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Do you think non-Hispanics in places like TX and CA will have to be bilingual or just Spanish speakers will need to be bilingual? I have heard in Miami for example you almost have to speak Spanish if you want to serve the general public.
If a company wants to sell to people who speak a particular language, it will adapt to do so. That all depends on whether the company sees that as a lucrative market niche.
My company sees, for instance, Polish as a more important market niche in the Chicago area than Spanish.
As others have noted, succeeding generations of Latino immigrants speak English, so that linguistic market niche is not "all Latinos" but is "1st generation immigrants." As such, it will not involve all products, only those with a hope of being sold to 1st generation immigrants.
So in order to be a good neighbor one has to drop by with a batch of Tamales? How about a good apple pie or some other American food?
Tamales ARE American food. And so are eggrolls, corned beef, pastrami, bagels and all the other delicacies brought here by immigrants. Immigration is good for this country. We don't have to worry about 2 billion people coming to America. There aren't 2 billion people with the ambition to do so.
We get the best and brightest. Other countries experience brain drain.
Are you kidding me? In the west in particular many jobs demand bi-lingual English/Spanish to even get an interview for a job. I disagree that the reason that one can't get a job in Miami unless they speak Spanish is because of their dealings with Latin America. It is because Cubans don't want to use English as their primary language of usage just as many other Spanish speakers don't or won't. English is actually the language of commerce throughout the world.
If you lack the education and skills for a job then it won't matter what languages you speak or what ethnic group you are a part of.
I put in bilingual on Craigslist and got 1044 responses. One was for a position dealing with union workers and another was WIC. I would like anyone to tell me why one should learn Spanish to deal with union members or people on WIC. Besides that, why are there union workers who don't speak English? Why are there people on WIC who can't speak English? I know these questions and it makes me sick.
Report from Census Bureau on language use highlights 2 key points:
1) Census put a summary out in Spanish (but no other language outside English)
2) Immigrants from Latin American's are less likely to speak English well than any other immigrant group. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/rele...b14-105sp.html
Similar questions have been asked of other languages (used to be Japanese, now Spanish and Chinese) for economically-related reasons. As you can see, knowing Japanese in the US is not a must-have.
That said, it never hurts to learn a different language. It helps you in business, helps you in life, and it even helps your brain.
Yeah, I agree there are benefits to being bilingual and certain international reasons why Japanese or Chinese would be critical for international commerce and relations. Even knowing Chinese maybe critical in very specific reasons for dealing with Chinese immigrants in the US. But, these jobs are very far and few between.
I'm focusing more on whether Spanish will become essential for domestic communications across a wide range of occupations. Which is a different issue.
Stop being silly people! Afford our youth the ability to utilize their brain power. Children should be taught language in school, from pre-school forward. If not Spanish, French or whatever.
I put in bilingual on Craigslist and got 1044 responses. One was for a position dealing with union workers and another was WIC. I would like anyone to tell me why one should learn Spanish to deal with union members or people on WIC. Besides that, why are there union workers who don't speak English? Why are there people on WIC who can't speak English? I know these questions and it makes me sick.
CEDA WIC is seeking a full time, Spanish speaking high school graduate (or GED) to serve as Intake Specialist for the WIC program.
The reason union members would not speak English is because the union wants as many members as possible, thus will avoid any exclusivity that would prevent them from representing that large and growing segment of the labor force.
Tamales ARE American food. And so are eggrolls, corned beef, pastrami, bagels and all the other delicacies brought here by immigrants. Immigration is good for this country. We don't have to worry about 2 billion people coming to America. There aren't 2 billion people with the ambition to do so.
We get the best and brightest. Other countries experience brain drain.
Are the illegal aliens flooding our southern border the best and the brightest? Tamales are a cultural food. There are 2 billion impoverished across the world. Do you actually think that if we had open borders they wouldn't all be here in a flash?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph_Kirk
The reason union members would not speak English is because the union wants as many members as possible, thus will avoid any exclusivity that would prevent them from representing that large and growing segment of the labor force.
How does one work in the U.S. without knowing English? The only ones who would fit the bill are illegal aliens.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SPECFRCE
Stop being silly people! Afford our youth the ability to utilize their brain power. Children should be taught language in school, from pre-school forward. If not Spanish, French or whatever.
Stop the pure ignorance.
What is ignorant is learning a foreign language you will never use when you could be studying something more practical that would teach you a trade or further your career. Brain power is used doing those things also.
Last edited by Oldhag1; 08-19-2014 at 08:02 AM..
Reason: Merge
Stop being silly people! Afford our youth the ability to utilize their brain power. Children should be taught language in school, from pre-school forward. If not Spanish, French or whatever.
Stop the pure ignorance.
I don't think anyone on this thread is arguing against learning or the benefits of speaking foreign languages. The debate is about will Spanish become an essential skills for domestic use.
Europeans often speak multiple languages, but are very protective of their domestic language. There is no contradiction between knowing multiple languages and believing that domestic communications in a particular nation should be done in the national language.
Language can be a major source of division and social balkanization, so wanting everybody within a nation to speak a common language is hardly an ignorant idea.
Will the growth in active Spanish language use (not necessarily knowledge) level off as the Hispanic population becomes more 2nd/3rd/4th generation? Spanish services will remain primarily for immigrants, while the later generations use it basically as a 2nd language (if at all). Similar to other immigrant groups.
Between 2000 and 2010 the Latino population in the USA increased by 4.5 million foreign born, while the native born population increased by 10.9 million. They are now firmly the #2 minority population in the USA, forever passing African Americans.
But almost all native born Latinos are bilingual, and a large number of foreign immigrants are bilingual or will become bilingual in a few years.
While I fully expect Latino population to surpass 100 million (out of 400 million) by the year 2050, the number of foreign immigrants will decrease. Partly, the fertility rate in Mexico is now about the same as the USA. Partly because economic opportunities are increasing in Mexico and decreasing in the USA.
Spanish will remain significant in the USA. The Cervantes Society in Spain now believes that if students are counted, the USA is has surpassed Spain and Colombia to be the second largest Spanish speaking nation in the world (behind only Mexico). But I don't think speaking Spanish will become essential for most Americans. The number of people who speak Spanish but no English in this country will remain a small percentage.
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