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He did not know that at the time. This is what we do in high school when we take survey and introductory coursework in math, science, literature, and foreign language. We don't necessarily understand where it will lead, but that doesn't mean it's not worthwhile to study calculus or chemistry or Shakespeare or Spanish. The point of high school, as my husband liked to say to our children, is to delay closing doors to your future as long as possible, so you learn how to balance algebraic equations and that mitochondria is the power house of the cell. You suffer through Camus and memorize Latin declensions. And you do it because it may just take you somewhere you never imagined.
Once you decide to get your undergraduate or graduate degree in International Business, isn't there a requirement to take foreign language?
My kids had to take two years of foreign language in high school. If all you're saying is that you don't think that requirement should be dropped - then we are in agreement.
English is not the language of North America. The US is an English-speaking country, Mexico is a Spanish-speaking country, and Canada is bilingual English/French. If your biggest peeve in life is ignoring the telephone prompt for “para Espanol marca Ocho”, then your life is boring enough to be pretty darned good.
It's the principal and reason behind having to hear the Spanish choice on telephone prompts. It's an irritating reminder that it's about accommodating illegal aliens and other Latinos who are too lazy to learn English or want to be pandered to in Spanish only. We aren't the entire North American continent we are an individual country whose national de facto language is English. If we are going to pamper Spanish speakers then we should also do it for other foreign language speakers in our country.
Much of that Mexican work force is here illegally and have no right to work here or to be here. If they weren't here your stats would reflect mostly the contributions of Americans and legal immigrants.
The police and military stats I provided you are all here legally 100%
Hispanic-Americans are just like any other American citizen.
Where I think it goes overboard is with illegal immigrants, and the whole sanctuary city thing. We are much too lenient on illegals, and giving them benefits that could go to deserving American citizens is crazy and wrong. Doing so only encourages more illegal immigration and makes the problem worse.
I agree completely, and I'm astonished at the attempts to diminish the value of foreign language education. I took Spanish and French, although, sadly, I've forgotten much of it in the intervening thirty-five years since I graduated high school. My husband took French and German. All three of my children took Spanish in middle school and at least three years of high school Latin. I don't think someone can claim to be truly educated without having studied at least one additional language beyond his native tongue.
You're above post just proves my point. You have forgotten the foreign languages that you studied because here in the U.S. there is little need to learn them. If you don't use them you lose them! Learning a foreign language that you will hardly ever use is the exact opposite of being a truly educated. Latin is an obsolete language so why would anyone learn that one?
Keep going with a strawman argument. Many probably most of the Hispanics coming and living in America don't/can't speak English and we are forced to accommodate them. I see them around my town all the time yammering away in Spanish.
Not only that but this idiotic claim that one needs to learn a foreign language in this country because of some so-called globalism is ridiculous. Most Americans don't hold jobs where they have to deal with foreign countries and even at that English is global language of business.
This demonizing of Americans who have no need to learn a foreign language claiming that it is out of laziness is ridiculous also. How is it lazy to want to learn something more useful to the career you have chosen other than a foreign language you aren't likely to use on your job or out in public?
Well no American should have to learn a foreign language to communicate with people living in America and to be employed. I stand by what I meant and not your strawman version.
No, you changed your goalposts.
Do you speak, say, Urdu? Do you seriously think someone, whether government or private, should hire you to translate Urdu just because you’re an American?
Keep going with a strawman argument. Many probably most of the Hispanics coming and living in America don't/can't speak English and we are forced to accommodate them. I see them around my town all the time yammering away in Spanish.
So because someone is speaking Spanish right this minute, that means that they don’t know English?
I do not mean this to be racist. Hispanics are a great culture of hardworking people. I do not have an issue with their immigration to the US. They have brought new diversity and skills to the US.
My pet peeve is speaking English. English is the language of North America.
It has gotten to the point that virtually every set of instructions that come with anything you buy are in English and Spanish. Every time you call a telephone number you have a choice to press something for English or Spanish. I swear, I items for sale in Walmart and the box does not have one word of English on it, its all in Spanish.
I understand accommodation. However, I do believe immigrants to the US should learn English but the level of accommodation has gotten to the point that Hispanics do not have to learn English. Virtually everything is in Spanish. Sometimes to the point English speaking people are having to learn Spanish.
The whole Hispanic speaking accommodation is now a steam roller because businesses want to sell products so they target their audience.
It appears we are going to become a bi-lingual country.
When in Rome, do as the Roman’s do. When in the US, speak English. It’s a matter of respect.
One of my brothers would say that choosing to take high school Spanish was the ticket to his career. His first job was working as a bilingual customer service rep for a bank, which inspired him to pursue a degree in finance and ultimately led to a career in international finance.
The reason that it's advantageous dealing with the public to know Spanish is directly due to the millions of illegal alien Spanish speakers here as most Hispanic-Americans are bi-lingual. I don't know if Spanish was a requirement for your brother to gain a banking job but many jobs won't even hire you unless you know Spanish. This didn't use to be the case years ago. So now native English speaking Americans are being discriminated against for not knowing Spanish these days. It's BS!
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