You need to learn to speak spanish!

delayedinsanity · 07-09-2008, 09:18 PM

For all you Americans on this board, what do you think of the latest from Obama?

Saying that foreign immigrants shouldn't have to learn English when they come here, saying that our children (oh, I'm a Canadian living in the States by the way, but it affects all of the west) need to learn spanish!

I respect anybody who can speak two languages. It's more than I can do, and I've been learning spanish to boot. But this country is english. The constitution was written in english. The anthem is english. If you hate your country so much that you want to move to ours, and tell us that we need to learn your language instead of you learning ours, and that we should have a spanish national anthem, I say go home. Get out. If you don't like it here, you don't have to be here.

What do you think?
-m

Enfernikus · 07-09-2008, 10:47 PM

My parents are immigrants so I sympathize with these people but it's true - this is America, it's an English speaking country if you don't want to learn the language stick to your clique-esk part of the country (For Spanish speaking people in Florida it would be Miami).

P.S. Being multi-lingual is awesome.

Village Idiot · 07-09-2008, 10:53 PM

While there are a number of languages I would like to speak (spanish being one of them), immigrants should speak our language. If we have to cater to the Mexicans, what about the Germans, or the French? What about the Chinese? America is made up out of every country in the world, to cater to one would require catering to all.

Just another reason I will not vote for Obama.

CoryMathews · 07-09-2008, 11:15 PM

I couldn't agree more. I live in south texas and over the last year we have gotten 4 new spanish tv stations and about half the radio stations are spanish. Also more and more billboards are going up in spanish. seriously if they don't speak english odds are they have no money why advertise to them? I have no problem with most immarants but without a doubt they should speak english. If i moved to a different country I would their language or get out.

delayedinsanity · 07-09-2008, 11:24 PM

I think the kicker was when I saw a vehicle driving around with billboards advertising a spanish company, that said in spanish, "we also speak english".

It's another lesser of two evils race though, Obama's a smooth talking cat that never really says anything, and McCrispy fries has been taped saying straight faced that he doesn't care what Americans want, if he gets into power he's going to do what he wants, including staying at war with Iraq, starting war with Iran, and lying to the general public about what's really going on over there.
-m

stewart · 07-09-2008, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoryMathews

seriously if they don't speak english odds are they have no money why advertise to them?

Apparently, this is not even remotely true, otherwise we wouldn't see companies spending millions on espanol marketing campaigns

..lol.

I definitely agree about an immigrant learning to adapt to our language and all.. but the Spanish speaking population is exploding in our country.
Even if they don't learn english, we should probably still at least know how to communicate with this very large, and growing, section in our country. Many of times just because they can't speak English doesn't mean they can't listen and understand what we are saying!
Definitely couldn't hurt if most of us, at the least, became familiar with the language. Will definitely only help in the long run.

delayedinsanity · 07-10-2008, 02:42 AM

The problem is it's exploding because half of them are here illegally, and beyond that they're still considered a minority that requires special attention and rights. I'm sorry, but they aren't a minority anymore, and if you live in this country, or any other, you live by the same rules and laws as everybody else. Special treatment shouldn't be doled out in wads to people who snuck in, while others who were born here or immigrated legally are having troubles making ends meet.

My problem isn't with learning another language to communicate with my neighbours. I wish the entire world spoke a single language, and which one wouldn't matter, just to remove that communication barrier that causes so many problems. However that's not the way it is. People whose families have lived here for generations suddenly can't find entry-level work in a lot of industries because they don't speak the language of somebody who jumped a fence to get here. As a direct result, a lot of entry-level jobs are now populated solely by these minorities. And I'm sorry, this may sound bad, but being a middle class kid from any neighbourhood, you walk into a a job that is populated solely by people of a different nationality that don't speak your language, do you really think you have a chance in hell of getting a job?

I like the way it is back home in Canada. I never thought of the race issue there. Nobody did that I met. There was peter, lois, cleveland, joe, and frank and bob and huey duey and luey, they were just a bunch of people from a bunch of different places that came together. Down here, the segregation is ginormous. It's split down very clears lines almost everywhere I've gone, and I don't think that's right. People need a common ground. Telling them they need to learn something that was never a part of the foundation of this country, to be part of this country, is wrong.
-m

Village Idiot · 07-10-2008, 02:50 AM

Not only are they not a minority anymore, they were never citizens and never entitled to the rigs of an American.

wGEric · 07-10-2008, 10:59 PM

If I go to China I'm expected to speak Chinese. If you go to the USA you should be expected to speak English.

How is it done in Canada where French and English are the main languages?

delayedinsanity · 07-10-2008, 11:24 PM

There's no French people in Canada. Just some crazy seperatists over in Quebec that we put up with.

Seriously though, it's fairly straight forward, if you live in Quebec it's expected that you know French to get most jobs there. If you live outside Quebec, it's expected you know English. Nobody requires you to know both, though the tourism industry does list it as an asset, they will not disregard your application because your uni-lingual.
-m

SOCK · 07-13-2008, 12:06 AM

Interesting & volatile topic. I have been an Obama supporter from the beginning, since even before he announced his running. I had not seen this before, but now that I've looked up and viewed the actual video of this speech, I see what he's saying; to me, it essentially boils down to an issue of education.

Quote:

It’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe and all we can say is merci beaucoup,

Although the speech seems to initially go the direction of learning Spanish to cater to immigrants, it eventually makes the point that we're doing a poor job of language education in this country.

I know how these things work. No one candidate is going to say everything that everyone will agree with. It just doesn't happen. I still believe in Obama and look more towards his presence bringing a fresh perspective to Washington than I support absolutely everything he says and does.

It's easy to say "hey, I live here and if you want to come here learn my language!". It's alot deeper than that.

CoryMathews · 07-13-2008, 12:27 AM

They already teach spanish in american schools. I had to take at least 2 years in high school 1 year in middle school and 2 years in elementary school. I still cant speak much at all but its already there. If a person wants to learn the language while in school they have more then enough to learn it. If they dont want to you still have to learn a little. Which it kind of the way it should be. In any form of education. Require people to learn a little of everything and make options available to learn more of what the person likes. And only the required of what they dont. I havent looked into what he said but if he is proposing more foreign language I feel sorry for the kids. As if the required 4-5 years wasn't enough.