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Bilingual America
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smallmovesal
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ppl from quebec slur their words together and talk too fast for me to pick up enough of what is being said. other than that, i have a decent understanding of french. i am better at reading it though.
smallmovesal
New member
quebec is a suburb?
i think it applies because we have national bilingualism as a *law*... relevant, despite being tangential imo.
i think it applies because we have national bilingualism as a *law*... relevant, despite being tangential imo.
supersizeme
New member
I think we should just say "fuck the English language" and learn that clicking sound language they use down in Africa or wherever it originated. I want to be able to roll up to a McDonald's drive thru window and say "Neep Dok Wook <click> Eepin <click> Dok Nok <click> <click>" and get a damn Big Mac with no special sauce and some fries.
Bleh. I'm bilingual (and part Puerto Rican) so I know this topic all too well...
Most immigrants I've known did learn English...it just takes them some time.
You know, a little compassion goes a long way with immigrants, too. Most of the people who complain about their English are upper-middle class white people who have no concept of the type of hardships they've had to endure. Besides, the complaining is useless, since there will always be immigrants coming here to take the low-wage service sector jobs that most whites won't.
Just my thoughts.
Most immigrants I've known did learn English...it just takes them some time.
You know, a little compassion goes a long way with immigrants, too. Most of the people who complain about their English are upper-middle class white people who have no concept of the type of hardships they've had to endure. Besides, the complaining is useless, since there will always be immigrants coming here to take the low-wage service sector jobs that most whites won't.
Just my thoughts.
the nature boy
New member
It's nice if everyone knew english, but it's not necessary. If one wants to make it to the highest positions of power in this country, they must speak english. It's just how it is.
the nature boy
New member
Enrico said:
lol, so true. Kinda off subject, but I hear a lot of whining from whites and blacks about how jobs are being taken by hispanics. But in reality most of those jobs being taken are for low pay and are not the greatest jobs in the world..... but very necessary to the day to day functionality of this country.
VicTusDeuS
New member
There is no need to learn English. I go to GNC at the Woodbridge mall in NJ and I have to speak Spanish to get some help. I buy a DVD player and the instructions are in Spanish. I go to the food store and the sign that says wet floor is in Spanish. We need to make English the national Language. English speaking people created our country.
If its one thing that pisses me off it’s when I used to work at a small store and people would ask, "you speak Spanish" I’m sorry but I’m not the immigrant. Its not my job to conform to them, they should learn English. My sisters friends parents have been here for over 23 years and they still cannot speak a word of ingles. I have no sympathy for those people. In 20 years you should be able to speak atleast broken English if that.
But I cannot blame them totally; our fucked up country doesn’t help them by putting everything in Spanish. It forces people (not only immigrants) to be lazy. This country is so fucked up, we need some changes...Thanks allot for those clintonian years...
Ok, im done ranting....
If its one thing that pisses me off it’s when I used to work at a small store and people would ask, "you speak Spanish" I’m sorry but I’m not the immigrant. Its not my job to conform to them, they should learn English. My sisters friends parents have been here for over 23 years and they still cannot speak a word of ingles. I have no sympathy for those people. In 20 years you should be able to speak atleast broken English if that.
But I cannot blame them totally; our fucked up country doesn’t help them by putting everything in Spanish. It forces people (not only immigrants) to be lazy. This country is so fucked up, we need some changes...Thanks allot for those clintonian years...
Ok, im done ranting....
VicTusDeuS said:
The first city in the USA, St. Augustine, FL, was founded by the Spanish.
California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah were once part of Mexico and were basically stolen by the US after the Mexican-American war.
I'm not saying that we should have two national languages, but for the love of God, take a U.S. History course! Most of America was originally in the hands of either the French or the Spanish. Only a little bit of it was originally English speaking.
BTW, in my experience immigrants who "refuse to learn English" are few and far between. It just takes them awhile. And do you really know any who don't speak a SINGLE WORD? I find that hard to believe. Maybe broken English, but that to me is understandable, since it's their second language...
Like I said before, a little compassion goes a long way...
--E--
floridaguy
New member
I agree that many states were once ruled by other countries such as Spain, Mexico, etc. but guess what we won and they lost so usually that means we make the rules and english is the rule
manfromyard
New member
It's just more efficient if everyone knows English. You can speak whatever other language you want, but YOU SHOULD HAVE TO LEARN English if you want to be a productive member of this society. Maybe when Hispanics are the majority and whites become a minority It will change..lol
I agree that everyone should learn English, it should be our official language, etc.
I just think it's dumb when someone says "English-speaking people settled this country." It's simply not true. The only parts of the United States that were originally English were the thirteen colonies, Maine, Vermont, and the Oregon Territory. The rest was either purchased from FRANCE (Louisiana territory), taken from MEXICO (states I mentioned previously), or purchased from SPAIN (Florida). Alaska was purchased from Russia, if you want to get technical.
Immigrants from diverse backgrounds, like frorider said, is what has made this country great
--E--
I just think it's dumb when someone says "English-speaking people settled this country." It's simply not true. The only parts of the United States that were originally English were the thirteen colonies, Maine, Vermont, and the Oregon Territory. The rest was either purchased from FRANCE (Louisiana territory), taken from MEXICO (states I mentioned previously), or purchased from SPAIN (Florida). Alaska was purchased from Russia, if you want to get technical.
Immigrants from diverse backgrounds, like frorider said, is what has made this country great
--E--
The Dude
New member
aurelius said:
This is an english speaking country....PERIOD. France is a french speaking country. Germany is a german speaking country and so on. Immigrants can retain all the heritage they want, including their language, but they must also assimilate to the U.S. culture. This, above all, includes learning to use the english language. If they want to speak spanish at work and in government offices, then stay in a spanish speaking nation.
We speak english here people.
VicTusDeuS
New member
Enrico said:
The United States is the topic of discussion here. The US Consisted of those 13 original colonies. The "US" was found by English speaking countries. Most of those states you mentioned we're non-existant when the US-aka the 13 original colonies-was made. Maybe that territory was once occupied by spanish speaking people, but many years later it was settled by enlish speaking people who made up the majority of the population and they were the ones that applied for statehood. Basically all that land you mention was not the US when the spanish speaking people occupied it.. We didnt make it ours until after the english speaking people moved in.
I do have compassion for those who make an effort to learn the language...but not to those who are here for many years and seem to get annoyed when i cannot speak their language. Both sides of my family come from non english speaking European countries. They struggled and learned english because they had no other choice. The only Language you would see in this country was English...They had to adapt or fail....
I know this Polish girl that came here my 9th grade year of high school. She was purely off the boat, she didnt understand a word of English. I feel kinda bad that we used to make her say things she didnt know but when your in high school you think that kinda shit is funny.
~Anyway, by senior year she was ranked #2 in the class. She wouldve been our valadictorian but she was beat out by some other girl. She learned english from nothing to honor level within 4 years...Anyone that has been here for 20 years and can't communicate at half that level I have no sympathy for them.
Delinquent
Well-known member
Once you have been to South Florida, you'll notice that english is not the first language there. I'm not saying all of south Florida but a lot of it is nothing but spanish stores, stop signs, etc. That's just not right.
3Vandoo
Well-known member
Hey guys welcome to the new world, good ole america is getting colonized 
dont worry one day they will change the George Washington Bridge to Adbul Yassef
JFK Street will be renamed to Wing Wong Lee, and etc.....
sorry wont continued any further, that subject PISS ME OFF!!!!!!!!!!!
Here we have to pass law to protect my NATURAL and official language because some
bastard doesnt want to either speak French or English and the only word they know
if fuck you, human right, fuck you!
Problems now is that immigrant alot of them doesnt want to get assimilated in the society they arrived in. Simply piss me off.
IE: A montreal mosque, some muslim chase women on the street that walks by, because they are women infidel.
And I can go on!
Colonization of the western world.
im moving to antartica or I will fight
dont worry one day they will change the George Washington Bridge to Adbul Yassef
JFK Street will be renamed to Wing Wong Lee, and etc.....
sorry wont continued any further, that subject PISS ME OFF!!!!!!!!!!!
Here we have to pass law to protect my NATURAL and official language because some
bastard doesnt want to either speak French or English and the only word they know
if fuck you, human right, fuck you!
Problems now is that immigrant alot of them doesnt want to get assimilated in the society they arrived in. Simply piss me off.
IE: A montreal mosque, some muslim chase women on the street that walks by, because they are women infidel.
And I can go on!
Colonization of the western world.
im moving to antartica or I will fight
VicTusDeuS
New member
I agree
Rex
New member
My butcher is an old Italian lady. Her English is broken, and she has an Italian accent. But shit when she got off the boat she kept her native language, adapted to the land, and learned English.
Being bilingual is cool, but at least speak English somewhat. Why? Do I go into your home, and tell you how things should be? No, then don't come into this country, and tell us what we should be speaking.
Being bilingual is cool, but at least speak English somewhat. Why? Do I go into your home, and tell you how things should be? No, then don't come into this country, and tell us what we should be speaking.
floridaguy
New member
It is so annoying that the liberals try and make us feel that people that come here legally or illegally are doing us a favor. Give me a F***ing break. Because of all these people many of us especially in places like s. Florida have to send our kids to private school because the public schools are a complete joke. And then we have to pander to them and hire cops that speak their language, give them drivers test in their language, print signs and pamphlets in their language, etc.. What a bunch of crap! You know what if they dont like the rules then go somewhere else or stay in your own crappy country! And dont get me wrong some do come here and become outstanding citizens I am talking about the ones that come here and fly the flag of their last country on their rear view mirror and tell us how great their homeland is. Then why dont they stay in their beloved country and try to make it better? So liberals flame away from your little ivory towers funded by your parents trust fund !
floridaguy said:
Hey, DelrayBeachHouseSellerGuy:
They are doing us a favor. How could you live in a neighborhood like Delray Beach and not see that?
And you know I am no liberal.
floridaguy
New member
Matt I did say that some are great citizens . What i cant take is that we are expected to change the rules for them. And that many come here with allegiance to their homeland. I heard a story a few years ago of a soccer game in LA between USA and Mexico where the USA fans being far outnumbered were actually taunted by the Mexican fans. That is the type of stuff that is just not right. We have rules here that everyone is expected to follow. And I am not unreasonable I understand that people that come here may struggle with the language for a while that is fine I am talking about those that come here and have no interest in our Country, language, or ever becoming citizens. If you want an example go to Miami and see how the Cubans operate.
Well, should we change rules? Let's see.
You undoubtedly sell a lot of homes that are bought only as teardowns and rebuilds? Well, who do you think does the work? who tears it down? who does the work building after the architect and engineer draws it up?
Who does the landscaping? Who does the bi-weekly mainetnance?
Do you really want that to stop? Do you really think ther are Americans rushing in to fill those positions?
You undoubtedly sell a lot of homes that are bought only as teardowns and rebuilds? Well, who do you think does the work? who tears it down? who does the work building after the architect and engineer draws it up?
Who does the landscaping? Who does the bi-weekly mainetnance?
Do you really want that to stop? Do you really think ther are Americans rushing in to fill those positions?
floridaguy
New member
Matt that has nothing to do with learning the language or appreciating this country that these people CHOOSE to come to.
FG-
You want to have your cake and eat it. You want these people to continue to come here and take our lowest-level jobs (building, landscaping, etc.) and still conform to our ways.
Doesn't work that way. You don't expect Americans to do all that menial labor to keep wealthy areas looking good, do you? Wealthy areas look good on the backs of immigrant workers.
You want to have your cake and eat it. You want these people to continue to come here and take our lowest-level jobs (building, landscaping, etc.) and still conform to our ways.
Doesn't work that way. You don't expect Americans to do all that menial labor to keep wealthy areas looking good, do you? Wealthy areas look good on the backs of immigrant workers.
Rockafella Skank
New member
We have a tendency to be arrogant about "our" language here in the States. Yet, when traveling abroad we often expect our European hosts to speak our language. Chances are they do and those that don't are simply making it difficult for you to order your entree. As 3Vandoo mentioned, quite accurately, America is not just the US. America is span of continents in this hemisphere. Talk to people from nearly ANY other country in the span and they often bristle when when you say you're from America.
littleflex
New member
I'm sort of bilingual. I'm taking spanish in college right now and just got back from taking a semester abroad in Costa Rica. I think its important to learn another language, and definitely broadens your horizons and choices at home or on vacation. Besides that Latina girls are the best! I need to find a hottie here in the US so she can teach me how to speak better 
VicTusDeuS
New member
Most of my friends are white americans. Two are landscapers and take care of lawns and stuff for a living. Other white folk I know also do demolition work and contracting work of houses. They are all small companies and these white people do the work on their own. It doesnt matter if these immagrents are here or not, the work gets done either way. So no, we shouldnt change the rules to conform to them. The little italian guy who spent his life building up my town 50 years ago didnt have any special treatment. He came to this country with nothing but his tools. He had to fight stereotypes and bust his ass to give his family the lifestyle and mini empire they now own today.
Yes there are A bunch of hard working Americans rushing to fill these positions, you just got to look.
MattTheSkywalker said:
Yes there are A bunch of hard working Americans rushing to fill these positions, you just got to look.
musclebrains
New member
I don't understand the argument that you have to learn English to be a productive member of American society. It's simply not true. You can work in environments where English is not spoken in nearly every American city. The immigrant populations are notoriously productive. In fact, they are often depised --as Cubans were in Miami for decades -- because they are SO damn enterprising.
I love the fact that there are places I can go in America where I feel like I'm in another country.
I love the fact that there are places I can go in America where I feel like I'm in another country.
VicTusDeuS
New member
This country has way too many people as it is. Overcrowding is a big problem in my area and urban sprawl is taking over much of our open space. We should stop letting more people come to our country.
VicTusDeuS
New member
musclebrains said:
I don't. If you want to go to another country so bad go buy a plane ticket, don't be cheap.
musclebrains
New member
VicTusDeuS said:
How will that change anything?
aurelius
New member
I little over simplified. Here in Spain there are at least four languages spoken. I live in BArcelona which is the capitol of Catalunya where people speak both Castellano and Catalan. In the Basque country both Basque and Castellano are spoken and in Galicia Gallego and Castellano. This sort of diversity is not uncommon in Europe.
The US itself has always had a righ linguistic history. Did you know that a bill reached the Senate floor in the early 20th century trying to make German our "official" language?
Enrico, no te enfades chaval. La lucha contra la ignorancia sigue para siempre.
VicTusDeuS
New member
There's a difference between different dialects and different languages. Im sure if you went any place in spain you would be able to somewhat understand what people say. Even going next door to Portugal you can understand some of their words. Its not like in Spain they have large populations that speak French, German, African and Chineese. All which are nothing alike and you cant undertstand a damn word of either if you only speak 1.
To compare what you said to US-
We have many different languages here. I can go to Boston and hear people speak differently or I can stay in the NYC area and here people talk like me but I can cross to Staten Island where people dont pronounce R's or I can go to South Carolina where people elongate their words. But I understand every one of them.
To compare what you said to US-
We have many different languages here. I can go to Boston and hear people speak differently or I can stay in the NYC area and here people talk like me but I can cross to Staten Island where people dont pronounce R's or I can go to South Carolina where people elongate their words. But I understand every one of them.
aurelius said:
musclebrains
New member
aurelius said:
Y nunca se ganara....Paso mucho tiempo en el sur de Espana, Aurelius. Eres Espanol o Americano?
musclebrains
New member
p0ink said:
enterprising...like selling drugs and murder? awesome!
p.s congrats on becoming a mod man
Thanks for the latter, but is the former a serious comment? You think Little Italy in NY and the Greek neighborhoods in Chicago, the Chinese district in SF and the Cuban district in Miami are nothing but sites of murder and drug selling?
VicTusDeuS
New member
musclebrains said:
Ever hear of the mafia???? hahaha
TC2
New member
I bet that most of the people who don't think that immigrants should be required to speak english don't have to deal with trying communicate with them.
I waste half of my day dealing with spanish people who won't/don't try to learn english.
Also everyday I see spanish parents who can speak some english, speaking spanish to their kids(who don't understand english) when they should be trying to teach them english too.
I waste half of my day dealing with spanish people who won't/don't try to learn english.
Also everyday I see spanish parents who can speak some english, speaking spanish to their kids(who don't understand english) when they should be trying to teach them english too.
aurelius
New member
I didn´t say dialects, I said languages. Catalan is a totally seperate language as is Gallego although both are romance tongues. Catalan shares similarities with Spanish, French and Italian. Gallego is very similar to Spanish with Portuguese overtones and Basque has yet to be classified by linguists, such is it´s uniqueness.
Also, in Switzerland there are four languages spoken, German, French, Italian and a fourth romance language whose name I can´t remember. I´m sure they have difficulties but they manage.
BigBazooka
New member
supersizeme said:
musclebrains
New member
aurelius said:
LOL...Voy por placer y, si, tengo un gran interes en flamenco y las obras de Garcia-Lorca. En Marzo, ensenare una clase en Granada.
Y porque vives en Espana?
musclebrains
New member
TC2 said:
Um, if you literally spend half the day trying to communicate to Spanish-speaking immigrants, I wonder why in the world your employer didn't hire someone bilingual. You're advocating they become bilingual. Considering your job -- considering reality -- maybe you should consider the same.
smallmovesal
New member
je pense vous devriez écrire en français parce que je parles en peu de francais.
musclebrains
New member
aurelius said:
no, soy psicologo y escritor pero enseno mucho. El gobierno de Espana me ha invitado a Granda a ensenar unas cosas de psicologia y mitologia a la gente del "teatro experimental". Hare lo mismo en Paris en Junio.
para solucianarte lagunas, consulta a Garcia-Lorca. Pero, hombre, como vives en Espana con permiso? Trabajas? Que tipo de "visa" tienes?
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