Posted on 09/07/2015 7:34:33 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Sarah Palin is hardly alone in her sense of some threat to the hegemony of English in the United States.
You know the drill -- Jeb Bush answers a question in comfortable Spanish, and Palin, after some perfunctory compliments that Bush's conversational Spanish will be good for connecting to Latinos, gets in that here in the United States we need to "speak American."
The problem with this kind of rhetoric is that it corresponds to no crisis. There hasn't been any documented tendency for native-born Americans to be uncomfortable in English. Those born here to non-English speaking parents speak their parents' language not as well -- if at all -- and just as often do not pass it on to their own children.
In Benjamin Franklin's time, it was German that one heard as often as we hear Spanish these days, and even Franklin was given to wondering whether German was taking over. We chuckle at the notion now -- one of the rare times that even the venerable Franklin was off-base....
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I’m pretty sure Yeb is as exciting in Mexican as he is in American.
Sounds like yet another smart move by Sarah.
I was thrilled how well Sarah did on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Sarah Palin for Dept. of Energy! She will make sure we got rid of it.
Not a language crisis, but a cultural crisis. As in, political culture.Mexico is, and for a very long time has been, a good place to be from. The question is, “Why is that?” Is there something magic about the Rio Grande, that if you cross it to the north of it suddenly the streets are paved with gold, whereas just to the south the air is different and life is harder? Compared to the US, Mexico has terrible politics. So bad that even LBJ, Carter, Clinton, and Obama have not (yet) managed to degrade our economy to the level of Mexico.
And it is politics that Palin discussed when she critiqued JEB’s Spanish lingo. There are many dozens of languages in the world, and most of them undoubtedly have some immigrants here. Why the Spanish? Because JEB was talking to people who mostly would not be here if our law had been respected. He promotes illegal action.
And some of us are glad Trump is exposing JEB’s politics for the extremism that it is. And yes, I apply that label to the author of this article as well.
Multiple languages is one of the surest sources of national fracture. We can thank previous generations’ concerns for having as linguistically unified a country as we now have.
I’m quickly getting to be one of the few people at work who grew up speaking English.
I’m tired of being treated like a freak because of that.
Neat! Though I would say this wouldn't change CNN's Raised Coverage of her, it is getting harder and harder so say Fox is any different.
That is why I was so excited about O.A.N.!
To ‘speak American’ is speaking in American English and respecting American culture. It is not speaking in one of the other gutter dialects of the world, including Esperanto.
It seems to me that so far, nobody commenting on this thread has actually read the entire article. At least, their comments indicate such.
So for the record, here’s the main point:
English is now the world-dominant language. The competitors aren’t even close. Therefore, the idea that English is somehow under threat in the USA is very far-fetched, to say the least.
The writer must never have visited San Antonio
But they would likely refer to the language as "English" and not "American", "Spanish" and not "Mexican".
Slowly reversing the lib takeover of the fourth estate, the real power behind the dnc.
You laughed. One of your offspring shall be named Isaac.
I laughed because I named one of my offspring Deborah...
It was my inner Hebrew, I guess..
Care to hazard a guess what ESL programs cost us in the public school system alone?
Are you a shut in?
>> Are you a shut in? <<
No. And did you read the article before asking your silly question?
Anyway, I have traveled to 73 countries, plus several semi-independent entities like Tahiti, Macau and Taiwan. Based on this experience, I can assure you that English is absolutely the world-dominant language. Even the French are now learning it, and they speak it much better today than they did 20 or 30 years ago. Everywhere I’ve been, people want to learn English.
There are now universities in Europe where all classes are taught in English. Are these universities trying to attract students just from the USA and England? No, they want students from nearby countries — people who know English but not the language of the host country. For example, a friend recently told me about giving lectures at a university in Ljubljana. Everything was in English, and the students were not only locals from Slovenia, but also came from Germany, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Serbia and so forth. They can communicate easily with one another thanks to their mastery of English.
Another example: I was chatting with a young Spaniard recently. She said that in her country, when a youngster fresh out of the university goes for a job interview, the first question he gets is, “In addition to English, which OTHER languages do you know?” Just can’t beat an anecdote like that!
Moreover, I’m personally acquainted with several immigrant families in the USA. Their kids all want to speak only English. The parents try to send them to special classes on Saturdays and Sundays to learn the language of the “old country.” But the kids rebel. Even when the kids can perfectly understand and speak their parents’ languages, they insist on answering back to the parents in English. I’ve been told almost the identical story by families whose origins were Italian, Arab, Chinese, German, Thai and Hispanic.
So, in toto, is the English language somehow “under threat” in the USA? Not a chance.
That being said, do I favor a law or constitutional amendment making English the official and the only required language for the USA? You betcha. The current fashion of printing ballots and other government items in umpteen separate languages is a sheer madness that should be banished. Can’t be done soon enough AFAIAC.
When traveling abroad there are always those near the embarkation points willing to speak English because they want the American dollars you bring.
In this Country you get more dollars by not speaking English. Schools get more money by forcing English speaking illegals into Spanish only classes.
You outrage is duly noted and disregarded.
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