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.
Americans who only speak English like to get their panties in a wad whenever they come within earshot or reading distance of people speaking Spanish or signs written in Spanish.
In this case, the fear (or discomfort or whatever you want to call it) comes from ignorance. Ignorance of this country's history, ignorance of anthropology, and ignorance of other domestic languages.
(Yes, you read that correctly.... Spanish isn't any more a foreign language in this country than English is).
Anyways, these same folks wield most of the political power at the moment, but if birth rates and other demographic trends hold, then the scales will start to balance out later on this century.
Its hard to say what might happen then... but my guess is that major metropolitan areas in the USA will all start to resemble Texas and California today. The recent supreme court decision will hopefully put a kibosh on gerrymandering which will lead to legislative representation more reflective of the people who live in those areas.
I have no idea whether these changes will be for better or for worse, but the folks complaining about English not being as dominant a language will look like the Quebecois/Franco-crackpots who have been trying to preserve the 'sanctity' of that language up in Canada (and in France).
Its a brave new world, Allons-y!
You bring up a good point, I wonder how many Americans know all three of our oldest cities (San Juan, St. Augustine, and Santa Fe) were settled by Spanish settlers?
My in-laws, long deceased, immigrated to the U.S. from Europe in the early 50's . Like most new immigrants they quickly got busy creating an anchor baby. They managed to live, work, pay taxes , own property and become U.S. citizens, without understanding or speaking English.
They lived in the Ukrainian Village of Chicago where it was possible to bank, worship, consume , work and relate to their neighbors without knowing English.
Their kids learned English in school.
This has been a common scenario with immigrants all along.
Exactly. Hispanics all learn English by the second generation.
Even a 100% Latino town will be English speaking if the residents have lived in this country at least a generation. That's why this nonsense about the U.S. turning Spanish-speaking is so odd. Latinos all speak English once they're here for a while, no different from any other group.
Who knows, Spanish might become more dominant here one day.
I don't think this will happen. I travel extensively and I've been to many parts of this country that are, let's just say, 'not very diverse' and where people would actually discretely do things to run you out of town if you are different AND even remotely threaten to change the status quo that they like. I've seen them do it. And they have ways of doing it so that they cannot be accused of anything.
The USA is very big place, and most of it is not at all like the big cities, or south Florida, New York City, California, or the border cities in Arizona and Texas. What's likely is that we will have large concentrations of Spanish-speaking individuals in a some parts of the USA and none at all in other parts.
Lol, unless you're native American, same can be said for everyone else in the USA, lol!
Of the all the dumb arguments over any topic in the world, you have presented the single dumbest argument in the world. The whole "only the Indians are legal" meme is so utterly stupid and devoid of any thought beyond a developmentally impaired child's level that it boggles the mind that anyone can put it forth.
Grab a clue. There were no "native" Americans. Their ancestors migrated here just like the Europeans did.
When the first Americans arrived, the only ones here were animals. They did not displace other nations.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldglory
The Europeans did not come here illegally. There were no immigration laws back then anyway.
Way to pick a nit. Legal and just are sadly often different things.
European settlers robbed the Native Americans of their land through disease, trickery, conquest, or outright murder. No one seriously disputes those facts. Europeans "discovered" America in much the same way a carjacker might "discover" your SUV and send you to a "reservation" in a back road ditch.
Exactly. Hispanics all learn English by the second generation.
Even a 100% Latino town will be English speaking if the residents have lived in this country at least a generation. That's why this nonsense about the U.S. turning Spanish-speaking is so odd. Latinos all speak English once they're here for a while, no different from any other group.
Not true.
I'm seeing 3rd generation Hispanic children entering school not knowing English.
This is more due to culture. Multi generations live in the home. The grandparents do not speak English so English is not spoken at home.
And with Spanish so prevalent it's not like past immigration where it was learn English or not survive.
I don't know why the US doesn't officially go bilingual (English/Spanish) rather than forever try to fight against the current. It'd do Americans good to learn another language, learn to adapt to others, and it'd connect the US to much more of the western hemisphere.
Should Spanish speaking immigrants learn English? SÃ. But vice versa should apply as well.
Listen, I don't really care about people speaking Spanish here. But I fail to see why "vice versa should apply?" Should I learn the language of every immigrant that comes here? I wouldn't move to China and demand that they start learning my language.
I agree that learning another language is always beneficial but I fail to see why Americans SHOULD have to learn Spanish.
When the first Americans arrived, the only ones here were animals. They did not displace other nations.
Way to pick a nit. Legal and just are sadly often different things.
European settlers robbed the Native Americans of their land through disease, trickery, conquest, or outright murder. No one seriously disputes those facts. Europeans "discovered" America in much the same way a carjacker might "discover" your SUV and send you to a "reservation" in a back road ditch.
So what? In reply to your first sentence. It wasn't their land to rob. No one owned it. The so-called natives were just as guilty of atrociousness to other tribes and the European settlers. Bad analogy, the SUV didn't belong to anyone. Bring yourself up to 2015. Those people are all dead now.
The so-called natives were just as guilty of atrociousness to other tribes and the European settlers.
So that makes it okay?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldglory
Bad analogy, the SUV didn't belong to anyone.
Cool. Please send me your address. I'll be over to "discover" and "settle" my new car. And I have the perfect "reservation" for your TV in my den.
In all seriousness, your point has no foundation. People moan and complain today about immigrants because we have pieces of paper and courts and maps establishing boundaries. But because the Native Americans had no pieces of paper or courts or maps, then taking their land and sending them off into poverty and worse was justified. It makes no sense at all. Just because something is "legal" doesn't make it just and right. It generally just means people in power have enough money and influence to write the laws in their favor.
Clearly, you haven't studied law as you're making up all sorts of stuff. There is no requirement for written laws created by a formal governing entity for laws to have been established. Societies can establish unwritten laws organically and this was the case for many societies back then. Native Americans had territorial laws and Europeans violated these laws. Similar to how illegal immigrants are violating our territorial laws today.
I suggest you actually learn the basics about law instead of making stuff up as you please.
How am I making it up? I said that there were no written laws back then, which you seemingly agreed with by stating that there were unwritten laws. Even so, how can an unwritten law be obeyed and/or enforced? If the law is unwritten, then there is nothing to define if an action is right or wrong. The thing is that there were multiple Native American societies, so which territorial laws did Europeans violate? Is it not a reasonable assumption that different Native American tribes had different territorial laws?
I find your comparison of the "territorial laws" to our current laws to be silly. Unlike their laws, our laws are written, defined, and enforceable. If what you said about "territorial laws" is true, how can an unwritten law be the same as a written law? How does an unwritten law carry the force of law? Is there a force of law being carried if there are do written laws?
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.
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.
