Monolingualism is for Dumb Gringos

Michael Swickard

At a local gas station the customer at the counter spoke to the clerk in Spanish so the clerk replied in Spanish. A man in line commented to no one in particular that Americans should speak English and there should not be any other languages ever spoken in the United States. Most of us shrugged. A man behind him in line asked loud enough for all of us to hear, “Do you know what it is called when someone speaks three languages? Trilingual. When someone speaks two languages? Bilingual. Do you know what we call someone around here who only knows one language?” The man squirmed and indicated no. “We call that person a dumb Gringo.” Read more here:

Monolingualism is for Dumb Gringos