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Yep -- that may have been the case --- just learned enough to get the US citizenship -- which means all they have to do is memorize a few phrases but have absolutely zero desire to learn English. Very very very common.
It's easy to do the English portion of the citizenship exam -- sort of like spelling out the word socks to pretend you know Spanish. (If you spell out socks, it can sound just like you know spanish but of course you wouldn't have to know what that says in Spanish). The language requirement is pretty much nothing.
It is what it is. The entire interview is conducted in English. Immigrants often learn more in civics than the average American knows just to get through the test. You've also not acknowledged that English and civics are examined in naturalization interviews, which wasn't the case historically.
It's time for a quote from the OP's sourced article:
Quote:
...In Samora's case, [the conviction was upheld, so there isn't any reversal, further appeals, or retrial] the prospective juror said on his jury questionnaire he didn't understand English well enough to write in English, and the judge told him an interpreter would be provided if the man was selected to serve on the jury. However, the judge dismissed the man after he acknowledged he was not able to understand a large of the court proceedings.
Read the article where a U.S. citizen in New Mexico (as I am, and recently completed my term of being in a jury pool) cannot be excused from service for not knowing English or Spanish. It applies to Navajos (or other tribes) in the states whom may not understand either language. Some are making it into an argument where Spanish is being substituted for English, but a juror of any language not able to understand English or Spanish is provided a translator in the state.
No, because English is not only the most widely spoken language in America, but the whole entire World.
Spanish only speakers in 1 out of the 49 other US states should not be given special privileges just because they don't want to assimilate to our culture & learn the predominant language.
I'm getting sick & tired of this bending over backwards to suit the needs of foreigners BS our country has turned to. It wouldn't happen in Mexico so why here?
Actually you have to show proficiency in English only to be naturalized. If born here it is not a requirement. And for those older and here a while the English requirement can be waived.
There are a number of places such as Puerto Rico and many areas in Texas, AZ, CA NM where Spanish is the standard language. So there the trials might be in Spanish with English translators.
The standard language? WTH does that mean? Most of these Spanish speakers aren't bi-lingual? They don't also know English? Or is it that they just want to feel all warm and fuzzy inside being pandered to in Spanish instead at the taxpayer expense?
Well, aren't you just the most speshul little thing; bless your heart.
Being monolingual does not mean being dumb except, perhaps, to someone with a superiority complex which ain't too bright.
Over my relatively lengthy lifetime I've spoken four other languages than English. In fact, my first language wasn't English. So I guess it's safe for me to say that if you're nothing more than merely bilingual you must be dumb, right? But I won't. I prefer to think of you as ignorant and that can be fixed.
Agreed. Learning something more useful than a foreign language does not make one dumb. I guess all these Spanish speakers that don't want to learn English are dumb also then. Oops, caught him on that one, didn't I? It is rude and arrogant not to learn the dominant language of the country you are living in, not dumb. Since when should the citizens of any country be forced to learn a foreign language? There are several different minority foreign languages spoken in this country should English speakers have to learn them all? When are these Spanish speakers going to learn Mandarin? Pot, kettle, black!
When native English speakers start being discriminated against in hiring practices (and they are) because they don't speak Spanish to accommodate those who refuse to learn English or are here illegally in our country something is wrong with this picture.
No nerve. Just a distaste or dumb comments. Being neither liberal nor conservative I don't pay much credence to any of them.
Why do these people have to make everything about conservatives? I know many Democrats that have no desire whatsoever to learn a foreign language (and only Spanish is being pushed in this country) because there is no need to. Why waste their time learning something they will never use? As I said most Hispanic-Americans are bi-lingual so we have our nation's language of English to communicate with them in. As for "immigrants" we have immigrants here from all over the world. Should we learn all of their languages instead of the other way around. What bizarre thinking!
And I have first hand experience with a next-door immigrant neighbor who has lived here 50 years and cannot speak a lick of Engish. Very many have no desire whatsoever to learn anything of this country or it's culture --- which is why we now must allow non-English speaking jurors.
I can relate. My wife goes to the senior center to play bingo. There are of course many Hispanics there since I live in Calif. Many of them do not speak a lick of English even though she found out they have lived here for decades. Many of these seniors are in their 50's and 60's so they weren't elderly when they arrived here.
The point is --- with such very massive levels of immigration and the inability to learn English, their foreign channel has now surpassed the American ones. And CCTV, NHK are not overtaking the American channels.
I really cannot imagine moving permanently to another country and refusing to ever learn it's language or have such little intellectual curiousity of it.
Yet the accusation is that mono-lingual English speakers are the lazy ones even though we live in a English speaking country. We are supposed to learn the language of " immigrants" or Americans who refuse to learn this nation's language instead of the other way around. WTH?
No, because English is not only the most widely spoken language in America, but the whole entire World.
Spanish only speakers in 1 out of the 49 other US states should not be given special privileges just because they don't want to assimilate to our culture & learn the predominant language.
I'm getting sick & tired of this bending over backwards to suit the needs of foreigners BS our country has turned to. It wouldn't happen in Mexico so why here?
Speaking of, I heard a report on NPR this morning that noted that sales clerks in Miami are having to learn Portuguese to assist the many Brazilian customers that patronize their stores.
Why, you might ask, would they go to such lengths? Because it is good for business.
Imagine that.
Anyway, getting back to New Mexico - the majority of the Spanish speakers there are not foreigners.
Press 1 for English 2 for Spanish. **** you I shouldn't have to press **** this is AMERICA got damn it!!!
Do you realize how much government waste goes into printing bi-lingual signs, pamphlets, & instructions?
We're bending over backwards for a country (Mexico) that cares nothing about learning to assimilate into America's & the World's society. In contrast, other 3rd World countries like the Phillipines teach English as a 2nd language their 1st day of grade school all the way till they graduate college. Mexico has no excuse.
Not talking about MEXICO. The topic of the thread is New Mexico.
You do know that NEW Mexico is a state in the union, right? Has been since 1912.
I know, having lived there, that people do sometimes have problems recognizing that NEW Mexico is a state, but, it is.
And Spanish is spoken there by a large percentage of the population, as is Navajo and Tewa and Apache...
It is a very special place.
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It is rude and arrogant not to learn the dominant language of the country you are living in, not dumb. Since when should the citizens of any country be forced to learn a foreign language? There are several different minority foreign languages spoken in this country should English speakers have to learn them all? When are these Spanish speakers going to learn Mandarin? Pot, kettle, black!
