In which communities in the U.S. is it absolutely necessary to speak Spanish?

[sav858]

Originally Posted by jtur88

Fact: There is no place in the USA where speaking Spanish is a requirement to getting a job, although it might be considered an asset for a few jobs that entail customer contact such as receptionists or shop clerks.

Fact: You are wrong and there are PLENTY of jobs that require Spanish. I just spent about 2 seconds on Google to find one for you:

http://www.firstfivecc.org/uploads/a..._Bilingual.pdf

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by sadgirl80

This thread disturbs me.
The de facto language of the US is ENGLISH. If immigrants want to make a new life here and not back in Mexico, they should switch to English.
You know...you are welcome to go back.

De fact is that the USA took an area of land roughly equal to the size of present day Mexico. Most Mexicans speak Spanish (although 52 languages are spoken today).

Most Mexicans who emigrate speak English, although some retain their accents.

Why would the presence of another language disturb you? What realistically scares you?

Originally Posted by :-D

It would be nice if everyone spoke English, but as a border state we do get people who come from Sonora all the time (and other parts of Mexico). Even if we didn't have an illegal immigration problem, it would probably still be similar because of the state's roots and proximity to the border.

There was a very influential book written in the late 1920's called BASIC English, where research had determined that you could express 95% of all concepts with a 1000 word vocabulary. The idea of teaching BASIC English to the entire world rapidly replaced other visions like Esperanto. The idea influenced some movies and was the basis for doublespeak in 1984 (written in 1948), The concept has been pretty much rejected by modern educators as being awkward and overly artificial.