Everyone on this country should speak at least two languages at a fairly high level. English should be one of them.
If you cant, you are not in a position to whine about others.
Almost every European can speak at least two languages (and many can speak more). A large majority of Africans can speak three or more languages (and many can speak 5 or 6). Are Americans simply dumber than these people? Is the American brain capacity lower?
Get up off of your lazy ass and learn another languge. When you do I can promise you several things:
You will lower your risk of Alzheimers
You will have an enriching experience like none you have ever had
You will stop whining about making English the official language
Thanks, Tom. As I said, I didn’t suppose you meant it that way. You have been one of the most balanced and restrained posters I am aware of. I’ve never known you to attack. I wish I had your restraint. I’ve had to apologize a few times because I have too active hackles.
I’ve always tended to see the “official” language argument and immigrant bashing as separate issues. But you may be right. Since I don’t think that way, it didn’t occur to me that others might relate the two, or use the language issue as a flail. You make a good point.
AC: *I’m not American, but I fail to see what objections anyone has to calling English the official language of the USA when your constitution is written in English and your parliamentarians debate in English. *
The objections mentioned in this thread so far seem to fall into the following categories:
i) It’s pointless. Calling English “the official language” will not make any practical difference to people’s existing language capacities. There are already lots of good practical reasons for encouraging all residents of America to learn English, and also for providing some education and services in other languages to non-English speakers. Formally identifying English as “official” won’t change any of them.
ii) It’s bureaucratic and inefficient. As has been noted already, language-support decisions for a particular region and population are best made by the people on the ground. Federal laws restricting official documents to English-only will be nothing but a royal pain in the neck to all the people who have to deal with all the people who don’t know English.
iii) It’s a stick for xenophobes to beat immigrants with, as DG and tnd have eloquently discussed.
To which I’d add another, minor objection:
iv) It could become obsolete. Up until at least 1700, the majority of people of European descent in what’s now the USA were Spanish speakers. English speakers are now the majority in this country, but Spanish speakers make up at least one-eighth of our population, and the majority of people in this hemisphere speak Spanish. Official language use should change naturally with the natural patterns of language use in a population; if the US population at some point becomes majority Spanish-speaking again, a law mandating English as the official language will be silly and out of date.
Hey, maybe Jeb does know Spanish history and just made a Freudian slip expressing his deep, sincere, Hemingway-driven, underlying wish that Franco lost the civil war!
In case you ever go to Latin America? (Insert obligatory Al Gore joke here).
It seems to me that most peoples who say Americans should learn a second language want them to learn their native language, and don’t feel that they themselves should learn English as a second language.
Palisades Park, New Jersey has recently had a influx of Koreans. There was a big argument between the Korean shop owners and the borough’s Police and Fire Departments whether the names of the Korean stores and businesses should also be printed in the ENGLISH alphabet. It seems the P&F Depts. were having a hard time finding the places, particularly at night. The shop keepers didn’t feel they should have to put the names in Engish, apparently because they did not want to encourage English-speaking customers! ?
In fact, English is the language of the world, in business and the sciences.
MoronosaurusRex, according to the Puerto Rico Herald, Jeb Bush is fluent in Spanish. His wife Columba Bush is Hispanic.
Kimstu, calling English the official language may or may not be a good idea, but it’s not pointless. It would discourage steps toward a bilingual society, such as bilingual eduation or making ballots available in other languages.
Not older students. Kindergarteners. First-graders. Third-graders.
Do you think that coming from a Spanish-language home and speaking Spanish 95 percent of her day should have any bearing on how an eight-year-old Puerto Rican girl from the South Bronx is taught in school? Or should it just be, “Damn the torpedoes…full steam ahead with English”?
By the way…if you’re not sure how ESL works, then I humbly submit you’re not all that qualified to be offering strong opinions about the state of bilingual education in this country. No offense intended.
I didn’t mean to offer strong opinions about bilingual education in general. As you say, I am not qualified.
I was talking about a single, specific approach, which happens ro be called “Bilingual Education.” This is a popular, widespread program of teaching children in a language other than English for long periods – perhaps for several years. tomndebb said that some version of this approach was effective 100 years ago. But, as currently used, it has been a disaster. Ending the program in California produced remarkable gains for Latino students.
Regarding your question about ESL, I favor it in principle, i.e., as long as it’s effective. Coming from an immigrant family, I strongly favor whatever means will help immigrants get educated.
Teaching children exclusively in a language other than English for long periods, or teaching children in a language other than English in addition to English for long periods?
The issue was that the city council passed an ordinance requiring that any sign in a foreign language had to be matched by a sign of equal size in English. Since there are already zoning laws governing the size of signs, this meant that nearly every sign in the business district would have had to have been replaced at the owner’s cost (since the city was not offering to pick up any of the costs). No Koreans claimed that they did not want Aglo business–that was a claim made by those hostile to the Korean influx. (Similarly, the council passed a curfew on businesses that explicitly exempted an Anglo all-night restaurant while shutting down some similar Korean establishments. This is not simply “those Koreans”" being clannish. Similar actions have been taken against the Arab community in Dearborn, MI over the years. I always find it interesting when a group is attacked, and then their defense is held up as a desire to not join their attackers.)
there is little problem with knowing english, i live with a family that knows english. But they speak Vietnamese, and they have the right to speak any language they want.
Let’s assume this is true. That is, let’s assume that this is true of the program you’ve read about that goes by the name “bilingual education,” rather than every program everywhere that might fall under that aegis. Now, not to be combative or anything, but would you have less/as much as/more of a problem with a bilingual education program in which children are taught in a language other than English in addition to English? Say, both languages are given approximately equal time, and one is used to reinforce the other?
I would favor whatever worked best for the student.
Why do you suggest splitting the educational language? Are you hoping for the student to retain knowledge of his original language? Do you think this split would lead to better education in technical subjects? Do you have some other motive?
My guess is that English immersion supplemented with ESL instruction at the beginning would work best. Children pick up languages quicker than adults do. I think a seven year old child could easily learn English in a couple of months and become fully proficient. My father was 10 years old when he came to this country in 1920. He learned English just fine and graduated with his high school class. He could have gone to college, had the family financial situation been different.
However, if providing half the instruction in the original language better served the student, then I would favor it.
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