Is it common for natural born Americans in the Valley to speak only Spanish? (Brownsville: high school, live)

[supfromthesite]

Originally Posted by spottrouble

Show me a law that says you must speak english. I grew up with one set of grandparents that spoke Czech and english, and other set spoke spanish and english, in our home mom spoke to us in spanish, dad in english. I think all americans SHOULD be bi-lingual. Tantos americanos son tan stupido.

Work on your grammar before trying to claim we need to learn some other language.

[BeauCharles]

Originally Posted by spottrouble

Show me a law that says you must speak english. I grew up with one set of grandparents that spoke Czech and english, and other set spoke spanish and english, in our home mom spoke to us in spanish, dad in english. I think all americans SHOULD be bi-lingual. Tantos americanos son tan stupido.

Did miss the part of my post where I said it was a free country and one can do whatever they wish - either learn it or not? Or course there's no law stating that. And please don't call me stupid (and no, I didn't need Google translate to understand what you wrote - I've had enough Spanish between high school and college).


Let me pose you a question - if you moved to France, Italy or the Czech Republic wouldn't you do everything in your power to learn the language of that country as quickly as possible just for your own benefit (as I said just so you wouldn't be handicapped and isolated)? I know I certainly would. If I were to move to a Latin American country or Spain I would be immersing myself in study the moment I got there. If I were born in a Spanish speaking country to English speaking parents there's no way I wouldn't know Spanish by the time I was a few years into elementary school. To not learn the majority (in the case of the United States VAST majority) language of a country is just lazy and foolish.

[TXNGL]

Originally Posted by HomeIsWhere...

The feds still need to find out why an American was detained at the border for three weeks
Filed under Editorials at 7 hours ago

Law enforcement officials did not act wholly without reason when they first detained the family. Others in the car, including Galicia's brother, did not have proper identification. Galicia's mother also falsely claimed he was born in Mexico while filing for a U.S. tourist visa years ago, according to their lawyer.

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/e...er-three-weeks

I don't know why articles keep saying "at the border." Kid wasn't crossing the border. Having said that, MOM screwed up royally with the visa issue. Damn, lady. That was just stupid!

[DanielWayne]

Originally Posted by BeauCharles

Did miss the part of my post where I said it was a free country and one can do whatever they wish - either learn it or not? Or course there's no law stating that. And please don't call me stupid (and no, I didn't need Google translate to understand what you wrote - I've had enough Spanish between high school and college).


Let me pose you a question - if you moved to France, Italy or the Czech Republic wouldn't you do everything in your power to learn the language of that country as quickly as possible just for your own benefit (as I said just so you wouldn't be handicapped and isolated)? I know I certainly would. If I were to move to a Latin American country or Spain I would be immersing myself in study the moment I got there. If I were born in a Spanish speaking country to English speaking parents there's no way I wouldn't know Spanish by the time I was a few years into elementary school. To not learn the majority (in the case of the United States VAST majority) language of a country is just lazy and foolish.

There are a lot of countries that are multi-lingual. Plus there are a LOT of places in the US where you can get by knowing just Spanish or Chinese or Vietnamese, etc. Give it time and learning Spanish may become a necessity, especially in states like Texas or California.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...es_and_regions

[lookitsrobss]

Funny how the msm didn’t mention the fact that this kid doesn’t speak English. I don’t blame ice for detaining him, I would too if I met a young Mexican teenager claiming to be an American citizen but doesn’t even speak English.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

You are free to move to Yankeeland at any time.

I was born in Georgia.

[Westerner92]

Originally Posted by BeauCharles

Did miss the part of my post where I said it was a free country and one can do whatever they wish - either learn it or not? Or course there's no law stating that. And please don't call me stupid (and no, I didn't need Google translate to understand what you wrote - I've had enough Spanish between high school and college).


Let me pose you a question - if you moved to France, Italy or the Czech Republic wouldn't you do everything in your power to learn the language of that country as quickly as possible just for your own benefit (as I said just so you wouldn't be handicapped and isolated)? I know I certainly would. If I were to move to a Latin American country or Spain I would be immersing myself in study the moment I got there. If I were born in a Spanish speaking country to English speaking parents there's no way I wouldn't know Spanish by the time I was a few years into elementary school. To not learn the majority (in the case of the United States VAST majority) language of a country is just lazy and foolish.

It depends. If I moved to Hong Kong, I'd have barely any motivation to learn Cantonese because, despite being in China, English is the language of commerce. Same goes for India, same goes for Quebec, same goes for any of the tourist destinations in Latin America (though I already know Spanish). If you moved to the Netherlands or any Nordic country, you probably couldn't even learn the language if you wanted to because they'd just speak English to you anyway.

The RGV has had vastly more native Spanish speakers for its entire history. It's four hours away from the nearest town where you'd need English. Spanish is the default conversational and commercial language there. It'd be hard to fault anyone there for not knowing English.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

Originally Posted by spottrouble

Show me a law that says you must speak english. I grew up with one set of grandparents that spoke Czech and english, and other set spoke spanish and english, in our home mom spoke to us in spanish, dad in english. I think all americans SHOULD be bi-lingual. Tantos americanos son tan stupido.

Do you have anything to say in Czech?

[etcret]

Originally Posted by earthisle

I've met many people from the Rio Grande Valley and they all have a Mexican accent even if born here, but many of them only speak English. But I was surprised to hear the interview with Francisco Galicia, the 18 year old American born man who was detained for 3 weeks, where he spoke Spanish. He said that his English isn't good but he's planning to learn English. Is that part of the country really so isolated that a person can be born in Dallas and at the age of 18 only speak Spanish?

I live in the Rio Grande Valley. It isn’t only possible but common for American citizens born here to speak better Spanish than English. When the majority of the population is Hispanic, politicians are Hispanic, educators are Hispanic, what would you expect. There is no downside to them speaking Spanish here. If you are a Gringo like me, you are actually ignored for most of the jobs here if you are not bilingual. I think it is sad that we have allowed this to happen in the United States, but it isn’t changing. Too late now. Fact is most people in other parts of even Texas would ever live down here. I love it here, and am accepted by the people here. But reality is still reality. I am at a disadvantage and always will be here. I will tell you we don’t have a lot of the racial problems here though. No reason for them. The locals here know they have all the control and so does everyone else that lives here. Although I was born in Texas, I am not a native to the valley. I have nothing but great things to say about people here, yet I still believe that immigration should be legal and tax money should not be taken from my pay to support illegals. Doesn’t mean I don’t like the people who live here legal or not. I don’t ask anyone if they are legal or not. Don’t ask me to give an illegal money.

[supfromthesite]

There are no black people in the valley, I'm sure that helps with the lack of racial problems.