Posted on 06/01/2002 4:40:23 PM PDT by Map Kernow
Much the same way as "this is ******* nuts."
Wrong. When you move to England, any tongue OTHER than English is the "additional tongue".
This is political correctness taken to extremes of madness. These people will only be teaching failure.
Most countries in Africa, from necessity, use as their national languages either English, Spanish or French. This is not because it was imposed by the former mother country upon a prostrate colony, not at all. But because the many different languages spoken within the borders of African nations themselves prevent unity and a common language for purposes of the military, government, diplomacy and business was absolutely necessary.
English is the language of business, diplomacy and the internet. It is the language of the electronic marketplace and superhighway. Teaching them Urdu would only satisfy linguists who mourn the loss of linguistic diversity. The rest should acutally be glad to see ancient languages die. They only cause divisiveness.
My grandmother's spoke Gaelic and Welsh. One of my grandfathers spoke German. Thankfully they only spoke English to one another and that's what my mother and father learned. It is that unifying language that has helped make this country great.
My grandparents were native Yiddish speakers, and both my parents (as well as my in-laws) were/are fairly fluent in it.
I can't speak a word of it, but of course I appreciate the humor, the phrasing and the words that have made their way into the English language.
My wife and I have a lot of Yiddish schtick in our humor. The other night, I was telling her that I want to make a career change and find a way to make a living doinbg what I love -- which is advocating and advancing the political ideas that most Freepers hold dear. She said that she knew fifteen years ago that that's where my heart is, and that that's what I should be doing. I looked at her, and in my best Yiddish accent said: "So vy you didn't say something?" We both broke up laughing. Guess you had to be there.
You lost me right there. Urdu is just the Pakistani version of Hindi. I believe they use different orthographies, but otherwise they are the same language.
There's a tradition of dance among Urdu and Hindi speakers that goes back several thousand years. Although it's a bit difficult to compare and contrast "dance" and "music", I'd say the Punjabi people have created elements of high culture equal to that of Dvorak or other folks (leastwise, they are not vowel starved).
English as the unifying language is one of the most important reasons of why the "melting pot" worked in this country. As long as the immigrants today learn English eventually, they will be Americanized just like the Germans, the Poles, the Italians in the past.
I am no detractor of Yiddish--I used to hear it where I grew up in NY and I can read (and speak) simple Yiddish. There are even loanwords from Yiddish in English as you pointed out.
But neither Yiddish or Urdu has the same importance as French to developing a good vocabulary in and knowledge of English. Schoolchildren were made to learn French and Latin (Greek, too) in the old days not because educators had a "thing" about cheese but because there're a lot more loanwords from French and Latin in English than from Bengali, and knowledge of those languages enriches your English vocabulary and knowledge of the English language.
That's why, all jokes about the French and Yiddish swearwords aside (BTW older Jewish people---i.e., native Yiddish speakers---don't consider the word "schmuck" fit for use in polite company---I learned that the hard way...), this is a serious issue, because it evidences yet another serious blow multiculturalism is aiming against quality educarion.
Yes, and it makes it crystal clear why English is at the top of the food chain.
Ap kaise hain, muawiyah-ji? Yes, "Urdu" and Hindi are variants of Hindustani--one using more Arab and Persian loan words, the other taking its learned vocabulary from Sanskrit. Urdu is written in the florid Persian "copybook" style of the Arabic script, and Hindi in the Devanagari script.
There's a tradition of dance among Urdu and Hindi speakers that goes back several thousand years. Although it's a bit difficult to compare and contrast "dance" and "music", I'd say the Punjabi people have created elements of high culture equal to that of Dvorak or other folks (leastwise, they are not vowel starved).
I believe you mean the music (and dance form) called "bhangra." It's very popular in Britain, and not just among those of East Indian descent. But I don't think it should be taught in school to the derogation of Purcell or Elgar...or even Dvorak.
Inferiority, lowness, violence, and ignorance are caused by more than just white oppression. If you learn the languages and cultures, you understand the "more."
There is absolutely no lack of opportunity to learn African and Asian languages in Britain---there's a whole school in London dedicated to that. It makes no sense, however, to make languages like those of sub-Saharan Africa, that bear no relation to the history, structure or vocabulary of the English language, part of the curriculum taught to English schoolchildren. This directive serves a nakedly political agenda, not an educational one in the least.
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