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

[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...