posts from hell

With the current cultural trend going (whites having 2 kids per family, the Latinos having much more, 5-10 kids per family) it can be said that the government will be composed mostly of Latinos in the future.

When that happens and the congressional debates turn slowly into mostly discussions in Spanish. You are viewing this on CSPAN.You have no idea what they're saying.

They also go ahead and translate the Constitution into Spanish and have it in front of the English version.

Cool with this, you guys?

Deafness

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Sunshine

Canadians will tell you bilingual government not only possible, works well too.

posts from hell

Does it translate well into helping citizens who knows sign languages and have the need to use sign language?

Reba

I'm OK with providing Spanish translations to English programming and documents (not necessarily at taxpayer expense, though).

As long as English is the primary language for all official proceedings and documents.

posts from hell

The problem is... As a melting pot, the government has refused to recognize even English as an official language. So, this makes it available to have all government documents and such be in Spanish only. If you want it to be in English, it would have to be at tax payers expense too. We have been doing that for Spanish translations the past few years.

If funding is not at the tax payers expense, (remember this will most likely happen when the Spanish language is the domain) where is it going to come from? A preserving English non-profit organization that the people who speak/write in English primarily pays into?

Reba

As a true "melting pot," the concept is that those people who move to the USA, learn English to the best of their abilities. One country made up of immigrants from dozens of countries can't be unified unless the people share a language and culture. A common language breaks down barriers. English is the primary existing language, and those who move here have to accept that, just as an American moving to another country would have to accept that country's language, if the American wanted full inclusion into that country.

That doesn't mean other languages are excluded from use at home, at social gatherings, in church, etc. It means it's the primary language for government, commerce, and education.

Perhaps we should make English the legal spoken and written language for the USA, and ASL the legal signed language for the USA.

Beowulf

The USA has no official language and the language spoken is by consensus. It used to be that French was the language spoken in official proceedings, but times have changed. But don't worry, not even Mandarin will be the official language in the good old USA.

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Sunshine

No, help English and French hearies.

Beowulf

To me, that means the English and French hearies will never see the deaf as equal to them, and therefore will never give them what they are worth in their dealings.

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Sunshine

Not think deaf will ever have majority enough any country have ASL official language. Many Chinese in Canada, mandarin not official. Official language reflect majority.

posts from hell

Why do they HAVE to accept and use English? We have no legal or official language here in America.

The reality is, if the Spanish language is growing in exponential amounts while English stands stagnant Spanish will BE the majority, and people who stick around here only knowing English will have to accept that.
That means.... Standard testing for children = Spanish then English.

That is the "true" melting pot. Where we know more than 2 languages and accept others for who they are. Instead of all this mind set where we make OTHERS do the things OUR way. It has to be a two way street.

An analogy if I am allowed? Hearing parents making their deaf kids learn how to speak against their will, implant 'em early, etc.. Making the deaf children abide by their parent's desires.

posts from hell

ASL is also an official language of Kenya and many other countries.

Sunshine

Really!!!!!???!?!?

FireTiger

'...white families having 2...' - so those English speaking (other race here) don't count?!?!

Anyway- Many other countries don't -really- conciser someone educated unless they have several languages and at least two fluent ...

(in the past Germany and Italy were good examples, when my husband lived there)

So, we all get to learn another language- I live in FL... It's been true here in bits and peaces for awhile...

Banjo

What if Spanish becomes the most used language in the country within the next 50 years?

FireTiger

Then the English-only crowd grouses and whines and complains and fails to comply until Spanish->English translation is made...

Seems to be working the other way now, should work again later...

Banjo

Exactly.

shel90

Then I better learn it. Dont mind because the more languages one is fluent in, the better.

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posts from hell

Did you just see what you did?

shel90

Nope...

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posts from hell

You said you would learn the language to accompany these who speaks a different language! Think of the concepts behind this - amazing.

authentic

That's why I have a second home; Moscow, Russia.

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LDNanna

I have a friend from India who grew up speaking 5 languages. She came to Mexico for school and learned Spanish, then to the US and honed the English she already spoke. She was learning German because she liked the German students. She is now a doctor of biology. Amazing. She learned Latin for her degree in biology. She grew up with 5 languages to speak to everyone in her community. Wow. Soo,
1. Hindi
2. English
3. Marathi
4. Bengali
5. French
6. Spanish
7. Latin
8. German

She claims to know a "smatter" of local dialects such as Tamil.

She said it was easy to learn in her home. Her sister is equally impressive. She said she had to learn this to shop, speak with the maids, for school, and for friends. She said that there are over a thousand languages or dialects in India. (really??)

I did find that it was not unusual for any of our foreign students to speak 3 or more languages, some local dialects of their home region and others such as English and Portugese.

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FireTiger

A student from Russia was amazed that:
... "in America (USA) you all speak alike- you all understand one another, even many miles away"...

I didn't understand that dialects can case two groups of people less than 2-3 miles apart to not understand one another without training in the other language.

The Future of the USA is a new living language, it will be English-Spanish-computer speak, and I fear the first phase of this transition.

Reba

I don't believe it will.

That would require an increase in immigration from Spanish speaking countries. It would also require more current English-speaking citizens to learn Spanish, which I don't see happening in large numbers. It's also presuming that the American-born children of Spanish-speaking immigrants wouldn't learn English as a primary language.

Yes, the Spanish-speaking immigrant families in the US have more children. Those children are bi-lingual. Their children sometimes are more fluent in English than Spanish.

That's happened in the past with other immigrant populations. How many grandchildren of immigrants fluently speak their grandparents' native tongue?

Reba

Nah. It will all be texting speech. LOL

FireTiger

The horror!!!!