Americans (inhabitants/citizens of US) when people from other countries come to theirs : “These people need to speak English”

Americans when they visit other people’s countries : “Why don’t these people speak English???”

EDIT : By the context of this post it’s blatantly obvious which definition of ‘American’ is being used lol, but I added an explanation above anyway. 🙄 And yes there is more than one definition of “american”, usually context makes it clear which is being used for most people

  • Spliffman1 @lemdro.idOP
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    1 year ago

    The main point I see regarding the word “American”, is that people of the USA have pretty much claimed it and use it to refer to themselves, regardless of the other definition of it. So we roll with that lol

  • t�m@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    But some Americans already speak a little bit of another language… ¿por qué piensa que nosotros no hablamos español en Florida? (Sorry off terrible still learning unfortunately)

    • VCTRN@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      Don’t worry, your Spanish is perfect. But ain’t that cool to live in a place where people can speak two languages? As a latin American who has spoken English for most of my life (yet I still mess up sometimes), I can’t imagine only speaking one. Also, my daughter started learning ASL (just out of curiosity), so I’m helping her and learning a bit too, sice I think not enough people knows it. Sorry for the long comment, but communication is fucking important, specially good one.

    • Spliffman1 @lemdro.idOP
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      1 year ago

      Hahaha I go to Miami all the time, it feels like I’m in Latin America there. So yes, some Americans do speak Spanish. And Florida is definitely in the future already

  • Demonen@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Makes me want to learn how to say “Go fuck yourself” in a Native American language.

        • Spliffman1 @lemdro.idOP
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          1 year ago

          Well he said ‘those particular two’ … I know bilingual means 2 languages, but the post doesn’t mention a particular two😅… Unless he got caught up in the random tangent conversation below about what is an American and Americans speaking Spanish… Which was really a diversion

  • Ignacio@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    The vast majority of Americans do know Spanish. The only people who don’t are Canadians, USians, maybe Brazilians, Jamaicans, etc.

    • Spliffman1 @lemdro.idOP
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      1 year ago

      I think you need to research what the words “vast majority” mean lol. The vast majority of Americans definitely do not know Spanish 😂

      • Aremel@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Are you defining Americans as “people that live on the American continent and the Caribbean” or “people that live in the United States of America”?

        I think OP means the former.

        • guts@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Mexicans do not call themselves Americans even knowing they are from North America.

        • Spliffman1 @lemdro.idOP
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          1 year ago

          I’m defining Americans as most people do, the people that fucking sing God Bless America. Nobody in Latin America calls themselves Americanos, americanos son los gringos, de los EEUU

        • Spliffman1 @lemdro.idOP
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          1 year ago

          People from and what they are called in English : Mexico - Mexicans, Canada - Canadians, Colombia - Colombians, Venezuela - Venezuelans, Panama - Panamanians, Brazil - Brazilians, Etc etc

          Do you see a pattern? People from United States of America - Americans

          Only on Reddit or Lemmy and places like them would you get a bunch of nerds storming in to say everybody in North, Central and South America are Americans.

          On CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Voice of America etc.,etc Americans are the people of the USA.

          Or when they present poll results of Americans, they polled in Mexico, Ecuador, El Salvador, Canada etc etc too?

        • Spliffman1 @lemdro.idOP
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          1 year ago

          Not even the “american continent”, that would include Canadians and they are not Americans. Los EEUU, the United States of America… And the fact that I have to explain that is irritating af, it should be obvious what “Americans” means. The Talibán does not target Colombians, Mexicans, Chileans, etc when they go after Americans

      • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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        1 year ago

        Mexicans are Americans too fam.

        (North Americans)

        If you have Asians, Europeans, and Africans, why is it that “Americans” is assumed to be a nationality instead of a continental/racial designation?

        • Letstakealook@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Because thats how the word has been used in English since at least the 18th century. This weird little hangup people have with it all the sudden is just people looking for a reason to hate on Americans. The folks trying to change the usage don’t even have good alternative word which shows that it isn’t an argument in good faith. The only alternative I’ve seen is “united statsians” which is nonsensical in English and cumbersome. Even the whiner from the original comment didn’t spell it out.

          • Spliffman1 @lemdro.idOP
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            1 year ago

            LIsten to the news, the media, everyday conversation. If someone says “the american people”, ‘American companies’, ‘american politicians’ american culture’, ‘american products’, the ‘american economy’ etc etc they are talking about the United States… Why say Mexican-American, African-American,? What do they mean? They mean people of those descents in THE USA… The usage of American is understood to mean people from the USA,… write America with your keyboard and see the american flag pop up as a suggestion.

        • Spliffman1 @lemdro.idOP
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          1 year ago

          Let a Mexican in a foreign country go to an American Embassy and see how much help he gets lol

            • Spliffman1 @lemdro.idOP
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              1 year ago

              I live on a island in the Atlantic invaded every year by American tourists, and I don’t mean people from South America lol… USA should pick better people to send out as tourists 😂