Anyone see last night WMUR news? (Manchester, Nashua: sales, insurance, homes)

[roerinaci]

I will be moving to NH soon,right now i'm in NY I"m an asst. manager for a
restaurant the majority of our workers are spanish. I have been told by them
that I should learn spanish so I can communicate better with them. I have
told them this is America and they need to learn our language. They don't
want to learn our customs or our history it is very sad.

[Carbondated]

Please keep us updated on the results of the city councils decision.

I live in Florida, and am well used to everything being in both Spanish and English. I don't mind it so much here, since historically it was the Spainards who first settled Florida. But I think I would mind it, if I were a Merrimack New Hampshire resident.

If they are trying to have the Spanish speaking population understand and obey park rules may I suggest using symbolic signs. Works in Europe where several languages are spoken in one country.

[pauton]

I don't understand what people mean when they say immigrants should learn this country's language, when there is no such thing. The founding fathers purposely did not create an official language because they wanted this to be a country where anybody could come to enjoy our freedom. Nobody should be required to learn English- they never have been required to- and yet, everyone whose ancestors came from countries other than England all speak English as well. Their ancestors did eventually learn the language, and their culture blended into ours on its own, without legal pressure. There are still neighborhoods in large cities that are still inhabited solely by one ethnic group (Chinatown, Little Italy) but they're not hurting anyone else, and most of them, even though they are surrounded by others who speak their language, have made it a priority to know English anyway. I think things work just fine as they are now, people will adapt on their own. Should we create Spanish signs? If the population of Hispanics is high enough to demand it, then yes. Keep in mind, despite what you may think, many immigrants are here legally and pay taxes. If their tax money goes towards English signs and they don't complain about that (because keep in mind, English is no more an official language than Spanish), we should have tax money go to Spanish signs as well.

[Carbondated]

Originally Posted by pauton

I don't understand what people mean when they say immigrants should learn this country's language, when there is no such thing. The founding fathers purposely did not create an official language because they wanted this to be a country where anybody could come to enjoy our freedom. Nobody should be required to learn English- they never have been required to- and yet, everyone whose ancestors came from countries other than England all speak English as well. Their ancestors did eventually learn the language, and their culture blended into ours on its own, without legal pressure. There are still neighborhoods in large cities that are still inhabited solely by one ethnic group (Chinatown, Little Italy) but they're not hurting anyone else, and most of them, even though they are surrounded by others who speak their language, have made it a priority to know English anyway. I think things work just fine as they are now, people will adapt on their own. Should we create Spanish signs? If the population of Hispanics is high enough to demand it, then yes. Keep in mind, despite what you may think, many immigrants are here legally and pay taxes. If their tax money goes towards English signs and they don't complain about that (because keep in mind, English is no more an official language than Spanish), we should have tax money go to Spanish signs as well.

I must say in response, (just my opinion) I don't think our "founding fathers" created an official language, because it was not of a premininent importance. I also do not think they could fortell the multiple languages that would be spoken in this country. If they could have, I don't believe they would want to create a society that could, one day, be undermined by a lack of communication -- a tower of Babble, if you will.

True, immigrants have learned English in order to assimilate in the past. Immigrants used to be shy and embarrassed with their broken English, but they were not frowned upon. Rather, they were given accolades for making the effort to communicate in a common language.

However, within the last 20 years or so, some neighborhoods in larger cities have signs only in the native language from their country of origin. No English language signs are posted. Immigrants no longer a need to learn English, if they live and work in neighborhoods that cater to their native language. They also can watch TV and read newspapers in their native tongues.

If you are suggesting, that immigrants will eventually assimilate and speak a common language, perhaps, but not many. If there is no inherent need to learn English, and with politicians being "politically correct" and putting up signs in a language other than English, then perhaps they will not learn the language. Perhaps we (English speaking people) will be the ones provoked into learning their language.

[Valerie C]

I guess this is sort of like another current thread on this board where people who move to NH continue to vote as they did in other states (particularly MA) The immigrants who come here are looking for a better life, yet are not willing to assimilate into our society, learn the language, history, etc.

Originally Posted by roerinaci

I will be moving to NH soon,right now i'm in NY I"m an asst. manager for a
restaurant the majority of our workers are spanish. I have been told by them
that I should learn spanish so I can communicate better with them. I have
told them this is America and they need to learn our language. They don't
want to learn our customs or our history it is very sad.

[MovingForward]

Spanish-speaking immigrants are not the only immigrants. Far from it. They should not demand/receive a privilege that is not extended to other immigrants. And the Spanish-speaking population in this country has been driven high only because of illegal immigration. The public costs of such a large immigrant population not learning the English language is huge. Personally, I don't want my tax dollars going to produce Spanish signs. Or to provide health care translators, or to provide bilingual education classes, or to provide a host of other public benefits that illegal immigrants--from any country--have not earned. The Spanish-speaking immigrants can learn English like every other immigrant has done. What's the problem here? When you immigrate, you're supposed to learn the language of the country to which you immigrate. To refuse to learn it, to insist that the people of that country accommodate your own language, is outrageous behavior. This is merely one more result of illegal immigration. Legal immigrants--including legal immigrants from Mexico--are fully prepared to learn the English language, if they don't know it already. It's splitting hairs to say that, legally, English is not the "official" language of the U.S. Language binds a people together. English is the language common to the people of the U.S., as it is becoming common to the people of the world.

[nhyrnut]

This will go party lines with one exception. See who gets reelected. I must say though I don't agree with signs, being in other than English here. But I do believe other nationalities, that come here legally, should be allowed a couple years to learn English. I know alot of people that came here legally. They do come into our ways, it does take time however. Just remember not all broke the law to come here. I know several that are treated that way though. So PLEASE just remember some are here to better them selves ,and family. Don't shun the ones that do it right. Just give them time.

[nhyrnut]

Originally Posted by windchimes03561

I was watching the 11:00 news on WMUR last night and for the life of me, I cannot remember where this is going on, or even the full story, as I only caught part of it....anyway...here's what I did get -

There's a lake (at least I think it's a lake) somewhere in central or southern NH that has its rules and regulations posted in English. Evidently, especially on the weekends, there's a larger Hispanic population that goes there and they "get in trouble" because they can't read the rules. The town is debating whether or not to put the rules up in Spanish as well as English. I *think* it was a selectman who said "No - this is America - you live here, you learn the language, I will vote no on this" (I'm paraphrasing, obviously). To have the news signs made will be costing the taxpayers money. I couldn't find the store on the MUR website this morning.

I have nothing against legal immigrants from any country who come here the correct way. I do, however, have a problem with people from any country coming here legally/illegally and not learning our language. I wanted to stand up and applaud this man for his stance - he didn't give two hoots about what might or might not be "politcally correct" in this day and age! I think the story said the selectmen in the town would be either holding a hearing or voting on the issue soon.

Did anyone else see the story or does anyone know anything about the situation/town? I'd like to be able to follow it and see what the outcome is......

welcome to NH you fit in good.

[MovingForward]

nhyrnut: I fully agree. My own family were immigrants. Your post alerted me to the fact that I need to amend one of my comments about my tax dollars. I have NO problem with my tax dollars providing translators, English classes, etc., for new immigrants. After all, if someone has gained legal entry to this country, it's only courteous for us to extend a helping hand. But an unceasing, unchecked flow of illegal immigrants, increasing tax burdens with no end in sight, is not practical, nor even possible, without eventually causing crippling social and economic stresses. I really believe our tax dollars should go into rebuilding the infrastructure of the country--schools, highways, bridges () rather than bilingual signs and education. It's all a mess. And, to top it off, all of these issues aren't even the most important to me--lol! For me, the most important is the back-breaking stress on the environment. The country has real borders, real limits: only so much land, only so many resources, and--contrary to popular myth--simply cannot accommodate millions and millions of additional people. It might have been true at the dawn of the 20th century, but it is not true at the dawn of the 21st. People shooting wolves in Montana, coyotes in Massachusetts, bears in several states. If we use up all the land, where are the animals supposed to go? Not to mention the disruption of ecosystems to the point of geographic catastrophe. We need to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n. This is my biggest worry.

[GregW]

One of the political advantages of having immigrants, legal and illegal, keep using their native language to the exclusion of English is that it keeps the poorer sectors of the population for joining together and doing something about their exploitation by commercial interests and the politicos commerce bribes.