In American English people speak with, in British English, they speak to - referring to normal conversation.
In American English "to speak with" is a conversation of equals, "to speak to" suggests the speaker is in a position of authority.
However, there are different opinions regarding this topic:
Spirit_of_Sky, cпасибо за ссылку. Пойду почитаю. Только что озадачила коллег американцев. Пока все сошлись во мнении, что в этом случае абсолютно все равно "with" или "to". В разговорной речи у меня knee jerk reaction скорее всего "speak to". Однако, когда пишу e-mail, к примеру: "it was nice to speak with you on the phone earlier".. воткак-то так))
According to The Columbia Guide to Standard American English,
"In most uses these combinations are interchangeable: I spoke to [with] her for only a few minutes. In some instances, however, there may be semantic distinctions: Speak to sounds a bit more one-sided, perhaps, than speak with, which may imply more give and take. And in one sense speak to suggests strongly that the speech is to be both one-sided and admonitory: I guess I must speak to him [about his behavior]. Talk works much the same way, except that you speak to [on the subject of] an issue far more often than you talk to an issue."
Spirit_of_Sky, ага! Мы тут тоже коллективно пришли к тому же. Примеры приводились - если хочешь настучать на плохое обслуживание к примеру, то: "I'd like to talk to the manager!", а если хочешь с менаджером поговорить на тему, что пора бы уже запрлату тебе поднять, то тогда "talk with". ))
Спасибо Вам за участие! Очень приятно было пообщаться.