This might sound like a weird thing to be excited about, but other countries have had an official language for centuries. We have not LEGALLY/TECHNICALLY ever had one here in the US even though it's pretty obvious that English is it. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I dare anyone to go to another country and ask them to change all their signs, entire system to cater to your needs because you decided to move to a country and you don't speak the language. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
there is one GLARING difference that you are overlooking..and that is sheer NUMBERS...the population of Chinese, Arab, Eastern European, and Hispanic immigrants is on a scale in this country that is unlike any other...some 'enclaves' here in the US have higher populations than major cities in the native countries...that is nothing to ignore.
I understand, but do you think we should cater to all the different languages?
I am all for equality. If we are going to use spanish (not offence to anyone who is speaking Spanish!), why not Chinese? That's not fair to the Chinese population. What about Arabic, Eastern European like you mentioned? Do we need all brochures, signs to be in so many different languages.
That's all I was trying to get to..
I live in NYC, and YES there are many languages represented, not just spanish. it may not be necessary everywhere, but it is here. and we should treat everyone with dignity and respect...and giving anyone a reason or excuse to tell someone to 'go back to their own country' b/c they don't speak the language, is shameful.
when you meet someone or hear them speak in a native tongue, you don't know how long they've been here or what the situation is. things should be kept in that perspective.
Well, I was not born in the US yet I can't expect someone here to speak my native language. This is really not a reasonable request. Trust me, that would have been great when I moved here but how can I expect someone to be able to target all foreign languages.
Mrs. dleeny
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Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Posted by JessicaM.
not to overstate the obvious, BUT the reason there are so many language CHOICES is because there are so many languages SPOKEN here...
anyone that has tried to learn a foreign language can understand how hard it is to grasp, and english is one of the hardest languages to learn. It would be awful for someone to move here and not have access to some of the most important information b/c of a language barrier. No language is learned over night.
the ONLY good I can see coming out of this is that perhaps people will learn how to speak it correctly...I dare say a HUGE number of the (navtive BORN) population does not.
And, there is NO OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD that sees the immigration that we do (trust me, I work for the Dept of Justice, I KNOW) or has the sheer numbers of immigrants from various countries, speaking various languages. it is a very UNIQUE place, and thus should not be compared to countries NOT in the same situation.
so what are you saying? that we should conform to this immigrant because learing English is hard?
If I chose to move to Italy, I would make an effort to learn Italian and not expect everyone to speak English.
Mrs. dleeny
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Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Posted by ChrissynRicky
I also understand what you are saying, but just to let you know - as a Middle Eastern, there are thousands of dialects to the Arabic language. So how do you just pick one?
Same goes for Chinese - there's Mandarin and Cantonese - among others.
that's the best point yet for making English the official language here.
no dialects, it's all the same, done.
MayBride06
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Member since
Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Posted by dleeny
Posted by ChrissynRicky
I also understand what you are saying, but just to let you know - as a Middle Eastern, there are thousands of dialects to the Arabic language. So how do you just pick one?
Same goes for Chinese - there's Mandarin and Cantonese - among others.
that's the best point yet for making English the official language here.
no dialects, it's all the same, done.
Agreed.
Blu-ize
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Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Posted by MayBride06
Posted by dleeny
Posted by ChrissynRicky
I also understand what you are saying, but just to let you know - as a Middle Eastern, there are thousands of dialects to the Arabic language. So how do you just pick one?
Same goes for Chinese - there's Mandarin and Cantonese - among others.
that's the best point yet for making English the official language here.
no dialects, it's all the same, done.
Agreed.
I agree too..
JessicaM.
Posted:
Member since
Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Posted by dleeny
Posted by JessicaM.
not to overstate the obvious, BUT the reason there are so many language CHOICES is because there are so many languages SPOKEN here...
anyone that has tried to learn a foreign language can understand how hard it is to grasp, and english is one of the hardest languages to learn. It would be awful for someone to move here and not have access to some of the most important information b/c of a language barrier. No language is learned over night.
the ONLY good I can see coming out of this is that perhaps people will learn how to speak it correctly...I dare say a HUGE number of the (navtive BORN) population does not.
And, there is NO OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD that sees the immigration that we do (trust me, I work for the Dept of Justice, I KNOW) or has the sheer numbers of immigrants from various countries, speaking various languages. it is a very UNIQUE place, and thus should not be compared to countries NOT in the same situation.
so what are you saying? that we should conform to this immigrant because learing English is hard?
If I chose to move to Italy, I would make an effort to learn Italian and not expect everyone to speak English.
perhaps you should have read my subsequent posts if you are uncertain of my reasoning, as my argument is further broken down.
here is a recap: NO, ONE english speaking person moving to another country should NOT expect to have their language represented...BUT when there is a HUGE influx of people, all speaking a language other than the 'native' one, in behooves ALL parties to make efforts to understand (and BE UNDERSTOOD by) all those that have come here to seek a better life..
I don't believe that any of the dissenters on this thread are against people living in the country learning english...quite the contrary actually. Everyone should learn English if they plan to live here...and it is the 'main' language...making it 'official' serves no real purpose, and it quite frankly, obnoxious-proving once again just how backward the most 'powerful' country in the world really is.
JessicaM.
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Member since
Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Posted by dleeny
Posted by ChrissynRicky
no dialects, it's all the same, done.
there are no dialects in the English language?
that does it for me.
Mrs. dleeny
Posted:
Member since
Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Posted by JessicaM.
Posted by dleeny
Posted by JessicaM.
not to overstate the obvious, BUT the reason there are so many language CHOICES is because there are so many languages SPOKEN here...
anyone that has tried to learn a foreign language can understand how hard it is to grasp, and english is one of the hardest languages to learn. It would be awful for someone to move here and not have access to some of the most important information b/c of a language barrier. No language is learned over night.
the ONLY good I can see coming out of this is that perhaps people will learn how to speak it correctly...I dare say a HUGE number of the (navtive BORN) population does not.
And, there is NO OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD that sees the immigration that we do (trust me, I work for the Dept of Justice, I KNOW) or has the sheer numbers of immigrants from various countries, speaking various languages. it is a very UNIQUE place, and thus should not be compared to countries NOT in the same situation.
so what are you saying? that we should conform to this immigrant because learing English is hard?
If I chose to move to Italy, I would make an effort to learn Italian and not expect everyone to speak English.
perhaps you should have read my subsequent posts if you are uncertain of my reasoning, as my argument is further broken down.
here is a recap: NO, ONE english speaking person moving to another country should NOT expect to have their language represented...BUT when there is a HUGE influx of people, all speaking a language other than the 'native' one, in behooves ALL parties to make efforts to understand (and BE UNDERSTOOD by) all those that have come here to seek a better life..
I don't believe that any of the dissenters on this thread are against people living in the country learning english...quite the contrary actually. Everyone should learn English if they plan to live here...and it is the 'main' language...making it 'official' serves no real purpose, and it quite frankly, obnoxious-proving once again just how backward the most 'powerful' country in the world really is.
well, we can agree to disagree then. I happen to think it's about darn time we join almost every single other nation and have an official language
Mrs. dleeny
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Member since
Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Posted by JessicaM.
Posted by dleeny
Posted by ChrissynRicky
no dialects, it's all the same, done.
there are no dialects in the English language?
that does it for me.
do we have different dialects in America? as far as I know, I was only taught one version of the proper grammar, etc in school
N.Y.bride
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Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Posted by dleeny well, we can agree to disagree then. I happen to think it's about darn time we join almost every single other nation and have an official language
HearzBellz
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Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Posted by ChrissynRicky
Here's my opinion:
This country was founded on immigrants - plain and simple. If anyone is entitled to an offical language - it's the Native American's, and they CERTAINLY did not speak English.
Anyone in the mood to learn some Iroquois, Cherokee, Navajo, Ojibwe, or Sioux???
Personally I'd love to see the indigenous peoples return to their rightful place as the land owners of this country. And if that happened, I would have NO problem learning the language, just like my ancestors did (a whopping generation ago) when they decided to make the US their home.
M&S Sept12006
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Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Hi everyone hello!
As an immigrant that came to this country when I was 8 and having lived in two other countries besides the US I see nothing wrong with English being declared as the official language of the land. Like everyone is saying, there are many languages being spoken in this country as it is highly populated by different people from different countries. English (I must correst Jess on this one) is one of the easiest languages to learn, and therefore should be learned by everyone that come to this country, just as Greek was when I lived in Greece and Polish when I lived in Poland.
From what I can see on this thread, we're all communicating in ENGLISH, so why not be proud of where we live and the fact that the langauge was officially established as the language of the land...
Mrs. dleeny
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Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Posted by M&S Sept12006
From what I can see on this thread, we're all communicating in ENGLISH, so why not be proud of where we live and the fact that the langauge was officially established as the language of the land...
itslaurie.
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Member since
Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
A dialect (from the Greek word dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. The number of speakers, and the area itself, can be of arbitrary size. It follows that a dialect for a larger area can contain plenty of (sub-) dialects, which in turn can contain dialects of yet smaller areas, etc.
A dialect is a complete system of verbal communication (oral or signed but not necessarily written) with its own vocabulary and/or grammar.
CLMon7906
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Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
actually, the thing that makes English so hard to learn is that we have a word for everything unlike other languages....observe, 'pomme' in french means apple, 'terre' means earth, 'pomme de terre' means literally apple of the earth but is in fact, potato! that's what makes it difficult that and our verb/noun agreements are different....speaking it isn't so bad, but 'mastering' it, well, many can't do that and we were born here.
N.Y.bride
Posted:
Member since
Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Posted by M&S Sept12006
Hi everyone hello!
As an immigrant that came to this country when I was 8 and having lived in two other countries besides the US I see nothing wrong with English being declared as the official language of the land. Like everyone is saying, there are many languages being spoken in this country as it is highly populated by different people from different countries. English (I must correst Jess on this one) is one of the easiest languages to learn, and therefore should be learned by everyone that come to this country, just as Greek was when I lived in Greece and Polish when I lived in Poland.
From what I can see on this thread, we're all communicating in ENGLISH, so why not be proud of where we live and the fact that the langauge was officially established as the language of the land...
sr081906
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Member since
Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Posted by vixchik
actually, the thing that makes English so hard to learn is that we have a word for everything unlike other languages....observe, 'pomme' in french means apple, 'terre' means earth, 'pomme de terre' means literally apple of the earth but is in fact, potato! that's what makes it difficult that and our verb/noun agreements are different....speaking it isn't so bad, but 'mastering' it, well, many can't do that and we were born here.
What about 'pine apple'?? LOL
SomethingBlu
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Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Again, I'm not opposed to English being declared the official language. Clearly I speak it and write it and needed to learn it in order to live productively.
However, my comments were directed at one person's question which I found ignorant.
This has turned into a moot point and a lot of unnecessary posts.
My 'point' wasn't 'boo Congress' it was 'boo ignorant person'...but I digress.
sr081906
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Member since
Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Posted by SomethingBlu
Again, I'm not opposed to English being declared the official language. Clearly I speak it and write it and needed to learn it in order to live productively.
However, my comments were directed at one person's question which I found ignorant.
This has turned into a moot point and a lot of unnecessary posts.
My 'point' wasn't 'boo Congress' it was 'boo ignorant person'...but I digress.
Still don't know why I am ignorant and still did not get an explanation.
JessicaM.
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Re: GOOD JOB CONGRESS!!
Posted by itslaurie.
A dialect (from the Greek word dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. The number of speakers, and the area itself, can be of arbitrary size. It follows that a dialect for a larger area can contain plenty of (sub-) dialects, which in turn can contain dialects of yet smaller areas, etc.
A dialect is a complete system of verbal communication (oral or signed but not necessarily written) with its own vocabulary and/or grammar.
Syl, you know I love ya, but English is NOT easy for everyone...you had the added 'gifts' of being young and very smart...two things on your side.
an ADULT laborer from another country, goes to work 18 plus hours a day, (surrounded by people predominlately speaking their native tongue) to wake up and do it all again...when do they have time to learn a whole new language. the law says one thing, but the system perpetuates something COMPLETELY different...it's a Catch 22, and a highly unfair one at that.
it's different with children..all children should learn english- that is what school is for.
