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Culture clash: New York shop owners could be forced to translate signs into English Read more: http


mark1447

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Lawmakers are trying to prevent a culture clash by insisting that storekeepers spell out what they are selling in English.

 

Under new legislation being proposed in Queens, New York, two councilmen are insisting shop owners must change their signs to ensure that at least 60 per cent of the writing is in English.

 

Republican councilmen Peter Koo, representing Flushing, and Dan Halloran, from Whitestone, plan to introduce the bill next week.

 

‘We have to make sure people know about these stores. We want to help these businesses expand and help them attract more tourists,’ Mr Koo told the New York Daily News.

 

Mr Halloran said: 'The English signage will also help cops and firefighters.

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392578/New-York-shop-owners-forced-write-store-signs-English.html#ixzz1NuxlsWzR

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English is the dominant language here. It makes good business sense to have your signs in English. Why do we need a law enforcing as such? It's common sense.

 

Because without one people would do what they're doing now... Putting their signs in every language BUT English. Now I'm a linguist and I'm all for languages, but if your sign is in another language outside of English, then it should be in BOTH languages. Having a sign in one language where the language isn't English which is the dominate language here indirectly says that only those people who speak that language can go into that store or are welcome.

 

That may not be the intention, but that's the message sent indirectly. Now there are some authentic Italian places that I go to where the name of the restaurant is in Italian, but that's different because that's just the name. While there are Italians working there and their English isn't 100% up to snuff, they make sure that the menu & such is bilingual (Italian & English) & even though I speak Italian & Spanish fluently, along with some French & German, if I went anywhere here in the U.S., I would expect to see things in English & the other language just out of respect for those who don't speak Italian, or Spanish or French or whatever. They also have staff that speak English, this way if someone comes in & doesn't speak Italian, they can still feel comfortable, so you'll often have a mix of Italians there like myself who order in Italian if the waiter is Italian and then the non-Italian speakers.

 

In my field, we always talk about languages and how they can create lingustic & cultural barriers & that's exactly what they do. Not only that, but I would be in favour of that anyway because it would mean more money for me since all of these signs would have to be translated. lol :cool:

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You can have a lot fun with the languages at different places. When I was a kid, my gramps would take me to a nice Italian restaurant for the day and then he'd pull aside the waiter and chatting with him in Spanish. He'd get me a quesadilla at a pasta restaurant since the whole staff spoke Spanish.

 

Had the reverse of that the other day, was eating at an Italian place and they screwed up the order. The Italian waiter (who barely speaks English let alone anything else besides Italian) comes back and says, oh well, guess I'll have to tell them in Spanish next time... Gotta love NYC kitchens.

 

LOL! Funny indeed. This one Italian place I eat at in Chelsea has a cool waiter from Ecuador. His English is sort of lacking so I'll tell him in Spanish what I want from the menu this way I get exactly what I want, not to mention better service, since he knows that I speak Spanish (i.e. a free espresso or dessert) which has happened on a few occasions. :cool:

 

Then you get the manager who may come over and of course he's Italian, so he'll look out for me also, since he knows I'm of Italian background and speak the language. :cool:

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:cool: Now that's the plan, you ask for the meal in Spanish to the Ecuadorian waiter to get your Italian food from the Mexican kitchen probably run by Albanian-immigrant Italians. [okay, maybe not all Italian restaurants have Albanian owners, but...] That there is the culture clash!

 

That's my favorite part, everybody neighborhood Italian place I go to I know the owner / manager. I had one friend who ran this little dinky Italian restaurant, and he got hired at this huge Park Avenue place. He said to come down there, and he gets me a table and just brings more and more free food. That's the European business plan there: give and they will take, whereas the Americans let you take before they give.

 

LOL... I'm not talking about one of these "Italian-American" places. I mean places run by Italians from Italy. These types of places are not holes in the wall. They serve authentic Italian dishes from Italy. A place I frequent in Chelsea, the chef who is Italian from Italy gets his stuff from either farmers' market in Union Square (organic or natural only) & he imports a lot of products directly from Italy, since they like to focus on dishes from Rome and the Lazio region and having lived in Italy, I can tell the authentic stuff from the "Italian-American" crappola. A place like this is a more high end place because it caters to those who want the real Italian experience (meaning not loads of pasta with tons of tomato sauce and meatballs as the"main course") as opposed to as you say a place run by Albanians or whatever. In fact a few of the places I frequent are like this and they are actually run by all Italians from Italy. :cool:

 

I don't know if you have friends from Italy, but I do, I can tell you they are very picky about which Italian places they frequent because they want the real deal. Granted you can really on get the real deal in Italy, but there a few places IMO that do a good of it and get 4 out 5 stars in my book. :cool:

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I am actually Chinese American myself, but I can only speak the Cantonese dialect. I can't read, or write in Chinese. English is my primary language. It's so far my most fluent language.

 

Interesting, most of the younger population speaks Mandarin. I've met some Chinese that can speak both Mandarin & Cantonese. So you can't read Simplified or Traditional Chinese at all??

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As English is the official language of this country, those signs should be in English. If they want to put it in another language too, fine, but it should be in English.

 

There are legal consequences to this and it benefits the owners. If a business is burning down, or there is a robbery, and an English speaker calls 911, how the hell is this person supposed to know where to direct the emergency response? OK, give a street intersection...then emergency response has to fan out until they locate the place.

 

And yes it does benefit the businesses by allowing English speakers to know what they sell. But there are clear public safety reasons for doing this as well.

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Lawmakers are trying to prevent a culture clash by insisting that storekeepers spell out what they are selling in English.

 

Under new legislation being proposed in Queens, New York, two councilmen are insisting shop owners must change their signs to ensure that at least 60 per cent of the writing is in English.

 

Republican councilmen Peter Koo, representing Flushing, and Dan Halloran, from Whitestone, plan to introduce the bill next week.

 

‘We have to make sure people know about these stores. We want to help these businesses expand and help them attract more tourists,’ Mr Koo told the New York Daily News.

 

Mr Halloran said: 'The English signage will also help cops and firefighters.

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392578/New-York-shop-owners-forced-write-store-signs-English.html#ixzz1NuxlsWzR

 

GOOD.

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As English is the official language of this country, those signs should be in English.

 

Small point, but the United States has no official language. The majority speak English, yes, but this is not an enforced law via the Federal Government.

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Some of the people that come to this country forget that they're no longer in the old country. It's time to wake up and smell the coffee.

 

Welcome to America, now speak English....

 

You guys might as well call Chinatown, America-town.

 

 

I believe this should also go for the other nationalities and not single out the Asian-Americans. Especially some stores with only Russian/Ukrainian symbols on the store fronts.

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English is the dominant language here. It makes good business sense to have your signs in English. Why do we need a law enforcing as such? It's common sense.

 

Because those who put their signs up in their native language, are only catering to "their" crowd.... the proverbial takeover has long already started by multiple groups of people, in certain neighborhoods.... and this "law" is an attempt by some American to take back America....

 

Help those businesses expand... with more english speaking folk??

 

 

hah.... Too little, too freakin late.....

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I just call it and Flushing, the dirtiest parts of the city.

 

I thought Chinatown was the dirtiest part of the city. The streets are literally black from filth. I don't see how the tourists flock down there. :eek:

 

Yeah, I always found [8th av in Brooklyn], [Chinatown / little italy (which isn't fair, b/c it's situated within chinatown)], & [Flushing], the dirtiest (as in, litter) parts of NYC....

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Yeah, I always found [8th av in Brooklyn], [Chinatown / little italy (which isn't fair, b/c it's situated within chinatown)], & [Flushing], the dirtiest (as in, litter) parts of NYC....

 

LOL... What Little Italy?? I've been down there a ton and have eaten w/some of my Italian (from Italy) friends as far as I can remember. One of the most rememberable times was during the 2006 World Cup. Italians (from Italy) all over the place. :cool: I think the last time me and one of my Italian-American friends went down there, we were just walking the area, speaking in Italian and such and we must've went up and down the same 4 or 5 blocks a good 20 times. LOL Little Italy has been taken over by Chinatown.

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