Thread: Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English

Isaac is from Texas, lives in New York, and is now in Tucson!

Isaac will correct me where I am wrong I'm sure!

Originally Posted by icedog

¿Possiblé usted significó inglés?
Your signature says you are in New York City. Are you saying that is a "border city"?
I agree with you. In other countries we are expected to speak the official language of the country. However, those countries don't bill themselves as the "melting pot". Having said that, I have travelled a bit and never had any trouble Speaking English in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, Norway and Sweden. It appears the schools in many countries teach English.
If it were not for immigrants, the USA would not exist. Here there are neighborhoods that are completely non-English and that is far from limited to Spanish. There are people that are born in the USA but grow up rarely speaking English. Our major cities have Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Greek, German, Italian, Polish, Isreali and other sections that, because of heavy concentration of a given nationality can seem quite convincingly foreign.

It would behoove them to learn the language!

Originally Posted by JMS

It would behoove them to learn the language!

You'll get no arguement from me on this point. I think behoovery is tres gooder except for those of us who want to have periodicalistical, repeatedory conversationals about people in this country who are not linguisticulating proper like the English.

I agree with the should, not with the shall. At least not in all circumstances.
If a familiy immigrates and bring along their elder grandparent, well, so be it. And dyslectic people whould not be subject to written tests either.
There are possible exemptions enough, but I agree that everyone who is not disqualified for a good reason should learn the native language.

Languages are a touchy subject inBelgium (having 3 offical languages), also because the people who speak different languages don't necessarily like the others...

Recently the constitutional court agreed with the Flemish social services that it is perfectly reasonable to only grant social mortgages to people if they speak the regional language, or if they learn it within 5 years (and lose their mortgage benefits if they don't).
To me this is as it should be. If you can't be bothered to integrate properly, then why should we pay for your house?

I always find it interesting that immigrates that are legal come here with a deep respect and a desire to become part of this "Great Experiment" that Thomas Jefferson alluded to. What I find extremely interesting is that many immigrants try to make the US in the image of, sorry for the crudeness, the "**** bag" country they came from. How is it that they do not understand the the reason the country they came from is the way it is has to do with the attitude and beliefs of the established society that exists there. One example that comes to mind is people that come from a country that does not have any faith in their police force. They come here and have the same attitude and become victims of gangs because they will not go to the police for help. It is a complicated issue but for any country to be come a cohesive society we must all speak and write the same language. I am going to get in trouble here but look at Canada. For God's sake they are all Canadians but there are the people that live in Quebec that want to become their own entity because they speak, and are, French. Can you imagine a country like the US that has 50 different languages?

Take Care,
Richard

Old habits die hard. Especially if you got them for a good reason.

My grandmother is now 93 years old and lives in a home for the elderly. But 10 years ago she was still able bodied and took care of herself, living on her own.
And her larder was always overstocked with flour, salt, sugar, ... the stuff that doesn't go bad.
And she didn't actually use it much, but she always had industrial quantities of everything.
It was a habit ingrained in her during the period post WW1 - post WWII.

Even though she knew it was pointless at an intellectual level, and we told her from time to time that it wasn't necessary, she still did things like that. She could not help herself.
For example: In the summer during a heat wave, she'd buy 100 gallons of bottled water 'just in case', even though where I come from, tap water is literally mineral water, pumped up from 800 meters deep in the next village.

My point is that it is all very easy to say 'you shouldn't do that' if your survival has depended on those things for the first half of your life.

Bruno, I know what you're talking about. In her late 80's, early 90's my great-grandmother wouldn't spare enough flour from her war-prep cache to make a few crepes.
I also agree with the "should" but not "shall." Other than having to deal with the elderly and people with learning disabilities, I just don't see how just making someone learn the language will help them integrate into the society. I know several people who understand and speak English when necessary, but avoid it whenever they can. They'll end up working dead-end jobs, having no prospects and b****ing about how the old country was way better. On the other hand, my grandma, whenever she visited us, she took English classes to improve her language skills even though she never intended to move to Canada. Ofcourse, she had a law degree (because tuberculosis prevented her from getting an engineering degree), already spoke Serbian, Macedonian and French, had worked for private practices and public service and held our family together. The cream will rise to the top.

Why do I get the feeling that this wouldn't change things all that much?

"Meesta! Meesta! I a-know Eenglish now! I deed eet!"

*Rolls Eyes* "---That lawn isn't going to mow itself, Jose!"

*Comical, decending notes on a trumpet with mute are heard*

ok here goes, this is an emotional topic and yes I can understand it....the UK and most of Europe is experiencing the same issues as there are no borders in the EU anymore, free travel etc, this has made a similar employment situation as it has here too.

Speak english....yes....should or shall...well thats debateable, i dont care, but you must try hiding behind a language is all to easy for some people, however not everyone is like that,my english is my native tongue but i live in the south now so you can imagine how I feel sometimes...lol

In short , yes i get ticked off with it....this topic can take many turns....but i do believe as a person who works for a living, pays tax and recieves benefits through working, that all people should try...on the downside of what I said if Im laid off I recieve NOTHING...NADA...ZIP....IS THAT TRULY FAIR i WONDER.

I love it here and dont mind the extra effort it takes.....

my tuppence worth, simon

Originally Posted by Nickelking

True, as JMS said in chat we do have a traditional language. I'm just saying no legislation could be passed until congress approves a native language; So the point is moot.

Actually I have to correct this point.

There is already federal legislation that requires people to speak in English.

If you want a Commercial Drivers license you are required by federal law to be able to speak English well enough to communicate with the police. The police can ticket for this violation to the tune of $500 or 90 days in jail and they do ticket for it 25000 times a year.

So even though we have no official language congress has already passed laws requiring the speaking ofEnglish in certain situations.