English, do you speak it?

[gridlore]

I love my Governor more and more.

Schwarzenegger: Turn Off Spanish TV

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told a gathering of Hispanic journalists that immigrants should avoid Spanish-language media if they want to learn English quickly.

"You've got to turn off the Spanish television set" and avoid Spanish-language television, books and newspapers, the Republican governor said Wednesday night at the annual convention of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

"You're just forced to speak English, and that just makes you learn the language faster," Schwarzenegger said.

"I know this sounds odd and this is the politically incorrect thing to say, and I'm going to get myself in trouble," he said, noting that he rarely spoke German and was forced to learn English when he emigrated from Austria.

Schwarzenegger was responding to a question about how Hispanic students can improve academically. Many journalists for Spanish-language organizations in the audience were surprised by the remarks.

Damn right. Like it our not, English is the majority language in the US, and has become one of the most widely spread second languages in the world. If anyone wants to be part of the American culture and experience, learn the language and jump into the melting pot. I work with a lot of immigrants from all over. Mexico, Central America, Vietnam, Japan, and they all either speak or are improving their English. They also manage to both hold onto their culture and add American culture to it. My fellow headbanger is from Mexico. We have a Hmong warehouse worker who loves NASCAR. I live for Mexican food and speak gutter Spanish (mostly curses and pleasantries)

Normally, immigrants hold tightly for the first generation, and become more acclimated in the succeeding generations. We're not seeing that. There is an active movement it seems to remake California and the southwest as Mexico Norte. Screw that.

Kirsten and I have discussed (if we should win the lottery) living in Europe for a year. You can bet that we would both make sure to have a working knowledge of the language before we left the US. Forget fitting in, this just being polite.

Comments

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

My brother spent quite a bit of time overseas when he was younger. He made at least a good-faith effort to learn the local language before he went as well -- he was pretty good at French before he went, for example.

And that makes sense to me -- I'm studying German in advance of FilkContinental (http://filkcontinental.de)

[jemstone.livejournal.com]

The last time I suggested this to someone, I got called a bigot. Pulling out pictures of my seven different flavors worth of ethnic cousins and recounting fond memories of growing up "in a rainbow" didn't seem to change their mind.

One has to wonder what the backblow of this will be where Arnie's concerned.

[collie13.livejournal.com]

I also was called a bigot at making this suggestion once. My accuser indignantly demanded how I'd like it if I was a foreigner who was required to learn the language of the country I lived in. I replied that I'd found it quite a relief to finally master Spanish, when we lived in Spain for three years while I was a child. Further, my parents had taught me it is no more than common courtesy to know the language of the country you are living in, which is why they thoughtfully made sure I had Spanish lessons before we moved, as well.

My accuser shut up then. If I'm lucky, I made her think just a little bit...

[omimouse.livejournal.com]

Forget fitting in, this just being polite.

And that right there is what I think is the basis behind being multilingual is so common in Europe. Sure, you can speak English in Germany, and be understood, but that's not the local native language. The two years I spent living in the Netherlands (from when I was 10 till I was about 12) taught me that much. Mom made sure all the English books stayed in the States, and when the teachers asked how to motivate me, she told them to move a turnstile full of Dutch books right next to me.

I was getting along in about 2 months, and was fluent in 6. Keep in mind that damn near every kid in that school sopke English pretty damn well. It wasn't a matter of 'oh, they can speak English, I don't have to learn Dutch.' It was a matter of wanting *in*. I wanted to know what folks were tak=lking about; I wanted to be able to read the books. I wanted to understand why my Oma and Opa were laughing at something on TV.

-sigh- Mom also used to work in Seaworld, alongside Cuban immigrants. She (as a green-card carrier) was somewhat annoyed with their attitudes. After all, she hadn't gotten citizenship yet because she and my father weren't sure if he was going to try and find work in the states, or back in the Netherlands yet. So, voting in a country that she wasn't sure if she was going to stay in? That was *wrong*.

Wheras she would listen to the Cubans talk about how to re-take Cuba. About how they were going home as soon as Castro was dead. The US wasn't home; just a nation that they had gone through the hoops to be allowed to vote in so they could get their 'real' home back. They made no effort to settle in.

-sigh- The whole damn thing is a freakin' mess. But yeah, baseline language in the States is English. If you're going to stay here long term, at least make the effort, please? Lord knows your accent likely won't be worse than some of the rednecks that are my neighbours.

[omimouse.livejournal.com]

*talking.

I want to edit comments, damnit.

[murphymom.livejournal.com]

As someone in the trenches, I am continually telling my students, "This is an English-only classroom. It is English-only because, if you continue to use your Spanish whenever it is easier, your English AND your reading will not improve. Why do you think my Spanish is not good? Because I don't use it enough to master it."

my favorite spanish phrase

[redc1c4.livejournal.com]

"Remember the Alamo!"

redc1c4,
who can order food & drinks, ask where the bathroom is, tell when someone's talking smack about me and return the favor. %-)

[claidheamhmor]

I think that Schwarzenegger, as a non-English-speaking immigrant himself, can get away with saying things like that. He seems to be a remarkably sensible guy, for a politician.

The one thing they can't tell him

[capplor.livejournal.com]

is that he doesn't know what he's talking about in this case.

I'll add something. Mom spoke virtually no German for approximately 25 years and only needed a little bit of brush-up for her European vacation (and visit to the last German cousin).

I think a lot of the problem is not the immigrants' fear of losing their first language, but the (unfortunately real) concept that the 2nd generation might speak ONLY English. Unfortunately, in my experience, that is a real probability.

Spanish and Chinese

[shirablack.livejournal.com]

The number one language in the world is Spanish. Chinese will follow suit. Their economy is looking better than ours .... Perhaps you should learn that language?

Re: Spanish and Chinese

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure where you're getting your list, but I show the top three as being:

Mandarin (1.051 billion)

English (510 million)

Hindi (490 million)

Due to the nature of the Chinese culture, Mandarin hasn't made the inroads into other countries that English (and before that, French) has.

And if I were to move to a country that spoke Mandarin or Hindi, I would learn the tongue. Which is the whole point of the discussion, learning of the dominat language by immigrants.

Re: Spanish and Chinese

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Mandarin isn't spoken by all the people in China, merely read.

One of the quirks of Chinese is that several, related; but very different, languages use the same writing, without sharing the same sounds.

This is possible because it's not a phonetic language,

It also means the chinese languages are subject to linguistic drift at the same rate as non-written languages. I had a friend (now deceased) whose family emigrated after the war.

His grandmother had trouble speaking with the people she grew up with, because the sound of the language had changed that much, in 40 years.

TK

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Just a matter of pedantic Devil's Advocacy...

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo mandates that Spanish shall be an accepted language in the territories ceded to the United States by Mexico.

TK

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Accepted, yes. I'm all in favor of multiple languages being spoken. I wish I was better at learning them myself because I'd love to actually learn Spanish and Russian.

However the majority language in the US is English, and we have an English-based culture. I feel if you come to live here, you should learn the language. It's to the benefit of the immigrant. We won't hire someone unless the speak decent English. It's a safety issue. If something weighing several hundred pounds starts to drop off a shelf, or a forklift loses its brakes (seen both happen) we need to make sure that when I yell "The shelf is coming down" three workers don't start to say "Que?" before they are crushed. That being said, a great many conversation in the warehouse happen in Spanish, and a few in Russian.

[lysana.livejournal.com]

The Spanish speakers were in this area before us. This attitude kicks in memories of our imperialism beating their imperialism. Food for thought.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

And we won the war. *shrug* You and I speak this mess called American English because William the Conqueror brought Norman French to Saxon England and later a bunch of upstarts kicked the British out of the colonies. Wars change more than borders, they introduce languages, blend them, and displace them from time to time.

Languages evolve. I use "thank you" and "gracias" interchangeably these days. More and more Spanish is creeping into my speech due to my work environment. I'm sure that in a century the West Coast will be speaking Spanglish.

But for now, if you want to thrive in the US, learn the language.

We won the war...

[su-liam.livejournal.com]

...and there are a surprising number of folks who would like to return the favor. It seems to me like a long time to hold a grudge, but hey, I've met some Confederate sympathizers who are stil kvetching about Lincoln. Aaanyway...