Posted on 03/06/2013 4:03:24 PM PST by LTC.Ret
Obviously you've never moved from your 'home country' to another, where a completely different language is spoken, and tried to understand the ways of politics. People who are born and raised somewhere else tend to THINK in their home language, no matter how much they work at learning to speak the language of their adopted countries.
Even folks who have been here 25 years or so still have difficulty thinking in English, so I think it would be great outreach to those who have adopted this country, and want to participate in political decisions. It would help them understand what the Republicans, especially conservatives, support, and why it's important to vote for conservatives, instead of being taken advantage of by the Democrats.
Ha! I just posted something about thinking in one’s home language, before I read your post! Our daughter-in-law moved to the US from Brazil, with her parents, 25 years ago. Even though she is fluent in Portuguese, she still has trouble forming her thoughts in that language when speaking to her Brazilian sister-in-law. Her mother, on the other hand, still speaks fluent Portuguese, and thinks in that language, so when she is speaking with her Brazilian daughter-in-law, her speech is effortless. She speaks English, but with a strong accent, even though they became citizens almost 20 years ago.
Really? You know that about me from my screen name?
I have lived in Germany (on the German economy), Japan, the Philippines and Argentina.
The issue isn't THINKING in a different language, we all still THINK in our native language (or whatever language we feel most comfortable with), but we TRANSLATE to the foreign language.
As a kid living in Germany, I had to speak German every day to get to and from school and around the small town we lived in. The Germans didn't accommodate me by bending over backwards to speak English, nor did they go out of their way to post things I might want to know about in English. I learned German. I learned Spanish. I learned some words in Japanese and some words in Tagalog. The same was true when we travelled to France, Sweden, Denmark and other countries in western Europe.
Today, I live in the middle of the Hispanic invasion of this country and I encounter people everyday who have been in this country for over 25 years and STILL don't speak or read a word of English!
In addition, because I have worked in school systems, I have seen the failure of ESL because people aren't forced to speak the language of their new country except in a classroom for one hour a day.
You may not recognize the name Herve Villachaiz who played Tattoo on the TV series "Fantasy Island". Mr Villachaiz was French and, when he came to the US, he learned English by watching television. Not everyone spoke French to him and, because he WANTED to learn English, he didn't want people speaking French to him.
For most Hispanics, the opposite is true. They won't learn English, but they expect us to learn Spanish so we can communicate with them in THEIR language!
So, SuziQ, it's time for you to decide. Is this America where the native language is English, or is it someplace where we would rather be made to feel like foreigners in our own country because we choose not to speak Spanish within our own borders?
I'm not so sure they're literate in their own language (Spanish) either.
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