Family-Owned Thai Restaurant in Texas Gets Racist ‘Speak English’ Note From Customer

[josephbloggs]

11 hours ago, HeyHeyHey said:

To open a business in Thailand you must give 51% control to a Thai

 

For each work permit you must employ 4 Thais

 

Absolutely Incorrect.

 

Quote

but someone frustrated that nobody in an American business can speak English is racist?

Yes.  Nowhere does it say that nobody speaks English there - you really think they've opened a restaurant in America without anyone being able to speak English?

"Go back to where you came from" is racist.  Surprising really considering Texas is known as a multicultural, open, diverse and welcoming place.

[sanemax]

32 minutes ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

Never heard chinese speaking English to each other in a Thai restaurant. 

Thats true, neither have I Heard a Chinese person speaking English in a Thai restarant 

[yogi100]

11 hours ago, car720 said:

Your hypothesis is basically sound.  However, the problem here is that they most probably speak an equivalent amount of English compared to what you speak Thai.  Don't take me wrong,  I also speak Thai.  What is glaringly obvious here is that the note writer wants them to speak American which is totally different from English.  

How is American even slightly different from English let alone totally?

[The Theory]

Texas ? I’m not surprised at all. 

[metempsychotic]

12 hours ago, Happy Grumpy said:

They wrote the correct 'you're', as opposed to the incorrect 'your', so yes, I doubt an American wrote it. 

The correct you're is exactly why I doubt it was written by a Texan bigot. 

 

One could also say that 8f you want perfect English, perhaps don't start looking in family run ethnic businesses

[DonnyS]

13 hours ago, zydeco said:

Could easily be a hoax. Free publicity already achieved. Not to mention sympathy patronage soon coming up.

I live in Chicago. This is a rare comment  & unusual stupid remarks. We have our own share of ignorant people. I wouldn't lose a sleep on that . 

[sanemax]

51 minutes ago, yogi100 said:

How is American even slightly different from English let alone totally?

American language , they use "Like" "Awesome" "Sucks" way to frequently .

"And I was like , that sucks/awesome" way to often

[MeePeeMai]

16 minutes ago, metempsychotic said:

The correct you're is exactly why I doubt it was written by a Texan bigot. 

My father is a bigot (worse than Archie Bunker) and lives in Dallas Texas.  He would never set foot or be caught dead in a Thai restaurant (or any foreign restaurant for that matter) and I have to agree with you that it was probably not written by a Texan bigot.

[beautifulthailand99]

Make America subject to the Crown again whilst we're at it.  Idiot. 

 

[MaxYakov]

15 hours ago, Just1Voice said:

I'll probably catch hell for this, but in a way I tend to agree with the sentiments of the note. I learned very quickly that to truly get by in Thailand I had to learn the language. If you are living in a country whose language is different than your own, it pays to learn it. 

This does not apply to everyone. I decided early to not invest the time to learn Thai, but rather to improve my English skills (as with several other similar decisions of what NOT TO DO while I was a resident in Thailand). If I were living in a Spanish-dominated country I would be a lot more comfortable and willing to improve my Spanish. I always felt that if the Thai individual did not know English well enough to communicate in English than we probably didn't have much to discuss anyway.

 

I was asked one time by the developer of a computer-based Thai language application what I was doing in Thailand if I didn't want to learn Thai. I couldn't answer the question because it struck me that I couldn't even answer the "what are you doing in Thailand" part of the question. The answer has been that "it beats the alternatives". These days I'm not so sure of that. BTW, I'm not trying to give you "hell" simply believe that it's an individual's decision to learn the Thai language or not. In Bangkok, at least, there are several obviously several bi-lingual venues and characteristics.

 

[Prairieboy]

18 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Thai Thai Restaurant posted a photo of the message, which was handwritten on a napkin, on their Facebook page. The note read: “If you’re going to live in AMERICA learn to speak ENGLISH! Or, go back to where you came from!”

People who dine out at various cultural eateries, to experience 'exotic' tastes, demand authenticity, whether it be Chinese, Mexican, Indian or whatever, yet, when faced with those who would provide that very authenticity they complain.  Obviously they spoke enough English to communicate with the customer so what's the problem! 

[Prairieboy]

18 hours ago, malathione said:

Being that so much of Texas is Spanish speaking, I always find these kinda idiots to be especially idiotic. Wonder what the perpetrator would do upon visiting New Braunfels with so many street signs in German.

Or Quebec, Canada where they refuse to speak English even though most are able to and all signs are in French

. 

 

[tifino]

wonder if the family ever got time to sit down and watch an Introductory video, to their new life?

Fresh Off The Boat

[metisdead]

Some posts that containing videos using inappropriate language have been removed:

 

8.) You will not post disruptive or inflammatory messages, vulgarities, obscenities or profanities.

 

Some other nonsensical posts and replies have been removed. 

[WeekendRaider]

we are all the same.

 

it’s not any different here!  there are, especially amoung the young, many folks who believe ‘everyone should learn Pasa Thai’ yet even after making it the number number academic subject in school, taught as a 2nd language, for decades on end now.... no one uses it for real conversation.

 

ordering food. Yeah.  You can do that.  Simple food.

 

watching TV? Well, yeah.  duh.
 

but bring up the topic of learning the lower diglossia.... endless nonsense that is spoken very genuinely and convincingly, but defies reality just as much as the endless goofy talk about Co2, and water vapor, as a green house gas.

[overherebc]

Looks like the note was written by a 10 years old kid.

[griffon2011]

Anyone really offended by that note is going to have a hard time in life.  I was from Massachusetts in the US working as a commercial diver on oil rigs off Texas/Louisiana and was frequently told to go home and put up with a lot of <deleted> because I was a "yankee".  This wasn't just a note, it was in your face by not too intelligent roustabouts who didn't like you because you were a yankee and made a lot more money than they did and you had to put up with it until the job was over or they got bored.  

[twizzian]

Some children are being taught racism at an early age.

Clearly the note has been written by a five year old

[tifino]

 

could all have been 'more' serious!

 

 - like if if it had been an English only speaking falang restaurant in LOS... 

 

... well, actually 'more' serious if they'd ID'd and exposed the writer... and defamily get sued for defam... 

 

better off just converting that face tissue, into dunny paper; and use it. 

 

[malathione]

2 hours ago, Prairieboy said:

Or Quebec, Canada where they refuse to speak English even though most are able to and all signs are in French

. 

 

Same with parts of Louisiana. 

[FritsSikkink]

20 hours ago, zydeco said:

Could easily be a hoax. Free publicity already achieved. Not to mention sympathy patronage soon coming up.

Yes, because Texas is well known for its hospitality with foreigners. (sarcasm for the people who don't understand it)

[tingtong]

if only i could have a dollar for every time i heard the phrase from a thai "this is thailand" as a racist counter for anything and everything....

[moonseeker]

10 hours ago, BradinAsia said:

 

I've travelled the world for almost 60 yrs and have studied more than a dozen languages, but the ugliest language

that I've ever heard is Cockney, that notorious dialect of British English that sounds like a frog farting in a barrel.

 

Most Asian languages are like music to my ears, especially when listening to Japanese and Thai ladies speak.

 

Just my opinion...

 

 

You must have a very specific taste of music. Agree with ???????? but being woken up early morning by the screaming Isaan madams next door would not pass the first round of GB got talent.... 5555555... Just kidding.... MS>

[EricTh]

20 hours ago, zydeco said:

Perhaps the people who use a racist term such as "Red Indian."

Stop being pedantic and racist yourself. I never meant the term to be racist.

 

It's just like the word 'farang' isn't meant to be racist by most.

 

Red Indian was the first term that Europeans used when they encounter them. Only in recent decades the new term Native American or Amerindian came to use.

 

If you want to be pedantic, the word 'Indian' itself is racist so Amerindian is also racist in nature ....

 

[Estrada]

It amazes me that many Americans do not know their history, they object to Americans speaking Spanish in Texas and California etc which they annexed from Mexico. They want to build a wall to keep Spanish speaking Mexicans out, when they were in these American states long before the Northern Europeans arrived. Perhaps the U.S. should give these Spanish speaking states back to the Mexicans.

 

[daftdada]

No hoax... most Texans are naive. 

[Rockhopper]

Perhaps thay are taking an English class but find it easier to speak Thai amoung themselves.

[holy cow cm]

US is now land of too much Spanish being spoken out in the open. Just sickening really. I hardly see a problem with them at their restaurant where the real problem is Mexicans and south of the border people taking over. Well also in California the Chinese are also taking over. US land of stupidity. 

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, holy cow cm said:

US is now land of too much Spanish being spoken out in the open. Just sickening really. I hardly see a problem with them at their restaurant where the real problem is Mexicans and south of the border people taking over. Well also in California the Chinese are also taking over. US land of stupidity. 

Why is it sickening? The USA doesn't have an official language. Is there something wrong with Spanish? Would French bother you? 

 

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-the-official-language-of-the-united-states.html

Quote

The US is one of the linguistically diverse countries in the world. Historically, approximately 500 languages have been spoken in the country with English as the widely used language. Spanish is the second-most popular language in the country.

 

 

[holy cow cm]

5 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Why is it sickening? The USA doesn't have an official language. Is there something wrong with Spanish? Would French bother you? 

 

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-the-official-language-of-the-united-states.html

 

 

When was the last time you were back? In California it is just plainly too much. I don’t mind other languages but when it is overkill it just does not sound pretty being everywhere out in the open having to hear it. If I want to hear Spanish spoken all the time I would go to a Spanish speaking country. Get it? Same as in San Francisco area is now a huge proliferation of Chinese people getting to be everywhere. But Spanish spoken by Latino or Mexican people in California is now everywhere as they are the ones who take all the common jobs in every area. Almost seems they are taking the USA back as seems the ratio is larger than the others. Just my opinion and cannot do anything about it. And I can speak some Spanish, so it is not the point. Can also speak thai, but that is a necessity. Not a racist at all but it does get to be overkill in public.