[SumItUp]

Barry is so far out of touch it's almost laughable. You have to watch the video on the link below.

http://tinyurl.com/6nc5h3

What is your favorite part?

[RubberMallet]

while he is a complete moron and completely made a retard out of himself here, the underlying issue i completely agree with. i used to be of the "blah blah blah if you want to live in amurica, speak ENGLISH"....but guess what? it don't work. Spanish is one of the most spoken languages in the world.

i fully support teaching students a 2nd language very early in life. and for the most part the one language that woudl benefit most of us the most is spanish...

God forbid us fat lazy americans have to actually take the time to LEARN something that may be useful to us...we as a nation continue to fall down the educational ladder while everyone else around us continue to just dominate us in every field....that might not have everything to do with suzy not taking her first 2nd language class until she's in high school but darnit, its part of the problem...

[RubberMallet]

half of the population doesn't even speak english correctly....me being one of them..

[JDUB]

i speak american

[flamesbball84]

i still think English should be made the official language of the US.

There's no sense in us legal citizens of 20+ years having to learn a new language because a bunch of illegal immigrants don't want to adapt to the country they are moving to. I know I may sound a big "ignorant" or "unaccepting of foreigners" if you will, but If I moved to Mexico, the Mexicans would expect me to adapt to their world, both linguistically and culturally. I don't mind learning a foreign language (although after having taken spanish for 5 years, I have come to the conclusion that any sense of literacy in the language isn't going to happen), but I don't think it's right that legal citizens are going to be virtually compelled to learn a foreign language just to be able to communicate with a bunch of illegal immigrants...

And don't even get me started on how the dang liberals pander to all the wants and "needs" of all these dang illegal immigrants and try to hand them everything on a silver platter...

[LUconn]

What's the purpose of an "official language"? It's not like we would be throwing people in jail for speaking something else. Just let them speak what they want. It's already to their disadvantage not to learn it. It shouldn't affect you much if at all.

[bozlady]

I don't think it's just Mexico or Spanish speaking countries only. We lived in Germany for two years and the Germans expected us and rightly so to learn to speak their language. I don't think there's anything wrong in learning a 2nd language. I admire people who can speak three or more languages. Anyways, I thought the official language for the U.S. is English, isn't it?

[Cider Jim]

i speak Southern american

FIFY (feel free to edit it some more)

[SumItUp]

Somebody has been listening to a few too many lefty talking points without the filter turned on.


1/ The United States needs to make English the official language in the United States. Official documents should be filled out in English. Official signs need to printed in English. Anything less than making English the official language creates a fragmentation of our population. This is something the left consistently attempts to do. The intention of our founding fathers was to create a unified nation. In 1782, the Congress ratified E pluribus unum as the motto which stood for, "out of many, one". A citizen of the United States should not have to learn another language in order to function in society. Living in Lynchburg, this is just a talking point, but in a growing number of locations in our country, it is becoming a reality.

2/ Americans should take opportunities to learn other languages, but not for the same reasons that Europeans do. My aunt and uncle are missionaries in France. My three cousins speak English and French fluently and can also speak Spanish and German. They can communicate the basics in a few other languages spoken in Europe. Their knowledge of these languages is directly related to the proximity of the European countries to each other. However, the countries in Europe do not have a problem stating that people living in their countries need to know their country's language. Comparing our grasp of other languages to those living in Europe is not sensible. Geographically, it is not necessary for Americans to learn another language. However, the opportunities to communicate with people around the world is available to all of us because of technology (phones and internet).

3/ The English language is ranked third (behind Mandarin and Hindi) in the world for native speakers. It is the international language of business. It is also taught more than any other language as a second language. While Spanish is the most common in Central and South America, it is very seldom used outside of our continents except in Spain.

[RubberMallet]

Their knowledge of these languages is directly related to the proximity of the European countries to each other.

last time i checked mexico was pretty darn close in proximity to us last time i checked. also, every mexican resort i've ever been to has been 95% americans....walking around conversing in spanish like morons...

Geographically, it is not necessary for Americans to learn another language.

you make it sound like the everyday european spends tons of time in other countries. sorry it doesn't happen....the everyday German will probably visit poland only a few more times in his lifetime than you and i.

[Ed Dantes]

Here's the thing.

If you are in a plane, sitting in a seat next to an emergency exit, they require you to be physically capable enough to open a door and to... speak english. That way, if someone needs help -- they can understand you. It's that simple. English should be our official language (all that means is basically it's the language that we do all government business in) and also because it is the most convenient for emergency situations.

That being said -- I believe spanish should be part of school curriculum. It is the fifth-most common language in the world, and our southern neighbors speak it.

[01LUGrad]

Sly must be sleeping (the nerve of him), or he would be all over this topic!

[Sly Fox]

I tried to post off my Blackberry last night. But suffice it to say that I am a big proponent of Americans becoming more bilingual. It is tough for me to sit in Texas and complain about immigrants speaking Spanish when we whites were the immigrants in Spanish-speaking Tejas just over a century ago.

I am onto my wife & in-laws about speaking Espanol to my kids all the time. But sadly they are probably learning as much from me & Dora. My wife uses the excuse that she doesn't want to confuse them until they have a grasp of English. But my youngest is closing in on that threshold and the excuses will be gone.

My son has always complained that he doesn't want to learn the language that Mommy, Nana and all his tios y tias speak to each other. But this past year in kindergarten some of his buddies were speaking to each other in Espanol and now he wants in.

[whmatthews]

"These colors don't run" - Cal Norton Jr.

I think a big difference here is wether or not Obama is saying he'll make it law that we learn to speak other languages or we should do it voluntarilly. Nothing wrong with thinking we should all do it on our own accord, but if he were proposing that it become law we learn Spanish and/or other languages, then we should all punch him in the throat. There are a lot of things I should do, but I don't - and learning Spanish isn't on my to-do-list. I encounter a lot of illegals coming in our store to get paint and they usually slip a peice of paper over the counter to us that has written what they want on it. (their American boss has obviously written for them b/c they can't speak English) - and these guys are hard to deal with, because most times than not, it's more complicated then 'get me this paint that's written on this paper'. You have to ask questions.... interior/exterior paint? touching up or repainting? gloss finish? flat finish? And they're clueless to what I'm saying - it's hard to do business when there are people who don't comprehend the English language. IMO If they're in America, by law, they should have to learn English.

[LUconn]

right, but they're hurting themselves by not being able to correctly get paint. Why force them? And that creates a new business niche for somebody. A bilingual paint store would make more money than yours. It's just unnecessary legislation that comes around every election time to get you motivated to vote.

[4everfsu]

My 2 cents worth, first if you come to this country you learn to speak english to talk to me, not me learn a new language to communicate with you.
If I wanted to move to mexico, I need to have a professional job and be able to speak their language, at least that was what Russ Limbaugh's info on one show.
With that being said, I wish my father would have taught my sister and me his native language of Mexico. But my mom thought he would warp my brain with too much information. So Sly kudos to you for trying to teach your children the language.

[ATrain]

i speak Redneck

FIFY (feel free to edit it some more)

There we go...

Anyway, I'm all for the teaching of a second language in school, preferably French since its a little more of an international language than Spanish. However, Congress needs to enact a law making English the official language, those moving here should have to adapt to our language and customs, not the other way around.

[Sly Fox]

Uh, French? Not so much unless you plan on living in Quebec or France. We live in America. They don't even speak French in Louisiana anymore.

[RagingTireFire]

Bunch o' frickin' nativists. Enacting an official language in America of any sort runs contrary to the principles this country was founded upon. The US was begun and built by immigrants for immigrants. English is the dominant language, yes, but that is a function of convenience not necessity.

[LUconn]

Bunch o' frickin' nativists. Enacting an official language in America of any sort runs contrary to the principles this country was founded upon. The US was begun and built by immigrants for immigrants. English is the dominant language, yes, but that is a function of convenience not necessity.

Exactly. And what would being officially English speaking do anyway? All government forms and docs would be only in English. Yay. Big accomplishment. It's not like we're producing them in every language known to man anyway.

[RubberMallet]

you guys hate your country, amurica...you probably hate the troops too

[ALUmnus]

Bunch o' frickin' nativists. Enacting an official language in America of any sort runs contrary to the principles this country was founded upon. The US was begun and built by immigrants for immigrants. English is the dominant language, yes, but that is a function of convenience not necessity.

You know, I don't really remember ever learning that our Constitution or Declaration of Independence or Bill of Rights being translated into all the Indian tribal languages, or in French, or German, or Dutch, so that everyone could understand it. I think you guys are failing to give language as a unifying force it's due credit. Look at Quebec, the Balkans, India, etc, all extremely divisive to the point of war/separation. Not just because of religion or political differences, but also because of language. You want kids in school to be smarter, I have no problem with teaching multiple languages, but strong English skills are what is going to make them successful and more educated.

That and the desctruction of the metric system.

[RubberMallet]

the metric system is the bomb.

[ALUmnus]

they even made a song for it in the 80's to help brainwash the all us dumb kids.

[ATrain]

Personally I think the metric system needs to be taught alongside the imperial system in schools. As the economy and everything else starts becoming more global, Americans are going to have to adapt to it eventually.