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I would say in recent decades, most of them are spanish speaking, some of them are not. Gone are the days where immigrants spoke many languages in large numbers so their children had to learn english just to communicate with each other. Nowadays so many of the immigrants share the same language that they can form their own large country where they'd never have to speak a word of english. But we are told they will all choose to learn english and become fully Americanized within a couple of generations. Time will tell.
I currently live in Wisconsin where surely there's some old-timer out there still speaking German. It certainly gives off that vibe anyway.
Germans at one time really inundated certain parts of this country and they eventually assimilated, after decades of newspapers and churches that exclusively spoke that language.
I do agree that this time feels different. There's a lot of white-anglo guilt out there that are all too willing to insist that no one has to assimilate.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldglory
We haven't been a nation of immigrants for some time now. Most in our country are native born American citizens, not immigrants and it's been that way for a very long time now. Time to shed that stupid label and just be ourselves. Just because we still allow immigrants into our country just as most other countries do does not change that fact.
I understand where you're coming from. I wish more Americans were okay with us just being America.
I just used that label to point out that we still take in huge numbers of immigrants and English is still the default language.
Spanish-speaking immigrants nowadays significantly eclipse anything we've seen before, but I'm not convinced Spanish will take over unless the U.S. ceases to be what we now know it to be. If some sort of split were to happen, I could see some states, in whatever form they take, adopting a bi-lingual law of some sort.
I certainly don't wish anything like that to happen, I'm just reading the writing on the wall.
Latinos influx into this country is large and constant. It's much cheaper for them to have children here (especially with welfare systems in place) and they greatly outnumber other races when it comes to birthrates.
In border states where the population is already one third Hispanic, English is still the main language, the must speak language. Like the poster above said, the grandkids are almost exclusively English speakers. Ironically, the more diversity in immigration you have the more English ends up as the indispensable lingua franca.
As a American of Hispanic descent who is Bilingual and fluent in both English & Spanish why would he make such a disparaging remark?
I do agree with you in the "one Generation" thing with you as I have several nieces & nephews who are second Generation and only One is fluent in both languages.
The rest of the kiddos sound like they just took High School Spanish!
I am technically second gen, although my dad was born here and went back to south america when he was 2, he never learned english, I went to a bilingual school in elementary (in south america), then moved here when I was 12. My oldest is fluent in both, my youngest just understands it, although I hope my oldest teaches her kids spanish I doubt it. Its hard to teach your second child spanish because the oldest speaks english to him/her.
My parents came to the US from Portugal in the early 70's. Obviously, Portuguese was their primary language and they slowly learned English.
I was born. I am fluent to this day in both English and Portuguese. English is, of course, my primary language.
My kids were born. Barely speak any Portuguese. Know a few key words and that's about it.
See how it typically works? To those of you concerned that Spanish is going to "take over". Chill out. It's not going to happen anytime soon, if at all.
Unfortunately like all threads on here, this one has turned into the doom and gloom scenario. Those poor "native-born" Americans have been sooo victimized by those non-English speakers.
Don't forget we have a lot of legal immigrants from Latin America as well.
That assertion needs to be supported.
Sure, if you want to. Sounds like a decision for you to make for yourself.
Wait, I thought you were being pushed to learn Spanish? But now you say you do not need to? What exactly are you complaining about?
Don't immigrants have the same rights of free speech and free association as others? Or do you not support the first amendment? I believe the country is a group effort. "We the People..." and all that. So that would mean that in addition to you, I also have an opinion, and so do various immigrants.
You pushed learning Spanish yourself! In order to get hired for many jobs these days one needs to know Spanish because of these illegal invaders and other arrogant Spanish speakers that refuse to learn or speak English. Is that a good reason to learn Spanish in this English speaking country? Hell no, it isn't! Your whole post reeks of anti-Americanism!
My parents came to the US from Portugal in the early 70's. Obviously, Portuguese was their primary language and they slowly learned English.
I was born. I am fluent to this day in both English and Portuguese. English is, of course, my primary language.
My kids were born. Barely speak any Portuguese. Know a few key words and that's about it.
See how it typically works? To those of you concerned that Spanish is going to "take over". Chill out. It's not going to happen anytime soon, if at all.
Unfortunately like all threads on here, this one has turned into the doom and gloom scenario. Those poor "native-born" Americans have been sooo victimized by those non-English speakers.
Where is my eye roll emoji....
Did the Portuguese invade our county by the millions and are still crashing our border by the hundreds of thousands today? Ask yourself that question then get back with us!
You pushed learning Spanish yourself! In order to get hired for many jobs these days one needs to know Spanish because of these illegal invaders and other arrogant Spanish speakers that refuse to learn or speak English. Is that a good reason to learn Spanish in this English speaking country? Hell no, it isn't! Your whole post reeks of anti-Americanism!
AGREE. Excellent candidates aren't even considered for jobs - including those in the federal government! - unless they know Spanish, and a much lesser candidate - often the offspring of a Spanish-speaking immigrant, is selected instead. Thus, native-born Americans are under a disadvantage when compared to immigrants and their children.
It didn't used to be like this, and highly qualified Americans got the jobs they deserved. The rapid influx of illegal aliens from Central America has caused the damage.
Go live in Texas for a while. All the food in the supermarkets have Spanish labels. Twos sides ...one side English and the other Spanish. What is displayed is the Spanish side. Same with HD and other big box retailers. Some smaller places have no employees that speak English at all.
That's just the way it is there and accepted.
I got used to it and thought it was like this all over the US until I moved to SC. The very first thing I noticed when I went shopping was that all the labels were in English and everyone spoke English. What a stark difference.
This thread is about America and not just Texas.
Having items labeled in both languages doesn't hurt you, but it helps people who are learning English with obscure food names, something I could have used when living in Mexico! When I lived in Iceland, everything was labeled in English, too, for the expats and tourists. It doesn't cause Icelanders to gnash their teeth. Why are we so much less confident in ourselves?
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