In America it's English, learn it.

[1969chargerrtse]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36824139#36824139



Alabama governor race turns focus to immigration

April 28: The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd talks about an ad released by Republican Tim James, who is running for governor in Alabama.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36824139

[TK73]

Except Texas...

[Skinypete]

Go Alabama!! 

[RD]

RIGHT ON! I WOULD VOTE FOR HIM!

[bull]

What's Americia?

[RD]

 

What's Americia?

[1969chargerrtse]

What's Americia?

Oooops.

[451-74Charger]

Ok, so now all you Americans will have to go back to school to learn English..lol
and stop dropping letters from words.

[Hemidog]

Is the Klan still big in Alabama?

[hemi68charger]

I agree.. We don't need more than one language here..... including Texas.........   

Image the monetary savings if governmental brochures were only in one......

[Nacho-RT74]

well, well, well.... if you think half of USA territory it was Spanish Colony

and AMERICA extends from Canada to Chile/Argentina... , we find French, English, Portuguese, Spanish and Indian languages

[twodko]

Lets be careful here guys. FWIW I believe if you want to live in this country play by the rules. Learn functional English, submit to a background check and take the legal path to becoming an American citizen. These things are no more than any of us would have to do immigrating to another country. We are all immigrants and the earliest humanoids came from the African continent....all of us.

Tom

[elacruze]

If we're getting fussy, let's at least get right where we live.
We are citizens of the United States of America.
not 'America'. There is no 'America'. There are 'The Americas' which is what I think Bull was pointing out...and Nacho too.
BTW who remembers that Texas and California were both Mexico a long time before they were part of the U.S.? There are families in the U.S. who have been here since the beginning, have never spoken English. Mexican and Native Americans. Some speak Spanish, some speak their native tongue.
There is no obligation to speak English in the U.S. If that obligation ever comes, we'll all have to go back to school.

[twodko]

Math is the universal language and english is the accepted global language across all economic strata.

Tom

[hemi68charger]

There is no obligation to speak English in the U.S. If that obligation ever comes, we'll all have to go back to school.

That's the problem, no one feels the need to learn it because government and business cater to it.  Nothing but enabling. Yes, we used to be this, we used to be that.. If you want to go down that road, then everyone in Canada, US of A, Central America and parts of South America need to speak Cherokee, Sioux, Comanche or Mayan. The lack of assimilation into a unified culture/society is going to be our demise. Yes, diversity adds to the spice of life and cultural expression. But, let's not be so lazy as to not learn the native language one moves to. I wouldn't ever assume it would be the French's responsibility to learn English if I ever moved to Paris. I'd pick up a book and learn. I'll be the first to admit it's nice to know another language and I'll push my children to do so in school just like I did. I can get by with Spanish and French, all self-taught. It blows my mind living here in Houston where there are immigrants who have lived here for over 20+ years and STILL don't know English or even care to. (why should they when government prints everything twice, in English and Spanish and now, there are Spanish-only grocery stores !!)..... Something's wrong with that picture.............

Oppppss.. I just fell off my soap box........

Troy

PS: Pretty soon The US of A will look like the Linguistic map of Nigeria, Cameroon, and Benin. Look at all those different languages. I'm glad my Nigerian friends I work with know and learn English, otherwise, we'd be in a world of help

[1970Moparmann]

Troy, get back on your box, your on a roll

I AGREE!

[451-74Charger]

Actually Columbus was Spanish, so technically the USA should be a Spanish speaking nation.

I am an Immigrant and British to boot, However I like the fact that English was chosen by the founding fathers, at least they didnt pick French !!

[Ponch ®]

I don't know, i think that for their own sake immigrants SHOULD learn english. They'll go farther in life and in society. But if they can't or won't, that's fine. Let them speak whatever their native language is...they'll be stuck in their crappy below minimum wage jobs forever. But the state shouldn't FORCE them to learn english. Just like it can't force you to go to college and get an advanced degree.

Sure, let's change all official brochures and forms to English. Make no mistake...people WILL find a way around that and the results ain't gonna be pretty. You're gonna end up having people with driver's licenses who shouldn't have them but somehow cheated the system. There are also too many ways it's going to confuse people. It's like me trying to explain to my grandpa that the "middle name" space in his driver license renewal form is not for his second last name (in some Latin cultures, your name usually includes both your father's last name and your mother's maiden name after it). Took me hours of explaining to him that that's not a "middle name", but I couldn't convince him, so now his license has his last name wrong.

One of the things that irks me the most about this whole "speak english" debate, is when two individuals are having a conversation in their native language and some assclown goes "hey...this is america...speak english!". WTF? If it's a personal conversation and it isn't costing taxpayers any money...what business is it of yours how it's conducted?

Besides, based on reading thousands of posts here and in other forums by native english speakers full of spelling, grammar, and syntax errors...I'd say then EVERYONE should meet some sort of minimum literacy requirement to in order to conduct any type of business.

As far as this dude in Alabama goes...he's just being the consumate politician and pandering to whatever the hot topic of the day is and what his would be constituents want to hear. 40 or 50 years ago he would have been in ads saying how segregation was vital for the survival of the country and so on...

Actually Columbus was Spanish

LOL...try again, dude.

[451-74Charger]

LOL...try again, dude.

Maybe I should learn your history too. He WAS Italian !!  

[hemi68charger]

I don't know, i think that for their own sake immigrants SHOULD learn english. They'll go farther in life and in society. But if they can't or won't, that's fine. Let them speak whatever their native language is...they'll be stuck in their crappy below minimum wage jobs forever. But the state shouldn't FORCE them to learn english. Just like it can't force you to go to college and get an advanced degree.

Ponch,, I 100% agree with you on people speaking their native tongue in their homes (doesn't do the children any good though when they are at their developing years and ALL the emphasis on learning English is placed on the schools???).... But, when it's spoken over and over again in public, it does effect everyone and local society in general. It's simple courtesy and respect to not speak a foreign language when others are around. It's human nature to develop a slightly uncomfortable feeling when that happens. Everywhere you go now down here there's visual linguistic clutter. It's bad enough we have billboard signs here and there, those dang small little signs shoved in the ground at every intersection and light post you can think of, but it's doubled in Spanish.... All the Spanish shoved down our eyes......... Don't even talk to me about a situation when there's an emergency and communication is paramount.....

[Ponch ®]

I don't know, i think that for their own sake immigrants SHOULD learn english. They'll go farther in life and in society. But if they can't or won't, that's fine. Let them speak whatever their native language is...they'll be stuck in their crappy below minimum wage jobs forever. But the state shouldn't FORCE them to learn english. Just like it can't force you to go to college and get an advanced degree.

Ponch,, I 100% agree with you on people speaking their native tongue in their homes (doesn't do the children any good though when they are at their developing years and ALL the emphasis on learning English is placed on the schools???)....

Why wouldn't it be placed on the schools? That's what theyre there for. Now, if youre talking about offering bilingual education and all that nonsense...then yeah, I find that unacceptable and unnecessary.

Besides, I think the effects of what language is spoken at home are overstated. Even though my mom speaks english fluently, all that was spoken at home was spanish (during my developmental years) yet it did not affect in any way whatsoever my ability to learn and speak english once I hit school and started socializing w other kids. I see the same thing today with kids and they have no problem whatsoever either. Heck, I have a cousin who was cared for either by my grandma (who only spoke Spanish) or by his paternal grandmother (who only spoke Serbian) until he was 4-5 years old. Yet he speaks perfect English now and probably doesn't even remember a word of the other two languages. Strke that...he does speak a little spanish...atrociously.

I do see where you're coming from when you say that it might seem rude and uncourteous to have a conversation in another language in front of others who don't know it. I try to avoid doing that as much as I can, but sometimes I just have to speak spanish to someone for whatever reason. But still...besides that, there is no other reason why people shouldn't be able to converse in their own language without some asshole butting in and telling them to speak english...esp. if one or both don't speak english at all...they don't have much of a choice, do they?

For what it's worth, I think we are visually cluttered with way too many things anyway (advertisements, billboards, "In loving memory of Dale Earnhardt" decals in the back of pickup trucks, tacky t-shirts, bumperstickers, fast food signs, gaudy street signs, brightly colored green/purple/pink cars and so on), so a few spanish words here and there should be the least bothersome of the clutter.

[451-74Charger]

Ponch, I think you just summed it all up. no more really needs be said

[RD]

i think the whole crux of this argument is that English is the official language of the United States, voted for by a slim margin over German.  The United States of America should not have to cater to individuals who immigrate to this country by addressing themselves in their native language.  If the individuals immigrate to this country through the appropriate process than they should already know the english language (or a good working form of it) in order to be actively involved in society without worries of misinterpretation of laws, ordinances, or codes.

This goes back to the whole concept of making individuals legal citizens within our country.  This whole advertisement has come about and has been given "teeth" due to the recent Arizona law in regards to illegal immigration.

Either way, it does not mean you are not allowed to speak your native tongue to others.  It does not mean that you are not allowed to learn another language.  It does mean that you should be responsible to learn the basic requirements of any citizen of this country.  Learn English, its the official language.

If we only have a few spanish words, as per ponch, cluttering the roadway, then why discriminate against all the other languages?  Let us have all of them up there.  (I wonder how much that will cost the taxpayers?).

Troy has a very valid point. If we were to travel and reside in a country that speaks other than English, would we expect them to speak our language to us for the rest of our lives?  Or, would we understand it is our responsibility to speak their language?  I know I would learn their language. 

It is at this very principle in which our politically correct and sugarcoating society has sat back and turned a blind eye that will begin the degradation of our ideals.  You stick to your roots and demand a simple and sturdy foundation, or you allow it to crumble.  Solidarity comes through commonality.  Diversity is good, but without a common standard, it will be held together loosely.

[Nacho-RT74]

III LIKE THIS THREADS A LOT!!!

I'm agree English in USA must be a common language for everyone and everybody there must learn it. But is diff make the agreement on that, build that agreement, FROM MAKE MANDATORY ON A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN. Thas is simply wrong, for whatever reason discrimination, racism, your choose, but is simply wrong use that on that kind of stuff.

More than half of USA was built by inmigrants ( then and now ). They deserve respect, because USA is where it is in the world because EVERYBODY worked on that.

Everybody who goes to USA must at least to know basic english, but the same than any english speaker must know something of the language of the country he goes. At least the basics. that doesn't happen on 70% of the cases.


and I'm agree... Some Northamericans will need to LEARN IT too LOL

[Nacho-RT74]

BTW Columbus Spanish ? Christopher Columbus was, as far history tells, Italian. Just that he made the trip by finantial Spanish Crown support, ships and crew, like Magallanes was Portuguese but made the first world expedition in Spanish Crown name.