Duke professor warns students against speaking chinese

University apologizes over email urging Chinese students to speak English on campus.



Duke University has apologized after a professor sent an email cautioning international students against speaking Chinese on campus and urging them to speak English instead.

Duke University Apologizes Over Professor’s Email Asking Chinese Students to Speak English

The professor, Megan Neely, said in the email that two faculty members had come to her office complaining about students speaking Chinese "very loudly" in the student lounge and study areas. The faculty members wanted to identify the students and write down their names in case they sought to work with them in the future.

"They were disappointed that these students were not taking the opportunity to improve their English and were being so impolite as to have a conversation that not everyone on the floor could understand," Professor Neely wrote in the email. "To international students, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep these unintended consequences in mind when you choose to speak Chinese in the building."

Monterey Park City Council drops English sign ordinance

Controversial regulation would have required English lettering on all storefront signs



The Southern California city of Monterey Park -- which boasts a 70% Asian population -- has been wrestling with a controversial proposed ordinance that would have required English on all business signs. This week, the city council unanimously voted against adopting the ordinance.

Monterey Park drops plan for English signs amid community outcry

The City Council created the ordinance as a revised version of an old code that required some English lettering or words on storefront signs. The regulation would have required businesses with only logographic script, such as Chinese characters or Sanskrit, to add letters that English speakers could read phonetically.

But on Wednesday night, after hearing from more than forty speakers -- including representatives from the ACLU and other civil rights groups -- the council voted to let the ordinance die. During the four-hour community discussion, it was apparent that this issue is about more than just being able to read signs:

Customer kicked out of McDonald's for limited English skills

Somebody call corporate. They've got an asshole running this restaurant.



Today's edition of racist restaurant news... In Vancouver, a woman is demanding an apology from McDonald's after a manager refused to serve her because they apparently couldn't understand her English: McDonald's customer says she was booted due to English skills.

51-year-old Hai Xia Sun, who is a Chinese immigrant, says she was mistaken given a mocha coffee after she ordered a hot chocolate. When she tried to correct the mistake, the McDonald's manager allegedly berated Sun and her friend over their limited English skills, ordering her to get out of line and leave. Really?

Yes, it's true. Like a lot of people who eat at McDonald's every day, English is Hai Xia Sun's second language. But that definitely doesn't justify treating some like s$%t over a friggin' mocha.

boss banned employees from speaking vietnamese -- even off the job

For real? In Orange County, a Vietnamese American man recently filed a discrimination lawsuit against his employer after his boss allegedly banned him from speaking Vietnamese anytime on the job: OC Company Boss To Asian Employee: You Can't Speak Vietnamese Even On Private Time.

Hung Trinh, a lab assistant at Quest Diagnostics Inc., says his supervisor Estela Comba had it out for Vietnamese employees, and made things particularly hostile for him in the workplace. He suffered "constant harassment" and was prohibited from speaking Vietnamese -- even on breaks or at off-duty functions. Whaaaat: