So a bunch of you are ashamed of your fellow Americans because a bunch of Americans got pissed off at a corporation for robbing their ancestors of credit and making things worse for this country just to reach out and convince more people to buy their products? I'm usually the one making fun of Americans but you guys are wrong for being ashamed of your fellow Americans because of their reaction to this. Yes a lot of the comments were written by people who seem to be trailer trash but they have good reasons to be angry. This is a English speaking country even if there is no official language. The language of the people who created this country is English. The Constitution is in English. Most of the people who died to make this country possible were native English speakers. Yes, I know a lot of the men who died for this country were native French speakers. Most people in this country, speak and write English. So it's only natural that people get mad when Coca Cola comes along and did what they did. It's only natural for people to get mad when you shit on their ancestors. And having everyone speak whatever language they want is not a good thing and this commercial or song encourages that. It sends out a message that communicates, "you don't have to learn English or you don't have to communicate in English." People become divided and communicating with others for most Americans becomes very difficult if non English speakers in this country don't integrate. You don't believe me? Look at Western Europe and the problem they are having with foreigners who don't integrate. I also don't understand why a bunch of you are picking on only Americans for this? You will find this mentality in many other countries. If this kind of shit, happened in Germany, a lot of Germans would be pissed off too. I imagine, there would be riots in the streets if this happened in France.

Where I come from, the language of the people who developed this land is Spanish, not English. In other places, it has been Dutch, French, Russian, German, Japanese, Taishan Cantonese, Hawaiian, and many more. All of these people became Americans notwithstanding the fact that many of them never became proficient in English. Many of them were oppressed by the English-speaking majority to the point of having their children taken away or being put in prison for not speaking English.

Arguments that English is the original language of the founders of this country and the only language acceptable in public life are not only bullshit but the bullshit of stupid, scared little rednecks. If you believe that describes you, know also that I will not apologize for it.

Nah, I'm more ashamed that they don't seem to know about line breaks.

Yes, a lot of people from non English speaking countries came here and settled. Then they integrated and their children were native English speakers. It's not bullshit that most of the people who made this country were native English speakers. It's takes more than just living on some land to make a country. Last time i checked, George Washington wasn't a native Spanish speaker. Your knowledge of history leaves a lot to be desired. I will ignore your insult because it seems you are not thinking clearly from all the strong emotions inside of you that no doubt came from thinking about the horrible treatment of those who didn't speak English from the native English speakers(if what you say is true). But further insults from you, I will not ignore.

I know some old timers still around where I live that speak German, Czech, or Danish fluently and their English is barely understandable. It's not because their tongue is failing them in old age either. Many in the generation before them didn't even know English. Their ancestors immigrated here over 150-220 years ago too. Most of their children have all become English speaking today but that was mainly because of fear of threats from other people in the 1900's of being "Un-American" during and after the World Wars.

The right to teach minority languages privately is constitutionally protected. In Meyer v. Nebraska, the Siman Act made it illegal for any school, public or private, from providing foreign language to students below the eighth grade. The state used the Siman Act to fine a man for teaching bible stories to children in German. This was struck down by the Supreme Court, but still you can see the pressure put on by some people to squash other languages. That doesn't mean that public schools have to provide minority language programs however.

This case is especially ridiculous to me because people of German ancestry outnumber people of English ancestry over 4 to 1 in Nebraska and people of English ancestry rank 3rd in total numbers, very near to being fourth. As a matter of fact, the English were and are a small minority there. The English didn't build Nebraska. If the state is supposed to represent the people in its borders, why even bother with something like the Siman Act and go after the majority of the citizens? Similar cases are Farrington v. Tokushige and Stainback v. Mo Hock Ke Kok Po.

This topic got me thinking about western movies though. In most all of them, white people all speak English, unless they're straight off the boat from a foreign country. Only if they visit an American Indian tribe will there be a different language spoken (sometimes Chinese workers will be shown speaking Cantonese because they look different too), and the movies will sometimes go so far as to have different languages for the different "noble savage" tribes if there's more than one tribe. But there's never a different language besides English spoken between different "civilized" villages even though, in reality, everyone being English-speaking back then is very far from the truth. It'd be interesting to see a movie tackle this subject, how people got along back then despite many language differences. I wonder if they had any harder time learning enough Russian to do business than they did Cherokee?

It really waters down whatever message you're trying to make when you can't even be arsed to make the language you're bitching about readable.

No it doesn't water down my message. My words are more than readable. Why does my message have to be perfect? It doesn't have to be perfect. I'm not the president and I'm not speaking in front of the whole country. I simply made a post in a thread. You are just being an asshat. It really says a lot of about someone when that someone attacks another person for making the mistake of a run on sentence or not spelling a word correctly etc. If you are over the age of 12, at least be mature enough to attack someone because of his or her position.

The problem is not that your message isn't perfect, it's that there is no more place for it in a country that was built by immigrants from many different countries, cultures, and languages and ranks a monument welcoming people from all nations as one of its greatest treasures.

To compose a message denying that in English that any composition teacher would penalize with failing marks and a note calling for a rewrite is merely ironic.

I do not post here to be corrected by wannabe English teachers and even if I rewrite everything I wrote so far in l33t spe4k, what I am communicating is still the same.

How is keeping this country, the United States Of America, an English speaking country go against what makes this country great? If this country, remains an English speaking country, people from all nations will still be welcomed just like such people have been welcomed to this country for a long time. It doesn't matter that this country had a lot of immigrants from many different countries, cultures and languages come over here and live life. It doesn't matter that this country has a monument welcoming people from all nations. This country was created by native English speakers(the founding fathers) so it's only fair that the language of this country is English. And today, the majority of Americans speak English so logic dictates, this country should remain an English speaking country. Changing the USA from an English speaking country to a country with no unofficial language is not only insulting to those with ancestors who helped create this country but is also inviting chaos. Other than to satisfy the Marxist mentality of some people in this country, I see no benefit in the change you wish for. Okay, it might inspire some Americans into being multilingual which is a good thing but even then the CONs still outweigh the PROs. Don't you think, this country is divided enough? Americans already hate each other like there is no tomorrow. The hate will multiply by 100000 if less and less people are able to communicate with each other because person 1 only speaks English, person 2 only speaks French, person 3 only speaks Spanish, person 4 only speaks Deutsch, person 5 only speaks Russian etc... If I remember correctly, in the bible, god punishes everyone for creating the tower of babel by making it so nobody can communicate with each other.
"6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."
So the bible makes it clear, that everyone speaking one language = good and everyone speaking gibberish to each other = bad.

As a greedy capitalist pig, I like that many people come here with no - or only very basic - English skills. Why? Because that means there is a niche to fill, a niche that provides jobs.

That's only half-joking; for several years now I've been trying to get my wife to take up interpreter work locally, since there is a dearth of native Mexican-Spanish translators in this area. She's done a couple things where she works, helped out my brother's side-business once, and also lent a hand with the county on a legal matter one time. I'd love to see her get more involved but she's unsure of her ability and is worried about making mistakes. I tell her that's what refresher classes are for.

I say come here speaking whatever you do, but try to make the effort to learn at least enough to get by - you have to be able to call for emergency services and things like that. Beyond that is up to you but then I don't want any bitching about how the locals haven't bent over backwards to accommodate the life and culture you decided to leave behind.

Your point is too much based on assumptions and generalizations I think.
There is this urban legend which states that german lost to english very closely as an official language, and I say urban legend because wiki says so.

Now concerning the coca add and the reactions I think :
- the level ignorance of many of the authors of the tweets is abysmally deep. Nothing to demonstrate here, it's plain clear.
- the self flagellation of OP is a slippery slope. You shouldn't make such generalization about your fellow Americans, because as a 'foreigner' I am compelled to think a minority of American says they are stupid in their majority (from an American source => which is the core issue).
And I know this is not true. You just have a portion of guys whom knowledge level is thin, but it's the same in France for instance : we have some self centered ass-hats that really think the rest of the world is populated by dumb useless people.

As "I don't remember who so let's pretend it's me" said : the Internet gave us access to an infinite amount of knowledge, and even more ignorance.

Sidenote : irony is hard yet so sweet.

I'm not defending most of the tweets from the Americans on that page because they were clearly retarded and make Americans looks bad. I'm just saying, they have a good reason to be upset. I was defending them being upset over this. Maybe I should of made myself more clear.

PS
Something educational I found through google. You should check it out.
https://www.proenglish.org/data/myths.html

The US is a country build from immigration, being hermetic to 'unofficial' culture is nonsensical in my opinion. I can't begin to understand what there is to be upset about.
I spent my life listening to songs I didn't understand at all on the radio (and it's also the case for many europeans), and it's the only reason I can think of that may explain why I don't see your point.


Edit : mmh, I rewrote my post twice now it doesn't make much sense. I'lll try to clarify later.

Yes, my wiki link basically says the same.

So? Give me one real good reason why the USA should stop being an English speaking country? Built from immigrants is not a good enough reason.