From the NY Post:"The World Guide to Shopping" would translate 29 expressions, like "Do you have a larger size?" and "Would you like to use our layaway plan?" It will be released by the end of the year, and paid for by private grants, said Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing), who formed a sign task force.
The state's general-business law states that signs must display their name legibly "in the English language," or face a misdemeanor. But the legislation does not specify who should enforce it, and no agency has, said Meng.
Last year, neighboring school PS 20 got a $2,000 city grant to have school kids translate indoor signs into multiple languages. But of the 100 stores they approached, only 23 agreed to participate. Some stores that did have since taken down the signs.
"The limited English is a problem. It's a fear [of using English] more than anything else," said Lois Chin Lee, a former Flushing resident who organized the PS 20 project.
Kanguk Lee, of J.E. Deli and Grocery in Flushing, said only Asian customers care about the products advertised in his Korean signs.
"No Americans eat this!" said Lee, pointing to a Korean sign for kimchi (pickled vegetables).
That's funny because there are plenty of Americans of Korean descent that may not necessarily know how to read the language but love kim chee. And, in fact, I was at a very American buffet recently that served it, too.
54 comments:
This is despicable. Get the law on the books that signs and advertisements on storefronts and windows window be in English.
I say fine every store that does not have any english until they comply (we wouldn't ahve to lay off teachers then).
The stores that do not have it are clearly being racist to every other culture as they only want their own in their stores and in their community. Try shopping in any of these places, they treat you like you have the plague.
If you come to this country you should assimilate somewhat, like the immigrants of yesteryear, but now it seems like all of these people are intrested in is recreating their country in the United States.
It is a shame. Main street Flushing is a joke, you can't read anything but the street signs, and I am sure those will be changed soon to chineese/korean to appease this "vibrant and diverse" community too.
I like how they took $2000 your taxes as tweeding money and yet don't have a penny for tons of other non-tweeding projects.
What a waste.
That's funny Mr. Lee---I've been eating kimchi (please excuse my spelling) bul-goggi, jap-chae, kalbi, etc. for at least 30 years!
I love all forms of Sushi and could eat it for breakfast if I could afford it.
Even more curious though---when Councilwoman Harrison wanted English translations on Asian signage she was quickly branded "anti-Asian".
But now that Assemblywoman Meng is pushing for Julia's idea---that apparently puts a different "slant" on matters.
Who are you kidding Gracie?
What seems to be really behind all this is that Asian businesses can no longer make it solely on the trade of their own kind.
They are finding that they now need non-Asians to patronize their establishments in order to make a good living.
Maybe you're a little too late "devil dwarfs"--- having lost your non-Asian customer base---it's nearly impossible to regain that lost share of market.
So it's good bye from me!
I haven't brought my trade to Floo-shing for 10 years and don't plan to in the future.
It's a dirty, overcrowded, unwelcoming dump offering unsanitary products and services.
Hello Long Island and Manhattan where civilized people still live and shop.
Maybe if I need to get laid or gamble I might revisit Frushing.
There already IS a state law on the books (since about 1906).
Nobody ever wanted to enforce it...lest it offend the Asians...who Flushing's "towne fathers" need to drive out the remaining African Americans still living there.
Tsk, tsk, tsk...if those "pesky Blacks" would have taken over the town (like in Jamaica) its real estate values might have plummeted.
That's what's been behind all of this Asian ass-kissing for 30 years!
Again: it's a free country.
At this point it doesn't matter to me if signage contains English translations.
You've lost my business permanently.
I prefer to shop in cleaner locations which I can reach by car or the LIRR.
In the "teaming Orient" maybe people are used to living cheek to jowl...not here among civilized folk.
But even upper class Chinese (from Shanghai, etc.) have confided in me that they hate shopping in an area where streets are overcrowded with foul smelling peasants...constantly jostling, pushing and spitting on the sidewalks.
Garce Meng is just a Toby Stavisky ass-wipe...the same Staviskys who dumped on Julia Harrison for wanting English on signs!
FUCK YOU "MOBY"!
Oh...just build a "great wall" around Flushing and fuggettaboutit!
That'll keep them all contained within their exclusionary ghetto.
Maybe DOT will even go for building a freeway over it all so we can bypass the "colony" like I now enjoy doing from points east on the LIRR.
As I recall, when this issue arose some years ago, Stavisky and John Liu drove around Northern Blvd. in the Flushing area, and proclaimed that over 90% of stores have English signs. The matter was dropped.
Man, I miss those Italian stores with the big cheeses and salamis hanging from the ceiling.
I don't support Asian businesses for this very reason.
I'm not racist, love to sample from all of the world's cultures, but I will not support manifestations of anti-Americanism.
If you don't make your sign/business inviting to all people, YOU are the racist and will not get my biz.
Just wondering - why don't people get upset about all the Russian signs on Russian stores?
We do.
who cares? the food & merchandise is gross & unrecognizable, I will never & have never shopped in any of Flushing's stores, it was a cute town years ago but is a dump now, they could put all the signage in hieroglyphics for all i care, this is a non issue, besides Flushing is an Asian community now, NEXT ISSUE PLEASE!
Lets be honest-- the products they sell are only of interest to old chinese. All that dead dried smelly shit. The minute that demographic starts to go away (die off, move), their businesses will either change or fail. What whitey wants to shop in one of those places anyway?
^above posters^
There are many businesses moving in from Bayside to Manhasset. These are communities with a sizable Asian population but where non-Asians are still the majority. Many (but not all) of these Asian businesses are pulling the same racist, exclusionary shit and these are the businesses that will NOT get my support. I have no problem going in there and spending money but yer not gonna' get me in there with that kind of attitude and racist vibe.
"...they could put all the signage in hieroglyphics for all i [sic] care..."
Hieroglyphs = the noun
"Hieroglyphic" is an adjective.
This site is s-o-o-o educational.
"What whitey wants to shop in one of those places anyway?"
Hey, you forgot the blackey and the browney.
"Movin' on up." - George Jefferson
I don't patronize these exclusionary Asian establishments for a variety of reasons, so why should they be forced to cater to me? I'm sure it's likely that many clamoring for signs in English wouldn't shop in these establishments anyway. If the intent to exclude non Asians is there, then what does mandating English signs achieve? The fake appearance of welcoming your business? Does it offend you less because they are FORCED to put signs up in English? Would the culture be any less dominant in the neighborhood? Perhaps if we had a stronger sense of cultural identity, our neighborhoods wouldn't have been taken over. That is the real problem.
On another note, the constitution grants us freedom of speech, I don't think it states anywhere that that speech must be in English. Like any other speech that is unpopular or disliked, too bad, get over it. We have much bigger problems in society to deal with than being offended by the language and culture of others.
It's about time a daily noticed this. One of the weaklies seems to have an article on it every couple months. And letters.
http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=20455082&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=574908&rfi=8
http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=20455835&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=574908&rfi=8
http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=20455066&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=574908&rfi=8
For George - hieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphics
"On another note, the constitution grants us freedom of speech, I don't think it states anywhere that that speech must be in English. Like any other speech that is unpopular or disliked, too bad, get over it. We have much bigger problems in society to deal with than being offended by the language and culture of others."
DOOFUS. Go back to your Constitution blog.
It's a NYC law, you have to have a certain percentage of your sign in English.
The problem is, the law isn't enforced,
like many laws in this stupid City, another case of poor enforcement that eats away at the balance of the quality of life.
It's a NYC law, you have to have a certain percentage of your sign in English.
The problem is, the law isn't enforced,
like many laws in this stupid City, another case of poor enforcement that eats away at the balance of the quality of life.
LAW ARE NOT TO BE ENFORCED ON THE TWEEDED, BE IT GAY OR ILLEGALS.
"The state's general-business law states that signs must display their name legibly "in the English language," or face a misdemeanor. "
Will one sign with the name in English really change anything in the eyes of anyone here? It won't for me.
In the "teaming Orient" maybe people are used to living cheek to jowl...not here among civilized folk.
_________________________
Funny how you should say that but the CHinese invented civilization. Did you not take global history back in college? The Chinese invented the chair! Before that, Europeans sat on rocks. Google it and look it up. I'm serious. *lol*
I'm serious if people hate Flushing so much, then why keep commenting on it. IF you hate it so much, then don't read articles related to Flushing especially if you don't come into the FLushing area. It seems to make your blood boil! ;)
Oh well, it's their loss if a fire occurs at their business & the FDNY wouldn't be able to save it because they couldn't read non-English shit.
Helen Marshall. The borough president FROM HELL!
Then go to in Arthur Ave in the Bronx George.
Venture to leave the Maspeth/Glendale/Middle Village area...where I think I once met you (at Conelly's Corner?).
Because the Russian stores also contain English translations on their signs.
It's strictly a public safety issue.
Go and talk to some FDNY firefighters you doofus!
Your (so called) "civilized" Chinese have also spent the last 5,000 years perfecting the fine art of fucking over their fellow countrymen!
History has shown that China's war lords have mercilessly raped, plundered, murdered Chinese people leaving them little or no freedom to live their lives in peace.
The emperor Chin butchered thousands and thousands in his quest to "unify" China.
China's current record on human rights represents the living proof of the "pinnacle" their "civilization" has reached.
We rest our case.
Women are still considered second rate in China too.
I'd rather sit upon a rock...a free American man or woman...than live in "civilized" China!
It doesn't make my blood boil since I live miles away from it all and have no need for visiting or shopping there.
Manhattan is my oyster...if I'm looking for a pearl.
I love all those B.S. Flushing BID banners proclaiming Flushing as a "destination of choice'.
It's just a transportation hub and, perhaps, a destination for "coolies" who have no better choice!
So the Chinese invented the chair?
I think it was invented by several cultures simultaneously.
Show me the Chinese patent papers if they did....you simplistic semi-educated fool.
George is not from Maspeth/Middle Village/Glendale. He is from the Greater Astoria area. There are salumerias in Corona and Bayside, no need to head up to the Bronx.
Not to worry folks...the "horde's" invasion of Flushing is coming to a close.
In fact, some Asian businesses are already leaving for greener pastures.
There are not enough sizable plots of land left here to accommodate the "yellow peril's" grandiose plans.
Now their destination of choice for conquest has become Brooklyn.
Marty Markowitz is already kissing up to Chinese business interests.
You'll give 'em column "A" Marty... and they'll soon be wanting column "B"!
Whew...a little touchy today "Crapper"?
But I once heard B.D. say, "Maybe we'll from George on this"...smiling at B.H. at the "Corner" on Grand Ave.
Well...I apologize if I'm wrong about Maspeth George.
I like his spirit...and yours too...anyway.
"If you could use some exotic booze there's a bar in old Bombay".
For mystery meat head for Flushing.
Braised reptile...wrapped in thinly sliced snail flesh...drizzled with "thousand year-old" beetle juice sauce...YUMMY!
I thought avoiding sticky chewing gum underfoot on a hot August day was bad enough.
Dodging expelled sputum and "snot rockets"...hurled by Chinese peasants on Flushing's sidewalks is far worse.
Oh...excuse me...I know that public spitting in China is a cultural thing...and I didn't mean to offend the Asians.
PAT-O-O-O-OEY!
(I think I just hit someone).
Just wait until those millions and millions of Chinese in China demand democracy like the people are doing in the middle east right now.
Mega-China will eventually be forced to dissolve its unified power into smaller province/spheres in order to operate on a higher level of efficiency as a country.
China is too vast, clumsy, unwieldy and unmanageable in size for a country to function well or care for its people properly.
Only an iron-fisted autocratic government has managed to keep its population controlled for so long a period of time.
When all of its people collectively rise and demand..."democracy now"...China (as we know it) will collapse.
Then it's ex-patriots will flood the world.
"Hieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphic
shieroglyphicshieroglyphicshiero"
That's right TRUMPET your IGNORANCE.
ps Grew up in Astoria but don't live there anymore.
pps There's a nice salumeria on 30th Avenue - Grand Avenue to us oldtimers - right across from St. Joseph's Church.
For George - "Hieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphic
shieroglyphicshieroglyphicshiero"
"Hieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphic
shieroglyphicshieroglyphicshiero"
"Hieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphic
shieroglyphicshieroglyphicshiero"
"Hieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphic
shieroglyphicshieroglyphicshiero"
"Hieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphic
shieroglyphicshieroglyphicshiero"
"Hieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphic
shieroglyphicshieroglyphicshiero"
"Hieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphic
shieroglyphicshieroglyphicshiero"
"Hieroglyphicshieroglyphicshieroglyphic
shieroglyphicshieroglyphicshiero"
"Oh well, it's their loss if a fire occurs at their business & the FDNY wouldn't be able to save it because they couldn't read non-English shit."
Right, because firefighter identify the location of the fire by the stores name and not by the billowing smoke and crowd of people standing outside. I think you underestimate the intelligence of the FDNY.
I guess we need to have names on houses and apartment buildings now also.
"Right, because firefighter identify the location of the fire by the stores name and not by the billowing smoke and crowd of people standing outside."
Not all calls have billowing smoke and crowds of people. And the police would need English signs as well. Get a clue.
It is generally true that when immigrants do not bother to learn English particularly well, their kids in turn do not bother to learn their ancestral language. The sad part is the parents actually aren't very literate in their own language either, which is why they are so intolerant to learning another language.
"Oh well, it's their loss if a fire occurs at their business & the FDNY wouldn't be able to save it because they couldn't read non-English shit."
Precisely! It doesn't matter if the business might have flammable materials stored inside or anything like that. Could anything enhance the fire or even cause an explosion? Who needs to worry about safety? Right?
No problem with stores that cater to what they know, only that they don't have signs in English or don't speak English if I go in to see anything I may like or to look around. Most are indifferent to me and some try very hard to serve me, so at least give them credit as they will likely change over time because they need to and smart enough to know that already - the rest will fall with waves of other folks (Afagans next?)
Show me the Chinese patent papers if they did....you simplistic semi-educated fool.
---------------------
Show me the patent papers for the wheel! LOL Seriously look it up. Please, I just took my Global history class and it says it in the textbook. If you don't like it, then call TExas and say, "your textbooks are wrong."
Just wait until those millions and millions of Chinese in China demand democracy like the people are doing in the middle east right now.
Mega-China will eventually be forced to dissolve its unified power into smaller province/spheres in order to operate on a higher level of efficiency as a country.
China is too vast, clumsy, unwieldy and unmanageable in size for a country to function well or care for its people properly.
Only an iron-fisted autocratic government has managed to keep its population controlled for so long a period of time.
When all of its people collectively rise and demand..."democracy now"...China (as we know it) will collapse.
Then it's ex-patriots will flood the world.
=======================
China won't collapse. Technically, China has a different "form" of communism nowadays. It as already adopted a few capitalistic policies and who knows how it will transition? Beijing, Shanghi and HOng Kong are starting to become the new business capital of the world. YOu can't debate that. In addition, Macau's casino revenues have already far surpassed Las Vegas. If anything, America's economy will A) crumble or more likely B) shrink like the wya it is now. And places such as MAcau have huge surpluses of money that they distribute about $100 (US dollars) per month to its citizens. And HONg kong recently is planning to distribute $6000 (hk dollars) to its citizens. SO no one will rise up and oppose the chinese gov't just yet. Maybe the farmers out in middle- China???
China didn't invent the chair. There's debate over who did, but China is not in the running.
Who invented the chair?
Here's a short history of the chair.
Other lawmakers say that loophole should be closed.
FREE TIBET.
EXPENSIVE CHINA.
I like how people like to spread the myth that the immigrants of the past some how came to the United States and assimilated within three days, learning the language and customs.
The State English on signs law was passed in the early 1900s because it was believed that Eastern Europeans could never assimilate. I know old Italian men who have been here for 50 years who can barely put a short sentence together. I also know a woman from Puerto Rico who learned english and spoke it fluently within 3 years.
Also, when you call in a fire, it's the address that's important, not so much the name of the store. Courts have held english only laws to violate free speech precisely because it is not a public safety issue.
Gert over it people, these shopkeepers are not trying to exclude you, just like a butcher shop is not trying to exclude vegans. The intent is not there.
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