Saturday, September 6, 2008
Learning the Language
I would like to find out what everyone thinks about immigrants coming into America who do not speak English. The reason is that a couple weeks ago here in Faribault there was a Hispanic man running around his apartment building screaming in Spanish, he was holding a newborn baby, no one was able to help him because he could only speak Spanish and could not tell them what was wrong, the baby died while they were trying to figure out what the man was trying to tell them, the baby had choked to death on its own spit-up, if the man spoke English someone probably would have been able to help him help the baby. So do you think all immigrants need to learn English? and how well should they learn it?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I believe that all immigrants should learn to speak English fluently or at least know most of it. I believe this would make it easier for immigrants to understand our laws as well as help our police force, they have to put up with non-English speaking people a lot. I also think this would help some teachers ( I am not reffering to Raj, I think he speaks decent enough English), but other teachers. I think it would help the immigrant children learn better and not hold back the rest of the class. Of course it would also help us to save the lives of immigrant children. Some people think we should learn to speak their languages, I can see that as bennificial but not neccessary, they are coming to our country and should know our language well enough to be able to function properly in our society. Ian
ReplyDeleteI agree, it might help if we had some form of english proficiency test before upon entering the country. That way we know who can or cannot speak our language, and if they need to take a basic english class. Which in return could create more jobs as well. I feel that if they learned the basic english they might need to learn would help them if ever in an emergency like the one that just happened. It's up to them if they want to learn more of the emglish language. Also, I believe that to be fair, people who work certain jobs should also learn some part of whatever foreign language that is prominent in their community to help avoid confusion.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWell this is a tricky topic... In southern parts of New Mexico there are pure spanish speaking schools, in fact here in MN we have a chinese speaking school. English is NOT the offical language of the USA. When tourist, from the US, go to other countries we fully expect them to speak English for us but that we don't have to speak their language- then why shouldn't it be the other way around. In other countries that are just like us in development, the students have to learn many different languages in order to graduate. Yet in America- the most "envyed" country in the world- kids can graduate with out even having a firm grasp on their first language (English) much less having teachers that speak it incorretly and that being perfect acceptable!
ReplyDeleteI think that you should know at least some of the main langage of a country you live in but I also think that people should be open and have the option to learn other languages when it isn't possible.
And plus where are the immigrants going to learn to speak English. I know that at least in some other countries they offer free classes for immigrants to learn the native language but here, not all immigrants have the option or the money to spend on learning English. How can we make it a requirement if we don't help them out?
i agree with ian to an extent. i think that if imigrants are going to be coming to our country to live they should learn our native language at least enough so that they can function well in our society. but i do think that they should be able to speak their language without be looked down upon too though. i also think that when they come here and they don't know our language yet that they should be considered as stupid or less educated just because they can't communicate as well with most of us. i think that we should also try to make an effort to try and learn some of the main languages that we have in our society like how they have spanish in most high schools. but they should also put other languages that can be of importance too.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nate, they are coming here and they should leran our language, they will not be fluent or seem like it is there native language but I think they should learn enough for everyday use to get them by. We should not put them down for speaking their native language. Like Nate said we should have other languages in high schools too.
ReplyDeleteI see a lot of people trying to learn our language but I don't think there is a class (correct me if I am wrong). Another thing we (including me) are saying they should learn English but I dont know about everyone else but no one is teaching these people they are learning from when other english speaking people talk. I think if they do learn english it would be easier for them to understand our laws.
My dad and step mom are both from Portugal and their primary language is Portugese, they do know english quite well sometimes they dont speak it perfectly but they do speak it and they learned how to. My step mom will even ask me how to say a word, or to correct her if she is wrong.. I really applaud all non english speakers for their efforts in trying to learn our language.
All I see is people saying they should do this they should do that but I dont see anyone helping them. Like aaron said there should be some kind of english proficiency test during their citizenship interview (alothough some of the people are not legal)
Maybe if the hespinaic man or the people trying to help him used gestures it would of been better, i dont know the situation.
I believe that since English is the primary language used in this country that one should have at the very least a basic knowledge of important terms. Or know some of the gestures used in case of a situation like the one mentioned in the post. It would be beneficial at the very least.
ReplyDeleteHmm, tricky topic, well let’s compare the U.S. to some other countries. Did you know that in order to graduate from school in Germany you have to take at least 4 years of English? 8 years of it and at least 6 years of another language if you want to go to College. And other European countries are not much different. And here it is not even required to take a single semester of a foreign language to graduate. But the fact that allot of Americans don’t know any language but English is off the point, the question was whether or not it should be required for immigrants to learn English. Well I think it is important if you are planning to live somewhere to at least try to learn the language, and I think that most really do try to. But making it a requirement sounds like a whole bunch of hustle, maybe offering more free courses could help. But these courses should be in a secure environment, where immigrants that are still illegal in the U.S. don’t need to fear getting sent away.
ReplyDeleteJamie
its a known fact that we are going to come by people that don't speak English sometime. so why isn't the US, teaching us that other languages commonly spoke in the US? In most other countries you start learning the other spoken languages at a very young age. so, while what happened the the man and his baby is extremely sad, i don't feel as if we have the right to blame it on just him. Yes, people that speak other languages should be able to communicate to an extent in English. but still- other cultures and languages are a part of America, so shouldn't we have the decency to learn them too?
ReplyDeleteimmigrants need to know english as a tool of aid during the time they spend in the state. but i have to stop and say that the americans think that everyone coming to us should speak english while they dont see the need of doin that when travling to other countries. im a somali born in saudi arabia i can speak arabic english french and somali of course.in my opnion americans dont have much of general knowldge of other cultures or countries. you dont care about what is happining outsiade the border line. i read this recent survey(2008) that most of americans couldnt identify iraq in a world map. the whole talk of immagrants are required to speak english is based on the american ego.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is necessary for immigrants to learn at least some basic english for just such situations as the one mentioned. Coming to live in a new country without at least a basic ability to converse with the people in it seems irresponsible.
ReplyDeleteAs a response to what Zein said about Americans wanting immigrants to learn English in order to feed our egos. I believe that statement wasn't very well thought out. Other countries get mad if Americans go to these other countries and do not know their language, why would it be different for immigrants in America? No matter what country you go to if you are going to be there for an extended period of time you should learn that countries language. I do believe that the Americans who go to these countries for an extended period of time and do not know the language of the country are somewhat foolish. English is the language of America so all immigrants should learn it the best they can, and if the immigrant is illegal they should be kicked out, that is the purpose of laws (that last part was for Jamie)
ReplyDeleteLearning the Language
ReplyDeleteI think it is important for individuals coming to the U.S. to know, or being willing to learn some Basic English for obvious reasons (like the example given). However I think that we should also be willing to learn their language as well, because in the example given if someone would have known there language things could have been different.
I think that immigrants should learn english, but not forget their own language. Its unfortunate that our school system doesn't incorporate more languages but I feel that my education was fine. On another note, when I lived and visited Germany I spoke german. It wasn't the best but they understood me. I think we're lucky other countries speak english but its not smart to go to another country and not speak their language, which should be the same for immigrants. I agree with Ian, we don't want immigrants to learn english to feed our ego's its just something that should be known. When you go to another country you should be prepared and that means learning the language to help yourself and get help from others. You need to know the language if you touring or if your going to live in that country. I mean if your going to live in the U.S. and you want to rent or buy you need to speak english good enough to make the deal and know your not getting ripped off. I guess there are other aspects of this too and Im just not able to see them but it kind of seems like common sense go to a forgein county learn the forgein language.
ReplyDeleteOther countries hating Americans is a myth. My dad travels, a lot through his work. And I have taken some german and french where I got to meet people from Eroupe. In northern France, they still love Americans. They think of them as heros from WW2. And other countries want to come to America and they want to learn English. Yes, if you go to a formal country like Germany and call someone "ihr", when they should be "Sie" (the formal you noun) they will be offended and start to speak English to you (because they have had to take English since they were about 12). Yes they may think of you as foolish because you don't know anything about the culture you have entered into but that is why they would get mad. You took the time and money to come yet you know nothing about the past, or the present culture. It is not merely the language that offends other cultures, it is the lack of care about their culture that is so offensive.
ReplyDeletefrom what raj said today that we have no certain language for our country that immigrants do not need to learn our language. but on another note the large majority of our population does speak english and basicly every thing that we have and do is in english like when you watch the news it's in english i think their may be some way to get your news in your language but those are extra steps that you have to take. also it would be very hard for all of us to learn all of the languages that we have in our country because we are so diverse but we should make a larger effort to put some of the larger languages in our vocabulary through schools or through the communities that we live in.
ReplyDeletethis somewhat supports my above views: http://www.mla.org/map_data_langlist&mode=lang_tops
ReplyDeleteand this one: http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/november/USlanguages.html
also seeing from the pie graph is that english is only spoken by 82.1% of the population which is still a large amount but there is still 17.9% of other languages spoken which is also a large amount of people that speak other languages in our country. also by seening how many different ones there really are now i can see why it would be really hard to incorporate all of them into our society.
basically i dont agree anything that you guys say in this topic. The reasons is that is not the way you think, is had to learn a language its takes time is not something that you can learn in overnight. for example imagine you self moving to a new country and have to learn their language in a short period of time. that is the case you havent exprience damn thing you just judging.
ReplyDeleteAbdi Jama seems like an angry one. It does not matter how long it takes. The point is to learn the language because it is obviously the best thing to do. You can not come here to America and say "you must learn my language". If that was how it worked then Americans would know many many many languages. It is much easier for you to learn English rather than us learn everyone elses language. Ian
ReplyDeleteOk, I get where you all are coming from with the whole if you are going to stay in a country for an extended amount of time you need to learn the language deal, and to some extent I agree, I really do, but you all are setting double standards, even if you might not be noticing it. Think about active duty soldiers who get stationed all over the world, and trust me maybe one out of 30 know a FEW basic local language skills, and they stay there for years. However, in towns that has an American post it is a requirement for all salespeople, and some other professions, to speak English, if you don’t speak it, well good luck to you finding a job. (oh and by the way Michelle if you call a person “ihr” that person is offended because they think you are drunk and seeing double)
ReplyDeletei don't think people that speak other languages hav eto learn perfect english. English is one of the hardest languages to learn, and you expect people to move here and be able to have a full convorsation with you? no, that unfair. but chances are some basic phrases will come in handy... and why shouldn't Americans learn other peoples languages? if we expect them to learn our language perfectly, can't we have the decency to learn a bit of theirs? they are part of America too, and they aren't going anywhere. so why can't people just accept it? if we pride ourselves on our education system, why can't we teach more then just english?
ReplyDeleteAbdi, how are we judging? No one said it was easy to learn a language, and I certainly wouldn't expect someone to learn perfect english and loose their natural accent. It would be nice though to understand and comprehend what immigrants are saying. I work at a place where I take calls on all sorts of accounts. Its frustrating and maddening to try to help someone that doesn't speak english at all. Let alone them not understanding what im saying. On top of that those people get anrgy at me and the company for not hiring a translator for the 1 out of every 100 callers that can't speak english. And not to be mean but it was hard for me to comprehend what your blog meant. When people decide to come to America that means they leave their country by CHOICE. "When in Rome do as the Romans do." When I go to Germany, France or Sweden I speak their language. Its not the best its just the short easy to remember phrases that help me buy a bagle, use a phone, pay for something or ask for a taxi. And your right its hard to learn a language but even after living in Germany for 3 weeks and being around German speaking people in a bar I could catch on easily. So please don't say people haven't experienced things when you have no idea about the people reading this blog. And Ian had an awesome point, its easier for the people coming to our country like they chose to, to learn our language instead of us all learning theirs.
ReplyDeleteI do believe all immigrants should learn english. I know I wouldn't want to be in a place where i had no idea how to communicate with that of the dominant language. And as of the baby story. I think that people should have been more aware that something was wrong with the baby, you don't need english to tell you that much...I think that was just stupidity!!
ReplyDeleteIt is the person's right not to learn English if they do not want to. It is also their responsibility to learn some English when coming to America. They do not have to know all of English, but they should be able to know the basic words of communication. Through living here, they can acquire more language.
ReplyDeleteIt is the person's right not to learn English if they do not want to. It is also their responsibility to learn some English when coming to America. They do not have to know all of English, but they should be able to know the basic words of communication. Through living here, they can acquire more language.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone that comes to america should know a little english, it is expected of them just like if i were to go to another country i would be expected to know at least a little of their language. We shouldnt have to learn spanish just because hispanics want to come here, there would be too many other languages to learn too. If you come here, learn the language. If you go somewhere else, learn the language, its pretty simple if you ask me.
ReplyDeletei think that all people should learn at least the basics enough to prevent things like that (baby dying)from happening. it would make things easier as far as health care and legal issues. dr's could be told specific details by the sick and if they would be pulled over or had a run in with the law they could say what they needed to to communicate effectively cuz lets face it where is an interpreter when you really need one?
ReplyDelete