How much does an immigrants inability to speak English irritate you? (health care, married)

[ocexpo]

Originally Posted by malamute

They might speak a few words of English but for many they only hear Spanish spoken at home, in their housing projects, and in their schools. They watch Mexican television and listen to Mexican radio stations and have little opportunity to learn much English.

That's why we're seeing such a huge increase in Mexican radio and television channels, why so many businesses are hiring only Spanish speakers. If they were learning English this would not be the case.

Took the words right out of my mouth. English literacy is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing an immigrant could do. It gives them the freedom to do just about everything as US citizens. Without it, they are largely held back, and forced to live in "spanish-exclusive" areas.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by ocexpo

Took the words right out of my mouth. English literacy is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing an immigrant could do. It gives them the freedom to do just about everything as US citizens. Without it, they are largely held back, and forced to live in "spanish-exclusive" areas.

And the problem that creates is that Americans are facing discrimination in their own country from foreign groups. Americans are being discriminated against with jobs and the jobs are being reserved for one so-called "race".

I knew a Chicano social worker who spoke Spanish but not that of a Mexican native, he was given a job over other non-hispanic applicants because of his ethnic background and the assumption he could speak Spanish but he was later fired because the Mexican clients complained that his Spanish wasn't the kind of Spanish they want to hear. That's completely the wrong direction for our country to be taking.

[Roaddog]

How much does an immigrants inability to speak English irritate you? It doesn't bother me unless I have to deal with one, I hired a contractor to roof my house and the workers had problems and kept coming to me, I couldn't understand what they were talking about, kinda made me mad because I was working nights and couldn't get any sleep with them bugging me.
A few weeks back a guy backs into my son's car, he doesn't speak english, we get no where and I end up fixing my son's car..Great.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by Roaddog

How much does an immigrants inability to speak English irritate you? It doesn't bother me unless I have to deal with one, I hired a contractor to roof my house and the workers had problems and kept coming to me, I couldn't understand what they were talking about, kinda made me mad because I was working nights and couldn't get any sleep with them bugging me.
A few weeks back a guy backs into my son's car, he doesn't speak english, we get no where and I end up fixing my son's car..Great.

It bothers me most when I see the pregnant girls and their pregnant mothers with a half dozen small children loading up their grocery carts happily chattering in Spanish and parading through the store with their food stamp cards and "week" coupons.

They refuse to adapt to our culture, they insist that the USA must accomodate them and change over to their language, provide them free interpreters and all the welfare offices must cater to them in Spanish -- and we taxpayers must pay for it. That's what really irks me.

Plus I think it's the height of laziness to live in a country for many years and never learn a word of the language of that country. Could any of us move to France or Germany and expect that all services will be changed over to English because we never had any intention of learning anything?

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by Exedous

Oh, but there is one thing. These Chicanos' parents were Mexican immigrants. Who was fighting for Mexican rights when the parents were at work? You do realize that, like Blacks, Mexicans were not allowed to do certain things? It didn't matter if you were an immigrant or a Chicano.

Here in Arizona; the 'race bar' went by skin color-------some Latinos were counted as 'White' so they were exempt from discrimination whereas the darker ones had to put up with that nonsense.

And; I am talking about siblings with the same mother and father here.

[Kabluey]

Originally Posted by ocexpo

How much does an immigrants inability to speak English irritate you?

Considering my parents are LEGAL immigrants, and LAW-ABIDING, I'm not concerned about a legal immigrant's ability to speak fluent English as much as I am about people obeying the laws, especially victim-based laws. To put it in perspective, I'm more irritated by fluent English speakers committing crimes than I am broken-English speakers who obey the law and make an honest living.

I am, in particular, more impressed by those who seek to stake out a new life in a foreign world by obeying the rules to do so, and try to communicate on the foreign land's terms, even if imperfectly. And I am impressed by their efforts to raise the level of competition in various respects, not the least of which is the obvious -- bilingualism. I wish I could converse in multiple languages like my parents.

If they're here illegally, I'm irritated regardless of their ability to speak English.

So the ability to speak English seems to be a red herring -- either for anti-illegal sentiment (which shouldn't require language to come to a position on), xenophobia against all non-fluent speakers, regardless of legal status, or something more sinister.

And why is it an issue regarding immigrants' ability to speak proper English? It's not like they're the only ones that have a problem . . . lol.

[Exedous]

Originally Posted by Kabluey

Considering my parents are LEGAL immigrants, and LAW-ABIDING, I'm not concerned about a legal immigrant's ability to speak fluent English as much as I am about people obeying the laws, especially victim-based laws. To put it in perspective, I'm more irritated by fluent English speakers committing crimes than I am broken-English speakers who obey the law and make an honest living.

I am, in particular, more impressed by those who seek to stake out a new life in a foreign world by obeying the rules to do so, and try to communicate on the foreign land's terms, even if imperfectly. And I am impressed by their efforts to raise the level of competition in various respects, not the least of which is the obvious -- bilingualism. I wish I could converse in multiple languages like my parents.

If they're here illegally, I'm irritated regardless of their ability to speak English.

So the ability to speak English seems to be a red herring -- either for anti-illegal sentiment (which shouldn't require language to come to a position on), xenophobia against all non-fluent speakers, regardless of legal status, or something more sinister.

And why is it an issue regarding immigrants' ability to speak proper English? It's not like they're the only ones that have a problem . . . lol.

After all, Deaf Americans don't speak English

[malamute]

Originally Posted by Exedous

After all, Deaf Americans don't speak English

I wonder about the reverse.

How do the people in Mexico feel about those American tourists who expect everyone to learn English versus those American tourists who attempt to speak a little Spanish or learn some Spanish so they can actually experience more of the country on their one-or-two week vacation?

I would bet when the shoe is on the other foot, we'd find that Mexicans admire someone who tries to learn a little of their language when traveling in Mexico. Of course doing a little travel through a country isn't nearly the same as planning to live there forever.

[Ben Screwed]

Originally Posted by Lindsey_Mcfarren

It only bothers me if I am trying to go about my life and the person trying to help me can't speak English.

YES, it annoys me when I'm at Taco Bell and the person taking my order can't understand what I'm saying.

I found a way to address my displeasure at TACO Bell emp;oyees who don't speak english.
I had shirts made for 12 of my friends and we all wear them when we go for lunch ,at least 2 times a week. ( I have nothing against their food! ) The shirts read " I want YOU... ( with a picture of Uncle Sam pointing his finger at you )To speak ENGLISH!!!!. Every time we get there the manager ( who speaks English ) comes to wait on us now that we have the shirts on . Maybe more people need to do the same!

[barinnas]

Originally Posted by malamute

It bothers me most when I see the pregnant girls and their pregnant mothers with a half dozen small children loading up their grocery carts happily chattering in Spanish and parading through the store with their food stamp cards and "week" coupons.

They refuse to adapt to our culture, they insist that the USA must accomodate them and change over to their language, provide them free interpreters and all the welfare offices must cater to them in Spanish -- and we taxpayers must pay for it. That's what really irks me.

Plus I think it's the height of laziness to live in a country for many years and never learn a word of the language of that country. Could any of us move to France or Germany and expect that all services will be changed over to English because we never had any intention of learning anything?

Many times I hear statements like these made by trailer tr..., people that
have nothing going for them but pale skin, and poor dental hygine, the reality
is that Hispanics have the lowest participation per capita in welfare, much, much lower than T.T.