Originally Posted By: Pariah
 Originally Posted By: harleykwin
One can be proud of their culture and still be proud to be an American citizen - the two are not mutually exclusive.


There's a difference between being proud of one's culture and outright shoving it down other peoples' throats;


Is that like when gay people "shove it down peoples throats" by actually kissing or even just holding hands where you can see them?

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I'm sure you're proud of being Puerto Rican *cough*Godknowswhy*cough*


Niiice.

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but your family wasn't arrogant enough to not think it important to learn English.


Arrogant? Everyone thinks it important to learn English. Just because you encounter people comfortable in their own native language just means that. That they're comfortable speaking in their native language. You treat it as some affront to you and America and use phrases like "refuse" and "arrogant" simply because they haven't picked up English yet or choose to still use their native tongue amongst themselves.

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I had to work in Garden Grove, CA for a long time and it's basically the Asian capital of Orange County. Every other Asian I met on the job was an immigrant who refused to speak English. The reason they were able to get away with it is because all of my supervisors were smart enough to learn English themselves.

On a sidenote: A pattern I noticed is that the bulk of the people who refused to learn, and didn't really give a crap if I understood them or not, were Chinese and Vietnamese.


Ok, that answers my initial question. So basically since they weren't bowed head down in eternal shame for not knowing any English yet and deep into a Vietnamese/English dictionary for your approval, they "didn't give a crap".

Question: Would they also not "give a crap" and be arrogant and be "refusing to assimilate" if they knew English and yet were still comfortable speaking in vietnamese either amongst themselves or at home? Or do they have to act and speak like you 100% of their day in order to hopefully curry your favor and approval in order to be a real American?