Not wanting to speak Spanish doesn't mean being racist (illegal, Mexican, American)

[SophieLL]

Originally Posted by Oldglory

What you fail to understand though is that only Spanish is being pushed. Hispanic-Americans for the most part know English so why would we need to learn Spanish to communicate with them? No, the reason that Spanish is being pushed is because of the large number of illegal immigrants from south of our border. Learning another language should be elective not forced in one's own country and that is the point you are missing. I actually don't see any reason that an American should waste their time learning another language anyway. What for unless you have the type of job that deals with foreigners in their own countries? How many languages should we learn?

Thats the most ignorant mindset in the history of the world.

I feel sorry for you if thats how you think.

Learning another language is ALWAYS benefitial and important. Learning another language is NEVER a waste of time. Cant believe there are people OPENLY saying otherwise.

[SophieLL]

Besides the obvious benefits of learning another language, i wanna say that one of the best things of learning english was, for me, being able to read some of my favourite authors in their original language. Raymond Carver, Julian Barnes, Shakespeare, Paul Auster, Melville or J.D Sallinger arent the same in their spanish-translation as in their original books. The musicality of a sentence. The choice of words. Everything counts in something in where words are as important as literature.

And i kinda feel sorry for someone that, having the opportunity to understand the following paragraph in its original language and enjoy one of the best authors in history and the power of words at its finest, its complaining instead:


"Babilonia, Londres y Nueva York han abrumado con feroz esplendor la imaginación de los hombres; nadie, en sus torres populosas o en sus avenidas urgentes, ha sentido el calor y la presión de una realidad tan infatigable como la que día y noche convergía sobre el infeliz Ireneo, en su pobre arrabal sudamericano. Le era muy difícil dormir. Dormir es distraerse del mundo; Funes, de espaldas en el catre, en la sombra, se figuraba cada grieta y cada moldura de las casas precisas que lo rodeaban. (Repito que el menos importante de sus recuerdos era más minucios y más vivo que nuestra percepción de un goce físico o de un tormento físico.) Hacia el Este, en un trecho no amanzanado, había casas nuevas, desconocidas. Funes las imaginaba negras, compactas, hechas de tiniebla homogénea; en esa dirección volvía la cara para dormir. También solía imaginarse en el fondo del río, mecido y anulado por la corriente".


How amazing would it be if you could read and understand the power of the paragraph I just quoted, the same way i read those amazing english-speaking authors??

[Oldglory]

Originally Posted by SophieLL

Besides the obvious benefits of learning another language, i wanna say that one of the best things of learning english was, for me, being able to read some of my favourite authors in their original language. Raymond Carver, Julian Barnes, Shakespeare, Paul Auster, Melville or J.D Sallinger arent the same in their spanish-translation as in their original books. The musicality of a sentence. The choice of words. Everything counts in something in where words are as important as literature.

And i kinda feel sorry for someone that, having the opportunity to understand the following paragraph in its original language and enjoy one of the best authors in history and the power of words at its finest, its complaining instead:


"Babilonia, Londres y Nueva York han abrumado con feroz esplendor la imaginación de los hombres; nadie, en sus torres populosas o en sus avenidas urgentes, ha sentido el calor y la presión de una realidad tan infatigable como la que día y noche convergía sobre el infeliz Ireneo, en su pobre arrabal sudamericano. Le era muy difícil dormir. Dormir es distraerse del mundo; Funes, de espaldas en el catre, en la sombra, se figuraba cada grieta y cada moldura de las casas precisas que lo rodeaban. (Repito que el menos importante de sus recuerdos era más minucios y más vivo que nuestra percepción de un goce físico o de un tormento físico.) Hacia el Este, en un trecho no amanzanado, había casas nuevas, desconocidas. Funes las imaginaba negras, compactas, hechas de tiniebla homogénea; en esa dirección volvía la cara para dormir. También solía imaginarse en el fondo del río, mecido y anulado por la corriente".


How amazing would it be if you could read and understand the power of the paragraph I just quoted, the same way i read those amazing english-speaking authors??

Only English is supposed to posted in this forum.

[Oldglory]

Originally Posted by SophieLL

Thats the most ignorant mindset in the history of the world.

I feel sorry for you if thats how you think.

Learning another language is ALWAYS benefitial and important. Learning another language is NEVER a waste of time. Cant believe there are people OPENLY saying otherwise.

And I feel sorry for you that because someone chooses not to learn another language in their own country because there is no need for it that you would call them ignorant. That takes a lot of nerve and is very insulting. Please read the TOS for this forum.

[SophieLL]

Originally Posted by Oldglory

And I feel sorry for you that because someone chooses not to learn another language in their own country because there is no need for it that you would call them ignorant. That takes a lot of nerve and is very insulting. Please read the TOS for this forum.

it is something VERY ignorant to refuse to learn another language, and to question the utility of that. its like the definition or ignorant. Since when is it forbidden to say the truth in this forum? Cause i ve never had a problem with that here.

And the fact that instead of trying to look where that amazing quote comes from you come and say "only english is supposed to post in this forum" its not surprising. Ignorants are NEVER curious.

[gentlearts]

Ok, I'm only saying this once.

If I ruled the world, no instructions or product containers would have Spanish, or any other language, written on it. This is America.

I have nothing against immigrants, but they need to assimilate, sooner, rather than later, just like our ancestors did.

[Oldglory]

Originally Posted by SophieLL

it is something VERY ignorant to refuse to learn another language, and to question the utility of that. its like the definition or ignorant. Since when is it forbidden to say the truth in this forum? Cause i ve never had a problem with that here.

And the fact that instead of trying to look where that amazing quote comes from you come and say "only english is supposed to post in this forum" its not surprising. Ignorants are NEVER curious.

What you are spouting is that me and anyone else that doesn't feel the need to learn another language is ignorant. That is not the truth but an outright insult. I suggest you stop that right now. If you bothered to read the TOS of this forum you would find that posting in anything other than English is forbidden. They aren't my rules but the rules of the forum.

[SophieLL]

Im sure moderators wont be offended at what i posted in spanish. Specially cause its a piece of the most exquisite literature, from one of the best writers of the 20th century.

[Benicar]

Originally Posted by IBMMuseum

I want to make sure we are talking about growth here, not births. It's true Hispanics have been more than half of the growth of the United States in the last decade, and have increased their population by 43% in the last decade:

Latinos Account for Half of U.S. Population Growth Since 2000 | Pew Hispanic Center
Hispanic population: Hispanic population passes 50-million milestone in U.S. - Los Angeles Times

The reason that you describe Hispanics in more areas now can also be explained:

Newsflash: Population "growth" is the result of BOTH. So, yes, I am referring to immigration (legal/illegal) AND births, including over 4 million babies born to illegal aliens during the past several years. How many times must I explain this?

Originally Posted by IBMMuseum

Whatever the source, the Hispanic population is going to continue to grow:

Yes, massive Hispanic illegal immigration has ensured the continued growth of the Hispanic population, as well as the proposed amnesty.

Originally Posted by IBMMuseum

So do we just keep complaining as they and Spanish usage grows (there is another thread in P&OC about this same topic)? What needs to be done? Put them back somewhere?

Oh, I thought Hispanic immigrants assimilate like other groups, and learn English. Not to mention, most of their children don't even speak Spanish, including those here illegally. Isn't that the claim made by you and other pro-illegals? So, why would "Spanish usage" continue to grow?

Again, we are all entitled to speak whatever language we choose. And, I have never had a problem with Spanish-speaking people. In fact, as I have said before, if not for the Spanish language, I would not have met my ex, and I would not have my precious son. However, when people choose to leave their homeland and relocate on a permanent basis to a foreign country, they should learn the language, period. They certainly should not expect the citizens of the host country to accommodate them by learning their language, particularly, if they are in the country illegally.

[IBMMuseum]

Originally Posted by Benicar

Newsflash: Population "growth" is the result of BOTH. So, yes, I am referring to immigration (legal/illegal) AND births, including over 4 million babies born to illegal aliens during the past several years. How many times must I explain this?...

I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page, after that multi-day, multi-topic looney claim:

So, if almost 92% of the growth was due to minority births, and 56% of minority births were Hispanic, clearly, the majority of births in this country were Hispanic.

Originally Posted by Benicar

...Yes, massive Hispanic illegal immigration has ensured the continued growth of the Hispanic population, as well as the proposed amnesty.

Oh, I thought Hispanic immigrants assimilate like other groups, and learn English. Not to mention, most of their children don't even speak Spanish, including those here illegally. Isn't that the claim made by you and other pro-illegals? So, why would "Spanish usage" continue to grow?

Again, we are all entitled to speak whatever language we choose. And, I have never had a problem with Spanish-speaking people. In fact, as I have said before, if not for the Spanish language, I would not have met my ex, and I would not have my precious son. However, when people choose to leave their homeland and relocate on a permanent basis to a foreign country, they should learn the language, period. They certainly should not expect the citizens of the host country to accommodate them by learning their language, particularly, if they are in the country illegally.

Spanish-usage is going to continue to grow, along with the Hispanic population, and I also predict there will be more topics about Spanish here at C-D...

That is the debate line I am going to take...