English as the Official Language

I have heard first hand from a teacher that there are some - hmmmm, how should I say this without offending the PC elite - ummmm, Spanish speaking students in her class (middle school) who refuse to recite the pledge of allegiance to our flag. :shock: I would imagine that that is coming from the parents, wouldn't you?

 

Yes, those Swedish, Dutch, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Vietmanese, Laotian, etc. immigrants alwasy taught English to their children before coming to the US. That is why there were no Little Italy or Chinatown areas in any cities in the past.

The class is designed to teach Spanish to the English speaking children, and to improve the English of Spanish speaking children, which is the goal of education the last time I checked. I do know that I retained more of the French I learned in Kindergarten and the studies all reflect this effect so it is a good program for teaching a second language. A cost effective means to teach a useful language is always a bad thing?

 

It is always good to have too many customers, it is a sign of prosperity. who knows maybe those Spanish speaking customers will go away and you will be happier.

 

Sad is the day.....

K....Let's try this one on for size and see how it fits! First of all, this is the United State of America whereby english IS the language, therefore, learn it! Secondly, I too am sick and tired of seeing time and time again "billingual required" as part of a company's employment advertisement! Not to mention the fact almost every company I deal with has to include the very annoying spanish language prompts. Wake up folks!! Last time I checked NC was in the USA, not in Mexico! Yes, I am making this statement directly to Mexico because that is where this entire problem is coming from! Every single German, Italian, Asian, etc., who has moved here were NOT caterred to like the Mexican population is being catered to! Bottom line is, MANY of us are fed up with this! I'm sick of feeling like I'm living in Mexico everywhere I go and unless the ENGLISH speaking residents of the US start standing up and saying enough is enough this will only continue to grow. Bottom line is, learn it or go home, because I for one am NOT going to conform to it!

 

There are always two sides to every story. I would like to state there has always been a misconception that everyone who speaks Spanish is "Mexican"; please remember that Mexico is the immediate country to our South however, there are over 20 countries geographically located below Mexico and all (with the exception of Brazil) are Spanish speaking countries. Due to their location anyone immigrating from Costa Rica, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, Bolivia, etc. etc. has to arrive to the United States through Mexico. My first point, not everyone is Mexican if they speak Spanish. That there is a large number of people who are Mexican, yes, I agree.
I am a very proud Naturalized United States Cititzen without forgetting my heritage.
As a Bilingual person; I see a wrong doing not forcing children to learn English at a young age. When I came to this country I had to learn Ensligh to not only communicate with schoolmates but also learn in school and get ahead.
In later years, my nephews were taught in a Bilingual environment and I felt that was a dis-service to the child and to the system.
Second point is from experience I can say children learn slower if they are spoken to and/or taught in their own language because they become dependant on the language they know (which ever it happens to be).

By any means should anyone forget their heritage; that is why this country is so rich however, we live and prosper in the United States and we MUST give this great country the respect it deserves. English is the official language; it always has been and it always will be. English is the most powerful language in the World. So I say learn English and live within this country's customs, rules and regulations. Should there be exceptions; yes, there are always exceptions to every rule. I would not force my 89 year old Grandmother to learn the language if she ever came to live here however, I would expect her to live as any other American would; as we have.

My 2 cents worth....

 

Odd in all my years in the military stationed over seas, unless you were near a military installation it was rare to come across someone that spoke much more than the broken english that you find the majority of the hispanics here speak. When I was stationed in Italy it was rare to find anyone off the base that spoke anything more than very little broken english, and that was due to the fact that the American Military personnal actually aided the enconemy with the influx of money we would spend off base. Witnessed the same in Germany and Greece. The only country that I actually was stationed in that spoke english fluently was the UK.

When I was in Spain as an exchange student in high school if we didn't speak their language we didn't get anywhere.

Craig

 

Agree, agree, agree! And I'm going to repeat myself from another thread here...

 

I was unaware that we did anything stupid like declare English as the official language.

Well then start your own business and have someone create a sign that Spanish speakers aren’t welcome. :mrgreen:

Well it looks like these people are smart capitalists.

Did you forget that significant parts of the USA were Mexico at one time.

Every single one?? That is just silly, however I would be happy to cater to the Hispanic population as business person. One reason they are catered to is that they are a very large percentage and important part of our country. I was in Bank of America today and my guess is that close to ¾ of the client base was Hispanic, quite a bit of money to be made and I hope their bilingual staff are appropriately compensated.

Well if you don’t love it leave it, try England and see if you like that any better.

 

Live in American, then learn the language.

I have nothing against anyone moving to this country to seek a better life for themselves and their families, however, if you want to live here, then you should learn to speak english.
I do not see why I should be expected to learn spanish to accomadate the illegals in this country.
I have also noticed that now in order to answer a classified ad for a job, people are expected to speak spanish as well as english.
Wake up leaders of this country, and realize that this is our country, and if someone wants to live here then they should be expected to learn our language.

 

hught wrote

I must need more coffee,could you please high light where Angelfmabve5
wrote that she didn't love this Country
What I got was that the legals need to learn English,and that the illegals
need to get their ***** out of this Country

 

Some friends of ours went to Japanto attend the wedding of a coworker and spent an extra couple of weeks there. One of th stores they told of their trip was the free tour guides in some of the smaller areas. School children will meet foreign tourists when they arrive and offer to show them the sights during a walking tour. They do this to practice their English by immersion as part of their school work.

 

Given that many businesses do cater to those who do not speak English because it is a large market and creates a good profit for them, is it the position here that government should step in and force these businesses to stop doing what they feel is good customer service? I am confused as to how that is a governmental responsibilty. I can see not patronizing a business because you dislike those who are also patrons, but given that you would be a smaller minority than the Spanish speaking population all that would seem to accomplish is to limit your choices.

 

"Originally Posted by Angelfmabve5
Bottom line is, MANY of us are fed up with this! I'm sick of feeling like I'm living in Mexico everywhere I go and unless the ENGLISH speaking residents of the US start standing up and saying enough is enough this will only continue to grow. Bottom line is, learn it or go home, because I for one am NOT going to conform to it!"

 

I still don't see where she said she didn't love this Country,only where she said for the illegals to go

 

Wow! Now this really is shocking to me! You mean we speak something other than English? Dang! I knew I should have paid more attention in school!

 

He/She never mentioned Illegals. Also even though there was a lot of whining about He/She's country, I really don't think they hate their country, hence the smiley face.


Doesn't the smiley face absolve the poster of anything they might have said? :mrgreen:

 

Well according to your post we also speak Spanish. :mrgreen:

Not sure what the rest of your thread was about, I think you have a communication issue! :lol:

 

You're damned skippy! That's why I speak Iroquois!

Let's think about this on more serious note......if all the European countries (except the isles), and Japan, and China, and Saudi Arabia......didn't have students learning a foreign language from the 1st grade, to you honestly believe their economies would be thriving?

If you get past your xenophobic mindset, you would realize we have several hundred million potential customers for our products living between Brownsville and Antarctica.

Speaking Spanish or Chinese will put any red-blooded American kid so far ahead of his peer group in the ability to be successful in business it's not even funny.

Learning language skills at a fluency level is very difficult. So when American companies go into foreign markets, they have to usually hire non-Americans to get the jobs (accounting, legal, statisticians, IT, etc.) done.

Giving American kids fluency can only benefit.....or I guess we could throw those millions towards more standardized testing.

 

Never mind 'ol Hught. He's the resident pot stirrer. He would make a great left-wing politician. Sad...truly sad, it is.

 

Why Thanks! <3