How do you say cheesesteak with in Spanish?

Joseph Vento, the owner of Geno's Steaks, doesn't know. And he doesn't care.

Just read the laminated signs, festooned with American eagles, at his South Philadelphia cheesesteak emporium: This is America. When Ordering, Speak English.

Vento's political statement - from a man whose Italian-born grandparents spoke only broken English - captures the anger and discontent felt by many Americans about illegal immigrants...

...The Ventos rarely left their South Philadelphia neighborhood. Now, in a way, the neighborhood has left the couple's descendants. Geno's sits at Ninth and Passyunk, the hub of Little Italy turned home to thousands of Mexicans.

Some try to order a cheesesteak. And it bugs Vento if they can't ask for American cheese, provolone or the classic - Cheez Whiz - without pointing.

"If you can't tell me what you want, I can't serve you," he said. "It's up to you. If you can't read, if you can't say the word cheese, how can I communicate with you - and why should I have to bend?

"I got a business to run."

Vento, who lives in Shamong, put up the signs when the immigration debate seized national headlines six months ago.

With Geno's Steaks tattooed on his arm, Vento is used to publicizing things, especially what's on his mind. Speak English signs also poster his Hummer. He has driven through South Philadelphia blaring through the SUV's P.A. system denunciations of neighborhood business owners who hire illegal immigrants.

"I say what everybody's thinking but is afraid to say," Vento said.

 

Thus, while it would certainly seem logical to expect those who come here long-term to be able to be at least minimally conversant in English since it is our "native" language, to adopt the kind of extremist attitude that Mr. Vento has is repugnant in the the extreme.

 

Peace.

happens all the time, I have encountered many I usually avoid them when I can, but customers at my work and such walk in and assume we speak spanish, don't even attempt an english word except for "I no speak english." 

And we've made it very easy for them to get by without learning a word of english,  in my city there are areas where only immigrants live and half our TV stations are in spanish.  Spanish is an unwritten requirment to be able to find a job.  And of course all of our cities names are spanish names  

I hope to see more buisnesses become English only before English is the second language.

 

but what you need to think about is that in America (USA)- if every immigrant spoke their native language- it would be impossibe for the masses to communicate- My ancestors from Sweden learned English- and Im sure glad they did!

 

I don't know how you guys can agree with this extremist. 

 

There is this country called "Canada" North of the border where there are two official languages known as English and French.  They sing their anthem in both langues, print both languages where possible, and the majority of it's citizens speak both English and French.  Why can't the US speak both English and Spainish, or expand the education of foregin languages in schools.

 

The United States is one of the few countries in the civilized world where the majority of it's residents refuse to learn a foregin language.  You can go halfway across the world to Russia, and easily communicate to not everyone buy many people in English, but if a Russian were to come halfway across the world to the US knowing only Russian he wouldn't be able to publically express himself. 

 

Studying foreign languages is difficult, but it's something that should be done. 

 

 

 

I don't know if putting a sign outside your shop would qualify you as an "extremist"

 

AtLossForWords: this time you have truly lived up to your moniker!  Bravo!  This is one point I had forgotten to make, and you are right on target.

 

Peace.

 

refuse? are they being forced? Am I missing something?

 

 

"How do you say cheesesteak with in Spanish?

Joseph Vento, the owner of Geno's Steaks, doesn't know. And he doesn't care."

Maybe if he wasn't so extreme he would sell a few extra cheesesteaks if he would just learn 1-2 foreign words.

 

"...The Ventos rarely left their South Philadelphia neighborhood. Now, in a way, the neighborhood has left the couple's descendants. Geno's sits at Ninth and Passyunk, the hub of Little Italy turned home to thousands of Mexicans"

 

He could always just move his buisness away from hispainics.  Why persist to insult them with signs like "This is America, when ordering speak English"?  He could just say "I don't understand, do you speak English?"  He's trying to make a political statement that English is the American way, learn it or get the f**k out. 

 

 

and the icing on the cake

 

"With Geno's Steaks tattooed on his arm, Vento is used to publicizing things, especially what's on his mind. Speak English signs also poster his Hummer. He has driven through South Philadelphia blaring through the SUV's P.A. system denunciations of neighborhood business owners who hire illegal immigrants."

 

The last dude in here to refer to USA as "America" was Finnish

 

Who are you talking about?

 

 

 

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/member_profile.asp?PF=1482&FID=4 - Logos Prog Reviewer Joined: March 08 2005 Online Status: Online Posts: 1817

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/new_reply_form.asp?M=Q&PID=2019635&PN=2&TR=33">   http://www.progarchives.com/forum/new_reply_form.asp?PID=2019635&PN=2&TR=33"> http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=24508&PID=2019635#2019635"> Posted: Today at 17:56

For Americans it's all about them, they're the best people in the world and other nationalities are inferior. Heck, here in Finland everyone has to learn at least English and Swedish. Many people study other languages as well. In the 21st century the world is smaller than ever, cultures are nearer to each other. In order to be able to communicate and co-operate with people from other countries and cultures you need to speak other languages as well! And also have some basic knowledge about other cultures, which many people don't have for sure..

 

 

anyways- we just need to agree to disagree

 

Ah I see.

 

Mina raukkus Suomi.  That's directed at logos.

It would be a slap in the face and he wouldn´t like it.

 

 

I believe the only country Mr. Vento will ever visit is England, because they must be the only culture that he feels has the right to communicate.

Logos wrote: For Americans it's all about them, they're the best people in the world and other nationalities are inferior. Heck, here in Finland everyone has to learn at least English and Swedish. Many people study other languages as well. In the 21st century the world is smaller than ever, cultures are nearer to each other. In order to be able to communicate and co-operate with people from other countries and cultures you need to speak other languages as well! And also have some basic knowledge about other cultures, which many people don't have for sure..

He is a real racist and b*stard. Imagine, I'm a tourist and don't speak English. If he refuses to serve me, OK, I'll spend my money in another place.

 

I don't mean immigrants shouldn't learn the language of the country they live in, they should. Both sides should respect each other. 

BWHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Esperanto is never, ever going to catch on. An artificial language is never, ever going to catch on. Zamenhof was not a linguist and it contains far too many mistakes for it to ever become universal. Some other people have imporved it, but Zamenhof spent so much energy publicizingit that Esperanto is the only one that people have ever heard of.

 

Like it or not, English is the dominant language; and what most of you seem to be forgetting is that businesses in foreign countries profit immensely from tourism, and if the business you are in puts you in regular contact with tourists, then I think it is rude if you don't know some English. And not many people travel to Texas as tourists.

 

 

Multi-languages countries are much richer culturally than single countries.

 

The percentage of Hispanic Americans would make it logical to accept this language as a full language even if it is costly

 

 

 

 

 

i have been in the U.S.A. as a tourist too, and i always speak in english.... always thnking in making things more easy for me and the people im talking too...

 

But this... i dont like it, try to be a little more tolerant.. not all the people are illegal imigrants.. also illegal imigrants are people too... dont treat them like criminals...

 

Even if they are treated like criminals, criminals have rights as well.

I don't know American laws, but I guees Mr. Vento, refusing to serve people because they don't speak English, breaks the law too (I hope some laws in USA regulate customers' rights). How he can know who his visitors are - legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, tourists or simply mute? His job is to serve people, he's not a policeman. 

As for me, if I saw something like "When Ordering, Speak English" I'd rather tried to find another place to buy food, because such statements initially disrespect people.

 

 

 

Some of those twits kept coming back with Montclam and winning a war some 200 years ago! How progressive

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another thing that's apparent from that time is a clearly defined pecking order of migrants; to a fair degree dependent on when that particular group had its migratory peak.

 

And the same pattern is apparent today, with the migrants from South of the border; Asia; and perhaps today's "lowest of the low", Arab immigrants from the ME & African refugees from the various disasters in that continent. Please note, before anyone accuses me of anti-American bias, that I'm not saying this is a peculiarly American (sorry, el bothie, but it's the most convenient word) problem; just that the US is really all about immigration; it's how it started & what keeps it ticking over. The same phenomenon is apparent in other countries, on a smaller scale.

 

But I do wonder to which wave of immigration the burger-seller at the heart of this story could trace his family, and how they were treated at the time........

 

I disagree with your statement that it is peculiarly American.  France this year had a much larger problem with its immigrants than we did here in the States.  Our illegal immigrants protested for citizenship 100% peacefully, even if waving Mexican flags was silly.  In France, meanwhile, illegal and legal immigrants rioted for days.

 

A funny story:  I read about a Pakistani guy at one of the rallies over here; and a Mexican said "what country are you from?"

"Pakistan"

"So why are you here?"

 

I find that very humorous.

 

I do tend to be very pro-immigration tho, because my family on my mothers side came to this country escaping pogroms in Czarist Russia and on my father's side refugees from Auschwitz.  For the mostpart, I think the immigrants do a lot for this county, but we really need to get them paying taxes sooner rather than later.

 

We also have to fix Mexico;  in polls something like 70-80% say they'd come to America if they could----that is very very disturbing.  Vicente Fox, instead of bitching at Bush for immigrant rights should also be stopping this hemorrhage, for the future of his country.  But then again, immigrants sending back US$ is the 2nd biggest industry in Mexico. 

 

 

God give me strength - being attacked for what I do say is one thing.........

 

My apologies Crimson, I misread your post -- no need to get touchy about it.  I didn't attack you.  I thought you had written that it was peculiarly american, again im sorry. 

 

The text of my repsonse still holds true however.

 

All I said was that I disagreed, I didn't stoop to questioning whether you had a brain or not.

Yeah that's true too.  In this case though, this Chinese woman had 4 adult kids, and all were completely fluent in English without any accent, and her husband also spoke English.  I really think she could have learned if she wanted to.  Just can't understand how anyone could live in another country and not have any desire to learn the language in a case like that.