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English, do you speak it?
I love my Governor more and more.
Schwarzenegger: Turn Off Spanish TV
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.
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.
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And that makes sense to me -- I'm studying German in advance of FilkContinental (http://filkcontinental.de)
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One has to wonder what the backblow of this will be where Arnie's concerned.
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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.
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my favorite spanish phrase
redc1c4,
who can order food & drinks, ask where the bathroom is, tell when someone's talking smack about me and return the favor. %-)
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The one thing they can't tell him
Spanish and Chinese
Re: Spanish and Chinese
Re: Spanish and Chinese
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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo mandates that Spanish shall be an accepted language in the territories ceded to the United States by Mexico.
TK
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We won the war...