally runs into the problem where people want to submit company documents in foreign languages or talk with co-workers in a foreign language while on the job... it really pisses people off if they can't understand what's going on, so we've mandated that in the US while on the job, you MUST use english. There's pushback from the Union, but ultimately it is a safety and job performance issue. It's a big waste of my time when I have to translate numbers written in ancient Chinese into something I can understand. I've had to do it before.

[purduejake]

11. This is one reason why liberalism is criticized.

I am proud to be liberal and can understand how the sign may hurt somebody's feelings, but from a common sense point of view, if your workers speak English, how can they accept orders in other languages?

Is not offering service in another language discrimination based on somebody's nationality? No, it's discrimination based on your ability to speak english, which is not a protected class to my knowledge. Is the sign trashy? Yes. I'd go to a different tavern even though I can speak english. Hopefully there are other taverns around willing to accomodate non-english speaking clientel.

[Missy M]

13. It makes no sense to me that a person couldn't get service because...

they can't speak English. That is discrimination because discrimination is unfair treatment of a person so not serving them for not speaking English is certainly unfair.

[purduejake]

14. Is it unfair?

If I don't know what you want, how can I be charged because I didn't serve what you wanted? It's unfair to expect somebody in an english speaking country in that position to speak another language.

[Missy M]

15. Yes it is unfair the same as if you were in a foreign country and they...

wouldn't serve you because you couldn't speak French or German etc. Somehow you can communicate what you would like. Would you prefer no tourists come to this country unless they can speak English? My grandparents all immigrated to this country not being able to speak English and they would have starved if we had that policy then.

[purduejake]

17. I think we agree in principal...

Yes, people should try to accomodate people who cannot speak the language. I do agree it is unfair if somebody cannot speak english and therefore they are not served. However, we must be careful to be fair to the bartender as well. The bars I go to are WAY too busy to try to figure out what somebody wants if they cannot speak english. They'd try to understand, but if there was no translator and could not understand what you were trying to order, you'd probably end up with a coke or something. Also, how can you punish somebody if they really have no clue what somebody is trying to order? You could be fining people who really tried to understand, but brought out the wrong order.

[bammertheblue]

23. .

Especially in a bar, where it's not like there's a lot of confusion about what people are there for.

[tk2kewl]

18. i am with you.

offensive, yes. but it fuels the rightwings ability to peel away support from blue collar folks

[davidinalameda]

19. it's not hurting feelings

it's discriminating against a whole class of people

how would people feel if the sign said-to be served you have to be white

if you're going to discriminate, don't publicize it

[Scoots]

20. Just so long as they leave S.O.D. alone.

[jody]

21. What about "We only understand English" n/t