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So then when in Miami, speak Spanish. When in northern Maine, speak French. When in San Francisco's Chinatown, speak Chinese. No problem for you, right? These places, as well as Puerto Rico, Koreatown in NYC, etc., are parts of the United States. There are little communities sprinkled all over where the people speak something other than English. I lived in a town in Connecticut where there was a large Portuguese-speaking community, and yes, there were signs in Portuguese. Who cares? People can speak whatever language they want.
English is not the official language of the USA, and these other languages aren't going anywhere.
Do you travel to other countries? Are you fluent in every language of every country you visit? If not, do you feel that you are being disrespectful for stepping foot in a country without knowing the language?
Your answer doesn't make any sense at all. In fact, it's a total fail.
All those places you mentioned in your first paragraph are in the US.
It should be against the law to discriminate in employment against a real American because they can't speak a language other than English .
I don't like how my metropolitan parks used bond and tax money to put up signs in English and Spanish, and also to build Pinata stands that the Hispanics never use even though they use the parks.
That is totally absurd. How about translators? Forced to hire English-only Americans? French teachers? CIA and intelligence operatives?
Are you aware of how many businesses, companies and industries cater to those, or need employees, who do not speak English?
A lot.
And no paranoid federal law should be allowed to tell employers that they HAVE to hire someone who is not qualified for the job.
Did you ever wonder how immigrants were able to conduct business before they became fluent in English?
Answer: They brought a friend or a relative along with them to act as an interpreter.
Why do today's immigrants need more accommodations than prior generations needed?
Good question, especially when many of them are here illegally to begin with. Immigrants today have nothing much in common with immigrants of the past.
That is totally absurd. How about translators? Forced to hire English-only Americans? French teachers? CIA and intelligence operatives?
Are you aware of how many businesses, companies and industries cater to those, or need employees, who do not speak English?
A lot.
And no paranoid federal law should be allowed to tell employers that they HAVE to hire someone who is not qualified for the job.
I already said jobs that don't specifically have the purposes of translating or teaching a foreign language. And we should not need or require translators just to communicate with people living in America. The non-English speaking people living in America need to learn English or provide their own translators, or just leave.
Title 1 schools have a lot of students whose parents are lower income immigrants who can't speak English.
So, basically you're saying that it is necessary to learn Spanish if you teach very young students at a Title 1 school until they can learn to speak English.
Yes. and I say this as a TA, although I was not required to speak another language. It just makes common sense for school staff to have taken courses in the language of student population of the Title 1 school.
Believe me, it only takes a very basic knowledge of Spanish to know that little girl in the class was having a problem with her feet and her shoes
I just do not understand this ENGLISH ONLY mindset in America. Having traveled in Europe, I do know other countries mandate English as a requirement in their schools. So why do Americans want ONLY English learned and spoken in our country?
The way I feel is that the more languages you know, the BETTER. Isolationist mindset. To quote my husband's former employer (British Citizen) who was asked to say something in English (????). "Sir, you are speaking MY Native Tongue, and never forget that". Enough for you, "Muricans"?
Yes, business is about making a profit. If that means you learn Spanish, or hire people who speak Spanish, then you do what's necessary. Or you rethink your business plan altogether.
On a different note, I'm not sure that Spanish qualifies as a foreign language in the US. Except possibly Old Norse (Vikings) & maybe Portuguese, Spanish was the first European language in the Americas. Especially in Florida & what's now the US Southwest. & the US is home to the second largest population of Spanish speakers in the World, counting native speakers & people studying Spanish.
Any language that isn't the national language of any country is a foreign one. I ask again, why would businesses have to hire Spanish speakers when most Hispanic-Americans are bi-lingual?
Did you ever wonder how immigrants were able to conduct business before they became fluent in English?
Answer: They brought a friend or a relative along with them to act as an interpreter.
Why do today's immigrants need more accommodations than prior generations needed?
Excellent point! Why should native English speakers be discriminated against in hiring practices to accommodate "immigrants" in their native tongues? How many different lingual groups would have to be hired to accommodate all the foreign language immigrants in this country? It would be astronomical. That's the reason why as you said they need to bring along an interpreter to do business then.
Yes. and I say this as a TA, although I was not required to speak another language. It just makes common sense for school staff to have taken courses in the language of student population of the Title 1 school.
Believe me, it only takes a very basic knowledge of Spanish to know that little girl in the class was having a problem with her feet and her shoes
I just do not understand this ENGLISH ONLY mindset in America. Having traveled in Europe, I do know other countries mandate English as a requirement in their schools. So why do Americans want ONLY English learned and spoken in our country?
The way I feel is that the more language you know, the BETTER.
No one is saying English only under all circumstances. As for learning another language if an English speaking American desires to do so, so be it but it should never be a pre-requirement to get a job in this country for most jobs.
How is the more languages you know if you plan on residing in this country all your life and have a job not dealing with foreign nations or working in the tourist industry a big benefit?
No one is saying English only under all circumstances. As for learning another language if an English speaking American desires to do so, so be it but it should never be a pre-requirement to get a job in this country for most jobs.
How is the more languages you know if you plan on residing in this country all your life and have a job not dealing with foreign nations or working in the tourist industry a big benefit?
No you are a lazy, ignorant unemployable American since you can't or won't communicate in Spanish with the illegal aliens in American .
English is not the language of North America. Remember Mexico? Quebec, Canada? Lots of islands. And the U.S. does not have an official language. So just about the only place that English is official is in Canada and that's one of two official languages there. As long the the directions are in English too, I really don't care.
And this is what you get when you don’t care.
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