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A lot of people on this forum like to jump to conclusions that anyone speaking a language other than English is a potential illegal immigrant. No, not true at all, especially when it comes to Spanish. One of your territories speak Spanish as a native language, another speaks Chamorro and another speaks English Creole. Nobody is "less American" for not wanting to speak English with their family and friends amongst themselves. Spanish is my native language, and I'm not ghetto, not poor, not brown skinned, and not Mexican. This is why you shouldn't rely on stereotypes. Spanish does not mean illegal, and Hispanic is not synonymous with illegal, or Mexican.
As I have often said. I do not think that just because someone is speaking Spanish that they are here illegally. I have a personal opinion about linguistically assimilating into our country but that is not a topic for this forum. English however is our national de facto language.
So, 13% of the population of US is composed of immigrants (about 40 million), of this less than a third (to be more precise close 27%) is estimated to be illegal. Not to count that several US born son of immigrants would also know how speak the language of their fathers and may communicate with them using it. There is another 1% of native american Indians. Not to mention many non immigrant students and tourists that are only visiting. So assuming that alone would be erroneous in three of four times.
English is the language of US, but being able to speak other languages due national origin or ancestry have nothing to do with not assimilating. If a immigrant in US does not learn English, he is hampering himself severely in the long run.
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
8,852 posts, read 10,451,396 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by theunbrainwashed
A lot of people on this forum like to jump to conclusions that anyone speaking a language other than English is a potential illegal immigrant. No, not true at all, especially when it comes to Spanish. One of your territories speak Spanish as a native language, another speaks Chamorro and another speaks English Creole. Nobody is "less American" for not wanting to speak English with their family and friends amongst themselves. Spanish is my native language, and I'm not ghetto, not poor, not brown skinned, and not Mexican. This is why you shouldn't rely on stereotypes. Spanish does not mean illegal, and Hispanic is not synonymous with illegal, or Mexican.
True enuff, and the "anti-illegals" folks claiming that it has nothing to do with "speaking Spanish" are simply being disingenuous (or worse), since it's pretty unlikely they'd ever assume a yiddish-, russian-, french-, or german-speaking person in this country is an "illegal"?!
English is the language of the U.S.. That's why I had to learn it even though I still live inside my own country. What I frequently see on this forum is that the stereotypes of Spanish speaking, illegal, and Hispanic are used as synonyms for non-assimilating illegal Hispanics. That poster I responded to that automatically assumed the Spanish speaking family they saw were illegals could have been Puerto Rican for all they know. Last time I checked, Puerto Ricans are natural born US citizens.
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
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^ ^ And even though the GOP would like to pretend that candidates like Rubio or Cruz represent all "Hispanics", obviously they're not all treated the same!
Here's the thing, I am not upset when I hear Spanish. What upsets me is when I see people who don't speak English receiving welfare. I know some could be Puerto Ricans but I can tell the difference between them and Mexicans or other Hispanic nationalities. Granted it is possible a Mexican receiving welfare is not illegal but chances are they are. I say that because while we get a lot of legal immigrants from Mexico, most are educated from what I've read. My boyfriend is half Mexican and even though he was born here speaks Spanish. I speak Spanish too.
Well as I have said umpteen times I never assume that someone is here illegally just because they are speaking Spanish. The fact is that most illegals here are Spanish speakers though so is it so surprising that others might wonder about them?
In my actual experience those I hear speaking Spanish switch to English when they have to and I happen to know that they are citizens of this country not illegals. My wife worked where there were a lot of Spanish speakers whom also spoke English (they were citizens or legal immigrants as the company was very thorough about investigating that a worker be here legally). The rule at work was that when on the job only English was allowed to be spoken and you had to know English to get hired in the first place. Breaks and lunches were the exception. A memo was put on the bulletin board to that affect. The Spanish speakers did not comply and ripped the memo off the board. The way one behaves says a lot about them. But back to "illegal" immigration now, ok.
So, 13% of the population of US is composed of immigrants (about 40 million), of this less than a third (to be more precise close 27%) is estimated to be illegal. Not to count that several US born son of immigrants would also know how speak the language of their fathers and may communicate with them using it. There is another 1% of native american Indians. Not to mention many non immigrant students and tourists that are only visiting. So assuming that alone would be erroneous in three of four times.
English is the language of US, but being able to speak other languages due national origin or ancestry have nothing to do with not assimilating. If a immigrant in US does not learn English, he is hampering himself severely in the long run.
Most legal immigrants and Hispanic citizens know how to speak English so it's not that they aren't learning it's just that many don't want to speak it unless they have to. I don't know the number of illegal alien Spanish speakers that don't know English however. We never had to press one for English until the arrival of so many illegal aliens. That's the point not the inconvenience of it. It's a reminder of "why" that is.
Most legal immigrants and Hispanic citizens know how to speak English so it's not that they aren't learning it's just that many don't want to speak it unless they have to. I don't know the number of illegal alien Spanish speakers that don't know English however. We never had to press one for English until the arrival of so many illegal aliens. That's the point not the inconvenience of it. It's a reminder of "why" that is.
^Exactly!
When Puerto Ricans started moving to the Mainland, no one gave them anything in Spanish. They knew that if they were going to survive and thrive outside of their communities, they needed to learn English.
My Dad came to the Mainland when he was a baby, back in the 20s. His parents didn't know English and when my Dad started school, he didn't speak English either. He told me how he was in school with kids of immigrants who were from different European countries and the kids didn't speak English either. There was no bilingual education then but by the end of that first school year, they all were speaking English. As my Dad put it, "We had to learn it if we were to survive".
My Dad will tell you that when you call a company and hear "para Espanol, oprime dos" has no place in this country. Despite Spanish being his first language, he refuses to use "oprime dos".
I certainly don't assume that everybody I hear speaking Spanish is an illegal alien. But, let's face it, OP, it's easy enough to differentiate a PR from a Central American. Besides, some Central Americans are here legally. Most who are here legally make an effort to learn English.
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