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I lived in Russia....so I learned to speak Russian....as did all the Koreans...Vietnamese and Ugandans....When your in Russia...you speak Russian.
When I lived in Germany....I learned to speak German...as did all the Lebanese, Turks and Libyans....
When in France...you speak French.....In Finland...you speak Finnish...
Each of these nations....have their own official language....you live there...work there....that's it...you speak THEIR language.....
So it should be in the U.S....American Standard English is [should be] the OFFICIAL LANGUAGE....[think of all the trees we could save if we didn't have to constantly print in half-0-dozen languages?]
Also....if you speak the language of the nation where you reside...you are a more productive member of society....more easily accepted...understood, liked..... and much MUCH more able to defend your rights....
Well I have had my first experience in Lake County (in the USA for that matter outside of the tourist areas) with an employee not speaking English, and no I did not just climb out from under a rock. I was in a buffet restaurant and there were no more forks. I went up to a lady cleaning the tables to request forks, when she turned and looked at me and said "no speak English". What? Is this Miami? I was a little taken aback, then used sign language to get my point across. I guess I have to learn to mime when I need services. Well I know one Spanish speaking lady that now can say "fork".
Lake Co (FL) is beautiful (I lived in Orlando for a while), but the illegals are moving there in large numbers because Orlando has become so expensive to live in (and so dangerous due to Katrina refugees and illegal alien gangs and organized crime).
The problem in the USA is that the economy is slowing down bigtime and AMERICANS need jobs now. Get the damn illegals OUT and employers will be FORCED to pay decent wages to US workers.
You know, I always LAUGH when I hear Democrats talking about rasing the minimum wage a few pennies. If they stopped being so open border and became pro-US worker, the illegals would be deported (as they should), employers would have to raise wages, provide health insurance, and etc in order to attract employees. No need for Hillary care or to be begging for scraps off the government's table. The people, the American people, would once again have decent wages and decent working conditions. We need to create a shortage of workers to drive wages up.
We hear about how "competition drives prices down"... that is true, specially when it comes to US wages!!!
This whole illegal immigration thing is destroying American culture, values, and language. That is why people should VOTE to whomever will get the illegals OUT and secure the border.
Until we do, even places like Lake Co will be flooded with illegals aliens crowding our public schools, taking every inch of free healthcare, and causing accidents w/o car insurance. That is, of course, not to mention the crime and the lack of willingness to speak English.
I honestly detest people who come up to me and say "spik Espanish"? Hellooo??!?? This is the USA... the language here is English... Ingles..... Don't demand people to accomodate you and speak Spanish. The burden is on YOU, the alien, to speak the country's language. It makes me wnat to ship these people to China. They will speak Chinese REAL FAST and would never come up with this "speak MY language in YOUR country" crap. Only the USA bows down to aliens DEMANDING Americans speak their language.
Just a side note:
How bizarre America is....only here....do we have crazies on the left arguing FOR the illegal importation of millions of people.
I've seen some of the most heavily guarded borders in the world....Only a patently suicidal person would try to cross those frontiers...illegally...
Nope....that never happens...
But here....here we actually have 'special interest advocacy groups' helping millions break our laws....astonishing....
I’ve seen first hand how brutally the Mexican Army and the Federales…treat illegal immigrants from Guatemala unsuccessfully trying to get into Mexico…The pretty young girls….well…sure….THAT happens…..Other people get savagely beaten….robbed…..Hey…Mexico has some of the toughest immigration laws in the world…..The Mexicans KNOW how detrimental ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION is to THEIR country…..but ‘we’ “Americans”….nope…..we’re misguided….clueless Bozos….from Berkeley - San Francisco…Boston Chicago and New York.
Just a bunch of goofy LIBERALS…..who welcome illegals with open arms…..
Last edited by Coffee Mate; 11-08-2007 at 03:57 PM..
Reason: One more thing.....
That is the answer if you really want to know. I have gone to many places where only the local language was spoken. When I am in Italy I only find the young kids who speak english, they take it in school. You pay them to interpret for you. They will follow you around all day if you like. My wife speaks English, German French, Spanish and gets along in a half dozen other languages but she just finds it interesting not because there is any need. All that is needed in the US is English.
The most enriching experience in my life was to go to another country and study the language. I learned so much about culture and how culture influences language, gestures and thinking.
Americans oughta try it. They might actually learn something and be better for it. What's the big deal.
None of that is to say that people living here shouldn't learn English.
But being an educated, well rounded American has nothing to do with whether or not immigrants should learn English or not.
I will learn fluent Spanish when they learn fluent English.
Why can't they learn English? What's so hard about learning English? Heck, many communities offer free Englsih classes. They want to work here & get the services -- Learn the language.
If I moved to Mexico, they wouldn't be hugging me & helping me along b/c I don't know Spanish.
Actually, many, many American expatriats never bother to learn the language of the country they are living in. I met many a military folk stationed in Italy for YEARS who couldn't speak a word in Italian.
I moved from Brussels to the Tampa area about a few months ago and in Brussels 90% speaks French. My mother tongue is Dutch ( Flemmish actually), so to find a job I had to learn more French so I'd be able to communicate with costumers,... I did and all went well.
Right now I feel insecure to get a job here cause my English is not 100% and in lots of ads I see "bilingual", meaning Eng/Sp.
Besides French, Dutch, English i speak a little Italian but Spanish...nope. I'm trying to learn it but in a way I want to practice my English as well
I heard that learning different languages during highschool/college is not a priority in de US. Excuse me if I got this wrong. As I see in the job ads it seems that soonish Spanish is gonna be more important. I wonder if it will get more important in schools too?
I think when your English improves, you may have a lot of options available, even without Spanish. For what it is worth, after learning Italian, I understand a great deal of spanish.
There will be jobs that will require your other languages. Try working for a company that is an importer, for instance.
I guarantee to you that the fatc that someone can't speak very good English or not speaj it at all doesn't stop our government for giving them preferential treatments when it comes to business loans and anything else.
My son had his first day of pre-school and his teacher announced that since there is spanish speaking children in the class she will teach those students in spanish since these children do not know english yet. I was taken back by that, I thought there was an ESL class for children even at the pre-school level, come to find out there is not,because of budget cut backs. And there are parents out there who do not feel that their children should have to learn english. So the communication gap starts here.
I don't believe in ESL. I think the best way to teach a new language is total immersion, with some accomodations. (Symbols and Gestures to get the point across.) That is the way I learned to speak Italian, in a class where there was no common language. (People spoke English, German, French and Spanish.)
The interesting thing about that is that in Germany and other like countries they learn their language and then learn English. So when they go to whatever country over there they can communicate with the people/businesses. How Ironic that is.
Not everyone can speak English. People engaged in international business and toursm can. Youngish people fresh out of school can. But people forget quickly. My ex in Italy speaks very little English now. He used to speak quite a bit, but, when I met him, he was fresh out of the university.
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When in Rome....
