Sesame Street in Spanish on American T.V.

June 20, 2004 | Allan J. Favish

[AJFavish]

Perhaps this has been going on for a long time and perhaps it has been covered elsewhere, but if so, I've missed it.

At 6:50 a.m. (PT) today, I tuned in to PBS in Los Angeles and saw Sesame Street with all the characters speaking Spanish. I did not watch long enough to see if the whole show was in Spanish, but at least this particular segment was in Spanish. (No English subtitles, by the way.)

So let me get this straight. Millions of native language Spanish speakers illegally enter America to live and the American taxpayer, through federal funding of PBS provides education to millions of the illegals' children, many of whom are themselves illegally here, in their native language. In so doing, that reinforces the Spanish language in the kids who need English, not Spanish, to succeed in this country and continues the bi-lingual education model that has retarded the education of millions of native Spanish speaking children who should not even be in America in the first place. Moreover, the time PBS uses for its Spanish broadcasting of Sesame Street is useless to the millions of English speaking children who have no need to learn Spanish.

I hope somebody can do something about this by writing about it and getting the word to one of the handful of politicians who might be willing to do the right thing.

Regards,

Allan J. Favish
http://www.allanfavish.com

[Tijeras_Slim]

Speed Racer cartoons in spanish are hilarious.

[Caipirabob]

It's been going on for years as best as I can tell. My kids are half-Latino so I don't mind the further exposure to their mother and grandparents language. I don't believe it's a support of illegals but it's certainly catering to a growing segment of American culture. To be quite honest, my own father told me this some 25 years ago when he refused to allow me to take French in school and told me to take Spanish instead. He said "You'll actually use Spanish some day, you'll hardly have a use for the French." An insightful man, my father.

For better or worse, the Spanish descent population will continue to grow and play a greater and greater role in the direction of our nation. I embraced this fact over 20 years ago. Some people will tell you I did more than embrace it, but that is for another thread. At any rate, I believe it is a very positive thing for our nation, as those Latinos who are part of my life are more than proof that these are a fine and gracious people who will help raise America to new heights, not drag it down to the depths, as have our own people who call themselves "Democrats".

[AlbertWang]

This is a good chance for yuo to expand your spanish past "Uno mas cerveza, por favor". Like it or not, this country is changing (it has been since about 1600) due to immigration. I want to be able to understand what these folks are saying, as well as order a cold beer.

[Caesar Soze]

Hi, ho! When I was a kid, PBS would air American Sesame Street in English and Canadian Sesame Street in English and French. I seem to recall a little Spanish in the American version, too. That was over 15 years ago. Can't say I learned a bit of either foreign language, though.

[Arpege92]

That's great and wonderful that you and your children will speak two languages....English and Spanish. But, it's not great for me and my son....my hubby is Italian, his family speaks Italian and their are no Sesame Streets spoken in Italian.

My mother-in-law told me how her family had to adjust to the American way of life when they came from Italy. There were no shows on television spoken in Italian. There were no signs in restaraunts, stores and hosptials written out in Italian.

So, how is it fair that the Spanish language is everywhere and not Italian, German or even French (ugh, that was hard to write by the way)? Granted, the Spanish people I have come across seem to be a very gracious and kind people, but it's still not fair that America is adjusting to them instead of them adjusting to America.

[GreatM31]

Sir, I must say that the viewpoint that you express here is exceptionally narrow-minded. I'm sure that you know that while there are indeed many illegal immigrants into the United States, there are many millions of legal immigrants who have a Spanish-speaking background. They are citizens of the United States as much as you or I, and as such they deserve the same privileges and rights that we have. Public broadcasting, supported by the taxes that we all pay, including them, is no exception. I would not hesitate to encourage PBS to provide Spanish-language programming to our fellow citizens.

[Kate of Spice Island]

Guten Sonntag!

Parlez-vous francais?

Porque tiene problemas con gente que pueden entender mas que un idioma.

Lo mas que entender, lo mas que inteligente de otras personas y la verdad es ganaba mi education al universidad gratis porque tenia buenas calificaciones.

Ademas, los Hutus y los Tutsis son mas inteligente que Ud. porque pueden comunicarse usando cuatro idiomas. Y no, no es un tercer mundo pais.

[Arpege92]

"Sir, I must say that the viewpoint that you express here is exceptionally narrow-minded."

I disagree. There are millions of legal immigrants from many different countries, with many different languages and yet I don't see television programs spoken in their languages.

"They are citizens of the United States as much as you or I, and as such they deserve the same privileges and rights that we have."

I didn't know television programs in Spanish was a right or a privilege. If we are going to cater to other languages other than Spanish and English, then we are going to have to do the same for those who speak German, French, Italian, and so and so on.

It's going to be a real mess if we do this of course, so the real answer is to not to do it all. Instead of English speaking Americans learning Spanish, let's put the effort into teaching and re-enforcing English to Spanish speaking legal immigrants. No fuss, all is fair and no one feels left out.

[thinkingman129]

Outside Russian (too many separate dialects) and Asian languages (dialects again), Spanish is the second 'most spoken' language in the world. Why NOT air PBS in Spanish? What IF an English speaking child just happened to pick up some new Spanish words, or gained later multi-lingual fluency due to the early exposure to the linguistics of another language?

Also of mucho importance: Well spoken Spanish is integral to learning a native language. Even legal Spanish speaking immigrants benefit from hearing their own native language and continuing to develop and better learn their native language IMPROVES their acquisition of a second (and a third) language.

Just as in our high schools: students who speak 'standard' English (and not some form of slang with dangling modifiers, substituting objective pronouns for subjective pronouns etc, and use of irregular verbs, etc.) do FAR FAR better in studying a second language than those who persist in holding on to their original dialect. Not to say they cannot still choose to speak (and write) in their original dialect for informal purposes or to create tone or dialect....but for formal situations, formal speech reaches best.

[AAABEST]

OK then, I'm sure you won't mind our tax dollars going to a Chinese, Italian, Indian and an Islam Sesame Street for "further exposure to their mother and grandparents language".

If not, you and others that feel as you do can use your own money to teach/learn foreign languages.

PBS is publicly funded and should not be favoring minority languages or cultures simply because they happen to be the majority of the minority.

Giving certain minorities special treatment because they are here in large numbers is racist and no better than favoring whites because they outnumber others.

[dr_who_2]

PBS is an outrage in English, too.

[Arpege92]

"Spanish is the second 'most spoken' language in the world."

Not in my in-law's household it is. My son is half Italian and if he wants to learn a second language then why should it have to be Spanish? If he want's to learn Italian, there are no television programs out there for him like there are for Spanish speaking people.

I have nothing against Spanish Americans, but I do have a problem with having Spanish being shoved down our throats. Spanish may be the second 'most spoken language' in the world, but it's not the only language here in the United States. All I'm saying is that if we are going to cater to Spanish speaking Americans, then we are going to have to cater to Italian, German, French and so on and so on.

[JesseHousman]

I think Sesame Street should be in Swahili, Arabic and any other garbage language we could think of. English should be subtitles only....at least the little buggers could learn to read.

For English press "1."

[Logical me]

Remember the Tower of Babble. I guess we're headed there. We need one language, English, so we may understand each other. All our schools should teach in English only. Second or more languages would be up to each individual household or may be learned by taking another language in our schools.

Language is one reason the world is so divided.

[GreatM31]

Indeed there are millions of legal immigrants from many different countries. But PBS, with its limited budget, can only cater to the largest groups of people - those who speak English or Spanish. Spanish-speakers comprise an enormous part of our population and that's why Spanish has priority over other, relatively smaller populations of immigrants. According to the 2000 census, Hispanic-Americans comprise 12 percent of the US population and they are the fastest growing group in our country.

Public broadcasting is a service offered by the government to the citizens that support it with their taxes. It has an obligation to cater to the largest portion of citizens that is possible. I'm sure that if it were possible to broadcast PBS in French and German and so forth, then that would happen.

Your proposal to ignore foreign-language teaching altogether and instead teach English to all immigrants completely ignores the idea that immigrants want to maintain their heritage and their language. We should not insist upon their adapting to our ways. That is one of the great strengths of America - our cultural diversity. A policy of Americanization would proclaim our arrogance and destroy any vestiges of moral superiority left in the image of America in the eyes of the world.

[Arpege92]

Oh I see....so catering to just the majority of the minority is the way we are going in this country. How fair is that to the children of German, French, Italian so and so on?

I'd love to know if any Spanish speaking countries cater to their legal immigrants the way the Spanish immigrants are catered here.

I'm not saying ignore foreign language teaching....I'm saying quit ignoring the minority of the minorities. Quit ignoring the fact that it's not just the Spanish who are immigrating to this country.

[GreatM31]

Look, it's very simple. I just told you why they can't cater to all minorities: there isn't enough money! The Hispanics, with the largest proportion, provide the most money to public broadcasting. Thus they're first in line, that's the way it goes when you have an extremely limited budget. Public broadcasting is not funded very well. I'm 100% certain that we would have PBS in many languages if it were possible.

[nmh]

I don't let my daughter watch it in English. It's not what it used to me. It's politically correct garbage that is very disjointed in whatever it's trying to have kids learn.

[Arpege92]

"A policy of Americanization would proclaim our arrogance and destroy any vestiges of moral superiority left in the image of America in the eyes of the world."

Oh...so it's the way we look in the worlds eyes that concern you. We've only been speaking English in this country since.....oh the beginning of this country. Immigrants immigrated to this country expected to learn English and not the other way around. If immigrants can't handle that, then they should not be here.

btw...welcome to FR