Posted on 06/20/2006 3:12:51 AM PDT by RWR8189
Some years ago, I visited a cafe in an American border town, right across the river. Not a soul was conversing in English.
But this was no "They're all speaking Spanish" experience. The town was Madawaska, Maine. The river was the St. John, and the language was a kind of French.
Last year, I came across a parallel, southern version of border dining -- in Brownsville, Texas. Local friends took me to Betty's Tortas, where everyone was speaking Spanish. A student of Spanish, I tried to order, but the language of Cervantes got me nowhere at Betty's. The confused waiter turned to my Latina dining mate, who, in her rapid-fire border Spanish, told him what I wanted.
My reaction to places with U.S. post offices but little English spoken was: Big Deal. It always nice to find parts of America that don't seem like every other part. What makes our northern border different from our southern one, of course, is that millions of Canadians aren't coming into the United States for work. But that's an immigration issue -- which should be kept separate from language.
Believe me, this column does not advocate giving any language other than English an official status. English is our tongue and may she forever wave. Rather, this is a call to reconsider heated claims that Spanish is gaining on English as the language of the United States. That's not really happening. Madawaska and Brownsville are exceptions that prove the rule.
It makes little sense to look at border areas as a predictor of what will follow in Denver and Dallas. Families often spill over both sides. And if a border town is isolated from the big U.S. population centers, it can become a cultural cul-de-sac.
Elsewhere, however, English dominates. American-born Latinos, who now make up 60 percent of the country's Hispanic population, are rapidly moving away from Spanish. The two Spanish-language media giants, Univision and Telemundo, now worry that the immigrants' children seem to prefer "American Idol" to their offerings. Latina magazine, aimed at "today's Hispanic woman," is already mostly written in English.
The immigrants themselves are another matter. Immigrants have always clung to their native language. In the late 19th century, entire towns in the Great Plains spoke the German or Slavic tongues of their immigrant settlers. "Champagne music" man Lawrence Welk was born in German-speaking Strasburg, N.D., (in 1903) and didn't learn English until he was an adult.
I, too, bristle a bit when the recorded message at the bank starts off with "Press one for English." I don't mind if the bank offers a Spanish option, but it should make English the default language. J.C. Penney's bilingual policy is quite unnecessary. You don't need a sign above 10 racks of dresses that reads "Vestidos" -- or "Dresses," for that matter.
The recent Senate vote making English the "national language" is also mostly symbolic, especially since it exempts programs already offering services in other languages. The measure was added to the Senate's immigration bill -- and intended, perhaps, to distract the public from the bill's glaring inadequacies.
Does anyone doubt that English is our language? Perhaps the Senate should resolve that hamburgers are the national chopped-meat sandwich.
Speaking of food, I found it odd that the French toast at the Madawaska breakfast place was called Canadian toast. Proprietor "Big Daddy" Gervais said he didn't know how the name had come about.
Move a few more miles south of the Canadian border, and French toast is again French toast. And nearly all the people, including the ones with French last names, are speaking the language of Katie Couric.
English in the end is the conqueror, not the vanquished. Just ask the French minister of culture, who spends half his hours trying to stop his citizens from using English words. Americans have excellent reasons for wanting to control their borders, but fear of Spanish taking over should not be one of them.
Yes, when I moved to Chicago in '64 everyone spoke Polish. If I wanted to communicate with the salesclerk in the restaurant, clothing store, Goldblatts, Woolworths, etc. I'd have to go find a Jewish merchant to translate as it seemed the Poles did not bother to learn English but the Jewish merchants knew many languages.
Woo-Hoo!
English will always be "Press 1"
Damn! What a great day!
I had the same experience working as a youth counselor working with Mexican American kids in Chicago while in Grad School. English is a seductive language and I have yet to meet a second generation (or an immigrant who was brought here as a child) who has not mastered at least spoken English.
I hate to be so blunt, but all of those folks who believe that "English is dying" and "Latinos don't speak English" are a bunch of...nah shouldn't say it.
E.G., one cannot mistake number agreement in using verbs, and even the dopiest Spanish speakers use the subjunctive. You simply cannot say "If I was you," in Spanish. Or "He don't know." (Although you do say "He doesn't know nothing!")
Worst Spanish? Easy 2d Generation 'Pocho' from East LA.
Then why patronize it?
BTW: My great grandmothers on my father's side never learned English. They were stay-at-home moms in a solidly Polish neighborhood in Newark, NJ. Their children (my grandparents and great aunts and uncles), however, all spoke/speak the language perfectly.
Have you ever given reggaeton a listen? The worst of the lot has to be Daddy Yankee's "Gasolina." UGH.
They're actually being filled with naturalized citizens from south-of-the-border and Socialist, honorary American citizens from Puerto Rico that are functionally illiterate in two languages, but that's beside the point.
These federal jobs, funded by the U.S. Taxpayers, have become a new entitlement.
Don't rule that out ... former Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau made it mandatory that if you worked for the federal gov't in Canada you had to be bilingual. No matter that you worked in the countries capitol Ottawa, or out in the hustings, you had to be fluent in both languages French & English, written and oral. A family member that works in a high ranking position in one of the branches of the Canadian federal gov't, who was originally from an English speaking area of the country and spoke little French, was forced to take a 10 month paid sabbatical and enroll in a gov't sponsored language school. The course was demanding and stressful, if you missed on any of the several exams you were out of a job. He completed the course successfully ... however, he rarely has to use French in his work.
Given a generation or two (at the most) and the same could happen here in the US of A.
1. Teaching Math to the Class of 1964:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $1000. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price.
What is his profit?
____________________________________
2. Teaching Math to the Class of 1974:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $1000. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $800.
What is his profit?
____________________________________
3. Teaching Math to the Class of 1984:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $1000. His cost of production is $800.
Did he make a profit?
____________________________________
4. Teaching Math to the Class of 1994
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $1000. His cost of production is $800 and his profit is $200.
Your assignment: Underline the number 200.
____________________________________
5. Teaching Math to the Class of 2004
A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $200. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question:
How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes?
(There are no wrong answers.)
____________________________________
6. Teaching Math to the Class of 2006
Un hachero vende una carretada de maderapara $1000. El costo de la
producciones es $800......
You are exactly right. English is the language of the Internet - English is used by Air Traffic Controllers all over the world. If a Danish jet lands in China - both the Danish pilot and the Chinese controller speak to each other in English. English is the preferred language for scientists. American pop culture has spread the use of English all over the world - to the point that other cultures are fearful of losing their native tongues to English. English does and will more and more dominate the cultural, scientific and most importantly - the world of the Internet.
He may have been to a nice hotel at the beach and the airport, but he sure never lived in Miami, Hialeah, etc.
LOL!
All I said was the young ones seem to me to be learning English. How does all the stats you just posted dispute what I said?
The Wal Mart just north of the TJ/SD border at San Ysidro makes all its PA announcements in Spanish first, then English. I also here that they have begun accepting pesos at the register. You go out into the parking lot and half the cars have "BC Mexico" plates on them.
Same here. Actually, since I can order beer in at least 4 languages, I'm multi-lingual.
English: "A Beer, please."
German: "Ein Bier, bitte."
Spanish: "Un Cervesa, por favor."
Candian: "Moosehead, eh?"
That is worth clipping.
I want to laugh; but can't....too true.
>>>>All I said was the young ones seem to me to be learning English. How does all the stats you just posted dispute what I said?
Because you didn't read my mind? I posted on the run.
The town I grew up in here in NJ, that is all I saw too. Families with parents prominent in their foreign tongue, children assimilating.
But, when you live in a gateway town, it is a WHOLE different story.
>>>I think young Hispanics want to speak English.
My stats on the gateway community was based on that specific comment. In the gateway's, most of the children from the illegals are in the 'networks'. The 'network children' don't usually attend school because they live in harbor homes until they move to their next or final place.
Normal homes are bought, refinished so the basements are sheet rock separated and the cubby rooms are more like closests. I see anywhere from 5 to 12 children at a time living in the harbor homes. Those children are not assimilated.
Then, the teens from the gateway towns are all gangstas. They are not assimilating. They speak a gangsta tongue of street, Spanish and English.
The entire view of the immigrant issue as to whether they Spanish/English/Assimilation is all depending on how close to the gateways you live.
The downtowns that provide their services are all Spanish. Billboards, transportation vehicles, stores, et al. There is no attempt of English.
What towns are gateway towns? I presume you mean towns that have a current huge influx? Can you give an example? (Just curious.)
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