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Most normal people expect that when they voluntarily move to another country the burden of adopting to that country is on their shoulders and their shoulders alone. Learning another language is great. I happen to be reasonably fluent in Hebrew. But it will be a cold day in hell before I spend my free time studying Spanish to accommodate some lazy twits from Latin America.
Why don't you lecture immigrants on the importance of learning English instead of demanding Americans learn Spanish? Why doesn't their monolingualism bother you? Talk about a double standard!
A few years ago, I was sitting in an Amsterdam restaurant. My very slender brunette waitress greeted my party by saying, "Hello Sir, allow me to present you with a menus. Will you be interested in drinks while we prepare your meals?". We therefore ordered our meals and our drinks. We were immediately served our drinks with a warm smile and a quick, "And this is for you..." as our drinks were deposited before us, individually. We were conversing with one another when suddenly, I noticed our very same waitress approaching another table. This time the table consisted of french guests and she was speaking fluent french.
I continued speaking with my friends, when I observed her speaking german to someone a the counter being served. It was obvious that this guy was some type of a regular. They seemed already quite familiar with one another. Soon a couple entered the restaurant and were seated directly behind me and my party. They were quite obviously speaking spanish. My first thought was, "Oh no! Don't tell me this same girl is going to wait this couple's table and speak spanish too!". Sure enough as anticipated, this young lady approaches the table and begins to address this couple in fluent spanish.
I began to think about the number of possible languages this girl could speak. The young lady asked us if everything was alright. I was most certainly NOT alright. I was overwhelmed with curiosity! I therefore, raised my hand as for assistance. The waitress promptly appeared before me with an enthusiastic spirit, ready to serve. I said to her, "You know, I have been observing you speak most pleasantly to all of your guests and all of your guests speak different languages. How many languages do you speak?" The young lady replied, "This is Amsterdam, most of us here speak at least four languages, I speak seven! Everyone else here speaks six!". She then casually walked away. I was absolutely floored speechless! Four languages! Seven languages! Eight languages!
I interrupted my party's conversation with a hand gesture. They all looked at me, readily observing that something immediate has just taken place. My lady friend asked, "What's wrong? What just happened?". I continued to wave my hand as I gathered my composure. Finally, I told them the news. I said, "You see that lady right there? That lady speaks seven different languages! She says that the average person here in Amsterdam speaks four languages, and all of the other waitresses here, speak six different languages!"
Why can't we as Americans speak spanish? If we were to speak spanish, we could eliminate much cultural dissonance between many ethnic groups here in the United States. Especially here in the southwestern portion of the USA. It could proved to be the glue that might bring many of us closer together. Afterall, we not only have a large population of Mexican-Americans, there are also many other Americans from Latin America legally residing here. We also have Cubans, Puerto-Ricans, Columbians, Nicaraguans, Hondurans, Panamanians, Peruvians, etc.
If the rest of the world can speak english as their second language, then the least we could do, would be to welcome our legitimate American Latin brothers and sisters in their native tongue until english becomes just as comfortable to them, as spanish will soon feel to us.
Buenos Dias!
If the majority could speak proper English that would be a good start. adios
A few years ago, I was sitting in an Amsterdam restaurant. My very slender brunette waitress greeted my party by saying, "Hello Sir, allow me to present you with a menus. Will you be interested in drinks while we prepare your meals?". We therefore ordered our meals and our drinks. We were immediately served our drinks with a warm smile and a quick, "And this is for you..." as our drinks were deposited before us, individually. We were conversing with one another when suddenly, I noticed our very same waitress approaching another table. This time the table consisted of french guests and she was speaking fluent french.
I continued speaking with my friends, when I observed her speaking german to someone a the counter being served. It was obvious that this guy was some type of a regular. They seemed already quite familiar with one another. Soon a couple entered the restaurant and were seated directly behind me and my party. They were quite obviously speaking spanish. My first thought was, "Oh no! Don't tell me this same girl is going to wait this couple's table and speak spanish too!". Sure enough as anticipated, this young lady approaches the table and begins to address this couple in fluent spanish.
I began to think about the number of possible languages this girl could speak. The young lady asked us if everything was alright. I was most certainly NOT alright. I was overwhelmed with curiosity! I therefore, raised my hand as for assistance. The waitress promptly appeared before me with an enthusiastic spirit, ready to serve. I said to her, "You know, I have been observing you speak most pleasantly to all of your guests and all of your guests speak different languages. How many languages do you speak?" The young lady replied, "This is Amsterdam, most of us here speak at least four languages, I speak seven! Everyone else here speaks six!". She then casually walked away. I was absolutely floored speechless! Four languages! Seven languages! Eight languages!
I interrupted my party's conversation with a hand gesture. They all looked at me, readily observing that something immediate has just taken place. My lady friend asked, "What's wrong? What just happened?". I continued to wave my hand as I gathered my composure. Finally, I told them the news. I said, "You see that lady right there? That lady speaks seven different languages! She says that the average person here in Amsterdam speaks four languages, and all of the other waitresses here, speak six different languages!"
Why can't we as Americans speak spanish? If we were to speak spanish, we could eliminate much cultural dissonance between many ethnic groups here in the United States. Especially here in the southwestern portion of the USA. It could proved to be the glue that might bring many of us closer together. Afterall, we not only have a large population of Mexican-Americans, there are also many other Americans from Latin America legally residing here. We also have Cubans, Puerto-Ricans, Columbians, Nicaraguans, Hondurans, Panamanians, Peruvians, etc.
If the rest of the world can speak english as their second language, then the least we could do, would be to welcome our legitimate American Latin brothers and sisters in their native tongue until english becomes just as comfortable to them, as spanish will soon feel to us.
Buenos Dias!
The history of this country is that the newcomers should adapt to the new country, not the other way around. We shouldn't just learn a new language so that they can be coddled and not have to make the effort to learn english. I speak Spanish too, but I still will not speak Spanish to them unless there is a reason (sell them a product). Let them speak english.
Here is the huge, gaping fallacy with your argument. The Netherlands are, geographically, a tiny country. Drive 100 miles in one direction and everybody is speaking French. Drive 100 miles in another direction and they're speaking German or Flemish. Take a quick boat ride, and it's English. 200 miles in other directions and it's Danish or Czech. 400 miles, it's Polish. 500 miles and it's Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Croatian...you get the picture. People like you of the kneejerk "Europe is sooooo cosmopolitan and we Americans aren't" camp never bothered thinking about this.
Drive 500 miles in the States and the dialect might not even change. That means that learning a foreign language in the United States isn't a matter of laziness. It's geography, one where one actually has to hop on an airplane and burn through one of your vacation weeks simply to practice what they've learned. As someone who took both German and Russian, I can say that learning a language is a challenge for Americans for that very reason. Ask me how much I've retained of either language today.
And as far as learning Spanish, why? I'm not going to accommodate someone who snuck over the border. And if they moved here legally, then they can learn the language. It's their job to assimilate, not mine.
This mentality and willingness (or even a desire) to be closed off is one of the reasons that a lot of American's don't or can't get other jobs, and when their jobs do leave, they can't leave with them in some capacity.
What's funny, is that even reading some of the people here, makes me cringe. I can't imagine how it would be to listen to them in person-and no I'm not talking about typo's or conjugation or advanced grammar rules. Basic sentence structure, and word terminology...I mean come on there is a spell check feature at the minimum.
And as far as at least learning Spanish, NOT ALL those who speak Spanish have "snuck" over the border. With Latino's on pace to become the majority soon, IT WILL BE YOUR JOB to assimilate, not theirs. What will the lazy ineptness of those who maintain those attitudes do then?
I speak English, Spanish, Italian, some French, a passable but obviously not very fluent German, am working on Cantonese and Russian will be after that. As I've said before my youngest child speaks English, Spanish and French (much better than I), my older speak that plus Italian. It is simply not luck that I have a job that takes me all over the world, and allows me to live a life of relative ease (especially now a days), and provide my children with a great education. Those who can not see this, work right into my plan as I've said before. My kids will need yard workers, sanitation workers and people to clean their houses. They will be able to talk to them in a language that only those people can understand while conducting business globally...in two languages those people will NOT be able to understand. Verbal and monetary.
So please, keep the isolationist mind set, I and my children thank you.
Have you ever heard of anything called "Manifest Destiny"? That's what occurred starting in 1845 when James Polk was president. He felt that it was the natural entitlement of whites to expand and conquer all the land west of the Mississippi in the name of the United States. It didn't matter that hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and indigenious native Americans were already peacefully occupying the land. He ordered that the land be taken by whatever means necessary. This eventually led to the Mexican-American war and our ultimate possession of Texas, a previous province of Mexico with thousands of idigenious native Americans and Mexicans.
We now have the unmitigated gall to dare utter the words "snuck over the border"!
At least the majority of them are sneaking over "peacefully". This was their land in the beginning and we shouldn't mind sharing the land with descendants of its original owners. We should also not mind speaking their romantic language, spanish. Spanish, yet another bastardization of the indigenious natives of the Americas. However, since it has become an integral part of Latino culture, it too should be warmly embraced, right along with its beautiful people.
Buenos Dias!
Last time I checked my state was NEVER Mexican territory. It was British and I'm proud of that. Yet every construction site here is full of illegals. I guess they consider this their former territory? Give me a break.
Where did Mexico get all that territory from? They happened to inherit it from the Spanish. How did the Spanish come to it? Oh, that's right, they just stole it. You state a baseless argument. The US had just as much right to that territory as the Spanish.
This mentality and willingness (or even a desire) to be closed off is one of the reasons that a lot of American's don't or can't get other jobs, and when their jobs do leave, they can't leave with them in some capacity.
What's funny, is that even reading some of the people here, makes me cringe. I can't imagine how it would be to listen to them in person-and no I'm not talking about typo's or conjugation or advanced grammar rules. Basic sentence structure, and word terminology...I mean come on there is a spell check feature at the minimum.
And as far as at least learning Spanish, NOT ALL those who speak Spanish have "snuck" over the border. With Latino's on pace to become the majority soon, IT WILL BE YOUR JOB to assimilate, not theirs. What will the lazy ineptness of those who maintain those attitudes do then?
I speak English, Spanish, Italian, some French, a passable but obviously not very fluent German, am working on Cantonese and Russian will be after that. As I've said before my youngest child speaks English, Spanish and French (much better than I), my older speak that plus Italian. It is simply not luck that I have a job that takes me all over the world, and allows me to live a life of relative ease (especially now a days), and provide my children with a great education. Those who can not see this, work right into my plan as I've said before. My kids will need yard workers, sanitation workers and people to clean their houses. They will be able to talk to them in a language that only those people can understand while conducting business globally...in two languages those people will NOT be able to understand. Verbal and monetary.
So please, keep the isolationist mind set, I and my children thank you.
Yet another illustration of the need for rational immigration laws that do not give preference to a single ethnic group. Let's keep America diverse. If Latino immigrants want a better life well I want one, too. That does not include forced Spanish lessons from arrogant colonizers.
People once spoke many languages in our country, including spanish. Rather than learning their language and assimilating with them, we killed them and ran them off of their land (manifest destiny).
Let's not only learn spanish, let's also warmly embrace Latino people and their beautiful culture.
Buenos Dias!
You seem to have an axe to grind. What do you think the Spanish did to the natives. And guess what, some of the descendants of those Spanish live in the southwest US today.
But the larger question would be why our "legitimate American Latin brothers and sisters" (or even the illegitimate ones) don't bother learn to speak English, and expect to live in the U.S. If I were to go to live in a Latin country, I'd certainly expect to have to learn to speak their language in order to navigate daily life.
It's arrogant for U. S. citizens to travel internationally and expect people everywhere to understand their English, and the reverse is true of Spanish (or any other language) speaking people to expect in the U. S.
could it be because there IS NO National language in the U.S.? Or those who employ them are smart enough to speak Spanish (at least passable) in order to communicate with them. And most of them, while professing not to speak English, I would bet more often than not, do to some degree.
And as far as those who are here legitimately there is no requirement for them to do so, and if they "require" something, they will either a) employ a translator or b) figure out how to speak English. Or more likely...the person(s) at whatever agency or business that wants their business will employ people who speak another language (Spanish for arguments sake) and pay them even more to do so.
So, the question then becomes, if you know you're more employable and employable at a higher rate, why wouldn't you learn another language?
It will soon become like the OP's situation. In Europe and other countries, they DON'T pay extra to those who speak other languages than their native tongue. Simply b/c there is a plethora of people educated in multiple languages already and those who can ONLY speak 1 or even 3 languages are just not that attractive to hire.
This mentality and willingness (or even a desire) to be closed off is one of the reasons that a lot of American's don't or can't get other jobs, and when their jobs do leave, they can't leave with them in some capacity.
What's funny, is that even reading some of the people here, makes me cringe. I can't imagine how it would be to listen to them in person-and no I'm not talking about typo's or conjugation or advanced grammar rules. Basic sentence structure, and word terminology...I mean come on there is a spell check feature at the minimum.
And as far as at least learning Spanish, NOT ALL those who speak Spanish have "snuck" over the border. With Latino's on pace to become the majority soon, IT WILL BE YOUR JOB to assimilate, not theirs. What will the lazy ineptness of those who maintain those attitudes do then?
I speak English, Spanish, Italian, some French, a passable but obviously not very fluent German, am working on Cantonese and Russian will be after that. As I've said before my youngest child speaks English, Spanish and French (much better than I), my older speak that plus Italian. It is simply not luck that I have a job that takes me all over the world, and allows me to live a life of relative ease (especially now a days), and provide my children with a great education. Those who can not see this, work right into my plan as I've said before. My kids will need yard workers, sanitation workers and people to clean their houses. They will be able to talk to them in a language that only those people can understand while conducting business globally...in two languages those people will NOT be able to understand. Verbal and monetary.
So please, keep the isolationist mind set, I and my children thank you.
Totally shrill nonsense on your part. If you had actually read my post, I already stated that I studied German and Russian. What's more, I find it truly ironic that you're taking other posters to task for their use of English grammar, yet you can't seem to grasp that plurals don't require apostrophes. As an added bonus, you've shown that you're not quite sure how to use a comma.
In a couple of my posts, I have differentiated between those who are here legally and those who are not. However, given we are a nation of immigrants, descended from those who came here and simply expected to learn the language, I do not see the intrinsic unfairness expecting the same from anyone who comes here from Mexico, Nicaragua, China, or Albania.
Further, a careful study of any country with more than one dominant language reveals a rat's nest of lingering political and social problems that are not easily addressed. Heck, just ask any Canadian, Belgian, or Indian and you'll get an earful about what happens when a country is expected to juggle multiple tongues in its daily life. While those countries came into being with different languages in their populations, why you think the United States should voluntarily shoulder that burden is beyond any sane and rational mind.
I also dispute your premise that Latinos will automatically become the majority in this country, thereby forcing us to all speak Spanish. Not only is your viewpoint a little xenophobic, but it completely ignores the history of this country. Our national expectation that immigrants would become English speakers has allowed us to successfully absorb Germans, French, Italians, Russians, Chinese, Nigerians, Vietnamese, Poles, and a host of other nationalities with relative ease. Making an exception for Latinos not only flies in the face of our national heritage, but also plants the seeds for long-term discord.
Now I know you'd like to be a bombthrower and sling around words such as Isolationist to score cheap points. However, I'm not isolationist in the least. Come to this country, learn our language, and obey our laws and you are welcome as my fellow citizen. How you believe that is isolationist is utterly beyond me.
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