Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>WDW is in America and regardless of the language that was once upon a time ago, I just think that since the majority of the people that go to WDW understand the English language and therefore it should be spoken first before any other language. Why is Spanish only spoken when there are Chinese, French, Germans, Italians and other nationalities attending the parks, maybe WDW should accommodate everyone.<< Let's make one thing clear. WDW management does not care to have spanish (or any other foreign language) spiels all over the property. That execution of that idea is because the LAWYERS who are advising Disney are pushing for these initiatives in the hopes of preventing accidents, or at least to give WDW a better chance of not being liable when such foreign visitors find themselves in accident situations at the parks. That is all. Furthermore.... as you said "WDW is in America..." so why was Disney sending Casting scouts to Puerto Rico, Brazil and bringing Cms from as far away as China to work here??? Seems to me not enough Americans are interested to work there at the puny payrates they pay, or else..they would not have to go so far to import CMs to work here.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< Oh, and as far as calming down and turning off my radio...I wont' even go there. You're not worth the trouble. >>> Well, you don't really need to listen to me. You've already told us how everything should be, and quite savagely I might add. Nobody commented on my theory about the Spanish-first, then English announcement, so I'll repeat it: isn't it possible that this was done deliberately by Disney in order to increase show for the English-speakers which are the majority of the audience, so that the transition from the safety announcement to the actual show is not disturbed by a foreign-language announcement? That is, isn't it possible that this was actually done in deference to the English speakers, and not to their detriment? This reminds me of something that happened at work. They were testing the fire alarms one night, and specifically the feature whereby they added a Spanish version of the overhead automated annoucements for building evacuation. A co-worker got very upset upon hearing this. And I don't think it's a coincidence that this person is the one person in the office that frequently listens to a certain savage radio program. And for the record, I do in general make it a point to keep "current events" sorts of things out of non-WE posts, but in this thread, someone else has repeatedly brought the topic back to AM radio talking points and just would not let the issue die.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>Nobody commented on my theory about the Spanish-first, then English announcement<< Honestly? I think it's just a fluke from the person who programmed the system and NO one has noticed that is the way the pa's are being delivered, though I have to admit, I am yet to hear a spanish announcement made before an english one.
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 So, do the people from India, Asia, etc speak Spanish? Or don't we care if they get into accident situations?
Originally Posted By avromark Hey if they pay me my wages and salary, I'd be more then happy to be a CM.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< So, do the people from India, Asia, etc speak Spanish? Or don't we care if they get into accident situations? >>> I would imagine that most if not essentially all visitors to WDW from India that have the wherewithal to find themselves at WDW on vacation speak English as a second language. And a great many visitors from continental Europe also speak English. For whatever reason, there are lots of people from Central and South America that speak only their native language. I would imagine that Disney has enough research on the demographics of WDW visitors to know which languages are needed. And I do have some specific knowledge on this matter. What follows is "non-partisan" in that it simply discusses language without regard to what should or should not be. As part of a project at work, I had to come up with an ordered list of what languages an American business would need to be able to service customers in, in descending order of importance. The top two are obvious: English and to a much lesser degree, Spanish. Other than those two, I can think of a few others that I've seen in various places: I've seen ATMs that also offer service in Chinese and Vietnamese. In Honolulu, ATMs typcially offer service in English or Japanese. The Charles Schwab website offers service in English or Chinese but not Spanish (I would extrapolate from this that people that live in the US that speak Spanish but not English are not a very large customer base of brokerage services). So, the non-English language to be offered to customers in the US varies depending on the geography and the type of business. I wanted to come up with some macro numbers. So, the question that I thought would be good to ask was "What are the languages most spoken as native languages by people residing in America?" In order to get around the issue of people having more than one native language, a question often asked by people like census takers is "What language do you speak at home?" The answer to this really surprised me. Of course, by far the most popular answer was English, and by far the second most popular answer was Spanish. I was expecting the third most popular to be either Chinese or possibly Vietnamese. It's Chinese. But the forth most popular language spoken at home in America was really a surprise: French. I've seen language accomodation in the US in various forms for many other languages, including Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, and Tagalog, but never French. So how could French be the 4th most spoken language in US households? Well, the answer is that the vast majority of people that live in the US and speak French at home also speak English, so there's no need to accomodate the French language in business. I found that to be very interesting. I would imagine that a very similar process goes on within Disney in deciding which announcements to have in which languages.
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle >>I'm proud to be an Ugly American...it's beats being a stiff necked European any day of the week<< Nice! And then you go on to complain about other countries stereotyping Americans. >>I just hate it when they feel (not all of them are like this) that we need to to go out of our way for them when they treat us like poo poo<< I’m from Australia and I know a total of about 2 Australians who have a problem with Americans – and they’re people who have never been to the US so haven’t had much to do with Americans. When I tell them that the majority of Americans I’ve met are really nice people, they tend to believe me. If you’re being treated like “poo poo†when you’re in Europe or wherever, perhaps it’s because you’re making offensive, narrow-minded comments? I didn’t think you were racist, or bigoted or anything from your original comment about Spanish being spoken first, but you clearly do have some problem with people who aren’t Americans, judging from your later comments. >>Will any other country step up to save us if we need help. Heck No, we're just ugly bigots, homophobes<< Wow, you guys really do have chips on your shoulders don’t you? (By ‘you guys’ I mean Gaston and Disneyhabit). Like I said – I’m from another country, so I get a fairly good idea of what people think of Americans ‘in general’ and a very small percentage of the people I know have any problem at all with you. If you’re getting such a negative response from people, perhaps it’s because of how you’re treating them.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>So, do the people from India, Asia, etc speak Spanish? Or don't we care if they get into accident situations?<< NO and no. Furthermore.. the irony of it all is this: most people around the world and especially from latin american countries are quite knowledgeable of the English language. These are the people who need spanish spiels the least since they do understand the basics of english vocabulary. Having spanish spiels is IMHO a waste of time and noise pollution. They won't improve the situation except for making spanish speaking guests feel more welcomed.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost ^^^And there would be the entire purpose. I remember a number of years back when I believe they had a Florida Day. A day when they discounted the park admission price for Florida residents. Maybe they still do! I had never seen the park as crowded and it was mostly Hispanics. You could tell that they were on a very tight budget. I overheard a number of guests pooling their money to buy a large soda to be shared by about 5 people. It just wouldn't be good business to ignore a population and customer base that was that large. At the time they were not in a position, at least the ones I just mentioned, to be a big cash cow for WDW, but if they felt that they were treated well you can bet that someday they would return and spend more money and tell their friends what a great time they had. What language they spoke was of little consequence as long as the color of their money was green. I can remember when Quebec was in a state of turmoil over the French/English thing. I went to Montreal and was promptly ignored by French speaking business people because I only spoke English. I wasn't trying to force them to speak English but I knew that the place was BiLingual and had been for a long time. They could and did speak English but had a point to prove so they didn't. There wasn't much I could do about it except not go there and spend my money. I suspect Disney understands that no one has to go to the parks so they must do whatever they can to encourage people to go there. It just makes good business sense.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>I remember a number of years back when I believe they had a Florida Day. A day when they discounted the park admission price for Florida residents. Maybe they still do!<< I have never inmy 25 years living in Orlando ever heard of this "FL Day" before. FL resident passport discounts are available all the time it seems.. just go to the official site and see.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost This was in the early 90's. Since I am not a Florida resident I am only going by what someone told me when I was there as a guest. How reliable that information was is unknown. The point of this story was just how many Spanish speaking people are close by and, although I'm sure some or most speak enough English to at least get by, Disney would be foolish to not show some special accommodation to such a large possible group of money spending guests. Besides that would the monorail be the same without the Spanish door closing part.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< Besides that would the monorail be the same without the Spanish door closing part. >>> That reminds me of the special fireworks show they had at DL for the 50th celebration. They had a section of the soundtrack where they played one of the Spanish safety speils in an obviously self-deprecating fashion. I thought it was hilarious.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <I can remember when Quebec was in a state of turmoil over the French/English thing.< was ? still is
Originally Posted By basas <<Well, I normally don't dish up first when I invite people to eat in my home. I serve them first.>> <<It's called COURTESY - ever heard of it?>> Very, very weak arguements.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost <I can remember when Quebec was in a state of turmoil over the French/English thing.< was ? still is<<<<< Maybe so but nothing like it was then. Postal boxes were being blown up..politicians were being kidnapped and killed. Anything English was a target. So even though it seems uneasy now, it is nothing like in the early 70's.
Originally Posted By avromark One thing you have to remember is Quebec is legally a Distinct Society -> this allows them to outlaw English only signs (They're playing nice now and allow minimal English on French signage, "Baby Allowances" being paid to have kids and to raise them, and a few other perks. French Que. is able to make society "fair" by having taxes collected in other provinces subsidize important projects like a Museum for Comedy/Laughter. As well to make it more fair government agencies are being moved from Ontario to Quebec. You're also given priority in employment (and bonuses) over those who speak other languages and may be more qualified (or qualified) then you.
