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While your evidence is anecdotal, it does offer a perspective that escapes so many of the people propogating this false narrative that some how: the English language is under attack. Around the world English is a very dominant (economically and socially) language. Many of these folks have never traveled, never felt what it's like to have to struggle to communicate surrounded by people that speak another language that they barley understand or don't understand at all or have never tried to learn another language.
The folks who maintain this false narrative are the same ones worried about the war on Christmas, the war on family values, etc. They completely operate on fear of the unknown and hate intellectualism. It scares the hell out of them to hear people speaking a language they can't understand in their immediate vicinity. So what do they do? They vilify the people speaking another language. It's a tale as old as time and it has a name: xenophobia.
So wait, are you the same person who said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rafo1981
I don't have to go anywhere. I am a free American citizen who speaks 3 languages and I'm sick of hearing people like you whine about YOUR deficiency in learning the second most spoken (soon to be tied) language in this country. Correction: YOU aren't changing, that we know all too well. The country is, whether you like it or not, changing. Suck it up, pull yourself up by the bootstraps and deal with it.
Not trying to pick a fight here, but which is it? Will Spanish soon tie English in USA or is English not under attack?
Anecdotally, I've travelled to many other countries (and I'm not a flight attendant), I've spend many a family meal listening to a foreign language and to a degree understanding it (married a Serb) and I would consider myself an intellectual (why I am on city-data instead of watching the Kardasians at the moment.)
That's not how it works. No matter their origin, children living in America are in school for six-plus hours a day and surrounded by English, which they learn easily. An immigrant family who speaks a different language at home is simply seeking to retain a connection to their past, the same way that my Dutch and German ancestors did for many generations after they emigrated. My daughter's best friend is Chinese-American, and they speak Mandarin at home to ensure he remains connected with his grandparents who still live in China and with whom he spends each summer. One of my friends came from Honduras as a teen. He speaks (a version of) Spanish at home, but he also speaks fluent English with absolutely no trace of an accent. Your fears are unfounded.
Most of us have no issue with what language is spoken in private. It's facilitating non- English speakers that is the rub. Press 1 for english for a Government service etc.
Not trying to pick a fight here, but which is it? Will Spanish soon tie English in USA or is English not under attack?
Anecdotally, I've travelled to many other countries (and I'm not a flight attendant), I've spend many a family meal listening to a foreign language and to a degree understanding it (married a Serb) and I would consider myself an intellectual (why I am on city-data instead of watching the Kardasians at the moment.)
Also, I took Latin! lol
The fact that you think that Spanish being spoken as much as English in American homes means that it has to be under attack is telling. No, just because half of the population chooses to speak Spanish at home does not mean English is under attack. So to answer the above question of which is it: both, they are not mutually exclusive. Take Switzerland for instance. When I went to buy a jar of mayonnaise there it has it written in 4 languages on the label, in a relatively conservative and very wealthy white European nation. Relax.
While your evidence is anecdotal, it does offer a perspective that escapes so many of the people propogating this false narrative that some how: the English language is under attack. Around the world English is a very dominant (economically and socially) language. Many of these folks have never traveled, never felt what it's like to have to struggle to communicate surrounded by people that speak another language that they barley understand or don't understand at all or have never tried to learn another language.
The folks who maintain this false narrative are the same ones worried about the war on Christmas, the war on family values, etc. They completely operate on fear of the unknown and hate intellectualism. It scares the hell out of them to hear people speaking a language they can't understand in their immediate vicinity. So what do they do? They vilify the people speaking another language. It's a tale as old as time and it has a name: xenophobia.
In spite of all the evidence about all of the issues you mentioned above you still remain in denial. Let's take Christmas for example. Stores, advertising are all using the term "Happy Holidays" now instead of Merry Christmas. Religious symbols are disappearing in public. No prayer in the schools. Yes, English is being diluted in our society due to both legal and illegal immigration. If you can't see that right before your eyes then yes you are in serious denial or your agenda permits you not to care.
Xenophobia? Don't make me laugh. That's a fear of strangers. Who's a stranger to our country? We allow in 1 million legal immigrants a year. There is nothing xenophobic about wanting to retain our country's identifying culture, language and heritage. All we expect is for these so-called strangers to assimilate into our society. Is that to much to ask or is that xenophobia and unwarranted fear as you lefty, liberals and ethnocentrics like to label us?
By not speaking in English in the home, you are actively discouraging a child from learning English.
I agree, our country has been able to assimilate in the past (I think this is what you were alluding to). But is there a tipping point? For example, in Europe you now have areas of foreigners which are basically no go zones for natives. Is that a lie?
Or even here in our own country as others in this thread have stated English only speakers basically being squeezed out of the construction trades b/c they don't speak Spanish? Is that a lie?
There is a tipping point with many things. If you remove any pressure to assimilate what happens? Do people assimilate because it is the natural order or do they increasingly cling to their native tongue, cultures and values?
What gave it away, my obviously superior command of the English language?
I guess we can't get anything past you
No, what gave it away was you constant defense of using Spanish in this country and expecting the rest of us to learn it also. Your objection and use of the word dehumanizing calling those in our country illegally, illegal aliens in spite of it being the immigration law term for them was a dead giveaway also. It's typical of many Hispanics. Bet you're for amnesty also, am I right?
In spite of all the evidence about all of the issues you mentioned above you still remain in denial. Let's take Christmas for example. Stores, advertising are all using the term "Happy Holidays" now instead of Merry Christmas. Religious symbols are disappearing in public. No prayer in the schools. Yes, English is being diluted in our society due to both legal and illegal immigration. If you can't see that right before your eyes then yes you are in serious denial or your agenda permits you not to care.
Xenophobia? Don't make me laugh. That's a fear of strangers. Who's a stranger to our country? We allow in 1 million legal immigrants a year. There is nothing xenophobic about wanting to retain our country's identifying culture, language and heritage. All we expect is for these so-called strangers to assimilate into our society. Is that to much to ask or is that xenophobia and unwarranted fear as you lefty, liberals and ethnocentrics like to label us?
It is BS. Today, you're better off being brorn elsehwere and coming into the U.S.A., then you get things tilted in your favor.
1. you typically speak more than 1 language.
2. employers asume you're smarter
3. You're exotic humans and judged as better than an American born 48 continental-states citizen.
4. Out of state College tuition fee - that's discrminatory now and is equal in many colleges.
The NBA has a true- hard-&n for foreign players proudly saying we're playing games in Mexico, in China. The league is expanding with development leagues overseas, blah blah. All of it are just more barriers of employment for some athletically gifted African americans and other plain monolingual born Americans.
We're on the wrong side of being in awe of international talent. It needs to be measured, not doors open wide. You gotta take care of your own first, then expand outward.
Politicians lie as bad as a car salesman. Obama, Clintons (so obvious), Trump. They all lie or extend the truth. Each of them wanted closed borders. Obama suspended Iraqi immigration for 6 months in 2011.
Welcome to the new America. Wondering how many of these people are illegals, refugees, or asylum seekers. Probably 30 million.
The population is growing, so we have a record number of lots of things merely because there are ... more.
Immigrants tend to speak their native language. Learning a new language is hard, especially the older you are. Children of immigrants go to school and become fluent in both. The generation after that may not even speak their grandparents' language. This is how it's always been. If you drive around Polish neighborhoods in Chicago, you'll see all the store signs in Polish, and they've been that way for decades.
In spite of all the evidence about all of the issues you mentioned above you still remain in denial. Let's take Christmas for example. Stores, advertising are all using the term "Happy Holidays" now instead of Merry Christmas. Religious symbols are disappearing in public. No prayer in the schools. Yes, English is being diluted in our society due to both legal and illegal immigration. If you can't see that right before your eyes then yes you are in serious denial or your agenda permits you not to care.
Xenophobia? Don't make me laugh. That's a fear of strangers. Who's a stranger to our country? We allow in 1 million legal immigrants a year. There is nothing xenophobic about wanting to retain our country's identifying culture, language and heritage. All we expect is for these so-called strangers to assimilate into our society. Is that to much to ask or is that xenophobia and unwarranted fear as you lefty, liberals and ethnocentrics like to label us?
The bolded things--don't you think it's just a matter of marketing and not a personal attack on the traditions of our country, at least the store part? A store that sticks to "Merry Christmas" when many of its customers may not celebrate the holiday may feel it is alienating or disregarding a broader base. Who cares, really? I say Merry Christmas to people I know observe Christmas. My observation of Christmas has nothing to do with secular stores and their decisions.
Religious symbols are the same way. No one said anything when everybody in town was Christian, but everyone in town is not Christian anymore. People can put their own religious symbols on their private property, but it really is the right thing to do to keep it off of public/government land. Of course, most big office buildings go inclusive and have the menorah and a Christmas tree, which can also be secular given that it's a federal holiday and celebrated by many non-Christians. Again, who cares?
Forced prayer in the schools has been done for fifty years. It's not coming back. It should never come back. Forcing a religion on a people by a government has never worked well, not for the religion, and not for the government. Anyone can pray in a school. No one can force another to pray in a school, and that is a good thing.
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