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.
There's a town in southeastern Minnesota called Spring Grove. It's an adorable little place nestled in the hills about 10 miles away from the Mississippi River, population just above a thousand. I'd recommend checking it out...unless you have a severe distaste towards the Norwegian language. They still mix English and Norwegian there, 150 years after the town was founded. Their welcome sign on the way into town even says "Vilkommen til Spring Grove." They're certainly proud of it...many of their events revolve around Norwegian heritage. And they aren't alone...approximately 25,000 Norwegian Minnesotans admit that they speak "a language other than English" at home.
Now, if you go to Wisconsin, you probably won't hear that kind of thing...instead, it'll be in German. Cute quiet towns like Hustisford and Cedarburg kept up their English/German speaking ways well into the 20th century, sometimes after World War II. Funny story: specifically in Hustisford, after a generation or two it was learned that people were not just assimilating their language, but they were doing the exact opposite: in 1910, 25% of the population only spoke German.
But let's stray out of the Midwest...Louisiana is really nice and warm this time of year. How about St. Martin's Parish in south-central Louisiana...they probably have good jambalaya and gumbo. Just make sure you've got a few French words down. About 70% of the population speaks English at home, while everyone else prefers French creole or just plain ol' French.
Point it, if bilingualism signifies the death of America, then honey, we've been sitting in a grave for a long time now.
Your examples do not make us a bi-lingual country. They are small areas that speak a foreign language. Spanish is spreading all over the country and a lot of it is due to illegal immigration from south of our border. No thanks! Many Spanish speakers don't want to speak English even when they know it. So this is a whole different ball of wax.
I don't know if some posters here are assuming that these Spanish-speakers can't speak English at all and/or that all of them are illegal immigrants. Not all recent immigrants* have a firm grasp of the English language. That's to be expected since they just arrived. Many will only have an elementary understanding of the language. But if they are citizens, then they as much a right to know what their government is doing. A politician who ignores them, i.e. his constituency, does so at his own political peril.
As far as I am concerned, the debate could be in Chinese and I would have no issue with it. If a politician's constituency is more comfortable speaking their native language, and that politician speaks that language, too, then he has an advantage because he can 'connect' with them in a way that his opponent may not.
*not illegal immigrants - they should be deported.
[this is Politics 101 and is no big deal]
You forget though if they ARE citizens they will know how to speak English. One has to know English in order to become a naturalize citizen also. So most of these arguments for political debates in Spanish are a big fail! Now there's Politics 101 for you.
No one is forcing you to learn another language. The fact is the part of the country that has the most Spanish speaking people is the part that was once a part of Mexico.
Uh; MOST of the Spanish speaking people came to the US well AFTER 1848, kinda like the Germans, Irish, Japanese and so on so they have NO claims because of "blood". The few Spanish speakers in Arizona, Cali and N Mexico before 1848 pretty much "married out".
We are no longer a nation of immigrants but a nation of Americans. Our citizen population way outnumbers any immigrant population.
When immigrants are invited here it is expected that they will learn English to assimilate. It should not be expected that we learn multiple foreign languages to communicate with foreigners in our own country. Most Americans are busy working and trying to feed their families for such unwarranted nonsense.
I don't consider it a blessing that we have millions of legal and illegal aliens from Spanish speaking countries that refuse to adapt to English. They should be embracing our culture and language not the other way around. It is being disrespectful on "their" part not to be embracing the culture and language of the country that "they" chose to migrate to. There is no reason on God's earth that Americans should have to learn multiple languages to survive in their own country. It's just PC, liberal BS talking points whom deep down in inside hate America.
Spanish is becoming an important one here. And knowing a second language is an extremely valuable skill. If immigrant from Latin America are indeed having issues with poverty, imagine how useful it would be for activists and social workers to speak their language. There are massive benefits to having a bilingual population.
And it doesn't really matter what the rest of the world speaks, does it? If we're talking about America, which generally we are when people create posts with 'death of America' in them, then the prevalence of the English language outside of the US has very little meaning.
Regardless, if bilingualism is encouraged by both parties, odds are English would win out in the end anyway. Most people, ethnically Latin American or not, would likely be speaking English once the Spanish speaking immigrants were assimilated. Things might be slightly different but oh well! Things change all the time. It will not bring the death of America.
Just a good rule of thumb, almost nothing anyone on this forum has ever posted will bring the death of America.
English is the global language of business.
Almost all other countries teach their students English and not as an elective.
Only in the US do we turn our noses and tell people to learn Spanish.
Why ? So we can become a global power house like Argentina or Venezuela or Guatemala or Honduras ?
English is the global language of business.
Almost all other countries teach their students English and not as an elective.
Only in the US do we turn our noses and tell people to learn Spanish.
Why ? So we can become a global power house like Argentina or Venezuela or Guatemala or Honduras ?
Are imply that us speaking English is what led to our power? Because that makes no sense. The prevalence of English in the world has nothing to do with the language itself. Between the US and the UK, their imperialism and influence was extremely far reaching. The power is what led to the prevalence of English, not the other way around. To imply having a population that is able to speak two languages would demote us to countries like Venezuela or Argentina is insane. Those countries are not the way they are because of the language they speak. Even if America stopped speaking English all together, it would not force our political system to change in any substantial way.
Are imply that us speaking English is what led to our power? Because that makes no sense. The prevalence of English in the world has nothing to do with the language itself. Between the US and the UK, their imperialism and influence was extremely far reaching. The power is what led to the prevalence of English, not the other way around. To imply having a population that is able to speak two languages would demote us to countries like Venezuela or Argentina is insane. Those countries are not the way they are because of the language they speak. Even if America stopped speaking English all together, it would not force our political system to change in any substantial way.
It doesn't matter how things came down. English IS the "go to" language in 2014. NOT Chinese, Spanish, French or Gaelic.
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.
