Press 1 for English July 17, 2008
Posted by iamashadow in America, Americans, English, Immigration, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, immigrants, life, opinion, personal, politics, undocumented student, undocumented students.trackback
You know, it really bothers me that Spanish is seen as a threat. I mean, I would have thought that being bilingual is good. But now, thanks to the immigration debate, knowing something other than English is seen as unpatriotic. I don’t understand it. I mean, no one, and I mean no one, is asking the American people to learn another language. They want new immigrants to learn English, that’s fine.
But give them a break, I mean, newcomer kids like myself do learn English. I’m in college for God’s sake. Adults, like my parents, they can’t learn as easily. It is harder for an adult to learn a new language, and they work 40 hour jobs which takes away their time and energy.
So, why does it bother people that others are speaking Spanish. I mean, it is not undermining the American sovereignty. I would like to know more than 2 languages but I think that my time in learning languages is coming to an end. Oh well, at least I’ll have a better chance in understanding people than monolingual people.
It is not a threat to speak Spanish or any other language. It is wonderful to know more than one language. But if you live in the United States one of your languages should be ENGLISH. It is only upsetting when they don’t bother to learn English when they live in the United States. And it seems like the major non-English speaking population is Hispanic, particularly in South Florida where everyone speaks Spanish so no one bothers to learn our language. No matter the age, some have been here for 40 years or more and still don’t speak English. It’s ridiculous & just plain ignorant!!! You live in the most wonderful country in the world, be grateful and respect it enough to learn the language.
Lisa,
Knowing another language that is not English is not ignorance. After all, we don’t choose where we are born.
People are grateful and it is not a lack of respect that prohibits people from learning English, it just that they have no time. It is a lot hard for an adult to learn a second language and most recent immigrants usually have 40 hours week jobs that are not exactly a walk in the park. Usually the first generation of immigrants is not the one to master the language, it didn’t happen in the past and it is not happening now. That first generation usually uses their kids to get by, which is what my parents do. Usually, the second generation loses the native language, I see it happening all the time. It is even happening to me, and I’m first generation but I got here very young.