Pic of new WALMART test.

You will be surprised... and shocked when you realise how many illiterate people are out there (English speakers that are unable to read is harder to take than foreigners who dont understand what they can read!)

 

True, I just wonder how they get by ...day to day.

 

There are little tricks... 'Sorry, I left my reading glasses at home, could you help me read this?' and other things like that that we wouldnt even give a second thought to!

 

I too Speak Multiple Languages
1) American
2) the King's English (Because I Was born in the South.)
ELVIS was from the South!!

 

Heck, as much crap as Wal-Mart gets from China, I'm surprised that isn't in Chinese as well. This really is getting pathetic anymore.

 

Too late,here in Houston in the S/W side the Asian community has already had the street signs changed so that they are written in Chinese, and underneath them it is written in English. I was driving down the Gulf freeway( I-45 s) the other day and noticed alot of billboards along the way that were written in Spanish. Being Hispanic,but born in Houston and having parents and Grandparents that were born Native Texans, It hurt me to see this sort of thing. Yes, we have alot coming from Mexico, but there is more that come from El Salvador,Honduras, Cuba, Puerto Rico and we never hear about them, just mostly the Mexicans from Mexico. trust me,here in Houston its sorta rare to see someone actually from Mexico.But yet, if he or she is Hispanic automatically they're Mexicans.
Heck,me myelf that I was born here and have a Southern accent and even have a g/f from Alabama have been accused of coming from Mexico. I recently discovered that my ancestors were part of the Hispanic group that helped the Tennessee'un's fight at the Alamo against Mexico. Cant say I blamed them, I wouldnt wanna be part of Mexico either.

 

Where I work, some overzealous engineer decided to put some paperwork in English / Spanish. I pulled it from the area immediately because we (supervisors) had been told that once a company puts up ANYTHING in dual language, EVERYTHING must be dual language. If nothing is dual, then nothing is dual. This form, being part of that store, whether or not there are drivers, is probably required to be in both languages because of that stores precedent.
In Wal-Mart it is probably legal to do a store-by-store policy so you might not see it across the chain.

Still kinda disheartening though. I don't step a foot in those stores on principal anyway.

 

Ready to give a language lesson Etosha/anyone? I think that sounds a little like some of the language from Australia also. I guess that would make sense -noting where it is on the map. So, forget the lesson. It sounds like it would be nothing like the Western Desert language used in some parts of Australia. Those that use this kind of dialect are having trouble, with their own government, forcing aboriginal children to learn English.

It is amazing the difference between now & 40 or 50 years ago (from yours & others perspectives) - with many things. Rolvoving, evolving & disolving - I think our world is very busy!

I saw a sign at Fred Meyers (retail store) that showed where to find the ethnic hair accessories. Do you think this was something that was put up to help/cater to individuals that need specific pieces to "hold their hair in place" or to show they're culturally respectful or ??? What about signs that show where to find the head scarves, bandanas, bun makers (the kind grandma (from the south) wore, and had passed down this particular accessory...

- I don't know. I think like someone mentioned in this thread, you're opening the door when you start changing things and if you are to cater/recognize some, you should be respectful and do so for everyone. OR JUST KEEP IT GENERIC - BASIC - which leads us back to ENGLISH!

can't we all just keep all hair pieces, or for that matter, our panties in a bunch, er, in one area!!

 

It's a bonnet, by the way!! I can understand your entire paragraph - I'm from Canada. There are a ton of signs in English and French in Canada any time you get close to a very French-speaking area. What bugs me are signs in Quebec that are ONLY IN FRENCH!! There are construction signs (the lit-up ones, temporary) saying "ATTENTION!!" which is easy to understand no matter what language you speak and then a bunch of gibberish in French!! WTF?? I have no clue what most of it says. I have some French from school but not enough to understand most signs in Quebec.

What's wrong with KM on a sign as long as miles are there, too? All of Europe and Canada, as well as Australia, use KM so what's the biggie? Now, I could see if it was ONLY in KM but it's both.

What's funny is listening to a weather report where the temperature is given in degrees Celsius, the visibility is given in miles and the wind speed is given in knots or nautical miles!!! Ugh!!!

Because Canada is officially a bilingual country, all "official" forms must be in both English and French.

If you lived in Europe, you'd probably speak at least two languages fluently if not three.

English is NOT NOT NOT the easiest language to learn!! I believe that one is German. English is very difficult because of the myriad of contradictions in it and confusing things such as: there, their, they're; to, too; through, bough, trough; your, you're, etc.

English is, though, the most popular language spoken in the world GEOGRAPHICALLY. You can find someone who speaks or understands at least a modicum of English in just about every country in the world, which is great for us English-speaking people! I just wish Quebec wasn't so anti-English.