Why Hispanics see no need to speak English!

[Revmitchell]

So...do you have a problem with people who speak languages other than Spanish? There's no "official" language in the US. Are your ancestors native English speakers? In many large cities, there used to be different ethnic neighborhoods where everyone spoke something other than English...was there a problem then or is it just Spanish speakers? Is it a problem that most US citizens refuse to learn a second language unlike most of the rest of the world?

None of this has anything to do with the op. No one is arguing that people so migrate here should never speak there own language. What is being called for is that if they want to be an American they need to assimilate. They need to learn to do business in English not try to force Americans to assimilate to their culture and language.

That's not racist that is common sense. When you have no real argument play the race card.

 

[Salty]

Ahhhhh......"Globalization!".... press one for English, 2 for Spanish, 3 for Polish, 4 for Dutch, 5 for Italian, 6 for Slavic, 7 for German, 8 for Chinese, 9 for Korean, 10 for Iranian ......etc

... 99 for Latin.... 101 Martian....

 

[InTheLight]

I find it quite interesting that there is a growing movement here in America that shows illegal's who speak Spanish prefer to not now, or never, learn English as well as speak it! I have provided for your information three links to articles that argue for the above issue, and I wondered how you, as English speaking Americans feel about this growing attitude among the illegal population?

Why do many Mexicans refuse to learn English?

Study: Immigrants who live, work together less apt to learn English - Purdue University

Why Don't Mexicans Want to Learn English?

Two of the three articles are opinion pieces.

Only one of them explains why immigrants don't want to learn English.

None of them mention illegals.

Thread fails.

Sent from my Motorola Droid Turbo.

 

[Rippon]

Proof please.

Personal experience. I have met many Koreans who have related that they are American citizens although they may be in their twenties now and haven't been back since their birth.

I have met women who were pregnant yet planned on going to America for the birth of their child. It's a rather wide-spread thing and common knowledge.

 

[HankD]

Hmm, lets see:

OK, I am of Italian-Jewish decent/heritage and grew up in my childhood in the deprived lower class welfare areas of Boston and New Orleans.

A high school dropout who pulled himself out of the slums earning a college degree via the United States Air Force and the GI bill.

But now somehow I am labeled a narrow-minded arrogant, ugly American in a basket of deplorables clinging to my guns and bible.


HankD

 

[Crabtownboy]

None of this has anything to do with the op. No one is arguing that people so migrate here should never speak there own language. What is being called for is that if they want to be an American they need to assimilate. They need to learn to do business in English not try to force Americans to assimilate to their culture and language.

That's not racist that is common sense. When you have no real argument play the race card.

And if you, as a minister, live in an area where many speak Spanish as a first language, you should learn Spanish so you can witness to them in their language.

 

[TCassidy]

... 99 for Latin.... 101 Martian....

102 for Klingon.

 

[TCassidy]

You do not speak Colonial English. Shame on you.

You don't have a clue! What part of

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

is different from contemporary American English?

 

[TCassidy]

Many anchor babies are born in America and then the family moves back to their home country such as S.Korea or China.

So? Are you suggesting that an American citizen is not free to move or live where ever he/she pleases?

It's just plain stupid to maintain that system.

What is it about Jus Soli that you find so stupid? And what would you change it to? If being born here does not bestow US citizenship what does? Should we hold a plebiscite and vote on every baby born to determine his/her citizenship?

 

[TCassidy]

Your points are EXACTLY why we need to stop the anchor baby law, so, we can remove the entire family!

So by "remove the entire family" you are advocating deporting a US citizen? You realize that is a crime according to US law, right?

Or are you advocating stealing the baby from the parents and breaking up the family? Robbing the child of his parents and robbing the parents of their child? And putting the child in the foster care system, which, in this country, is one of the very worst of all government systems?

You are aware, are you not, that God ordained three institutions. 1. The Family. 2. Civil Government. 3. The church.

Are you really advocating destroying the family which God ordained?

 

[InTheLight]

Man, you liberals would...

TCassidy is a liberal?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!

Is that all you got?

 

[TCassidy]

A high school dropout who pulled himself out of the slums earning a college degree via the United States Air Force and the GI bill.

But now somehow I am labeled a narrow-minded arrogant, ugly American in a basket of deplorables clinging to my guns and bible.

And Hank, I am almost exactly the opposite, so I am labeled (libeled) too.

I was born into an immigrant family. My granddad spoke Spanish (born in Mexico of Spanish parents). His wife, my grandmother, spoke Irish Gaelic (born in Ireland). On the other side my grandfather spoke German (born into a poor farming family in the Ruhr Valley) and my grandmother spoke French (born in Paris and descended from King Louis XIV).

I was raised in at least an upper middle class family. (Possibly upper class, income wise - dad was pretty quiet about his finances, but when he died the estate was substantial.) I am highly educated (well beyond my intelligence, my friends tell me). Was an Army officer who used his GI Bill for Seminary.

I live in a part of the country that is 91% Hispanic. But thanks to my Grandfather's "English Only" policy for his kids and grand kids I speak very little Spanish. My grandfather said, "We are Americans now, we speak only English" and refused to allow his kids or grand kids to speak Spanish.

So here I am. Living in a place where 91% are Spanish speakers and I speak English, German, and French but very little Spanish. My wife, born of German/Danish descent took a year of Spanish in high school and speaks much better Spanish than I do.

Our son-in-law was born in New Jersey of parents born in China and escaped when Communist Mao Tse-tung came to power. He speaks Chinese (Cantonese - Guangzhou) and my grandsons are rapidly becoming trilingual. So much for "English Only."

I have no problem with English being the official language. Thirty-one states have adopted English as their official language and still seem to function (including but not limited to: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming).

Interestingly, in Texas, only 2.9% of Hispanics speak no English while 29% of Hispanics don't speak Spanish!

So, get off the "English Only" kick and let people work out their own lives to their satisfaction. If you can't talk to them, talk to somebody else.

 

[TCassidy]

you liberals

You really don't want to call me names. Really. Trust me on this.

 

[HankD]

I am an English only speaker. I did take 2 years of high school Spanish, so with a few weeks review and conversation with native Spanish speaking folk I could survive.

Strange thing, my Italian grandmother would speak her regional Italian to my cousin and I we both understood her very well, but I couldn't answer her unless it was a simple 1 or 2 word answer. Si, no, latte, aqua, etc. My cousin knew enough Italian to answer her for me. Never could figure that out. He lived there in the North end. We lived at the other end of the Sumner/Callahan Tunnel in East Boston.

My grandmother did learn enough English to speak with the grandkids, my Italian grandfather learned enough to speak with his clientele - he was a barber - He bought property in the North End of Boston (Hull Street) and a Candy Store. One can look down the street and see the Old North Church - the property is worth millions today, my cousin owns it now. He deserves it. He cared for his mother (my aunt) until she died at 99.
She fell asleep eating dinner and did not wake up.

HankD

 

[TCassidy]

he was a barber - . . . and a Candy Store.

Wow. Small world. My grand dad was a barber who bought a candy store! But it was in Detroit, not Boston. So the property is probably worthless today.

 

[Crabtownboy]

You don't have a clue! What part of is different from contemporary American English?

Good fellow, that was not everyday conversation. Try reading authors of that era and you will become familiar, I hope, on some of the changes that have taken place in our language. Also what region of the US are you speaking about? You know there are regional differences. When I was a kid there were areas of West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee where people were speaking pure Elizabethan English.

Some regional American English has undergone "vigorous new sound changes" since the mid-nineteenth century onwards, spawning relatively recent Mid-Atlantic (centered on Philadelphia and Baltimore), Western Pennsylvania(centered on Pittsburgh), Inland Northern (centered on Chicago, Detroit, and the Great Lakes region), Midland(centered on Indianapolis, Columbus, and Kansas City) and Western accents, all of which "are now more different from each other than they were fifty or a hundred years ago." Meanwhile, the unique features of the Eastern New England(centered on Boston) and New York City accents appear to be stable. "On the other hand, dialects of many smaller cities have receded in favor of the new regional patterns";[15] for example, the traditional accents of Charleston and of Cincinnati have given way to the general Midland accent, and of St. Louis now approaches the sounds of an Inland Northern or Midland accent. At the same time, the Southern accent, despite its huge geographic coverage,[13] "is on the whole slowly receding due to cultural stigma: younger speakers everywhere in the South are shifting away from the marked features of Southern speech." Finally, the "Hoi Toider" dialect shows the paradox of receding among younger speakers in North Carolina's Outer Banks islands, yet strengthening in the islands of the Chesapeake Bay.





American English - Wikipedia

 

[TCassidy]

Good fellow, that was not everyday conversation.

What part of the Preamble don't you understand? I will be glad to explain it to you.

 

[HankD]

Wow. Small world. My grand dad was a barber who bought a candy store! But it was in Detroit, not Boston. So the property is probably worthless today.

Amazing coincidence! When my aunt who watched over it died the family closed it.

We had restaurants as well.

The famous Polcari restaurants of Boston are owned by my cousin's maternal side of the family.

In those days there was no DACA (similar laws no doubt) but no one in the several related Italian families on my paternal side came illegally.

My maternal side was Italian and Jewish. Very poor. My maternal grandfather (fair-blue eyed northern Italian) was a dock worker. Lots of LEO's on that side. Everyone legal.

HankD

 

[Sapper Woody]

Personally, I do not think that anyone coming to America should speak only English. However, I think if they plan on staying here, they should learn English. On the other side of the coin, if I were to move to another country, I would expect my family to learn how to speak their language. On a side note, if the move was foreseeable, we'd probably begin studying the language before moving, and hopefully be able to converse in the new language by the time we got there.

Now, when I was stationed in Texas, I learned a little bit of Spanish. I had Spanish (not just Mexican, but Cuban and Puerto Rican) soldiers, and while they spoke English, I wanted them to know that I valued them as my soldiers and as people, and a way to do that in my mind was to learn to communicate with them in their native language. Even though my Spanish never got completely to the conversational level, they let me know that they appreciated the effort.

 

[LowOiL]

What was race baiting? It was not intended to be read with that in mind! Please point out what you took as race baiting! I'd appreciate it!

And thanks for your answers!

Was replying to Saved#, not you. Specifically her saying "or is it just Spanish speakers?"