Why is it that.....?
I mean, yes this country was founded by immigrants but at the same time it was founded by the English-who speak English, and everyone from around the world want to learn English-not Spanish; or French to come here and better themselves. If English did offically become the lanuage spoken here-the main one at that, lazy as s people who refuse to speak the language because it is not offical would now have no excuse.
Answer:
I think that most find it offensive considering the fact that when the first immigrants arrived here from Europe they didn't exactly try their hardest to learn the native american's languages,yet they are quick right now to demand everyone else does.And as for me personally I find it offensive because people like you say "learn the language",yet you do not come up with a plan on how that should be done.Its like saying to an alcoholic or drug user "quit drinking and doing drugs",yet you do not give them the resources to do so.Yes I know there might be a few people that do not wish to learn the language but I also believe that a majority of them do,yet they do not know how to go about doing that.Only once about two years I attended with my mom an esl class that taught students english at a local church and was surprised to see that for one teacher they had about 50 students.My mom quit that class not because she didn't wish to learn but because they teacher couldn't provide sufficient help or attention that each student needed.So to you and all those who call the "they don't wish to even learn the language" I suggest you stop by one of those classes and check things out for yourself before you go on making assumptions and pointing fingers.
I also believe that English should be legislated as the official language of the USA and one of the requirements to apply for citizenship must be a basic understanding of and ability to speak, read and write in English. I think that, alone, would ensure that only people who truly plan to assimilate to our culture would apply for citizenship and their progress at learning English would be a marker of their sincerity.
Gee, are you my long-lost identical twin sister? Ha!
I just don't think it will buy you much. What people are really worried about is that when the illegal immigrants work for so cheap, the employers start to only hire managers and floor supervisors who speak Spanish. This at best puts a ceiling on our people who aren't fluent in Spanish. Since in many of these jobs we are talking about people who stopped school after high school, our people usually would not be fluent, whereas we pay through our schools to make illegals as well as legal ESL students fluent in English. As a practical matter that means advancement jobs mostly only go to the ESL learners and our folks are squeezed out.
Note that this is the opposite of Mexico where I have read a law saying you can't be employed unless you speak fluent Spanish. (I don't know how strictly it is enforced.)
Short of THAT sort of law, however, 'official language' won't buy you much. California has English as its official language and ballots and documents are still translated into Spanish and a handful of other languages. In fact, I think people in the heartland who want English to be the official language would be surprised to walk down the streets of many parts of LA knowing it is the official language here.
I don't think we as a country are ever going to say people can't speak another language with their friends, or that employers can't prefer bilingual managers if their employees/customers are Spanish speaking. Given that, while I agree that immigrants should learn English, I think the official language business is a distraction from real reform.
Just my 2 cents....
Because they would then be required to bear the expense of translation themselves, rather than passing it on to the U.S. taxpayer..
Along with a law stating that English is the official U.S. language, we should also pass a law that foreign language signs and product instructions be made illegal unless such items were for foreign export. Also that the cost of interpreters for legal proceedings must not be payed by U.S. taxpayers.
If a U.S. citizen is arrested in Mexico is he given copies of legal documents in English as wells as Spanish? I doubt it............
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