Why won't people learn to speak English ?

Don M. said:
In California, and New Mexico...the Latino population is the single largest Ethnic group....Arizona and Texas are almost there. I suppose in that part of the country Spanish language is quite common. The SW is all part of the region that the Spanish organization La Raza calls Aztlan...which they feel was taken illegally from Mexico during the Spanish/American war. It appears that since there is little likelihood of "Aztlan" becoming part of Mexico, again, the tactic is to flood that region with Latino's, and create a separate "de facto" nation within the nation.
Click to expand...

I don't know. Maybe. I know they come here because they don't like the way things are over there. They don't like their government, and no matter how hard they work, they can't get ahead. When they work hard here (and they do work hard), they can have things, so I don't think they want to see any drastic changes in America, but I could be wrong about that.
 

Cap'nSacto said:
I don't know. Maybe. I know they come here because they don't like the way things are over there. They don't like their government, and no matter how hard they work, they can't get ahead. When they work hard here (and they do work hard), they can have things, so I don't think they want to see any drastic changes in America, but I could be wrong about that.
Click to expand...

I can understand the Latino's trying to come here....Much of Central and South America is a total mess, and the general population lives a bare subsistence lifestyle...with little chance for improvement. In reality, it is only the Latino willingness to work hard that allows us to have well stocked produce sections in our grocery stores...our own people are too lazy to work the farm fields. However, I think that once these people make the decision to come here, they would better assimilate into our society by learning English.
 
As I understand it, only those who are fluent in English should come to the US. So that means Americans can only go to where English is spoken. That kind of eliminates 95% of the world, since English is spoken in less than 5%. The ability to learn languages decreases with age. And I think it's obvious the need to make a living is more necessary than learning to be fluent in a language.
 

The Mexican immigrants are no different than immigrants from other countries. They come here for a chance at a better life. After a while, they become Americans like the rest of us. Unless you are American Indian, all Americans are descended from people who did the same. This business of Reconquista, or re-conquering the south west is B.S. Sure, there will be some change in culture. The U.S. has always been a blend. That's part of our strength.

Don
 
debbie in seattle said:
I come from a family of immigrants who never really had a grasp of the English language, right or wrong, I get it. My grandmother didn’t really speak English, nor any of her cousins, etc. They didn’t need to, they lived in Chicago in their own community and somehow managed. The kids would take them to the doctors offices, etc.
Even while I was working many, many years later (in healthcare), I’d see the same thing. The kids would bring their parents, grandparent, etc and be the interpreter. It is also a law (at least here in Washington State) that an interpreter would be supplied for those who didn’t grasp our language.
While I also fully support the ideal folks need to learn the language of the country they live in, I’m grateful to of been part of a family with such rich heritage.
Click to expand...


Same story for me. I grew up in Pittsburgh but my grandparents lived in Chicago. There were many Hungarian clubs that they belonged to. It was a very large community.
My grandfather who owned a pharmacy in Hungary did learn English at the age of 65 and passed the pharmacy license test so that he could work PT as a pharmacist at Bethany Hospital in Chicago.

My grandmother who never left the house except to walk to Devon avenue for food, only learned a few necessary words.

She has a huge group of Hungarian friends so didn't bother her at all.

What amazed us was that she was the idiot savant of "Wheel of Fortune". She never missed a show an dcluod solve most of the puzzles. Maybe she knew more English than she let on. :)
 
The ability to learn a language decreases with age. The older immigrants are, the more they tend to speak their native language, and know only a few non native phrases.. Their children are bilingual. And later, their grand children don't speak the native language, other than a few phrases.
 
Grampa Don said:
The Mexican immigrants are no different than immigrants from other countries. They come here for a chance at a better life. After a while, they become Americans like the rest of us. Unless you are American Indian, all Americans are descended from people who did the same. This business of Reconquista, or re-conquering the south west is B.S. Sure, there will be some change in culture. The U.S. has always been a blend. That's part of our strength.

Don
Click to expand...

I second the call of BS on the idea of Reconquista. Perhaps some extremists groups would subscribe to that notion, but there is no conspiracy

or concerted effort to initiate a Reconquista.
 
CeeCee, my maternal grandparents were also Hungarian. They were also Jewish, so the only languages they knew were Hungarian and Yiddish. My mother was born a year after they arrived in NY. Unfortunately, they both
died before I was born, so I never knew either of them.

My mother, of course, was 100% American. It took one generation for complete assimilation. The Spanish-speaking immigrants are doing it even faster than that.
 
I agree with you. I live in a place where saying that is considered racist. Do you know how many spanish speaking countries there are and what is the major industry that makes their language so necessary. South America, Spain and Mexico but I don't know what the major industry is that makes them necessary do you? They are paid more here because they speak a different language.
 
Sunny said:
CeeCee, my maternal grandparents were also Hungarian. They were also Jewish, so the only languages they knew were Hungarian and Yiddish. My mother was born a year after they arrived in NY. Unfortunately, they both
died before I was born, so I never knew either of them.

My mother, of course, was 100% American. It took one generation for complete assimilation. The Spanish-speaking immigrants are doing it even faster than that.
Click to expand...


True.

Children learn quickly and easily...adults take a little longer and don't lose the accent like children do...at least that's been my experience.
 
Most of them, I think, are doing the best they can. It's hard for an older generation to learn another language, or at least I've found it so.
 
Don M. said:
However, I think that once these people make the decision to come here, they would better assimilate into our society by learning English.
Click to expand...

Sorry, don't agree. Immigrants most often come here to give their CHILDREN a better life.

Both sets of my grandparents came here in the 1800's and became farmers. Both grandfathers were "black sheep", shipped off from affluent minor aristocracy. They didn't speak English, but all their children spoke both English and Japanese.

For that matter, my maternal grandparents settled in a Swedish community. Most of their peers spoke Swedish first and English a poor second. I'm sure there was a lot of hand gestures and charades involved with the older generations communicating with one another!

By the third generation, you'll find many immigrant's grandchildren ONLY speak English.

When I was growing up in Chicago, you could tell where you were without looking around. If you heard German you were out somewhere on West Halstead. If you heard Polish you were around Maxwell St.

Now I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's common to hear people speaking other languages. We were eating lunch at an Asian fusion restaurant yesterday, and a Middle Eastern couple were speaking French to one another.

English is an extraordinarily difficult language to master, being a polyglot language full of inconsistencies. A great many Asians and Europeans think less of Americans for not bothering to learn other languages. Being bi- or tri-lingual is not uncommon outside the U.S.

My FIL was an uneducated man. He never had the chance to advance his education because he was the eldest and had to support his mother and six siblings when his father died. But he was a whiz with languages. When I first met him I thought he had the strangest accent I'd ever heard from a Chinese.
Then I learned it was because he spoke so many languages. He knew FIVE Chinese dialects, Japanese, Russian, and German, in addition to English and Portuguese (he held Portuguese citizenship).
 
Don M. said:
I can't remember buying anything in decades where the labeling or owners manual didn't have both English and Spanish. This nation has people who come from dozens of nations...speaking dozens of languages. Yet, it seems that only those coming from Spanish speaking nations are given the benefit of information in their native language. Is there some reason why only that language is deemed important??? I firmly believe that if a person wants to immigrate to another nation, one of their highest priorities should be to learn the language and try to assimilate into their new nations culture.

Years ago, when the USAF sent me to Germany, the base had German language classes, and I attended them for the first 3 or 4 months I was there. I was able to learn enough basic German to communicate with the locals, and start to get out amongst them. Over time, I began to spend much of my off duty time off base, and had a bunch of local German friends....many of them thought I was French, at first, because I spoke German with a funny accent. Learning the language allowed me to have a really great time in Europe...instead of just sitting on base and griping...like so many of our guys did because they felt like strangers over there.
Click to expand...

I did the same thing when we were stationed in Germany -- we were there almost 10 years -- I learned enough German to get along just fine, and had a great time. Even though many of the German people spoke English, it was a great help to speak German. I probably had a funny accent, too, but no one seemed to mind. Some of my German friends liked to practice their English on me and I'd get them to help me with my German -- it was FUN. It also was a help at my job (I worked for the Army over there), even though it wasn't a requirement.

I've forgotten most of it now, though.
 
Butterfly, I had the same experience in Germany, when my husband was stationed there back in the 50's. Many of us made German friends and were welcomed into their lives. One of our friends, who was a teenager back then, is prominent in local politics. We've kept in touch all these years, visiting a few times, exchanging pictures of grandchildren, etc. Hans is fluent in English, and was a kind of unofficial good will ambassador between the Germans and the American troops. About a year ago, he wrote a book about the friendships between the American troops stationed in Germany back then, and the German people. My husband and I were featured in one chapter!
 
I came to New Mexico a little more than 30 years ago with a friend who was very sick and wanted to die here, his favorite place. After he died, I had to decide what I wanted to do. I have always loved New Mexico for its multiculturalism; I felt very comfortable here partly because of that and it swayed my decision to stay here.

I don't care what language other people speak. I figure it belongs in a rather large group of things called none of my business.
 
I really don't have any problems with any cultures learning English or not..I didn't learn until I started kindergarten. Languages are easy for me, so I know enough Spanish to get by in California. :)
 
I know a Polish lady around 70, lived here a long time. Doesn't speak English. She is friendly
and expects others to know Polish. They find other Poles to talk to and do business with.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top