Press One For English (Miami: rating, best, money)

[♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥]

Originally Posted by FEMME-BOT

Yes!..they are trying to hide something! I know some Spanish but noone would ever know and I do and hear Spanish speakers use Spanish to bad mouth people who don't understand...even ones standing right beside them! But nobody knows I understand Spanish so its so hilarious and sad at the same time. Very rude!!!!

OH Please. I love it when people "think" they understand a language get all paranoic. Incidents like that do happen but very rarely. Most people won't do that because there is no point to it when they can do it behind your back. You would have to be a really mean nasty person to have incidents like that on a daily basis.

[cjs08]

Originally Posted by FEMME-BOT

Yes!..they are trying to hide something! I know some Spanish but noone would ever know and I do and hear Spanish speakers use Spanish to bad mouth people who don't understand...even ones standing right beside them! But nobody knows I understand Spanish so its so hilarious and sad at the same time. Very rude!!!!

Incidents like that are hardly limited to the Spanish language...Most people are more free with the tongue when they think no one will understand them. If those people happen to be gossipers or like to make fun of people, they of course will do so.

[harrycrat]

I think that English unifies the Amer people & those who refuse to speak it are clearly antiamer elements.

There has to be legislatiion against bi/multi-lingualism.

Only English...

The Latin people themselves should accept that...

They are supposed to come to USA to become Americans.

If they are economic migrants only,then they should stay on green card status

& not acquire citizenship,or if they got it,then to renounce it...

No hard feelings,just common sense...

[♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥]

Originally Posted by harrymiafl

There has to be legislatiion against bi/multi-lingualism.

Only English...

The Latin people themselves should accept that...

Really why do you suggest? jail time? speaking tickets?

[harrycrat]

....Persuasion...& a kind heart...

[Nosferatu]

"Speaking Tickets", a fantastic idea.
Just like in "Demolition Man"...
Artifacts placed all around capable of detecting Spanish and Spanish speakers, so when Cheo talks Spanish to the cashier in Publix.....
"GONNGRRGGG Fine of 20 dollars to Cheo Rodriguez for speaking Spanish".

[stevep111]

Someone mentioned how India is doing fine with 900 spoken languages. May I remind you this is a perfect example of why a common language is needed. India is 100 years in the past, is very uneducated and is the place that forces you to take off your shoes when you enter a religeous site and walk through rat feces barefoot so you won't accidentally step on a rat. Cows have the right of way on the streets. Over population is out of control. Polution is killing the land and the people. Must I go on? Ditto for China where millions of people die every year that you don't hear about. China is also so under educated that now men out number women 30-1 so you can see where that place is going.

When you have a common language you have the opportunity for education and civilization. The only problem with that theory is Cuba, Venezuela, Columbia, Mexico etc... Those are countries where there is no middle class because the government insures poor and uneducated people out number the educated in order to keep power. Same thing in the Middle East. We are working on that here in America as well.

[harrycrat]

USA needs a sophisticated way to unilingualism,so that we will not become a new Canada...

A "right-wing " authoritative approach will backfire...

[Silver47]

Originally Posted by ♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥

Really why do you suggest? jail time? speaking tickets?

How about not refusing jobs to people who don't speak a-spanish. Like 75% of the employers in Miami do.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by palermodude

Doggiebus, every community is different, so I would not be able to tell you how I would propose to legislate other situations in LatAm. And I would strongly vote against trying to impose some kind of universal principle and value that you may have, because it may risk to be narrow-minded.

So, it's possible that if an English-speaking colony gains enough political clout in Peru, they may be able to unite and protect their language and even officialize it.

Why don't you look at examples of countries where people do the opposite of what you propose? Valle D'Aosta, autonomous region in Italy (French and Italian official languages), Trento-Alto Adige in Italy (German and Italian offical languages). What about Switzerland? South Africa? India? Russia? I'm sorry, but your principle of adaptation is limiting, and is not even applicable to how many countries choose to legislate language policy.

The fact is, we are the majority, this is the situation, and Anglo Unilingualists want to destroy the domination that Spanish has in Miami. They don't want an official recognition of an official fact. I'm not saying that Miami should be unilingual, I'm saying it should be officially BILINGUAL.

When your mother moved here, she learned English, but just because someone does something in history does not mean it's applicable today. Look at slavery, or female genital mutiliation, or divorce (thank God for that). Those could be loosely called "traditions" too. Traditions and/or past cultural norms are meant to be broken. It's 2010 almost ... in the days before internet and globalization, a person was cut off/disconnected from other countries, learning English was a must. These days it's becoming less important, as we can see clearly in Miami. The Cubans helped tremendously by obliging their families to retain the language, unlike many Italians who were forced by the Anglo Unilingualists to "speak American" during the war, and/or were sent to concentration camps, along with the Chinese and Japanese.

I admit, my German is lousy, but whenever I'm in Germany I never have any problem getting service in English.... hmmm.... now who is being rude here? What language do you speak when you're in Sweden, Finland, Norway, or Portugal, etc? That's right ... so quit telling me that Spanish speakers have to speak English in Miami.

Finally, your comment about the workplace was rude too. I think it's terribly rude when a coworker complains that he/she cannot understand Spanish, because they refuse to (or cannot) learn at least a little. I think it is so rude to want to take away my right to have freedom of speech to speak Spanish, because your feelings might get hurt, or you feel that it is "courtesy"" as you say - a very subjective defense in my opinion, as Anglos definition of courtesy leaves a lot to be desired.

And Anglos wonder why they don't get hired in the workplace ...

Should we allow a dual currency too? Since we are close to Mexico maybe we should consider the peso. Learning another currency would be fun.