Free Republic

Why do we capitalize the word “I”? There’s no grammatical reason for doing so, and oddly enough, the majuscule “I” appears only in English. Consider other languages: some, like Hebrew, Arabic and Devanagari-Hindi, have no capitalized letters, and others, like Japanese, make it possible to drop pronouns altogether. The supposedly snobbish French leave all personal pronouns in the unassuming lowercase, and Germans respectfully capitalize the formal form of “you” and even, occasionally, the informal form of “you,” but would never capitalize “I.” Yet in English, the solitary “I” towers above “he,” “she,” “it” and the royal “we.” Even a gathering...

Go to the FedEx.com homepage, and select the country drop down list. Notice the first two countries. 1. U.S.A. 2. U.S.A. - Espanol FedEx, when it absolutely has to sell your country down the river.

School Budget Cuts Derail English Language Program By Dean Gray and Jackie Devereaux Coachella Valley, CA – An important English reading fluency program is threatened to end due to severe budget cuts to this year’s school budget. The Valley Partnership, is at the end of a three-year program, funded by an annual grant of $329,000. Without the matching funds the program is at risk and over 20 people lose their paid volunteer positions. Fundraising efforts are still trying to raise $55,000 by August 3rd to meet the target start-up date. The sponsors are asking for donations by philanthropists and charitable...

TEA has until the end of January to change program for secondary schools.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Manuel Castillo was driving a truck through Alabama hauling onions and left with a $500 ticket for something he didn't think he was doing: speaking English poorly. Castillo, who was stopped on his way back to California, said he knows federal law requires him to be able to converse in English with an officer but he thought his language skills were good enough to avoid a ticket. Still, Castillo said he plans to pay the maximum fine of $500 rather than return to Alabama to fight the ticket. "It just doesn't seem fair to be ticketed if...

For decades, the proud seal of New York City, with its depiction of a sailor and a Manhattan Indian, of beavers and flour barrels and the sails of a windmill, has celebrated 1625 as the year the city was founded. There’s just one problem: Most historians say the year has hardly any historical significance. The first settlers arrived in what would become part of New York City on a Dutch ship as early as 1623; some say 1624. The Dutch “purchased” Manhattan in 1626. The first charter was granted in 1653. And the most notable event of 1625? Dutch settlers...

PHOENIX, Ariz. (Legal Newsline) -An attorney best known for his role in the impeachment trial of U.S. President Bill Clinton has been hired by the Arizona state Legislature to defend its position that it spends enough money to teach English learner students. Attorney Ken Starr could represent state lawmakers before the U.S. Supreme Court to try to convince the high court that lower courts erred in ruling that provisions of a 2006 law aimed at complying with federal education laws are illegal.

Barack Obama has questioned, implicitly, the value of English as a primary language. Why shouldn't the rest of us learn to speak Spanish? What is so "special" about English? Pandering to Hispanic voters is at the heart of this latest swerve in Obama's insubstantial campaign, but picking on English is a very silly and very dangerous tactic towards a vital national and international issue. Obama himself is the best argument for a black in America learning to master English. The candidate speaks English perfectly and that has made him the first viable black presidential candidate. If he spoke English like...

Hold your (native) tongue! English embarrasses Obama By Michael Graham Thursday, July 10, 2008 Michael Graham hosts a talk show on 96.9 WTKK. Embarrassed again. First it was Michelle Obama, who had never been proud of American democracy until her husband’s electoral success. Now Sen. Barack Obama says his fellow Americans are “embarrassing” him. Why? Because we don’t speak enough French. “It’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe, and all we can say is, ‘merci beaucoup,’ ” Obama told supporters on Tuesday. Just...

Embarrassed again. First it was Michelle Obama, who had never been proud of American democracy until her husband’s electoral success. Now Sen. Barack Obama says his fellow Americans are “embarrassing” him. Why? Because we don’t speak enough French. “It’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe, and all we can say is, ‘merci beaucoup,’ ” Obama told supporters on Tuesday. Just “merci beaucoup”? C’est dommage! (“That’s too bad!” for those readers not currently serving as Massachusetts’ junior senator). And why is it a big...

English First Executive Director Jim Boulet, Jr., today called upon Senator Barack Obama to reconsider his anti-English statements. Senator Obama has voted against official English four times in 2006 and 2007 and earned an "F" rating for English First in 2006. "Senator Obama, there are plenty of languages spoken in America. What makes Spanish so special, instead of, say, Chinese or Arabic," said Jim Boulet, Jr., Executive Director of English First. "What next, Senator? Will you be saying that too many Americans are bitterly clinging to our English language? Why does it seem you are always looking down your nose...

Video. He says he is "embarrassed" at Americans who can't speak foreign languages, but he's got no problem with foreigners who can't speak ours. All American boy, that guy.

London: The English language is set to reach a very important landmark within the next year – its one millionth word. A new English word is created every 98 minutes, and the current number of official words stands at 995,844. With the way things are going, experts believe that the language will cross its one millionth word mark within the year, more specifically 29 April, 2009. More news, analysis | More Science and Medicine news "English is different to most other languages in that it absorbs words like no other language in history. Language boils up from the people and...

When hang means, as it generally does, "to suspend," then hung is the correct past-tense and past participial form of the verb: "Yesterday, I hung a picture on the wall"; "I have hung many pictures on many walls." When hang means "to put to death by hanging," however, hanged is the correct past-tense and past participial form: "We hanged the horse-thieving varmint yesterday"; "We've hanged nigh unto forty horse thieves this year." Given that hanging has become a fairly infrequent means to a fairly infrequent end, you might think that this is an unimportant distinction. But, because of a colloquial...

Dissatisfied with teaching in Spanish 85 percent of the time, a North Carolina superintendent is pushing for a $10 million budget that includes a plan for a school where only Spanish is spoken. Superintendent Peter Gorman pitched his proposal to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board today, with provisions to turn Collinswood Elementary into a Spanish program. Nora Carr, chief communications officer for Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District, told WND the facility will help to preserve Hispanic culture. We find that a lot of kids who go there have parents who might be English-speaking immigrants, and they might be very successful," she said. "They...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEJfS1v-fU0

Melissa Green's mother spoke Spanish, but she never learned - her father forbid it. Today, that's a frequent problem in this city where the English-speaking population is outnumbered. The 49-year-old flower shop owner and Miami native said her inability to speak "espanol" makes it difficult to conduct business, seek help at stores and even ask directions. She finds it "frustrating." "It makes it hard for some people to find a job because they don't speak Spanish, and I don't think that it is right," said Green, who sometimes calls a Spanish-speaking friend to translate for customers who don't speak English....

Can anyone help translate some of this Old english? It is from a transcription on a tomb my wife did a rubbing of for a friend who is tracing his ancestry.Man here thov mayste yntombed see a man of honest fame come home to earthe who in life bare Willm Cantrell name a gentleman in birth in life in ofice and degre now wrapte in clay then thincke oh man what shall becom of the this Willm Cantrell feofee was with others put in trvste regarded well for vertvovs life wise sorertrev and lvste even of the whole revennes of...

(Wichita) Four Hispanic families are suing St. Anne's Catholic School over a policy that requires students to speak English at all times while at school. The lawsuit, filed Monday, calls for an end to this policy and asks for an order barring similar policies at other diocese schools. And it asks for court costs and unspecified damages for diiscrimination and emotional suffering. The lawsuit was filed by Mike and Clara Silva, Maria and Fermin Fernandez, Guadalupe Cruz-Tello and Alma Contreras on behalf of themselves and their minor children. The diocese said the school enacted the policy in response to four...

WICHITA, Kan. — Four Hispanic families are suing St. Anne's Catholic School over a policy that requires students to speak English at all times while at school. The lawsuit, filed Monday, calls for an end to the policy and asks for an order barring similar policies at other diocese schools. It seeks the return of one student to the school who was allegedly kicked out for refusing to sign the "English only" pledge. And it asks for court costs and unspecified damages for discrimination and emotional suffering.

  We all know John McCain is terrible on immigration. For years he held America’s sovereignty and security hostage to amnesty and increased immigration, and his newfound support for “enforcement first” is so insubstantial and transparently insincere that it insults our intelligence. He’s so bad that Americans for Better Immigration ranks his performance in office as the worst of all the presidential candidates — including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. (See the GOP grid here and the Democratic one here.) And as Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation has pointed out, passage of McCain’s bill “would represent the largest expansion...

HILLAH — An English Day program at the regional embassy office in al-Hillah gave 25 students and 15 staff and faculty members from Babil province a chance to hone their English skills on April 19. Five students from five different schools, two English teachers from those schools, the director general for education and other representatives from the department of education took advantage of the interaction with the Babil provincial reconstruction team and the 411th Civil Affairs Battalion. “I think it was as positive of an interaction for us on our side as it is for them,” said Kim Sonn, public...

Excerpt - If the EU wishes to become a superstate then, of course, the nation state — its natural enemy — has to go. In its place comes a vast phalanx of somewhat ill-defined racial types, clamouring for recognition — from Catalonia, the Basque region, Flanders and the two Galicias, from Transylvania, from Friesland, Brittany, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, ad infinitum. And lastly, not quite sure why they are there at all, or how they might be defined, that quietly clamouring horde from England. The English. Do you have a St George’s flag to hand? They have become most fecund...

Democratic voters in northwestern Pennsylvania will participate Tuesday in something they haven’t seen in many years: a competitive party primary election for the U.S. House. Democratic strategists hope this will lead to something they have sought without success for years, namely a serious general election challenge to veteran Republican Rep. Phil English in the marginally Republican-leaning 3rd Congressional District. When 3rd District Democrats go to the polls to pick between Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York in the state’s competitive presidential primary, they also will choose among four Democrats who are vying to oppose...

In recent years, the conservative media clout within the United States has risen markedly, at least in the English language. Fox News Channel (FNC) and radio talk show hosts dominate cable news and AM radio, and capable right-of-center bloggers stand on guard to debunk the latest spin dished out by the much-derided “mainstream media”. However, there is a vacuum when it comes to Spanish language conservative media. The Hispanic market is predominantly ruled by a liberal agenda and sometimes an anti-American one. With a Hispanic population in the United States close to 40 million people, there is an urgent need...

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A measure calling for a vote of the people on a proposed constitutional amendment to declare English the state's "official language" won approval Wednesday in a House committee after a tense hearing. The measure was added to a bill that is now headed for the House floor. Rep. Randy Terrill, who is seeking the legislation, said it would end driver's license tests in Spanish. In addition, state agencies would provide telephone services only in English, he said. "Everyone knows translators and translation services cost money," Terrill said. Terrill, R-Moore, told the House General Government and Transportation Committee...

Pa. judge sentences 3 men to learn English or go to jail The Associated Press WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - An eastern Pennsylvania judge known for creative sentencing has ordered three men to learn English or go to jail. Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. said the men, who faced prison for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, can remain on parole if they learn to read and write English, earn their GEDs and get full-time jobs. Olszewski noted that the three men, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Dominguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo, plus a fourth defendant, Kelvin Reyes-Rosario, all needed translators in court when...

http://www.ktrh.com/main.html PLEASE FREEP THIS POLL! Question of the Day Should companies be allowed to require their workers to speak English-only? Yes so far 27.78 % No so far 72.22 %

Loose cigars are safe, cloned meat doesn't have to be labeled and English won't become Maryland's official language. Bills dealing with those issues are among the dozens that state lawmakers in Annapolis have rejected. When House members returned for a rare Saturday session, they found a long list of proposed bills that were rejected by committees, or in some cases, withdrawn by their sponsors. The losing bills include a formal recognition of English as the state's official language and a bill to ban the sale of cigars in packages of less than five.

PHILADELPHIA - The owner of a famous cheesesteak shop did not discriminate when he posted signs asking customers to speak English, a city panel ruled Wednesday. In a 2-1 vote, a Commission on Human Relations panel found that two signs at Geno's Steaks telling customers, "This is America: WHEN ORDERING 'PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH,'" do not violate the city's Fair Practices Ordinance. Shop owner Joe Vento has said he posted the signs in October 2005 because of concerns over immigration reform and an increasing number of people in the area who could not order in English. Vento has said he never...

Mexican truck drivers allowed to travel throughout the U.S. under a Bush administration demonstration project may not be proficient in English, despite Department of Transportation assurances to the contrary. A brochure on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's website instructs Mexican truck drivers, "Did you know … You MUST be able to read and speak English to drive trucks in the United States." Still, at the Senate Commerce Committee oversight hearing Tuesday, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters and DOT Inspector General Calvin L. Scovel III reluctantly admitted under intense questioning from Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., that Mexican drivers were being...

The Yahoo link is a video link. I'm posting it to stress a point about the English language. While there have been many discussions about making English the official language of the USA, I seldom involve myself with the politics of the proposal. Instead, I have always maintained English is the worldwide language of commerce. This video clip supports my position. Not requiring English proficiency, especially in the USA, almost certainly assures certain people will be imprisoned in the lower class.

How can I teach my students to write decently when the English language has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Academic-Industrial Complex? Our language used to belong to all its speakers and readers and writers. But in the 1970s and '80s, arrogant ideologues began recasting English into heavy artillery to defend the borders of the New Feminist state. In consequence we have all got used to sentences where puffed-up words like "chairperson" and "humankind" strut and preen, where he-or-she's keep bashing into surrounding phrases like bumper cars and related deformities blossom like blisters; they are all markers of an epoch-making...

By Burt Prelutsky For a long time, there has been a controversy brewing in America over whether or not to make English our official language. The arguments in favor seem overwhelmingly compelling to me. Doesn’t it seem absurd that when so many people living in foreign countries see obvious advantages in learning English, that millions of those who actually reside here, who make their livings and raise their children here, and who vote in our elections, can neither read nor write the language? Yet, most Democratic politicians and even some Republicans balk at the idea. All this time, I have...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The evolution of human speech was far more complex than is implied by some recent attempts to link it to a specific gene, says Robert Berwick, professor of computational linguistics at MIT. Berwick will describe his ideas about language in a session at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on Sunday, Feb. 17. The session is called “Mind of a Toolmaker,” and explores the use of evolutionary research in understanding human abilities. Some researchers in recent years have speculated that mutations in a gene called Foxp2 might have played a fundamental...

If you don’t speak Spanish, Miami really can feel like a foreign country. In any restaurant, the conversation at the next table is more likely to be Spanish than English. And Miami’s population is only 65 percent Hispanic. El Paso, Texas, is 76 percent Latino. Flushing is 60 percent immigrant, mainly Chinese.Chinatowns and Little Italys have long been part of America’s urban landscape, but would it be all right to have entire U.S. cities where most people spoke and did business in Chinese, Spanish or even Arabic? Are too many Third World, non-English-speaking immigrants destroying our national identity?For some Americans,...

Angry Chicago Latino parents threatened Tuesday to keep their kids home on test day next month if state education officials insist on giving students who are still learning English an achievement test in English.(snip) Speaking through a Spanish-English translator, parent Erika Soto said her third-grade daughter is “very smart, but because of this test, she is going to be labeled a failure. So how is she going to feel?’’Parents raised their hands in agreement Tuesday when asked if they would keep their children home rather than have them take the new test.“We have to push them to pay attention and...

"Anelta" On Strengthened English Language Teaching Quality

Victimhood for All by: Bethany Stotts, February 08, 2008 The victim-oppressor dialectic of Marxist doctrine has long since penetrated the university, leading to both classes on Karl Marx and the inclusion of Marxist literary theory in the curriculum. “Now it’s interesting to also speculate—because there’s no research—what are the psychological impacts of this kind of worldview? You can go around think of yourself as victim, or go around thinking of yourself as a victimizer,” said University of Nevada-Reno Adjunct Psychology Professor William O’Donohue at an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) conference this November. Columbia College Chicago Professor Deborah Holdstein offered two...

I'm trying find sharia law online somewhere in English? I really want to see how terrible it is. If anyone knows, let me know. Thanks

A project to translate Nebraska court documents into foreign languages has caught the attention — and criticism — of a Lincoln man. Andy Ringsmuth wants the Nebraska Minority Committee to stop translating civil and self-represented litigant forms into Spanish, Vietnamese and Arabic. “It’s pretty clear in our state constitution that English is the official language of the state,” he said. Ringsmuth cited the following passage in the Nebraska constitution: “The English language is hereby declared to be the official language of this state, and all official proceedings, records and publication shall be in such language...” But Liz Neeley, the project...

After years of pleading with the Elgin Area U-46 school board for middle school dual-language opportunities, a group of Channing Elementary parents are in panic mode. “We’re nervous for our sixth-graders,” said Kristen Webb. “After seven years of dual language study, there are no programs in place for them when they head to middle school.” Channing’s dual language program, unique among U-46 schools, was established seven years ago, splitting a select group of students’ school days and subjects, between Spanish and English. Currently, officials said, there are two dual language kindergarten classes, two each in first and second grades, one...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 14, 2008 – The Afghan National Army Air Corps here has opened a new school to teach English to Afghan pilots and other Afghan military professionals. Penni Shanahan, English Language Training Team leader, talks with instructor Glen Driggars (center) and student Lt. Jamal Udin, of the Afghan National Army Air Corps, in the hall of the language training facility at Kabul Air Base, Afghanistan. Shanahan and Driggars work for International Logistics Solutions, which is under contract to teach English to soldiers of the Afghan National Army Air Corps on behalf of the Combined Air Power Transition...

Poetic (In)Stability by: Bethany Stotts, January 14, 2008 Chicago, Ill.— In 16th century England, before the rules of English solidified, a group of poets organized themselves under the moniker of Areopagus in order institutionalize “quantitative verse” and other poetic dictums. Leah Jonas, author of “The Divine Science,” asserts that the Areopagus desired to “harmonize the native medieval with the classic tradition, in its attempt to defend poetry against the accusation that it was a wanton, deceitful art” and to “restore the poet to his ancient elevation, in its consideration of vocabulary, of metrics, and of types.” “Critics debate how official...

Australians add new words to dictionary By Nick Squires In Sydney  Last Updated: 1:20pm GMT 10/01/2008       They gave the world budgie smugglers, sanger, arvo and barbie*, but Australians have shown themselves to be endlessly inventive, with a new collection of words and phrases added to the rich repository of Strine. The country’s biggest online dictionary, Macquarie, has included the 85 words or phrases in its latest online edition and wants Australians to vote for the one they consider most influential or apposite.   Toad juice anyone? They are grouped in 17 categories, from business to travel, and...

Philadelphia police continue to look for two men (in surveillance footage above and below) accused of attacking a Geno's Steaks employee. The owner of the business is offering a reward. Police say it was around 6:30am December 27th when two males started to argue with a female employee at Geno's Steaks about the now notorious sign there "this is America, when ordering please speak English". A male employee, Tony Chestnut, was power-washing the sidewalk when he went to his co-workers aide. Chestnut, who is recovering at his south Philadelphia home, describes what he says happened next. "When I just waved...

SO I'M lying on a sunshiny beach in Florida earlier this week, enjoying 84 degrees of warmth, and find that I'm thinking about Joey Vento. No, I wasn't yearning for a "cheeze-wit." I was reading about a language dispute even more insane than the decision by the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission to haul Vento into court. As we all know, Vento is charged with discrimination for asking his customers to speak English. (The sign at Geno's reads, "This is America. When ordering, please speak English.")

Lake Superior State University's 2008 list of banished words or phrases: • perfect storm • Webinar • waterboarding • organic • wordsmith/wordsmithing • author/authored • post 9/11 • surge • give back • `blank' is the new `blank' • Black Friday • back in the day • random

Testifying in the case against Philadelphia sandwich proprietor Joey Vento, who as owner of Geno’s Steaks purportedly discriminated against non-English speaking patrons by posting a “Speak English” sign at his South Philadelphia shop, University of Pennsylvania professor Camille Charles insisted that business owners have an obligation to be multi-lingual. “No one should be humiliated by being asked to use English or by being misunderstood for speaking a foreign language,” Charles argued. Pointing out that the number of foreign-born residents living in the South Philadelphia neighborhood near Geno’s grew more than 200 percent between 1980 and 2000, the sociology professor said...

Shirley Bassey rarely does "behind the scenes". In fact, she rarely does interviews of any kind, preferring to let her prodigious voice and that painstakingly cultivated air of glamour do the talking. So it is a little disappointing to find she is not glugging the pink Cristal champagne rumoured to sustain her day to day. She is making do instead with a single cup of fresh mint tea. Neither is she wearing a show-stopping creation from Julien Macdonald or Vivienne Westwood. And, when we meet, she most certainly does not offer to sing. She is very much off duty, sporting...