'...A bilingual United States..'

The basis of the melting pot is the English language.

When you toss 12-20 million spanish-speaking people into it, 95% of whom have come from next door in a little over a decade, it throws a wrench into things.
 
How do you say, "If you're going to come here illegally, you should buy an English dictionary and not expect everyone to learn your language" in Spanish, French, Italian, and Mandarin?
 
I think it's funny that people think this is some brand new issue.

Immigrant groups have been coming to America since this nation was founded not knowing how to speak English, and many if not most of them never really learned how. Somehow the country hasn't collapsed.
 
This nation is founded on unwanted people going where they weren't invited.

150 years ago, the vast majority of immigrants never bothered to learn english after they arrived, and many objected to their children learning it at all.

Lord knows your ancestors likely didn't bother learning the native language either.
 
Only 23 percent of first-generation immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries said they spoke English very well, the report found. But 88 percent of the members of the second generation in Latino immigrant families described themselves as strong English speakers, a figure that increased to 94 percent for the grandchildren’s generation.
The Link
The Link

So Spanish speaking immigrants are behaving no differently than previous generations of immigrants who spoke Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, French, Greek, Yiddish, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Persian, Ukrainian etc. As for legislating English as the official language of the U.S., there is little reason to enact laws to require people to do what they already doing.


In fact, a study coauthored by Professor of Sociology Alejandro Portes found that immigrant children embrace English just as rapidly as those who came to this country at the turn of the century. Among today's newcomers, Italian and German have been replaced with Spanish or languages of the Pacific rim, but the pattern is the same: by the time they finish high school, children of immigrants prefer English to their native tongues and often lose the ability to write fluently in the language of their parents.
The Link
 
Macanudo: in my post above, I posted links I found when looking for documentation whether Mexican immigrants are learning English or not. The links state that they do so at a rate similar to past immigrants. Perhaps it doesn't feel that way, because we in Texas are in the center of it, but is there documentation for your, and others in this thread's view that Mexican immigrants are not following the traditional pattern, or is it just anecdotal.

I honestly don't know, except for the fruits of 5 minutes of internet searching, and am willing to be persuaded otherwise.
 
Are you going to translate that into multiple languages for me or take the easy way out and prattle on in English about the value of everyone speaking multiple languages?
 
IIRC, The Americans who moved to Tejas, Mexico, were supposed to learn Spanish and convert to Catholicism. Not only did they not learn Spanish or convert, they took the land in a fight a few years later.
 
It's funny to me that nobody on this thread has actually addressed the question that Jorge Ramos actually asked, which was whether there was a downside to a bilingual US.
Personally, I don't think so, because I think the market sorts these kinds of things out through the normal diffusion patterns.

I also think it's funny that crayon, of all people, got so worked up over his own conjectures.
 
Yawn... this whole argument to make the Mexicans speak English or else, because we are trying to preserve our national heritage is just a cover for latent racism. If you would have used your UT education to take a psych 101 class you would have learned that once you pass the early childhood stage it becomes exponentially harder to learn a new language. My mother is from Mexico, my fathers parents were from mexico. They all came here legally and worked hard to better themselves. My mother taught me spanish first and then I learned english 2nd. I am now a Medical student and have accomplished many things in my life and I will accomplish many more. Should I get discriminated against because I learned spanish first? Because I choose to be bilingual? I have a mexican friend with me in school who's parents actually refused to teach her spanish because when her parents were in school they were teased because they spoke spanish. Somehow I don't think that is right that she should be afraid of her heritage and where she came from. I personally am proud to be able to help more people in the hospital than my other colleagues can simply for the fact that I myself speak spanish. While they have to track down an interpreter I can go about my business. Not only is being bilingual helpful in every day situations, it is also beneficial to your pocket book, because last I checked if you are bilingual you have a better pay scale. Also I have traveled the world and America is one of the few countries that makes it's citizens feel ashamed if they are bilingual. Just like the Irish, Africans, and Chinese before us the Hispanic population is this eras scapegoat for all things wrong with our society. Hopefully I along with other people from my ethnicity can change that perception when we assume fundamental positions to the communities we live in so that future Hispanic generations can partake in the American Dream as well.
 
oh good God

No one is saying "LOL you are bilingual" or implying that it is anything but great if people can speak English AND Spanish. The problem is when people only speak Spanish and expect the country around them to cater to them.
 
I'm sorry have you ever been out in Dallas and spoken in spanish in public? It's almost like you punched a baby in the face and then pointed and laughed. Don't give me that line sir.
 
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