Should it be required that everyone in USA learns English?
 

My God. Seeing some of the posts here made me think of this topic. Why do people come to the US and don't learn the language? I ain't got nothing against any nationality, but I am a strong believer of "when in Rome". I mean if I went to live in Japan, I would damn sure try my hardest to learn Japanese so I could function as a citizen. You can spout all the BS about this country being a melting pot and accepting of all languages or whatever, but the point is that the people that control the money, economy and big business here speak ENGLISH. How do you expect to get a real job or work your way up in this country and don't even know the dominant language.

I mean it was sad. About a week ago I was driving and right in front of me a van slammed into this car with Mexicans in it. I got out to try to help get these people out the car and they had little babies in there and the adults were bleeding. NONE of them spoke a lick of English so they couldn't tell us what was wrong with them or if anything was wrong with the babies. They were just hysterically speaking Spanish really fast and all of us there that had tried to help just sat like dumbasses waiting for the ambulance to come. I told 911 to make sure that at least one the paramedics that comes knows how to speak Spanish so they can help these people. Now if that's not a hopeless situation to be in -- hurt and frantic and not being able to tell anyone anything. Learn the language!

Habla usted Esapanol?

i agree... if you're going to live here, learn the language

no speaka engrish

I no espeaka English!

why speak english when all the state and federal welfare forms are bilingual

If a prerequisite of living in the USA is having to speak English, there's about 280 million people who need lessons :winkwink:

not a prereq, but they should learn it

I live in Miami and here you do not need english but you do need spanish. I think that is part of the problem.

I would like for everyone to learn it, but there are some older folks who move here and will never learn it and that is a fact of life... as you get older it becomes incredibly hard to learn a new language, on top of that the fact that EVERYONE knows spaish, then you are not 'forced' to learn it.

I think everyone NEEDS to speak english.. well.. that is untill we latinos take over!!

When that happens we are gonna speak a very fucked up english and a worse spanish!!

Which is a sad problem, I know many ppl who move to the states, they never learn english and they start speaking a very fucked up spanish!

oh well to each his/her own...

Habla Español ????

Yeah I was looking at some census bureau projections awhile back and it said in like the next 10 yrs. Latinos will outnumber African Americans and will be the major minority here. But STILL, if you can't speak the language that runs the game, how do you expect to get anywhere in it? Maybe the older folk can be stubborn, but I hope they're teaching their kids how to survive.

fucked up english + fucked up spanish = Texmex

They hold a conversation speaking BOTH languages at the same time.. it's amusing..

Gaby mexicans are not the only ones that do that.. here in miami we call that SPANGLISH and it is pretty fucking cool, how can u talk in both languages.. is cool if u speak them both correctly.. ( which 80% of the ppl here do not )

Their kids speak decent english, don't they? I think it's the adults that have a difficult time learning english. The grammar and the pronunciation is way different.

I have never met an american that could speak flawless spanish.. or speak spanish without an american accent.

English is an easy language, much easier to learn than spanish, and french.

I don't see how someone can live in the United States for 10 years and not speak fluent english..

And I thought the people with the real power and money in the US speak Hebrew....

I know quite a lot of people that were born and raised in Switzerland and still can't speak fluent German...

Yeah other countries give Americans flaque about not speaking their language. I think it should be mandatory anyway. I want to go into a place and be able to get help that speaks English. How frustrating when the person taking your order can't speak English very well!:2 cents:

New Jersey would be forced to suceed from the Union

labret's graphic says it all

america might be a land of opportunity but if you come here we're not going to give you jobs and try to learn your shitty third-world language, you can learn ours so you can contribute to the majority of the society.

Regarding Labrets post:

Did you actually know that German and English are actually bound close together? To a large extent they are of the same origin...

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahha! Very true.

And you wonder why terrorists are flying planes into your skyscrapers. Thats about the most arrogant thing I've read in a long time. I hope the next hijacked jumbo flies into your house.

I agree with rdunn404.

Since my income comes solely from the internet, I am free to move anywhere I like in the world, and have considered countries with languages I do not currently speak. But I do know that if I were ever to move to one, I would surely learn the language of the land before I moved their.

What bothers me is that in the USA, we (the tax payers) have to foot the bill for all the interpreters and the bilingual forms and signs.

It costs a lot of money in CA for example, to make street signs in more than one language, and they are required to have all government forms in several languages.

The reason for this, is that the United States has never "officially" declared a native language.

I think that every U.S. resident should be able to understand and speak at least a little English. Maybe when they first apply for citzienship/green card, etc. they should take a week-long course in English.

oh my godness
you know it's not easy to study language in 1-2 years
jesus!!! you never knew go head go to some asian country with completely understand any word in Jap or Chinese you ' ll know how difficult you are.

trust me and don't blame someone who never know english coz i am a man who not good in english i'm THAI :)

sorry............ i'm miss i mean go to some asian country with not understand any word that people say :)

Learning to speak Japanese or Chinese would be difficult, & trying to remember every written character in their language would be nightmare.
However if you move to country you should make an attempt to learn a little bit of the main language.
I've noticed that people under the age of 25 seem to learn the new language but it is often Parents or the older folk who don't bother to learn.

You shouldn't have to learn any language if you don't want to.

However, all govt services should be written and conducted in English only.

When I encounter someone who can't speak the lang. I wave them away and tell them to bring me someone who speaks English. :Graucho

I would have to agree, if we get down to the basics of it... US the ones with indian in our blood have WAAAY more rights over this land than anglos.. do.. but who gives a fuck about that.

Great way to say how (kkk) you feel asshole!! =) :321GFY Shitty third-world language... hmmmm I m not going to even coment on that... too low for my standards...

...just waiting to see how long it takes before getting called a spic...

Are you calling THAT English?:1orglaugh

Yes!! I don't mind if they speak other languages in recreation or family time, but at least know enough to get by with the "natives".

Isn't that the fucking truth???!!!!

I hear it every day! All day! But, here, everyone knows a little spanish. Chingau, pinchi, pendeho, ponocha, etc.

Can't make a sentence with it, but at least you know when you're being insulted that way.

"Donde esta la ponocha" doe NOT mean "where's the bathroom?"!

Then again, with over half the net being AOL'ers... (and firmly convinced it's the best thing in the world!) what can you expect?

ReFresh

I guess it would be best not to even touch on "ebonics" huh? :)

ReFresh

I thought when you came here from some other country (that's not directly bordered next to us), they gave you a 7-11 store, a motel, and a tax break...

Maybe it's just a perception. I'll be back later. I gotta run down to Abduhl's and grab a pack of smokes right now.

ReFresh