Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
At the very least it is competent to learn the national language of any country that you are staying in for any period of time longer than a week. Bilingualism is cool and a useful way to build communications in a country but just isn't all that practical. Yes in the largest cities it isn't that hard to find English speakers, it is the language of business, arts and science and higher education virtually everywhere can speak English, but get off the beaten trail and good luck finding someone who can speak English. Learn the local language and you can talk with folks wherever you want to go.
So English as an official language is ethnocentrism but forcing English-only Americans and non-Spanish-speaking American immigrants to learn Spanish is not? Double standard noted.
The la raza fans think Spanish should be equal to English in the US even tho Spanish is just as "white" based. LOL
Normally simple, I'll expound: 14th amendment. If bi-lingual, make it polylingual. Again, 14th amendment
I think we all deserve a little more explanation than the just citing an Amendment to the constitution. A little why, and wherefore would be at the very least appropriate. You don't have to write a brief just a little because would do nicely.
I think we all deserve a little more explanation than the just citing an Amendment to the constitution. A little why, and wherefore would be at the very least appropriate. You don't have to write a brief just a little because would do nicely.
Read the amendment, look at why it's been cited. It was a yes no question. I cite amendment 14 why I say no.
You asked nicely: 14th amendment is widely known as good for one, good for all. Our laws are also based off precedent. To be bilingual, next is trilingual, then... Ad infinitinum.
It's impractical in a polyglot country as ours to expand the official language in an incremental manner as that results in precedent.
As a note, I could care less about ones language. I'm just speaking practically and what our own history teaches us about changes... And the unintended consequence.
Further note: people in heavily populated Hispanic areas (like mine), will behoove themselves to become bilingual. Government should stay out
The la raza fans think Spanish should be equal to English in the US even tho Spanish is just as "white" based. LOL
Nah, go back & read entry #207 in this thread. I don't know that la Raza - the political party? the ethnic movement? the political activists? - is pushing to make Spanish equal to English in the US. They might want to see both English & Spanish as official US languages - but I don't think that that is ever going to happen @ the federal level. It might be best to leave that indeterminate.
If we're talking about Mexican Spanish - no, it's not predominantly spoken by Caucasians in Mexico - because there aren't that many there - for the perfectly obvious reason that very few Spanish women went to Mexico during colonial times there, & consequently most of the Spanish had families by Native American women.
Comments like this make me think it would be beneficial to deport American born citizens.
I know, what are Americans thinking expecting foreigners who decided to migrate to an English speaking country to learn English. Let's deport American citizens instead.
The la raza fans think Spanish should be equal to English in the US even tho Spanish is just as "white" based. LOL
This is why things should stay the way they are. If we try to enforce English and make it official, somebody would get headstrong and try to make Spanish coofficial, which would serve to artificially keep it alive.
As it stands, Spanish is dying Fast. It is just an immigrant language. Most "hispanics" born and raised in the US are NOT proficient spanish speakers - if they speak Spanish at all.
This is not going to happen, even if LA Raza wants it to. Sure they may outnumber us someday, but they'll just be a bunch of English-speaking Mexicans.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.