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No gripe with people speaking both to their children, but as the article correctly noted, that dynamic dies out by the third generation. Explains why the descendants of Chinese rail workers and Swedish farmers don't speak a lick of either.
Other countries embrace knowing more than one language either because the people already speak more than one (Canada, Switzerland, Spain) or because they are small countries near large ones and thus need to so as to survive (Netherlands, Denmark, Hungary).
We do not have an official language because English is the de facto language of the US and most people have little interest in balkanizing.
But... stick with me here...
What if a person finds that they need to live elsewhere, outside the US, one day?
It isn't bad to know more than one language. That's pretty much all I have to say on the subject. I cannot see a single, solitary, negative thing about speaking multiple languages.
People from the US are just about the only people who travel abroad and get pissed off when nobody speaks English. How self-absorbed can many of us be?
I mean, I hope they speak English when I'm in a country where I don't speak the language or do not speak it well, but EXPECT it? Nope.
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This is sort of a bone-headed article. First of all, Spanish is not going anywhere globally. It's a huge language spoken in most of the Americas.
As for the US, there is no danger of Spanish going anywhere right now, either. I hear Spanish nearly as much as I hear English. However, just as with so many other languages that have been spoken here over the years, in the absence of future influx of Spanish speakers, Spanish will become a minor language here as has other languages. Sure, there are people in the US who speak French, German, Italian, Chinese, etc. But those people overwhelmingly know how to speak English as well. This same cycle has been going on since the colonial days. It's nothing new and it's nothing to have a cow over.
By the way, I'm all for speaking any language you like, but doesn't it make sense to understand the language spoken around you by everyone else?
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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The whole notion that today's immigrants will never assimilate into mainstream culture was flawed from the beginning and mainly pushed by people who gain power and money by dividing people into protected groups.
Spanish is the language of an immigrant underclass in America.
I don't see the benefit in "saving" Spanish over any other foreign language in our nation.
Not exclusively, here in Arizona, for example, we have many Spanish business in finance and import/export to and from Mexico. Much of the country overlooks how closely the economies in areas of this country are intertwined with Mexico, generally because they don't live in these areas.
This is sort of a bone-headed article. First of all, Spanish is not going anywhere globally. It's a huge language spoken in most of the Americas.
As for the US, there is no danger of Spanish going anywhere right now, either. I hear Spanish nearly as much as I hear English. However, just as with so many other languages that have been spoken here over the years, in the absence of future influx of Spanish speakers, Spanish will become a minor language here as has other languages. Sure, there are people in the US who speak French, German, Italian, Chinese, etc. But those people overwhelmingly know how to speak English as well. This same cycle has been going on since the colonial days. It's nothing new and it's nothing to have a cow over.
By the way, I'm all for speaking any language you like, but doesn't it make sense to understand the language spoken around you by everyone else?
Couldn't have said it any better ! Speaking multipule languages is great . But at least know how to speak English if your an American .
What if a person finds that they need to live elsewhere, outside the US, one day?
It isn't bad to know more than one language. That's pretty much all I have to say on the subject. I cannot see a single, solitary, negative thing about speaking multiple languages.
People from the US are just about the only people who travel abroad and get pissed off when nobody speaks English. How self-absorbed can many of us be?
I mean, I hope they speak English when I'm in a country where I don't speak the language or do not speak it well, but EXPECT it? Nope.
Nobody is stopping anyone from learning another language at any point in time. Last I checked, years and years of a foreign language is still mandatory in schools. At least here most offer Spanish, Italian, German, and Japanese. How much one tries and actually learns depends on the individual. My town has an Italian language school.
Many Americans understandably don't feel the need to know another language. Some haven't even left their state, let alone the country, and know they won't or won't have an interest to. Unlike many other countries *ahem like in Europe* where nations are tiny and border other nations with different languages and cultures, the US is huge and borders only two countries - one of which speaks predominantly English with some French enclaves. It's true that we don't NEED to know another language in the US. Learning another is a choice. We are constantly compared to Europeans in this regard (and also regarding travel) and it's an unfair comparison.
I don't see anyone saying it's bad to speak another language.
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