'...A bilingual United States..'

C

crayon1973

500+ Posts
Was anyone else offended that this question was even asked at the debate? To me, the notion that people in the United States would have to learn Spanish to accommodate a population who has come here illegally was incredibly offensive and I couldn't believe that both candidates didn't feel it necessary to call the reporter out on it.
 
I loved that question simply for the fact that neither of these candidates would offer up an honest answer as they're too busy sucking up for votes.
 
what was the exact question? My first impression was that Jorge Ramos was race baiting and really did not appreciate the tone sort of like "do you like Mexicans? what if they took over? would you hate that or what??".
 
I think you're pretty much right about that, Counting. Funny stuff. He might be found in a park with no blood around him tomorrow.
 
yeah, crayon, how crazy to insinuate anyone of mexican or central american heritage came here illegally. that's a big myth the right wing pushes on the unsuspecting public.
 
crayon
I actually respected Hillary's answer when she said that English must be the language of common usage and Obama's when he encouraged all to learn another language without specifying spanish. But they have both said efore the gov't should PAY for people to learn English.
Yes I thought Jorge was baiting them both.

I was stunned by Obama's knock on No child Left Behind. it was clear he really didn't know what the program is about
 
The No Child Left Behind program has been a disaster. It imposed mandates on schools across the country but provided no funding. While gains have been made in student scores, it is in spite of the president's half-assed reform.
 
fightin
You posted, "The No Child Left Behind program has been a disaster"
So Fightin" What subjects are actually covered by NCLB?
tell us briefly about the program( 2 or 3 setences will do) and how it has affected schools.
btw you DO know those tests are given in spanish?
 
Q: "What do you call someone who only knows one language?"
A: "An American"

The joke above is very telling - told to me by one of my Germany based co-workers. I agree that English should be the prominent language in the United States, but to think we should all only know one language is arrogant and absurd.

The Spanish speaking community in the United States, generally speaking, wants to learn English - but it is very difficult learning a language when 1) they have no resources to learn it and 2) they are surrounded by their native language. My Cuban grandparents don't know English, but when the immigrated to the United States they took English classes that were sponsored by the New York city government. When the city stopped sponsoring the classes, they stopped learning English. Today... 30 years later... my grandma's biggest regret was not learning English. She talks about how sad she was when they cancelled that program. It isn't like she could afford to pay for classes... they were trying to put food on the table and pay rent.

A lot of you guys pour out opinions without knowing how tough it is for these people. My grandparents are very grateful to have escaped the Casto regime. You can't blame them for not knowing English.

The irony is half of you support a president (Bush) who hasn't even mastered one language.
 
I guess you and I interpret wishes for biligualism differently. I think wishes for a biligual America means that many more people learn two languages. You seem to think that it means a nation with two seperate groups of single language speakers, with the government catering to both.

When the reporter asked about a bilingual united states everyone knew he meant English is one of the languages too.

I don't think he was insinuating that the people here should not be bilingual (with English as one of those languages); I think the notion that a significant number of hispanics WANT to live in a Spanish speaking enclave, and not learn English is just plain wrong.
 
While the business for all federal, state, and local governments, including elections & education, should be conducted in English, the private sector should use whatever language they want.

Conversely, every kid in Texas should be taught proficiency in Spanish.
 
WHy is the only way to learn English is from a Gov't paid for program?
How did immigrants from the wave that came from 1870 to 1920 learn English?

Immigrants choose to come here don't they?
 
Ank
ok some didn't BUT How did the ones who did learn, the vast majority btw, learn it?
Why blame not being able to learn English on the gov't not having a program for it? When does it become the responsibility of the person who came here?
answer. today it never does, immigrants. legal and illegal can live an entire life signing up for and receiving gov't benefits, voting, getting drivers licenses etc. There is nothing they can't do .
that was not the case before and i don't see it as a good thing for the USA
 
"EVERYONE IN AMERICA NEEDS TO SPEAK ENGLISH"

Why do you give a **** what language people speak?

As Hamlet says, 'it's just words, words, words.' They all mean the same thing.

Why are you unwilling to expand your vocabulary?

Jesus Christ, I'm sitting here with a Spanish, French, Italian, and Mandarin dictionaries (and a Webster's of course) within arm's reach of my computer. I use them almost every day.

I speak Spanish every day. It's just words. Foreign words are just synonyms for English words. It wouldn't kill you to learn a few new words.

Crayon, if you can speak 2 languages fluently and 2 others somewhat well, why the freak do you care if people speak other languages since you can understand them?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Weekly Prediction Contest

Predict TEXAS-ARIZONA STATE

CFP Round 2 • Peach Bowl
Wed, Jan 1 • 12:00 PM on ESPN
AZ State game and preview thread


Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl website

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top