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I don't think people necessarily object to learning a foreign language. I think what galls them is being forced to learn Spanish simply because we have millions of Spanish speaking people in this country, many illegally, who either can't, or won't, learn to speak English. Maybe some people would prefer to learn to speak Japanese, or French, but are forced to learn Spanish in order to get a job, or keep a job. Why shouldn't the immigrants learn English instead? They wantd to come here, so the burden of learning a new language should be on them.
I agree, I speak more than one language and all four of my grandparents were (legal) immigrants but they all learned English as adults while working/taking care of their young children. If they could do it, so can today's immigrants, legal or not.
Yes, it really was a life-altering experience for me. It made me realize that no country in the world can blend vastly different cultures and expect harmony to result.
I am not a racist, xenophobe or nativist. I am, however, intolerant of profoundly different cultures that clash with American values and traditions. I respect a Mexican's right to retain his culture, but I respectfully expect him to retain his culture IN MEXICO.
I suspect that harmony was never the expected or intended result.
Can't think of any cause they support where this isn't true.
At the heart of everything they believe is hatred for everything that we are.
I don't think people necessarily object to learning a foreign language. I think what galls them is being forced to learn Spanish simply because we have millions of Spanish speaking people in this country, many illegally, who either can't, or won't, learn to speak English. Maybe some people would prefer to learn to speak Japanese, or French, but are forced to learn Spanish in order to get a job, or keep a job. Why shouldn't the immigrants learn English instead? They wantd to come here, so the burden of learning a new language should be on them.
That's exactly it.
The USA has never valued having many languages and dialects for good reasons and we became the strongest, wealthiest nation in the world while Americans were reluctant to learning many languages so it is silly to compare us with multi-lingual nations and say we should be just like them.
India for example is getting richer and more united with English as it's common language and it's silly to insist that the nations where the people cannot communicate in one language are better off -- they are not.
Americans did not become the wealthiest nation by learning many languages -- that is a flat out falsehood, we became strong by having a common language and being able to travel in our country and communicate with one another in just one language.
I agree, I speak more than one language and all four of my grandparents were (legal) immigrants but they all learned English as adults while working/taking care of their young children. If they could do it, so can today's immigrants, legal or not.
In this city, the Jewish people have after school programs to teach their children Hebrew but they never insist that the taxpayers provide them their language classes for them.
It's not so much that people shouldn't teach their old country ways to their children, they can if they want to but it should be done on their own dime and time. Let La Raza spend some of it's billions of dollars on Spanish language programs offered on weekends or evenings.
In this city, the Jewish people have after school programs to teach their children Hebrew but they never insist that the taxpayers provide them their language classes for them.
It's not so much that people shouldn't teach their old country ways to their children, they can if they want to but it should be done on their own dime and time. Let La Raza spend some of it's billions of dollars on Spanish language programs offered on weekends or evenings.
I agree. My mother's parents learned a lot of English by watching their neighbor's television, listening to the radio, and getting out in public and interacting with people, struggling with the language at first. Their synagogue was also a big help.
In this city, the Jewish people have after school programs to teach their children Hebrew but they never insist that the taxpayers provide them their language classes for them.
It's not so much that people shouldn't teach their old country ways to their children, they can if they want to but it should be done on their own dime and time. Let La Raza spend some of it's billions of dollars on Spanish language programs offered on weekends or evenings.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigDGeek
I agree. My mother's parents learned a lot of English by watching their neighbor's television, listening to the radio, and getting out in public and interacting with people, struggling with the language at first. Their synagogue was also a big help.
And in any nation where Jewish people wound up: they indeed took it upon themselves to learn the indigenous language, fluently to boot in addition to Hebrew or Yiddish.
And in any nation where Jewish people wound up: they indeed took it upon themselves to learn the indigenous language, fluently to boot in addition to Hebrew or Yiddish.
My great grandmother spoke English...after a LONG time, before Yiddish all the way according my relatives.
Reading that woman's story reminds me so much of my own story. I had a similar experience to hers...as I too was run out of my home state by arrogant, racist, Mexican illegal immigrants.
Until you have lived and experienced it, you cannot possibly know what it's like to live within a large community of Hispanic illegal immigrants...it's astounding how they can transform a a middle-class American community into a 3rd-world Mexican slum.
And in any nation where Jewish people wound up: they indeed took it upon themselves to learn the indigenous language, fluently to boot in addition to Hebrew or Yiddish.
I have known many Jewish immigrants at the synagogues I have been a member of and even those who were "fresh off the boat" spoke at least some English and learned it very quickly because they applied themselves. And if people assume that all Jewish people are wealthy, haha, think again!!!!
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