No hablo ingl

[Thor99]

Just like we all learned to speak Navaho, Cherokee or Huron. Give me a break, take a step off your horse and realize where you come from. You were no more welcome here than you make them out to be.

I hope they make Spanish the primary language down there, allow someone to keep their culture. Lord knows we have not. The entire south side of Milwaukee is Spanish speaking, doesn't bother me a bit. When i travel into that area, I make a point to speak the language with them.

Nobody is saying that they have to lose their culture.

I myself am an immigrant, and can't imagine having never learned English.

[Alk]

Maybe you and Susan Sarandon should move to Canada together.

ZING!!

[rillo]

**** that, they come here, they learn the language. It's not the pc stance but **** it. This is coming from someone who is mostly puerto rican and whose grandparents were born in puerto rico. So I am of hispanic/latino/whatever the **** it's being called nowadays decent and probably the only person who is from a group that is considered a non-immigrant group. The language here is English, people should learn to speak it. I'm not saying they shouldn't speak their own languages and that there shouldn't be large hispansic communities and hispanic newspapers and posts offices. I don't give a **** about that. It's the people who have been here for 10 years and can't speak one word of English. It's something that is taught to you for free. THey should make an attempt to learn the language and the culture. Why does the majority have to conform to the minority instead of the minority "melting" into the majority. Everyone should learn spanish because 10% of the population refuses to "melt" into the melting pot? **** that.

Agreed, sent some rep ur way on this....

[Thor99]

In Europe they start teaching the languages in first and second grade. There is no uproar about it at all, it seems to me american's fight the idea of learning new languages because we do not want to conform.

I'm all for teaching kids different languages. However, this is far from your argument. You're saying that immigrants shouldn't have to learn English.

I know for a fact that in Germany, immigrants need to learn German in order to wholly function in that society.

[SouthernJet]

I'm all for teaching kids different languages. However, this is far from your argument. You're saying that immigrants shouldn't have to learn English.

I know for a fact that in Germany, immigrants need to learn German in order to wholly function in that society.

he knows,,he got caught in a silly youthful statement, and then was trying to backpedal..

youth...

[124]

That is why the United States is an utter joke.

Thanks for staying in the USA. Go on and get outta here. You won't be missed!

[SouthernJet]

**** that, they come here, they learn the language. It's not the pc stance but **** it. This is coming from someone who is mostly puerto rican and whose grandparents were born in puerto rico. So I am of hispanic/latino/whatever the **** it's being called nowadays decent and probably the only person who is from a group that is considered a non-immigrant group. The language here is English, people should learn to speak it. I'm not saying they shouldn't speak their own languages and that there shouldn't be large hispansic communities and hispanic newspapers and posts offices. I don't give a **** about that. It's the people who have been here for 10 years and can't speak one word of English. It's something that is taught to you for free. THey should make an attempt to learn the language and the culture. Why does the majority have to conform to the minority instead of the minority "melting" into the majority. Everyone should learn spanish because 10% of the population refuses to "melt" into the melting pot? **** that.

great f'in post..

I am 1st generation Ukranian..

Sure, folks spoke Uke in house,,but came here knowing nuthin and learned it, went to schools/universities, worked in companies etc..

melting pot is agreat thing,,but the main theme is the MAIN POT one is in...

[SouthernJet]

Thanks for staying in the USA. Go on and get outta here. You won't be missed!

[Thor99]

Pretty naive to expect a country to make an attempt at being bilingual?

I just caught this gem.

You expect the country to be bi-lingual, but not actual immigrants. Got it.

[SouthernJet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drago

Pretty naive to expect a country to make an attempt at being bilingual?

I just caught this gem.

You expect the country to be bi-lingual, but not actual immigrants. Got it.

Holy jumpin crap bullets...

F'in POTYear..

Great catch ..

:rl::rl:

[MrsTaborJet]

I just caught this gem.

You expect the country to be bi-lingual, but not actual immigrants. Got it.

We must adapt to everyone coming into the country, legal or otherwise. Thor, you just aren't following his logic.

[SouthernJet]

We must adapt to everyone coming into the country, legal or otherwise. Thor, you just aren't following his logic.

Yes, the Government will send you a list of the 236 languages spoken in US,,

MrsTabor,,you have 6 months to learn them..

oh wait,,the list is printed in 235 languages,,not in English

[drago]

I'm all for teaching kids different languages. However, this is far from your argument. You're saying that immigrants shouldn't have to learn English.

I know for a fact that in Germany, immigrants need to learn German in order to wholly function in that society.

The Italians and chinese had/have areas where the spoke those languages first. In time, they learned English. I don't see the problem with that happening again?

Maybe i should move to canada, it's hard to own a small business and pay for our health care. I have to sit at a full time job just to get that coverage...

[Thor99]

The Italians and chinese had/have areas where the spoke those languages first. In time, they learned English. I don't see the problem with that happening again?

But they did eventually learn English. You're saying that not only do they not have to learn English, we need to learn Spanish.

Maybe i should move to canada, it's hard to own a small business and pay for our health care. I have to sit at a full time job just to get that coverage...

Yeah, move to Canada for their health care. That's a great idea. And you have to work full-time in order to pay your bills? What a concept.

I really don't understand this self-loathing.

[Alk]

The Italians and chinese had/have areas where the spoke those languages first. In time, they learned English. I don't see the problem with that happening again?

Maybe i should move to canada, it's hard to own a small business and pay for our health care. I have to sit at a full time job just to get that coverage...

Holy crap dude. God forbid someone would have to work a full time job.

[MasonJet]

I've never been to Miami so I don't really know much about the situation down there.

But I will say that based on the history of Italian, Polish, German,and immigrants from all of the other countries, the 1st generation of immigrants will have trouble learning English and will stick to their native languages, but the generations that succeed them will have an easier time assimilating and most of them will learn English. I would bet that the wide majority of younger Latinos in this country know both languages. It is a lot easier to learn a new language you are younger so the older immigrants that come are less likely to learn English. Latinos are rapidly becoming the 2nd largest race in this country after whites and may even equal them in some time.

The thing that annoys me about this is that Cubans in Miami have such a stranglehold over American relations with Cuba and are the only reason we still have the useless embargo.

[SouthernJet]

The Italians and chinese had/have areas where the spoke those languages first. In time, they learned English. I don't see the problem with that happening again?

Maybe i should move to canada, it's hard to own a small business and pay for our health care. I have to sit at a full time job just to get that coverage...

that was for the ones off the boat,,the kids immediately learned english from day one,,plus i dont recall everone in US learnoing italian/german/Russian etc..

u seem to imply its ok for them not to learn english,,to have spanish only schools,,which IMHO lessens their chance of succeeding in mainstream society

[war ensemble]

For any immigrant to succeed in mainstream society, they are going to have to learn that country's native language. I do not see why it is such a big problem, look at the huge immigrant rushes throughout the history of the United States. These families just came over to America and lived together in a clustered group, and as time went on they adapted and learned some of our culture and language which passed on from generation to the next until they felt americanized.

I do not see why all of America should have to adapt for the Spanish languages to serve a minority if every other immigrant group was able to adapt. If we go by this reasoning, people should be walking down the street talking to their neighbors in at least 20 languages. It's just not going to happen, unless you are suggesting we should make a special place for the Spanish-speaking immigrants. If so, why?

[Barton]

I've never been to Miami so I don't really know much about the situation down there.

But I will say that based on the history of Italian, Polish, German,and immigrants from all of the other countries, the 1st generation of immigrants will have trouble learning English and will stick to their native languages, but the generations that succeed them will have an easier time assimilating and most of them will learn English. I would bet that the wide majority of younger Latinos in this country know both languages. It is a lot easier to learn a new language you are younger so the older immigrants that come are less likely to learn English. Latinos are rapidly becoming the 2nd largest race in this country after whites and may even equal them in some time.

The thing that annoys me about this is that Cubans in Miami have such a stranglehold over American relations with Cuba and are the only reason we still have the useless embargo.

As a first generation American I can say that is true.

But my parents didnt have a button they could press on their TVs to watch the program in their native language. They didnt have the rest of the country catering to them, it was the other way around. They had to learn English to work and live here, so they learned it. Now you see todays Spanish immigrants who cant speak any English because they dont have to in order to live and work here. It's a## backwards.

1 country. 1 language. Learn it or get out.

[Jetfan13]

I must be getting old. In one thread I agreed with SJ and Barton..

Hey Drago, you can come down off your high horse anytime now. My ancestors didn't speak English when they got here. I wish I did speak Italian now but it wasn't an option. My garndparents didn't teach it to any of their children. It was English in America, and thats what they wanted their children to speak.

[BP]

I speak Spanish fluently. I never went to school for it, I just learned it from working with guys from Guatemala over an 18 year period. a company of over 200 employees and I'm the only gringo that knows that farking language. heh.

It's an easy language to learn. but than again, so is English.

[war ensemble]

I speak Spanish fluently. I never went to school for it, I just learned it from working with guys from Guatemala over an 18 year period. a company of over 200 employees and I'm the only gringo that knows that farking language. heh.

It's an easy language to learn. but than again, so is English.

I'd say English is easy to learn, but hard to master. Some parts of it make it very easy to learn, especially if you already know a romance language, such as the similar alphabets without any accent marks, same roots (both from Latin for most words), similar conjugated forms that are easy to relate to. The language becomes harder with spelling/pronunciation(silent letters, etc) and correct usage between the numerous words that mean extremely similar ideas. But an immigrant could easily get by from Mexico/Spain by just saying stuff similar to Spain in a really basic tone and the normal English speaker would understand him.

[JonEJet]

I heard through the greapevine that Omar Minaya wants to be Mayor of Miami

[124]

I speak Spanish fluently. I never went to school for it, I just learned it from working with guys from Guatemala over an 18 year period. a company of over 200 employees and I'm the only gringo that knows that farking language. heh.

It's an easy language to learn. but than again, so is English.

Speak for yourself. In High School it took me three years to do two years of Spanish and both times I passed it was with a D.

[BP]

Speak for yourself. In High School it took me three years to do two years of Spanish and both times I passed it was with a D.

Ah the intelligence of the new youth of America, god help us.

[124]

Ah the intelligence of the new youth of America, god help us.

Heh. Spanish is a very hard language to learn, IMO. Trust me, I was probably one of the worst so you don't have to worry about most of the youth.

[BP]

Heh. Spanish is a very hard language to learn, IMO. Trust me, I was probably one of the worst so you don't have to worry about most of the youth.

You're right, maybe I'm just really smart.

[124]

You're right, maybe I'm just really smart.

I wouldn't go that far.

[BP]

I'd say English is easy to learn, but hard to master. Some parts of it make it very easy to learn, especially if you already know a romance language, such as the similar alphabets without any accent marks, same roots (both from Latin for most words), similar conjugated forms that are easy to relate to. The language becomes harder with spelling/pronunciation(silent letters, etc) and correct usage between the numerous words that mean extremely similar ideas. But an immigrant could easily get by from Mexico/Spain by just saying stuff similar to Spain in a really basic tone and the normal English speaker would understand him.

What's weird is that every country speaks a slightly different version of spanish. my friend is Dominican and he calls a bag a ''funda''. the Mexicans and Guatemalans call it a ''balsa''. it's kind of like the Brits, the Aussies and Americans. we all speak English differently.

[BP]

I wouldn't go that far.

No, you got a D in spanish. so your opinion of my intelligence is irrelevant, dumbass.

[124]

No, you got a D in spanish. so your opinion of my intelligence is irrelevant, dumbass.

There shouldn't be grades given out for foreign languages, dick. They don't matter.

[war ensemble]

What's weird is that every country speaks a slightly different version of spanish. my friend is Dominican and he calls a bag a ''funda''. the Mexicans and Guatemalans call it a ''balsa''. it's kind of like the Brits, the Aussies and Americans. we all speak English differently.

Yeah, pronunciation, spelling, and meaning all share slight variations from Mexico, Spain, and everywhere in Latin America. For instance, pronunciation of "ll" in Spain's Spanish is similar to our "y" in yellow. In Latin America that same "ll" is pronounced as a "j" or "h" sound. I prefer Spain's Spanish, it just seems cleaner and, after all, is the original. What's funny is Mexican Spanish does a great job of cheating the system and adding quite a few more words like la banana, etc. that are just english words with its proper spanish article put in front of it. I guess that is the one influence America has had on them. It's just like English and almost every other language, (Italian, etc) where two versions have adapted to their unique cultures. They can still fully understand each other, or they should be able to.

As for 124, if you know English or any other romance language, Spanish should not be hard for you to learn at all. No offense. It's just really comparable to english and everything you do is very similar, there's no real steep learning curve. The grammar is fairly simple, there's nothing too out of the ordinary when compared to english. Plus you can understand a load of it by just listening to the language and thinking of what word it sounds similar to, like la rosa=rose and el banco= bank. It's nothing like Chinese where your main focus is memorizing and basically learning two languages at once or even the likes of Greek. I'd compare Spanish to German, you shouldn't have a problem with either. It's nothing like the five declensions and their variations present in Latin which is pretty different from what we are used to in English.

[124]

To each his own. For some it clicks, for others it didn't. Stupid little words like that were easy.. but when you have words that have several meanings and you get into paragraphs... thats where it just goes blank in my mind.

[MrsTaborJet]

I'm hoping Spanish will be easy to learn; I need to take two semesters of any language to graduate. I had Spanish in 7th and 8th grade, but since I didn't have any language in High School, I need it now. Damn that HS! I'm choosing Spanish for a wide variety of reasons, mostly I think it will be easiest to learn and it will be more useful than any other language. I have no problem with learning other languages, but I feel strongly that if you want to live in this country and become a citizen of this country, then learn this country's main language.

[Alk]

Heh. Spanish is a very hard language to learn, IMO. Trust me, I was probably one of the worst so you don't have to worry about most of the youth.

It's actually not that hard to learn. I took one year of it my freshman year. I could speak it fairly well but just thought the class was boring as sin so I didn't sign up for it again. I have since forgotten most of it although I can still pick up on things here and there.