People are stupid
I read this article and had to reply with
I'm a US citizen, but I don't see USA on your list of countries. Anyway, that's beside the point.
I will be honest, I rarely read news articles online, but if they catch my interest, I will look into them. I found one today, infact, that I was curious about. "Immigration no threat to English use in U.S.: study". There were a few things that bothered me with this, but the main problem I had was this line: "most Latin American immigrants to the United States lose their ability to speak Spanish over the course of a few generations."
May I just say: WHAT THE HELL. You can't lose the ability to speak Spanish. Everyone in any country has the ability to learn and speak another language if they wish. It's a learned skill. That's like saying an American family that moves to another country will eventually never speak English again. It's ignorant. As proof, I submit the following:
My mother is Cuban. Her brother and mother were also Cubans as is her aunt. In fact, they came to this country on one of the last planes to leave Cuba before Castro closed the airports back around 1960. My grandmother spoke Spanish and a little English. Her sister is the same as she was. My uncle spoke more English and taught TaeKwonDo as the owner of a dojo, but still would speak Spanish. My mother and my grandmother would speak Spanish around us and teach us small things, but my mother, who Majored in English in college, chose not to teach us both English and Spanish. I also have noone to speak with on a regular basis so I have trouble pronounceing some words and speaking the language as quickly, but I took one year of Spanish and as honestly more interested in Japanese than Spanish. Still, I know enough to understand what is being said.
My brother, on the otehr hand, took four years of Spanish and speaks it much better than I do. One of my sisters took accelerated Spanish in high school out of curiousity and speaks a little. We are all able to speak the language. We haven't lost the ability to do so, though we don't have much use for it on a day to day basis. Infact, our offspring will still be able to learn Spanish if they wish. And their offspring and so forth.
Personally, I think you should be more careful with your words. The reason you have nothing to worry about from Spanish immigrants is because most of them want to be here. Look at Carlos Mencia: He's Mexican. He's also bilingual and speaks English very well.
And if you're just quoting facts, you should pass this along to your source. The parents are the ones who influence the language of the children. If they parents don't want to teach their children their native tongue, they aren't going to learn. Taht doesn't make them linguistically dead because given the chance they can learn the language.
Finally, I think Americans need to learn to deal with changes in their lives. Things are happening everyday that are so much bigger than José getting a job and not speaking English very well (that's the Employer's fault for hiring him, not José's fault for getting the job). Meanwhile there's a war going on, threats that another country will get nuclear power, and an idiot in office. Yet they are going to be angry about José and his native tongue. Do you see my point or should I continue?
"Oh noes José is singing that Amrican thing we have to sing(guarentee you there are people who don't know what "The Star-Spangled Banner" is called) in Spnish! Oh mericiful God, please make him stop D:" Seriously, that's what's pissing people off these days? So they want to know what we're singing. So they are trying to instill a touch of American pride in the Spanish speaking community. Or do we not want that?
I'll stop here before I really begin to rant. The point I really wanted to make is that you can't lose the ability to speak another language. Prehaps you won't speak it as well (My mother is Cuban, my father is German/Scottish/Dutch (read as American) and I just don't speak Spanish as well as my brother and and sister because I have noone to talk to since my grandmother died) but if you try, you can. The parents are to blame, not the generation.
Kinda wordy. But I was pissed.
My car broke. They fixed it and it's better now. The tension wheel for the belt fell off (while I was driving, fun >.<) and they had to call Nissan to replace it. (Took it to Bumpus Tires cause they rock). I have a new job at a Printing company (cause the new store manager at PetsMart cut my hours and was an asswipe and got rid of Candice for his friend who ruined the speciallty department). I'm basically a frisbee (they throw me where they need me). Mostly I'm in handwork which entails stacking, wrapping, and packing printed things (we did punch cards for Spencer's last week. I never want to see them again, but there's STILL a half pallette that needs to be cut, wrapped, and packed. I also catch stuff that comes off various machines (flyers, booklets, etc). Lots of work, but more fun than dealing with customers.
Anyways, thing to do, people to harrass.
I'm a US citizen, but I don't see USA on your list of countries. Anyway, that's beside the point.
I will be honest, I rarely read news articles online, but if they catch my interest, I will look into them. I found one today, infact, that I was curious about. "Immigration no threat to English use in U.S.: study". There were a few things that bothered me with this, but the main problem I had was this line: "most Latin American immigrants to the United States lose their ability to speak Spanish over the course of a few generations."
May I just say: WHAT THE HELL. You can't lose the ability to speak Spanish. Everyone in any country has the ability to learn and speak another language if they wish. It's a learned skill. That's like saying an American family that moves to another country will eventually never speak English again. It's ignorant. As proof, I submit the following:
My mother is Cuban. Her brother and mother were also Cubans as is her aunt. In fact, they came to this country on one of the last planes to leave Cuba before Castro closed the airports back around 1960. My grandmother spoke Spanish and a little English. Her sister is the same as she was. My uncle spoke more English and taught TaeKwonDo as the owner of a dojo, but still would speak Spanish. My mother and my grandmother would speak Spanish around us and teach us small things, but my mother, who Majored in English in college, chose not to teach us both English and Spanish. I also have noone to speak with on a regular basis so I have trouble pronounceing some words and speaking the language as quickly, but I took one year of Spanish and as honestly more interested in Japanese than Spanish. Still, I know enough to understand what is being said.
My brother, on the otehr hand, took four years of Spanish and speaks it much better than I do. One of my sisters took accelerated Spanish in high school out of curiousity and speaks a little. We are all able to speak the language. We haven't lost the ability to do so, though we don't have much use for it on a day to day basis. Infact, our offspring will still be able to learn Spanish if they wish. And their offspring and so forth.
Personally, I think you should be more careful with your words. The reason you have nothing to worry about from Spanish immigrants is because most of them want to be here. Look at Carlos Mencia: He's Mexican. He's also bilingual and speaks English very well.
And if you're just quoting facts, you should pass this along to your source. The parents are the ones who influence the language of the children. If they parents don't want to teach their children their native tongue, they aren't going to learn. Taht doesn't make them linguistically dead because given the chance they can learn the language.
Finally, I think Americans need to learn to deal with changes in their lives. Things are happening everyday that are so much bigger than José getting a job and not speaking English very well (that's the Employer's fault for hiring him, not José's fault for getting the job). Meanwhile there's a war going on, threats that another country will get nuclear power, and an idiot in office. Yet they are going to be angry about José and his native tongue. Do you see my point or should I continue?
"Oh noes José is singing that Amrican thing we have to sing(guarentee you there are people who don't know what "The Star-Spangled Banner" is called) in Spnish! Oh mericiful God, please make him stop D:" Seriously, that's what's pissing people off these days? So they want to know what we're singing. So they are trying to instill a touch of American pride in the Spanish speaking community. Or do we not want that?
I'll stop here before I really begin to rant. The point I really wanted to make is that you can't lose the ability to speak another language. Prehaps you won't speak it as well (My mother is Cuban, my father is German/Scottish/Dutch (read as American) and I just don't speak Spanish as well as my brother and and sister because I have noone to talk to since my grandmother died) but if you try, you can. The parents are to blame, not the generation.
Kinda wordy. But I was pissed.
My car broke. They fixed it and it's better now. The tension wheel for the belt fell off (while I was driving, fun >.<) and they had to call Nissan to replace it. (Took it to Bumpus Tires cause they rock). I have a new job at a Printing company (cause the new store manager at PetsMart cut my hours and was an asswipe and got rid of Candice for his friend who ruined the speciallty department). I'm basically a frisbee (they throw me where they need me). Mostly I'm in handwork which entails stacking, wrapping, and packing printed things (we did punch cards for Spencer's last week. I never want to see them again, but there's STILL a half pallette that needs to be cut, wrapped, and packed. I also catch stuff that comes off various machines (flyers, booklets, etc). Lots of work, but more fun than dealing with customers.
Anyways, thing to do, people to harrass.