Why can't Americans speak/write English properly?
451380
I agree.  I believe it comes from the inherent laziness of people and their lack of desire to read real books.  The level of reading comprehension is deplorable in this country.  I teach students who are currently juniors or seniors and some have NEVER read a book from cover to cover.  Good sentence structure and accurate spelling comes in large measure from reading a lot.  No reading--no spelling or grammatical syntax awareness.\n\nI think the moronic comment of Bazaar above my response is a splendid example of what happens when people are too dumb to understand proper grammar with subject-verb agreement.
358530
No, if English is your second language, your grammar and spelling tends to be superior to those that speak it as their first language. I'm Russian, yet I used to have American kids ask me for help on their English.
533540
More power to them!  My ancestors (and yours probably) came from another country, did not speak English and more than likely had an accent.  People who come to the US generally WANT to learn English, but learning a new language is very difficult, particulary for adults.  Give the new immigrants a generation or so to assimilate.
480258
Because we as Americans will not accept the fact that we cannot use our language and adapting said language to pronounce words are they are pronounce for other languages, we are just idiots
367365
greenpeacein79 has a valid point...  America does not have an 'official' language.\n\nIn the early days of the formation of this country, when it came time for our forefathers to write the documents that would lay the foundations of our sovereignty, English beat out German as the language of choice BY ONLY ONE VOTE.\n\nThat said, English is the predominant language used in the U.S., and the language in which all of this country's laws are written.\n\nFurthermore, anybody who wants to be economically viable in the global market, at least at this point in history, needs some command of the English language, it's that simple:  It's not an opinion, it's not a theory...\n\nIt's just a f*****g fact of life,... so get used to it.
169152
Some get too damn lazy to spell correctly and/or to type in complete words. \nSome are just that dumb and don't want to learn.\nSome of these people's primary language is not english... like me, yet, I know how to spell and I know the differences between your, you're, they're, their, its, it's, etc. AND, it's a pet peeve to see how many people missuse (sp?) those.\n\nHey, at least I know I might have misspelled that and I care enough to question myself :oP
159586
For some it is because English is a second language. For others it is because our school systems have failed to teach people how to read  and spell properly.
413970
It is because(as I stated long ago and many times), the education system in the U.S. has desenagrated tremendously in the past 20 plus years. This due to very poorly trained individuials who have headed up our Government Educational offices in Washington and on down to the lowest levels. There is no turning around.. I also (Am an American) have difficulty understanding the language (very very poor language) AND even the writing of yanks.
889607
Yes I think you made a spelling error. \n\nFace it you aren't the best speller since American, what   & is are all mis-spelled
508370
It's just going to take practice. We also use a lot of slang terms....contracations...which makes our language flow.It's just like any language...it will just taks time...and a few americans to speak with.
259643
I dont even know where to start on this one. I really hope you dont speak english as your main language. \n\nSTANDARD AMERICAN ENGLISH MOTHERF***ER DO YOU SPEAK IT?!
600443
As pretty513 has just confirmed - many Americans are quite dumb. I have no idea whether this is the fault of the education system. The UK's education system isn't great at the moment, but I came through it being able to spell and use correct grammar. Going by the spelling and grammar of many of the Americans on here, I think their education has failed them somewhat.
292460
First of all, how do you know that Americans make more spelling mistakes than their British counterparts...do you have a magically nationality tag for everyone you observe in the fora?  Also, if you're going to cast stones, you shouldn't do it in a glass house (your question is grammatically incorrect, which you should know as a Latin student).  "make more spelling mistakes..."\n\nBesides flaws in your logic and empirical method, you should understand that American Standard and British Standard English use different orthographic systems.  In America, one writes color, for example, instead of colour.  \n\nIt is true that there are many poor spellers on the internet.  However, is this related to an inability to spell of is it shorthand that is used in chat rooms, like M8 for mate?  There is an entire lexicon of chat "code: that is used.  All things being equal, there are at least eight times more Americans on the internet than Brits (based on population) so you certainly will see more of them, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are bad spellers.\n\nI might add that the American education system doesn't emphasize rote memorization and doesn't even reward spelling any more.  Many papers are done on computers with software that has spell check, which doesn't facilitate spelling practice.\n\nMay I add also that your prompting..."Because americans..." is begging for insulting comments in context to your question, which is pejorative to begin with (it also assumes every "American" is the same.   By the way, are you referring to Canadians and Mexians and Argentines, too? Because we are all Americans...we just aren't citizens of the United States).  It really interesting to see all the people that profess disliking Americans who nonethelss use Yahoo! (sorry, it is an American service) and somehow think that America became an economic superpower depsite the fact that the country if full of ignorant people (it isn't...Americans are ordinary people who have extraordinary opportunities and use them within a Calvinist cutlure that values success and merit over birth...which is the key to their success).
339829
He most likely had a such a hard time learning english and fitting in in America, he doesn't want you to have the same problem. Ask your father if you can learn just a few basic words.
444923
Huh?!  Speak American, Please...
281349
That's a good question.  I think the rise of email and instant-messaging has rapidly spawned a type of shorthand that is taking the place of proper written English.  Combine that with the fact that many educators, even some college professors, do not expect good English communication skills, and you have a rapid meltdown of the English language into a mass of codewords and unintelligible jargon.  All around us, we are seeing the Balkanization of written and spoken English.\nOf course, I don't expect foreigners whose primary language is not English to be perfectly fluent.  But I do expect people who have been speaking English for their entire lives to be able to form a coherent sentence or two.\nKeep your standards high!
683178
Maybe you should learn to speak, read AND write PROPER ENGLISH, the language spoken in the USA!!!!!!!