Posted on 09/24/2008 12:08:43 PM PDT by forkinsocket
San Francisco resident Carlos Dimaano, 50, a recent immigrant from the Philippines, speaks English in his job at a community center. But when he goes home to cook dinner for his 88-year-old father, the two lapse into their native Tagalog.
The men are among the almost 43 percent of Californians who speak a language other than English at home, a proportion far higher than in any other state in the country, according to census figures released today. Speaking another language at home doesn't mean they don't also speak English in the home.
But Dimaano, who immigrated just a year ago, is also among the 1 in 5 Californians who feel they don't speak English "very well."
By contrast, fewer than 20 percent of U.S. residents overall speak another language at home, and fewer than 9 percent classify themselves as limited English speakers, the Census Bureau said.
The Bay Area, with its large number of immigrants, has about the same proportion of limited English speakers as the state overall, the census figures show. For some experts, that is cause for concern. For others, it is a source of regional strength.
"It's very disturbing when 1 in 5 people is not communicating in the common language," said Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. "Culturally, it creates a sort of tribalism. This country doesn't have a predominant race or religion; it just has values. That's a very thin bond. We have shared values and a shared Constitution; we also have to have a shared culture and language."
When immigrants congregate in enclaves, they have a harder time learning English and becoming fully American, said Hanson, author of the book "Mexifornia: A State of Becoming."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Aw damn. It’s not 100% yet...
I live in LA. I would have guessed the number as higher.
The most important thing is for the schools to insist on English and English only.
It is usually the case that the children of first generation immigrants are bilingual, speaking the language of the Old Country at home and English outside of the home.
In his autobiography, America's Ace of Aces in World War One, Eddie Rickenbacker, writes about growing up speaking German at home as his parents were German-speaking Swiss immigrants.
Que?
I understand keeping alive your native language...I am part Potawatomi Indian..and understand the yearning for old ways.
But I can't do much with the Potawatomi language...and would do me no good...here in America...where we speak ENGLISH!
Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa would have enjoyed this bit of apologetic nonsense.
I see no problem with other languages per se...but, when it is to the exclusion of English then it becomes my problem and yours and the country's...
I’ve seen people turn left from the right turn lane, I’ve seen people turn right from the left turn lane, but I have never seen anyone turn left while parked facing oncoming traffic until today. God Bless us All.
Tagalog? I thought that was a Girl Scout cookie.
What did they expect? We allowed most of Mexico’s poor to invade — the peasant class Mexico couldn’t be bothered with, and they came with what you’d expect: minimal skills and Spanish. Naturally, if they live in enclaves, they’re not going to work hard learning English so they can assimilate. That’s usually not the main goal. Sending money back home is.
If I spoke Gaelic at home, whose business would it be, so long as I did not demand those outside my home use it in dealing with me?
I guess Ted Kennedy’s goal of a Tower of Babel is accomplished.
He was the front man of an bill that was the cause of many of today’s issues...the common thread of European blood and culture, even for non-Europeans, was the reason streets were safe and life was prosperous.
In the end, nearly all of the US issues can be directly or indirectly attributed to unchecked 3rd World immigration. Just to be clear, there has been some contribution, but clearly the costs have far, far outweighed the benefits.
Jes!
ping
My great grandmother could speak fluent German but was forbidden from speaking it at home. Her parents spoke german only when they were alone but were into the whole immersion thing.
The same with my Polish grandparents. My dad wishes he'd taught us Polish but the idea of immersion carried down to him.
Not so today. Everywhere you go there are signs in spanish. Why should they feel any need to learn English?
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