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Learning other languages is good, but if you become an American citizen, you should try to learn
about our cultures and tradition. |
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Your right because it only helps promote racism....When the immigrants ame to the US in the early
1900's they were coming here to have a better life as immigrants are today. But they embraced this
country and made it their own....learned our language and put out effort to make this a better
place. They didn't become a financial BURDEN on the country or bring down the whole school system
(no child left behind) Schools now cater to the worst students so they don't FEEL bad, instead of
encouraging the others to excel. No better example than California....Financially it's the 7th
largest economy in the WORLD. The schools are rated 50th in the US....I believe we only have 50
states don't we? This is disgraceful...... A teacher told my Grandfather and his 10 kids to learn
English or teach them yourself....He did and we are all better of because of it. |
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While there is nothing wrong with an individual knowing more than one language, there is no reason
whatsoever for a nation, especially a nation with a long-standing tradition of mono-linguism, to be
suddenly expected to speak multiple languages. It is a requirement to become a citizen that you be
conversant in English, therefore we have no need to have legal documents, etc in other languages.
You want to be an American, learn the language. |
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I am an English speaking American and if i am going to another country i will learn just enough to
get me around. Otherwise i do not feel the need to learn another language. If i wanted to speak
another language i would have been born something other than an American. |
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In all fairness to everyone the rules of the game should be the same for everybody everywhere. We
are expected to learn the language, beliefs, and customs of what ever country we go to visit or work
in and follow them as long as we are there or we don't get anything but trouble. It's not a matter
of being lazy it's just simple fairness , not allowing newcomers and visitors to be lazy and walk
all over us in our own country. I know when i was in school we were taught to be fair and always
respect others in their own homes. This is our country thus our home and we are being disrespected
in our own home by being told we have to learn everyone else's language and custom es even if we
aren't ever going to leave our own country. That's not right, we originally founded this country to
get out from under unreasonable control and not be walked on anymore. What ever happened to
fairness and pride.. Black , white, purple or pink. Fair is fair the constitution of the united
states of AMERICA was written and signed in ENGLISH not fifty thousand different languages.
Migrants used to come here to have a better life , leave their old ways and customs behind and be
free. And now we have been thrown into a real life monopoly game with everyone's sole interest being
to win the game by claiming the biggest majority of our property and making it their own changing
everything our country was founded on. And if we give in and don't go back to standing up for our
home land it won't be long and AMERICAN PRIDE won't mean a thing cause there won't be an actual
America left i have friends from all kinds of different cultures and races and even they have said
it "" If you are going to live , work, and raise a family here and claim to be an American and want
all the rights and privileges of being American then actually commit and be an American, speak it ,
read it , write it, live it. (English) if you have a job that requires communicating with other
countries for import or export purposes then knowing other languages is necessary but just to walk
to the corner liquor store for a soda shouldn't require knowing anything but English, calling 911 in
an emergency shouldn't take an hour or better while you wade through all the automated language
choices (with English being listed last usually) just to get help"". We need to start rolling the
dice for our country , so we can try to get past go , collect OUR two hundred dollars and try to get
back what we fought so hard and so long to have before the game is over and we are left holding no
property at all. Once upon a time we fought our own families to get ride of slavery and other
unfairness and keep America united as one , one set of rights , one set of laws, one set of
privileges, etc. And all written in ONE language. Get America back on its feet , put the pride
back in American pride and American made. |
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Isn't that a contradiction to American history? I doubt the Native Americans originally spoke
English yet they had to adjust to the immigrants from Europe.
There is also nothing wrong with learning another language or two, it would probably help you get a
job in the future, meet rather interesting people that do indeed speak another language besides
English and teach people to become more open-minded. |
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The motivation to accommodate multiple languages is as it always is; economics. The reason not to is
as well much the same as ever; laziness. |
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U.S has no official language. We are not adjusting to others, they are already adjusting to us. Only
82% of Americans have English as their native language. |
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Where does it state that English is our official language? |
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Well, evidently the majority of the US citizens are NOT helping the immigrants to "adjust" to the
American environment and instead discriminate them. And what would you do, if you are an immigrant
trying to fit in but is unfortunately being left out? |
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Ethnocentric much?
Why should English be the standard language anyways? Why not Spanish or Chinese? In most other
countries a significant portion of the population knows two or three languages. Being lazy just
because English is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world is no excuse.
The other arguments made here are also good points.
Anyways, what's so bad about trying to not nly acomadte others but also to actually learn something? |
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The following is pasted from the argument I gave in the "Being Bi or Trilingual is Good"
argument:
I think being able to speak an extra language, or two, cannot be a bad thing at all. Advantages
include having the opportunity to live or work abroad, either temporarily or permanently, with
employers being impressed with this extra skill.
Also, even if you aren't fluent in a language, but still make an effort to speak that language when
travelling abroad, it makes a huge difference; not only are you picking up bits and pieces of
another language, but the locals really appreciate the fact that you are making the effort; even
though it's easy to just speak in English, as in Europe in particular, almost everyone speaks and
understands English to some level.
I realise now I have managed to divert slightly from the main argument, but this is just to
highlight only a couple of the advantages there are of being able to speak in another language(s). |
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 jsh4  15 Feb 2008 07:34
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The US should eventually become officially bilingual. At the very least, individual states with
large Hispanic populations should consider implementing an official bilingualism policy. This would
not only mean that more students would learn Spanish in schools, but also that all government and
public services would have to be available in both languages. Moreover, those in the public service
would be required to have a basic command of the Spanish language and all consumer products would
have to be repackaged in order to comply to bilingual standards.
Canada has been officially bilingual since 1969, thanks to the Official Languages Act. This means
that English and French are considered to be equal in standing at the federal level and all Canadian
government services are available in both languages, while a very significant proportion of the
public service in Ottawa is comprised of Francophones, since they are more likely to be fully
bilingual than Anglophone Canadians.
Adopting official bilingualism in the US would serve as recognition of the changing demographics of
this country. |
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Being bilingual and trilingual is excellent in our day in society. With all the world trades today,
I believe we should also be learning more of those foreign languages. |
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With migrant workers coming from other countries from around the world i believe it will soon become
a necessity for everyone working professionally to know a variety of languages. I say its all good |
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What is wrong with that? Being bilingual and trilingual is a very GOOD thing. It teaches culture,
tradition, and many other things. Maybe we should be doing both. |
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