Just remember that any Americans vacationing in other countries are Americans who can afford to travel to take a vacation in other countries (and can even take that long of a vacation at all), and that explains the sense of entitlement and rudeness you see which gives Americans a bad name.
Also except for Canada and Mexico (and even for them depending on where in US you live, to get anywhere is a very long, expensive plane trip).
Yes true but that statement is also true for anyone else. Yet you don’t see that sense of entitlement
What statement are you referring to? The point that it’s far more expensive to travel from North America to a country in Europe for example, than it is to travel between countries in Europe? Maybe Thailand would be as expensive for both, though, I don’t know. Or the point that most Americans get much less vacation time than Europeans so again, only the more privileged Americans generally have the time off to take an overseas vacation.
Of course some regular people also take those vacations, but it’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime big deal that they saved up for a long time as a dream. Those aren’t the ones acting entitled, they are appreciating the opportunity.
Why’s everyone assuming this isn’t in America? I’ve seen signs like this here and it’s immigrants’ way of saying “listen we’re trying to speak your language well, but please be sympathetic as it’s our second (or more) language”. We’re generally fine with people not speaking English when we’re outside America, it’s inside our borders that we’re tremendous assholes about it
Because the plants and the building look very Thai, or at least tropical and not in the US.
Why do you presume this is about Americans?
American tourists are much less common in Thailand than English or Australians.
as if it’s not the english making this complaint
I can speak Thai so I guess I’m okay
I can’t speak Thai but I am not complaining because I’m not an asshole
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because they’re frequently proven right, English is the most commonly spoken second language after all
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Americans who can afford to travel abroad are generally more wealthy, and tend to be more over entitled in all aspects of their lives
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Why are people from the USA always called Americans?
Because they’re the only country with America in their name whereas United States is shared by Mexico
Also in English there’s a distinction between North and South America, with the supercontinent being referred to as “The Americas”, so America isn’t really ambiguous, they’re also geologically and environmentally distinct enough that “The Americas” isn’t used so much and “New World” is often more relevant to include Australia as another somewhat culturally similar sparsely populated former colonial area.
So is someone from Brazil an “American”? Surprisingly yes, and straight to jail.
In Portuguese (as spoken in Portugal, Brazil, USA, Japan, Ghana, wherever) they’re an americano/a but in English (as spoken in USA, UK, Brazil, Portugal, Nepal, wherever) they’re South American but not American because it’s a linguistic difference rather than a geographical/cultural one
Why does someone always smugly point this out in these threads?
US Americans are seen by basically everyone as the most obnoxious tourists on this planet. Their self importance and undeserved national pride is second to none and it shows in every thread like this. Its just fun to see them get defensive when anyone points it out.
This is literally what that sign is about and its odd that you are confused that people would point this out.
Speaking of obnoxious self importance
No youuu 😭
Is all i get from that.
Why are you assuming the sign is about Americans? There’s no reference to the US anywhere except OP’s title
Because there’s always got to be some young “boo America” edgelord contrarian that thinks they’re really doing something by saying it. But really they are just an idiot in a long line of idiots who isn’t saying anything at all.
USAmerican, USAian, USAn, lUSA?
USAmerican is my go to yep.
Are you joking though? I’ve never heard this phrase uttered out loud except by that one miss America contestant who was derided for being stupid.
Found the lUSA
Judging by their instance they’re german where “US-Amerikaner” is a pretty common term, never heard it used in english though.
Unitedstatians. Thats how we call them here (estadounidense)
Same reason why people from the United Kingdom are called ‘British’, despite Northern Ireland not being in Britain.
There just aren’t better proper adjectives for these 2 countries.
While you can say ‘North American’ to mean anyone from North America and not specifically the US, I’m not sure there’s a fitting word that refers to anyone from North or South America. Although, at that point, the group of people you are talking about is perhaps too broad to be useful in most cases.
Same reason why people from the United Kingdom are called ‘British’, despite Northern Ireland not being in Britain.
Ireland is part of the British Isles, so you could even call people from the Republic of Ireland british (and then run away really fast).
I recommend not doing this 😂 I prefer to call the British isles “the European archipelago” :)
TEA
And saying North America includes Canada, and I think out of respect to the Canadians they don’t wanna be lumped together with us
Because calling anyone else an American is insulting.
Would you prefer “yanks”?
Just what people commonly understand so people say it. I always read it in a disapproving Russian accent because of too much TV, the americans
Because we have to if they don’t speak our language
Because gunpowder.
Gunpowder go in metal tube.
Projectile go in meral tube.
Ignite.
BOOM.
Death.
Human go new place.
Bring Boomsticks.
Native humans = Dead
Native humans = Surrender
World = Dominated
Language = Spread
Language = Become default
The End
Sadly Ever After
(Fun fact most pilots have to learn Aviation English in order to operate internationally. You can thank the gunpowder for that.
The End
Would have been really funny if you said
Thai End
there
Accurate af
I always hope that everyone speaks English and if they seem worried about how it sounds I remind them that their English is way better than my their language which usually breaks the ice.
Heard someone say this on reddit many years ago after someone was being a wise ass about their English which was obviously second or third language
You speak English because it’s the only language you know; I speak English because it’s the only language you know
Most people I’ve talked to who know English as a second language speak and read and understand it better than most American’s I’ve spoken to who know only English.
That’s pretty funny, but I’m years past accepting the “hurr durr ignorant american knows only one language” thing. Except as a response to someone harassing someone about their English capabilities, as seems to be the case in your example. 😁
The way I figure it, if the people two states away from me in every direction spoke a different language from me, and from each other, I’d probably be multilingual, too. (As would most of us)
Is this not fairly likely in the US with Mexican Spanish or/and Canadian/Cajun French?
Within the USA, the language enclaves aren’t strong enough. You might find people who can’t speak English, but there are enough people in their communities that can speak English that you can get along.
Of the countries I’ve visited so far, I find that Mexico has the strongest language barrier as Mexico is large enough to maintain an internal standard of Mexican Spanish. Outside of the northern border states, you can drive two states away in Mexico and still have people speak Spanish.
I’m sure there are people who go to Mexico/Canada as often as Europeans seem to be popping into other countries, but most of us very rarely do.
But most of us do have to visit other states often, which works out to a similar radius as hopping countries in Europe in many cases, that’s why I made the comparison I did.
No, because these people are also highly likely to also know English and the vast, vast majority of people in any given location speak English as a default in public. Unless another language is being commonly spoken in public, it isn’t even close to having entire states speak a different language.
Not whole states, but Miami gets close.
I can restrict my bullying to those living near the Mexican border and the English
Yeah I hung out with a bunch of Germans who were really good English speakers but constantly were self critical of their English skills. They were beating my German skills by a landslide even at their worst moments.
Implying the sign isn’t talking about Australians who visit in the same numbers
Wait, in that case maybe complaining is a bit justified? Different of course of it’s a place off the beaten path, but if it’s a hotbed of English-speaking tourists then having staff that speak their language seems pretty important.
Guess it’s really hard to say without more context (story of the internet).
Or anybody in europe who probably speaks english as thats the “world language”
Unless they’re from a primarily English speaking country, they’d be unlikely to complain though.
Yeah they wouldnt complain… except if theyre my grandfather who started complaining in vietnam to a hotel receptionist that they dont speak hungarian, a language about 14 million people speak in the world and the only language it has mutual intelligibility with is spoken by about 10000 people…
I’ve met lots of people who seem to hold the sentiment that if THEY managed to learn English, why can’t EVERYONE ELSE?
Sounds like they have something to compensate for. ┐( ∵ )┌
And perhaps Brits and Canadians. I’m not sure about their visit numbers though.
But America dumbo!
I’m not American but I also assume everyone speaks English. Other languages are cool but they’re just not very useful. I’ve almost forgotten my native language at this point.
I guess that really depends on your location
Jesus Christ
I think OP means there aren’t a lot of use-cases where a non-english language is helpful in communicating more than english is. Like if you learn swahili, there aren’t a lot of people around the world who speak that language, and you’re unlikely to run into any of them. Millions of people speak swahili, and I’m sure that it has wonderful elements (as all languages do), but there are way more english speakers, and english is spoken in many more places around the world
With that mindset they probably live somewhere where English is the main language. I can’t imagine why a Swedish speaker for example would think “eh English is more important I’ll just use that instea” lmao.
What does that even matter anymore really? Only corpos worth slaving for are global, with a good WFH gig you’ll have colleagues from all over the globe and you ain’t gonna be speaking Swedish to 'em. Globalization means countries also want to be open to other nationalities. Sure it’s good to learn other languages, and I like it, but most everywhere knowing good English will open more doors than good of any other language, provided that you have at least a basic utilitarian grasp of the majority spoken language of where you live
I can’t anything more obnoxious than a native speaker switching to English when talking with other native speakers to be more ✨global✨ or whatever.
I always speak English with all my friends who also speak (and are by origin) Russian because we live in England and find it easier since it’s the language we use more. Plus everything else is in English so it’s just extra effort to find words to talk about it in Russian, like translating a movie quote instead of just quoting it.
It’s not there to upset you by being “global”, it’s a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
Kinda sad to forgo your own language like that but it is what it is and you do you.
Or they’re terminally online or work in an industry where English is the default language. I definitely use more English than Estonian throughout the day, but the English is nearly all written and the Estonian is mostly spoken.
No, I don’t think he spoke English.
Sumerian
I’m American and I am continually shocked and grateful how commonly I’m catered to internationally. I mean it’s not fair in a sense but also there does need to be a global language and the English happened to be the right kind of assholes to win that honor.
It’s always so foreign to me that anglophones never need to switch to English to communicate internationally, that’s just their everyday language
Yeah, it’s pretty crazy to me and I’m an anglophone who barely knows other languages. It’s a marvel.
It’s not necessarily just for Americans. English is the most spoken language in the world when you include people’s second language. That German tourist probably isn’t going to know Thai and that Thai cafe probably isn’t going to know German, but they can muddle though with English.
Right. I was addressing the title of the post. I am assuming Americans are among the worst among presuming English should be spoken everywhere, but I don’t fall into that category. I marvel at the fact that it’s so widely spoken.
Because most people in the Western world do speak it proficiently. As well as the more urban populations of much of Asia.
I can’t wait for us to start exploring the galaxy and giving aliens shit for not speaking English lol
I’m sawwry, I don’t speak ‘at squeaky squacky, beep boop shit. Why don’t you try talking like an American?! You’re in American space space!
