“It’s so immensely frustrating when I hear customers/employees/random passerby say, “They should speak English, this is America.” I’ve seen it when caregivers speak to their little ones in other languages (Korean, Spanish, Polish, etc), translating books in real-time. It frustrates me because that person reading out loud to their child already knows people are saying just that, but they want to provide their child a space to learn another language, and give them the same experience everyone in the world wants: to simply read a book with their child.
Languages are not to be ostracized. Languages are to be embraced. It’s wonderful and beautiful to listen to them, and to hear how a book like “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” can sound in other languages!”
