Nashville and English

[Woody]

Nashville is voting on an English only ... or English as the official language law.

This law will streamline government and save money.

I am all for this. It is about time that we not cater to each and every obscure language in the world.

The federal government needs to follow suit.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

dgrimm60, what other languages are being spoken in your neck of the woods?

[Gail]

I think that "Redneck" must be one of those languages, as I keep getting jokes about that area that I don't understand! I'm sure it's a language barrier!

:)

[Dr. Shane]

The law is based on fear. People are afraid that Hispanics are going to move in, speak Spanish, and then all the white people will not know what Hispanics are saying about them.

Instead of making English the official language maybe they should just start teaching Spanish in their schools. Most Europeans can speak multiple languages.

[Woody]

It is not based on fear as indicated. It is based on the reality that we need to speak one language in this nation. For certain ... we don't need to encourage other languages by teaching them. We need to tighten our fiscal belts. And for certain we don't need the cost of requiring each and every little convoluted language of the world be provided.

We speak English and those who want to live here should learn it.

What we can do is to provide more English classes.

[Gail]

I've always felt the same way as Shane. I learned French, which is one of our official languages. It helped me become more functional and really opened up another world for me.

I would love to learn one of our common languages here, either Punjabi or Hindi. If I lived closer to Vancouver I'd like to delve into some form of Chinese.

He's right about Europe. It's a place where most people have at least a vague knowledge of even English. They effortlessly slide from one language to another.

[Woody]

Yes. And our school usually require languages to go to college. That I encourage. But the government does not need to require that each and every language of the world be provided upon demand. But yet this is what the government is currently doing.

[Gail]

Yes. And our school usually require languages to go to college. That I encourage. But the government does not need to require that each and every language of the world be provided upon demand. But yet this is what the government is currently doing.

? But I thought that there is a fairly large Hispanic population in the U.S.

[phkrause]

I think that learning another language or even two is good. But I have to agree that it should be mandatory for all to speak english at least in government etc. I have family that live in germany, and yes they were required to learn english. I believe that most if not all the countries in europe required learning english. I have a friend that I worked with that is spanish and he believes that all that come to this country should have to learn english. He says one reason that many don't learn the language is because we have to many spanish speaking stations on TV and on the radio. I'm not sure I totally agree. But all of my family that moved here to this country learned english, because they felt it was the right thing to do. I also think that we as americans, if we move to other countries should learn that language and I think for the most part that happens. Because I think that there are no english speaking stations in other countries. I could be wrong.

pk

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

All my family that came over to America from Germany had to learn to speak English as well. When I visited Europe I was told by my multi-lingual friends that they HAD to learn to speak other languages because the countries were so small that if they took a step sideways they would be in another country! They also said that English was the common language to learn because it seemed like the global language.

[Gail]

Every new skill can only be a help :)

[Neil D]

It has been my understanding that a bilingual person was far more valuable as an employee than a single language person....And in America, why not have more multilingual people?

[Dr. Shane]

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself (and Spanish speaking people).

[aldona]

Quote:

Instead of making English the official language maybe they should just start teaching Spanish in their schools. Most Europeans can speak multiple languages.

Amen to that. In Europe, the different countries are a lot smaller (probably the size of individual US states) and close to one another, so you only have to travel a few hours and you're in another country.

Also, you walk down the street and hear people speaking all different languages, and that's normal and not a cause for paranoia.

My mom said that as a high school student in Poland she and her classmates had to learn a minimum of 3 languages, extra if they wanted more credits. She did Polish, Russian, English and German.

I think once you have learned a second language, a third and then fourth etc. becomes easier and easier.

aldona

[missionlady]

I can't say that fear is not a motive for all people. It may be for a few. But I believe America should make English it's official language and fear is NOT my motive.

Without an official language, it is unclear just what responsibility the government has in regards to voter ballots, road signs, driver manuals, etc. It can get very expensive to print voter pamphlets and ballots in every language there is. Also if our schools have to hire tutors for all children in their native tongue, that also would get expensive. Just how many languages would police officers need to learn in order to communicate with every driver they pull over. Spanish is not the only other language spoken in America. Where does it stop? Italian? Vietnamese? Polish? Chinese? Swahili? Hindi? French? Russian? Africaans? Urdu? Arabic? German? Japanese?-no, they all know English.

Just because someone wants English to be the official language does not mean that person is against learning other languages.

I have taken some Spanish.

My husband has taken German and on his own learned some Russian and other languages also.

My oldest daughter knows Spanish, some Russian, some Korean, some Marshallese, some Greek, some German and who-knows how many other languages--I lost track.

My second daughter has taken Spanish and French and knows some German.

My third daughter has taken German.

My fourth daughter has taken some Swedish and German and her oldest sister has taught her some Spanish and Greek.

But I still think-for practical reasons-that English should be our official language.

If I were to go to another country, I would certainly want to learn the language of the land. I would feel completely lost if I didn't, and languages don't come easy for me. So I just don't understand anyone coming to America and not wanting to learn English.

[Dr. Shane]

If we make the drivers test in English only that would mean a lot of immigrants couldn't get a driver's license. That would not make our streets any safer.

[Dr. Shane]

The Spanish driver's test has a sign section in it. All the signs are in English. The person taking the test has to show, in Spanish, that they know what all the signs (in English) mean. Whenever we have a community with a large population that speaks a minority language we need to provide basic government services to them in their language. It doesn't matter if that language is German, Spanish or Arabic.

There are a host of services some people think should only be provided in English. These include welfare, education, voting ballots, state exams and even medical services. We need to ask ourselves what will be the results of excluding large minority populations from these services. If the poor cannot access welfare services that will result in more sickness, disease, starvation and crime. If the children of these minorities cannot go to school they will spend their days in the streets, join or form gangs and commit crimes. Not allowing people to take state exams like a Certified Nurse's Aid exam or a cosmetology exam in English simply means those not knowing English will find it harder to break out of poverty and thus be dependent on welfare services.

[missionlady]

Certainly we should help minority people that speak other languages than English. One of the things we should help them do is learn English. It is for their own good. They will get along much better in America if they know English.

If I moved to a non-English speaking country, I would certainly not expect everyone to cater to my English. I would want to learn the language of the land as soon as possible, even though languages are not easy for me.

Non-English speaking children can pick up English quite quickly in an English-only school, even without a special tutor. A girl from the Phillipines started first grade in my school. I was older, so I didn't know her, but I read the updates in our little school newspaper.

The first graders had a blast that year-I was jealous. They taught her English that year. She started first grade with little or no English knowledge. She finished first grade fluent in English and many of her classmates knew quite a bit of her native language also. I believe she is a doctor today.

How can someone that doesn't know Enlish well enough to take his/her final exams in English work with the public in the US? In college I had to try to tell a Chinese-speaking nurse what was wrong with my knees. It didn't work, even though she was my friend. She couldn't understand. I had to wait until I got home and went to my own doctor before I could get treatment.

[Dr. Shane]

There are English-speaking people that move to areas of Europe (where English is not the official language but have large English-speaking populations) that never learn the new language.

In the United States, there are many areas where the Spanish-speaking population is large enough that a person can live, work, and worship without ever learning English. Many do exactly that.