These women are already in trouble for neglect of their children. But, the judge is telling them they need to learn the language, and in one case start taking birth control. If they don’t, he’ll completely remove the children from their care.
I think that you should definitely learn the language where you live (I’m trying, I’m trying!) but to make a threat like that? That’s a bit severe. However, that would definitely provide me with incentive to get the language down quicker.
Is this even legal? Can a judge actually do something like that in America?
As I have recently learned, there is no “official” language in this country. As such, I don’t think the judge can order someone to learn to speak english. On the other hand, if neglect is established and actual harm is coming to the child due to the inaction/inability of the parent to comply, I suppose the judge can simply order her to comply with with expected parental obligations (doctor’s visits, parent-teacher meetings, etc…) and in an indirect way force the mother to learn english by default.
That was my thought on it. If she didn’t take the child in for the shots he/she needed because she didn’t understand the language, I can see it perhaps being a requirement for her to learn English. Not necessarily for any other reason but to be able to “do right” by her child.
My question is, why would learning english help the mother communicate with her daughter?
Wouldn’t the daughter speak Mixteco?
It said the mother speaks only Mixteco, but when I googled it, according to the 1990 census, only 138 people in an isolated part of Mexico spoke it and they were all over 60 years old…
I’m so confused
Well, I got a smile out of it. How do you speak “Hispanic”? You say "Hey, vatos, check it out, mi guirla es una hottie"?? “Loocy, yu got som s’plainin to do”? “Hough-lah, mey yammo Jorge Boosh y ess-toy cow-rryen-dough pawra President”?
(Hey, I’m a 'spanic, I can get away with that, OK? )
And yes, it seems some important information is missing here – for instance if the mother of the 11-year-old only speaks Mixtec (plus some marginal pidgin Spanish), and the child is an English-speaker that can’t communicate back, the mother-child relationship has been seriously compromised already at some point in the past, and the facts about that may contain a better explanation than mere assimilation orthodoxy.
I find that including the removes most of the fun.
JRDelirious, your post reminds me of that Far Side cartoon with a bunch of dolphins in a pool and various people standing around with microphones. The blackboard is covered with things like Aw-Blah Es-Pan-Yool, Ko-Mo Ehs-Ta, Moo-Chow Goose-Toe.
Searching isn’t really helping me. What exactly is Mixteco? Is it just a variant spelling of Mestizo? Am I correct in assuming that Mixteco is a creole of Spanish and Nahautl or aother Incan, Mayan, Aztec, Toltec, Olmec language?
Here in Philadelphia, all mail from the department of welfare comes in English, but the last page is filled with sentences in various languages saying ‘If you cannot read English, please call this number to speak to a worker in (whatever language)’. Anouncements from the county medicaid department are mailed in English and Spanish. If there are that many people speaking Spanish and/or Mixteco in Lebanon, there is no reason why the department should not print messages in English and Spanish, and AFAIK the department is required by law to have workers fluent in those languages.
Re Birth Control
I’m unclear from reading the article whether the Judge ordered it as a condition for custody (In which case I’m furious) or just suggested that contraception woul be a good idea (In which case, it often is a good idea to put off kids for a few years and work on improving your financial status).
Taking people’s kids away for reasons unrelated to gross danger to the children’s welfare is an abuse, and is morally reprehensible. We have no right to use people’s children as ransom, no matter how important we think the issue may be. Taking away children is about their protection, not punishment.
Especially considering that our foster system sucks ass. These children will invariably be better cared for in the home of the mother that loves them and cares about their future than split up and put with strangers. I can’t believe a judge would even joke about ruining kids’ lives like this.
Part of the problem - and it’s a real problem - is that English is the de facto official language in this country and in many areas not being able to communicate in English really is crippling. Although many urban areas now have a sizable community of Spanish-speakers (and frequently other language groups), in more rural areas it’s English-only. There are no bilingual signs, the local governments publish only in English, there are no other-than-English TV stations or radio stations… And if you don’t know English you really are isolated and at a disadvantage.
Now, whether the judge’s solution is the best is another question… and the “learn Hispanic” quote makes me think that, despite a law degree, his educational background is lacking.
However, an adult of average intelligence IS capable of learning basic communication skills in English in six months or less when immersed in the language - such as living in an English-only area. That doesn’t mean they’ll be reading Shakespeare and giving public speeches, but learning the basic phrases like “Where is this?” and “Where in the store is the milk?” and “What day and time do I come back to the doctor for my next appointment” are all within the realm of possibility. These parents don’t need great English skills, they just need to be able to communicate.
So the mother is illiterate and only has a six-grade education? Maybe that has nothing to do with her smarts but rather lack of opportunity back home (which might be why she moved to Tennessee). Sounds like what the area really needs is a good ESL teacher more than anything else.
Having an EAL teacher in my family, I couldn’t agree with this more. With 400 Mixteco speakers to deal with, the local authorities can’t pretend that they are unable to make any provisions to ensure their children are looked after properly before it gets to this stage.
And even sven’s absolutley right, that the trauma that would be caused to a child being separated from their parents vastly outweighs possible problems due to linguistic barriers.
(FWIW, anyone who’s dealt with such families can tell you that the big problem is normally trying to persuade the parents to continue using their mother tongue - they try to speak English (in the misguided belief that their children will get left behind otherwise), and the child never learns their native language properly, and can’t communicate with family members in the country of origin.)
Well, I got a smile out of it. How do you speak “Hispanic”? You say "Hey, vatos, check it out, mi guirla es una hottie"?? “Loocy, yu got som s’plainin to do”? “Hough-lah, mey yammo Jorge Boosh y ess-toy cow-rryen-dough pawra President”?
)