Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The poll and the question don't match. If Spanish were the primary language, then I'd expect to learn Spanish. It would be more convenient for me if the primary language became another language I already speak but I can adjust.
The poll and the question don't match. If Spanish were the primary language, then I'd expect to learn Spanish. It would be more convenient for me if the primary language became another language I already speak but I can adjust.
Good observation. It can happen that I thought of a better question than the topic question (which isn't the case here).
I'm trying something different with great success. This is the first time I drew more voter response than replies, plus the most voter response I've ever had.
When there are more Spanish speakers in the population than English speakers, we can think about what we'll do. But since I'll be long dead when that happens, there's no sense in worrying about it.
We're in the midst of a great wave of immigration comparable to the last big one between 1879 and 1929. Those millions of mainly East Europeans came here and assimilated, learned English as quickly as they could, and melted into the American pot. That was the Great Generation that fought WW1 and WW2 and made America the foremost super-power in the world.
Assimilation works. Universal English works. Tough, high standards schooling works. They learned more in grammar school and high school than the average college student does today.
The current immigrants are under less pressure to assimilate; we are more open to multiculturalism and less into the melting pot concept than 100 years ago. There are pros and cons -- cultural diversity is great, retaining your heritage and language is great, but you are an American now and you need to start acting like one (at least, speaking, reading, and writing English, and embrace democracy) if you want to get ahead.
We know that allowing people to "be diverse" doesn't work. Without a common language and culture to imbue our kids, without teaching our children that American culture, values and ideals are the glue that binds us together, we will not continue to be a great nation.
Sorry, California. You're very much on the wrong track and increasingly, I agree with Calexit. You disagree with the election results? You want to teach kids in two languages and let them off the hook of mastering English like everyone else had to do in past generations? Let's slice off California along the San Andreas Fault and let them rejoin Mexico if they love Spanish so much. I'm sure the Mexicans would love to have LA, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley, and we'll be rid of a very liberal, very leftist, very politically correct slice of America that isn't really America anymore. Win-win.
After researching census data, newspapers, books, court records and other materials, they discovered a remarkable reversal of conventional wisdom: Many early German immigrants did not feel compelled to learn English quickly. In fact, they appeared to live and thrive for decades while speaking exclusively German.
Quote:
The study shows that early immigrants did not need English to succeed, so they responded slowly to learning it. Modern immigrants, however, recognize it as a ticket to success and are learning English in high percentages, Salmons reported.
Quote:
In many of the original settlements in the mid-1800s from southeastern Wisconsin to the Fox Valley, German remained the primary language of commerce, education and religion well into the early 20th century, Salmons found. Some second- and even third-generation Germans who were born in Wisconsin still spoke only German as adults.
During the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, over 80 percent of all immigrant visas were granted to people from northern and western European countries, 14 percent to eastern and southern Europeans, and 4 percent to people from other Eastern Hemisphere countries. There was no quota on immigration from Western Hemisphere countries such as Mexico, and there was no U.S. border patrol until 1924. During the 1920s, the number of Mexican-born U.S. residents tripled from 120,000 to 368,000.
Way to fall into the Republicans' fear mongering. As a young Latino, all of the younger generation Latinxs I know speak English more comfortably. So don't worry. Though knowing another language won't harm you...
As a hispanic person, drop the Latinx bs. It looks dumb.
As a hispanic person, drop the Latinx bs. It looks dumb.
Hey - I learned a new word today: Latinx...
Googled it and found that its been around for longer than I woulda thought:
"Where did the term originate?
Latinx first began to emerge within ***** communities on the internet in 2004, and saw a rise in popularity in late 2014, according to Complex. By 2015, Google searches for the term began to increase (see the graph below) and Latinx became a widely-used identifier both on social media platforms like Tumblr and in scholarly work. Many scholars and activists praise the term’s ability to better include many groups of people while challenging cultural and norms. "
Google has many sites explaining Latinx - and it appears to me that about as many folks like it - as dislike it. Kinda like our posters here: one for and one against.
Altho I'm a non-fluent Spanish speaker - I have always admired the user-friendliness of the language. Soo much cleaner than our English. So, right off the bat - I'm not endeared of an evolvement that murks up a useful feature. Will we now go from Chicano and Chicana to Chicanx? Hmmmmm??
Last edited by wilful1; 12-12-2016 at 01:54 PM..
Reason: EXplanation for a deleted word.
Ohhh MY - Did not see this coming. I had copied an article from the Huffington Post and pasted it in my above post. In seeing my posted post - I noted that a word had been ***** out. If this is permissible here - may I point out that the word commenced with the seventeenth and ended with the eighteenth letter in the alphabet?
Googled it and found that its been around for longer than I woulda thought:
"Where did the term originate?
Latinx first began to emerge within ***** communities on the internet in 2004, and saw a rise in popularity in late 2014, according to Complex. By 2015, Google searches for the term began to increase (see the graph below) and Latinx became a widely-used identifier both on social media platforms like Tumblr and in scholarly work. Many scholars and activists praise the term’s ability to better include many groups of people while challenging cultural and norms. "
Google has many sites explaining Latinx - and it appears to me that about as many folks like it - as dislike it. Kinda like our posters here: one for and one against.
Altho I'm a non-fluent Spanish speaker - I have always admired the user-friendliness of the language. Soo much cleaner than our English. So, right off the bat - I'm not endeared of an evolvement that murks up a useful feature. Will we now go from Chicano and Chicana to Chicanx? Hmmmmm??
You are right, and believe it or not, ive seen chicanx. The thing is that spanish is inclusive. You could put latin@s and that could include everyone, but a lot of feminist and liberals use this and spanish rules already state that a masculine plural noun can stand for all male or a mix of genders.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
but I can adjust.
