IronWing
No Lifer
- Jul 20, 2001
- 72,959
- 34,138
- 136
Simple, I live in a town where Spanish was the majority language for longer than the U.S. has been the U.S. English was also spoken here from about day one. Now english is the majority language here but maybe not for long. People get by with either or both. It isn't a big deal except to folks who move here for the climate and have no interest in things being different than where they came from. In other words, the immigrants from other parts of the U.S. are the ones unwilling to adapt to local custom. The immigrants from other countries do fine. Communication is 90% desire and maybe 10% language.
The only fault I find in using the above to support the OP is that it says "Any man who says he is an American...". If the immigrant cannot physically say he/she is "an American", then it is obvious that person cannot speak english and cannot be an American citizen.
One of the phases of gaining US citizenship is an interview with an INS paper-pusher. Questions are asked and must be answered in english no doubt. My parents told me it was hard for them because their english isn't fluent and that the questions were very trivial (i.e. Who is the president on the $1 bill, etc).
However, when I went through my interview for citizenship, I read a declaration statement of citizenship provided to me by the interviewer in very fluent english. Needless to say, my interviewer stopped right there and didn't ask me any further questions.
Immigrants definitely have a right to stay and live in the US. However, do not make the assumption that just because a person can only speak a non-english language that they are below you. It is quite apparent that THAT person is not an American, that is all.
It is hard to put my thoughts into words, but if you truly think about it, what Roosevelt suggested is that an assimilated immigrant becomes an American by fulfilling 2 requirements:
1) speak english
2) loyalty to the USA
As a Mexican, I agree with the original poster.
If you are going to move to a different country, you should at least be respectful of their customs and language. Few things define a culture, a nation (what the germans would call 'Volk') more than a common language. So if an immigrant moves to another country and expects equal treatment, a job and privileges, the least thing he can do is learn the language. I firmly believe that the main reason for which someone, even after living for an extended period of time in a foreign country, didn't learn the language, is utter lazyness.
That also goes to american executives and entrepeneurs who come to Mexico, live here for some years but never bother to learn even the most basic spanish because 'they are too good for it'
If you are going to move to a different country, you should at least be respectful of their customs and language. Few things define a culture, a nation (what the germans would call 'Volk') more than a common language. So if an immigrant moves to another country and expects equal treatment, a job and privileges, the least thing he can do is learn the language. I firmly believe that the main reason for which someone, even after living for an extended period of time in a foreign country, didn't learn the language, is utter lazyness.
That also goes to american executives and entrepeneurs who come to Mexico, live here for some years but never bother to learn even the most basic spanish because 'they are too good for it'
i dont think it's a big deal. i support displaying signs, posters, advertisements in whatever language people want them to be. there's even a mcdonalds that has no english on the outside of it near my house in the san gabriel valley.. one side is chinese the other side is korean
her209
No Lifer
- Oct 11, 2000
- 56,336
- 11
- 0
I live in a Rancho <Insert Name> and every fvcking street sign is in Spanish, Calle <Name>. Now I understand that it was my choice to live here, but what I wonder kind of uproar there would be if street signs were in Chinese/Korean/Japanese with no translation? :evil.
No, we are not. Chinese Take-out menus are not in English for us, they are in English for the Chinese Restaurant owners.
If they were not in english, then english speaking ppl could not read it, they would not buy it, the Chinese would not sell it and would make hardly any money.
Agreed. I came from the Czech Republic 10 years ago, learned English quickly, so I don't see how others cannot manage to learn English after living here for more than a year. PLUS, English is trivial to learn compared to other languages (French, German, Russian etc), so it's pure laziness on their part. I hate it when they don't speak English. For that reason alone I couldn't live in FL or CA.
LOLOL I'm chinese, and sometimes when i go to a Chinese restaurant, i'm giving the Chinese menu without English... it's happening a lot more since i'm older now.
It's also irrelevant spin/propaganda he was probably using to pander to a certain group.
The fact remains...this country has no official language and likely never will.
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