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i speak it and was not born here so you're comments do not apply to me.try not to speak as if everyone is the same way.i came to this country and learned my english so i have no problem defending myself.you are generalizing hispanics as if every single one is the same.please take me out of that group of people in south florida that refuse to learn english and not get ahead.
And that's great. The other day I heard a Mexican abuellita speaking heavily accented English to her grandchildren -- and I was impressed -- but also surprised because it's relatively rare to see Spanish speakers make that kind of effort.
I often heard Vietnamese, Polish, Greek and other immigrants speaking accented English to their children. There's nothing at all wrong with someone having an accent -- all of us have heard English spoken with a foreign accent -- and that doesn't bother anyone because it means that person is trying to fit in and learn the ways and language of this country.
When I travel to Mexico -- hablo espanol -- me gusta hablar espanol -- but in Mexico. It certainly makes even travel to a foreign nation more meaningful if you learn something of that country -- and it's language.
Here it amounts to nothing more than discrimination against all other ethnicities to require fluency in a language other than English. You can't expect a German, or a Greek, or a Vietnamese, Pakistani, Jamaican and so on to compete for a job requiring Spanish fluency -- especially when the job isn't directly in language translation.
Working as a language translator is the only time it would justify that kind of requirement.
It is not much different in the Southwest when it comes to hiring, and I am talking about close to the border. It is nothing but double standards and bigotry all of the way. An employer should be able to ask for no accent-speaking English required for a job since the Spanish speakers think it is ok to discriminate against non-Spanish speaking people.
It's gone so far in the SW -- this Mexican businessman was requesting Spanish fluency first -- but if the Spanish speaker was born in the USA and so was speaking "Spanglish" or Spanish that Mexicans don't like then he'd rather hire an English speaker.
I also know a Chicano social worker in another part of the country who was let go because even though he spoke Spanish, it wasn't the Spanish the Mexican clients liked to hear.
I even know a Mexican family which had their children in "bilingual ed" so they could learn their language -- but a job transfer to NY and a Puerto Rican bilingual ed teacher had them yanking those kids out of it and putting them into English speaking classrooms -- because they weren't to learn the wrong kind of Spanish. It can be almost funny because the insistence on keeping their own ways can even mean English before the "wrong" kind of Spanish.
I even know a Mexican family which had their children in "bilingual ed" so they could learn their language -- but a job transfer to NY and a Puerto Rican bilingual ed teacher had them yanking those kids out of it and putting them into English speaking classrooms -- because they weren't to learn the wrong kind of Spanish. It can be almost funny because the insistence on keeping their own ways can even mean English before the "wrong" kind of Spanish.
When I was in Middle School, I took two years of Spanish. Our teacher was from Puerto Rico.
When I went to visit my step-grandmother (Colombian), I tried talking to her in Spanish, and telling her all the words I knew. I remember her making a face when I told her my teacher was Puerto Rican, because that wasn't the Spanish she wanted me to learn!
When I was in Middle School, I took two years of Spanish. Our teacher was from Puerto Rico.
When I went to visit my step-grandmother (Colombian), I tried talking to her in Spanish, and telling her all the words I knew. I remember her making a face when I told her my teacher was Puerto Rican, because that wasn't the Spanish she wanted me to learn!
That does not surprise me at all.
About 20 years ago; a Mexican national and an Argentine were talking to each other in English-----they could not understand one another's Spanish.
About 20 years ago; a Mexican national and an Argentine were talking to each other in English-----they could not understand one another's Spanish.
I live in a touristy district. LOTS of Europeans, Israelis, South Americans, etc. I love to watch two people from two different cultures and parts of the world speak English to one another to communicate while in America.
I also love to see kids of immigrants speak unaccented English to and with their heavily-accented English immigrant parents. THAT sort of stuff makes you happy to live in America, lol.
I've been reading through this thread, and have noticed you many times labelling people as referring to "all hispanics", or inferring that everyone thinks it's acceptable to refuse to learn English as long as you have the right "skin color". I'm sorry but I don't see anywhere on this thread that anyone has implied such things, and I think it's a complex you have. You don't see people making a big deal out of people not learning English who are Irish, Chinese, Russian, African, etc. because it's not nearly as common as people from Latin America refusing to learn English, it has NOTHING to do with race, and to suggest such is ridiculous to me. Also there's no one labelling "all hispanics" anything, that's something you're interpreting from posts and I believe that not to be the case, and that you're making issues over your jumping to absurd conclusions of what people think.
I live in a touristy district. LOTS of Europeans, Israelis, South Americans, etc. I love to watch two people from two different cultures and parts of the world speak English to one another to communicate while in America.
I also love to see kids of immigrants speak unaccented English to and with their heavily-accented English immigrant parents. THAT sort of stuff makes you happy to live in America, lol.
Outside of church one morning, I saw a group of men discussing a football game -- (American football not soccer) and the accents were flying. A Korean, Filipino, and Mexican were included --- it was a very beautiful scene. And yes -- that's does make you proud to be American when you see things like that.
The point is that we should NOT have to learn Spanish to get a job in America. We speak ENGLISH here. The Spanish speakers need to learn OUR language if they're going to live here.
Miami, is basically a hispanic city, they handle bussines with Latin American people, that is why spanish is too important when hiring, they want to get a good grip of the market in their own language, simple.
Learn spanish, I strongly recommend it, very soon hispanic population in America, will take at leat 25% of the entire country census. You got it now?
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Bilingual means English and Italian...at least to me!
The Spanish speakers need to learn OUR language if they're going to live here.
