Opinion Talk

By Copyleft

July 1, 2008 7:50 AM | Link to this

Last time I checked, nobody was forced to learn a certain language in the “land of the free.”

That includes English AND Spanish. Join the mix, learn what you need to get by. It applies to everyone. English-speakers have no superior claim to “the REAL language of America,” and no right to force everyone else to do things their way.

By Bionic Blonde

July 1, 2008 8:49 AM | Link to this

I speak both Spanish and English—I was born and raised in that far off land known as Oklahoma. I teach both ESL (English as a Second Language) and Spanish I don’t like the jingoistic way in which language and nationality are seen by some as destructive elements for our country. Learning about another language and culture make for a richer life. I agree that bilingual is best. Being monolingual (Spanish or English) is not the way of the future.

By Copyleft

July 1, 2008 9:04 AM | Link to this

Although I’m starting to think those Latin classes I took were a waste….

By Michael H. Smith

July 1, 2008 9:42 AM | Link to this

Somebody needs to check again.

What language was used to write the Declaration of Independence? What language was used to write the U. S. Constitution? What language is used by the overwhelming majority of State legislatures to write State laws? What language is spoken in the Congress? What language does the Congress use to write laws? What language is spoken in the Supreme Court? What language is commonly spoken in the courts of this land? What language is most commonly used by the news media throughout this country?

Need anymore “force” applied?

If anyone wants to learn the language they will need to “get by” in the United States of American they best get started in learning the U.S. version of the English language. Otherwise they will join the messed-up and the mixed-up only to disenfranchise themselves from this country.

In answer to the first question: Yes far too many U.S. citizens and entities in this country are enabling immigrants to avoid learning U.S. English.

In answer to the second question, does it [English] matter?

Without the English language this country has no means of bringing together all of its parts from around the world. Our English language is the glue that binds us together, gives us our national identity and is a major part in retaining our sovereignty as a nation.

By T

July 1, 2008 9:58 AM | Link to this

If we are spending money for elementary schools to teach english to spanish speaking children, is it not appropriate to teach spanish to english speaking children? Just a thought.

By Rick

July 1, 2008 10:22 AM | Link to this

Why are we wasting taxpayer resources to teach children in Spanish? English is and has been the common language of the US.

As a previous poster stated, it is the foundation for what ties US citizens together as a nation! How do we direct a military where not everyone speaks the same language? We will have many more problems when we are not united under a common language.

By just me

July 1, 2008 10:47 AM | Link to this

I wonder if those who champion English as the only language of this nation would teach an ESL class. That’s putting your money where your mouth is. Or would you rather hurl stones from a distance? I think if we ask immigrants to learn the language and show them the cultural, financial and sociological benefits of doing such, they will be more inclined to do so. But if we respond to them with hate and disgust (as many of us Americans are prone to do), we only encourage them to stay within their own circles and cease communication with ours.

By T

July 1, 2008 10:51 AM | Link to this

Actualy, the military also teaches non english speaking soldiers english.

I think the teaching of english to so many students has something to do with our immigration situation. I just think we should offer the same opportunities to all students.

Anyone understand any of the signs on Buford hwy?

By Firefighter

July 1, 2008 11:15 AM | Link to this

No I cannot read the signs on Buford Hwy and I refuse to take the effort to learn Spanish. Why should I have to go to school in my off, unpaid time to learn a language. If these illegal morons want all their signs in spanish…go ahead. We public safety folks can’t read them…so when you call and we don’t show up….blame yourself.

By bozo

July 1, 2008 11:51 AM | Link to this

buy all of them a one way ticket and ship them to california.

By ron

July 1, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this

Letting immigrants get by without learning Rnglish only matters if you’re an American.The immigrants are not Americans,and don’t want to be.They’re simply moving the country they came from inside the borders of the United States.Their culture,their language, and their country is more important to them than adapting to being an American.They’re here for the money and the money only.They’ll take it any way they can get it. This phenomenon is not just happening in the U.S.,it’s happening all over the western countries.Britain is inundated with foreigners,so is Canada.France has a huge muslim population that causes no end of problems.Everywhere that immigrants move into they refuse to assmilate,preferring their own customs and laws.They have no intention of changing one iota.

By Morrigan

July 1, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this

Why is it up to us to teach them English? They can learn it before they get here. Or are we also teaching them that the US taxpayers will provide for all their needs?

By Copyleft

July 1, 2008 12:11 PM | Link to this

If anyone wants to learn the language they will need to “get by” in the United States of American they best get started in learning the U.S. version of the English language. Otherwise they will join the messed-up and the mixed-up only to disenfranchise themselves from this country.

Or, they could live their own lives the way they choose, which is what this country allegedly promises. Not good enough for you?

LEAVE.

By McGroots

July 1, 2008 12:30 PM | Link to this

This is not a difficult phenomenon to understand. Business provide services in multiple languanges to provde better service to attract more customers. A good example of the “free market” at work.

Schools and other government agencies that do the same are simply following the model. This is a cornerstone of conservative principle. What’s the problem?

It seems the new conservative model is to demand that the free market and every other facet of society conform to somebody’s idea of “American values”, and then to try and pass laws to make people think and act that way.

It’s actually a rather cowardly and weak-minded way to promote values and principles. If your ideas are good enough, they will stand on their own. If your values must be legislated to be followed, perhaps you should reconsider them.

By Ann Dabrowski

July 1, 2008 12:34 PM | Link to this

Dear “Just Me,”

Yes, I have “put my money where my mouth is” and have had the priviledge of administering ESL classes in Upstate NY. As you know, ESL students are some of the most motivated students you’ll ever teach and I have nothing but respect for the effort they put forth in learning English.

By steve

July 1, 2008 12:38 PM | Link to this

There is nothing wrong with individuals learning secondary languages, educating oneself to other cultures is the start to understanding them. However, immigrants to this country need to understand that (US) English is the spoken language of this country. When going to other countries, I do not expect those people to speak American to me. I love it when I run across someone who can, but I still carry my English-to-WhateverLangage dictionary with me.
Learning the language of a country you move to shows respect for that society.

By T

July 1, 2008 12:47 PM | Link to this

My issue is not with teaching legal immigrants Spanish. However, I do find fault in teaching illegal immigrants English. Also, while we are spending this money, why not teach English students Spanish or another language. Isn’t this the time when they learn it the quickest. Maybe then our children will be able to read the signs on Buford hwy and also be better prepared to learn about different cultures. It is not about changing the way immigrants live their lives, but perhaps changing ours. Just a thought.

By Son of immigrants

July 1, 2008 12:55 PM | Link to this

No doubt about it, this is exactly the reason I left Miami 20 years ago… and when I go back there now, it’s like a third-world country with better paved streets. (Same for a recent trip to Los Angeles.) It’s one thing to help ease immigrants into our society, it’s quite another to surrender yours to theirs.

If their culture was so rich and wonderful, why did they leave?

By steve

July 1, 2008 12:58 PM | Link to this

McGroots, I don’t think it’s a ‘new conservative model is to demand that the free market and every other facet of society conform to somebody’s idea of “American values”’.
The model of using the US version of English has been around our government for roughly 230 years. We are a society that welcomes immigrants (at least legal immigrants). This brings us people from hundreds of other countries. Should I have to learn several dozen languages ina order to walk around within my society and be able to read signs. Do we, as a society really want to see signs posted in dozens of languages? I have no problem with Hispanics speaking Spanish among themselves (it’s up to me to learn their language it I want to know what they are saying). But they have chosen to come live in this country (don’t believe we sent them an engraved invitation). They need to learn to communicate with us.

By Buzzer

July 1, 2008 1:00 PM | Link to this

Hey Copyleft - nobody is forcing anyone to speak English - I am an immigrant - I respect the USA and its customs, one of which is that if I want to get a decent job I need to learn english. English is the major langague and one needs to integrate into the community to create unity - separatism leads to distruction and failure - You want to speak to me, then speak in Gaelic. - tha is short sighted and costly not only to the tax payer but also to the USA. I dont expect you to as I came here and it is up to ME to integrate and accept my new life in a different country - You should try traveling and opening your mind. Visit other countries to apprecaite YOUR country and your country’s future, your appreciation is lacking somewhat as you show disdain for the very place that protects you - grow up, learn a little and actually experience life outside instead being led by a lamb - think for yourself instead of following others and make an effort to unify this great country for you have no clue of what you speak.

By Buzzer

July 1, 2008 1:06 PM | Link to this

McGroots wrote “If your values must be legislated to be followed, perhaps you should reconsider them’ - That’s exactly what the liberals did when voting 5-4 for the gitmo residents. In addition, businesses do operate in several langagues at a cost; we all pay for the many brouchures in different langagues - businesses do go after other language speaking customers, the point is why are the new immigrants not learning to integrate into the US way of life - that is NOT unity and ends in failure as it ends up being a free for all. Try defending this great country when everyone has different beliefs ! There is no common bond and that is want makes the US weak.

By ron

July 1, 2008 1:13 PM | Link to this

BUZZER, Welcome to America,Buzzer.Glad to have you aboard.

By DM

July 1, 2008 1:23 PM | Link to this

One statement to make. Welcome to America. We speak English here……

By McGroots

July 1, 2008 1:29 PM | Link to this

Steve: You said it yourself…it’s up to you to learn to speak Spanish if you want to read their signs. If you don’t want to read their signs, don’t learn Spanish. If you don’t want to see their signs, close your eyes. Don’t try to force them to put their signs up in your language.

“separatism leads to distruction and failure”

“Try defending this great country when everyone has different beliefs”

Buzzer, I believe the first quote above from your post will find an agreeable audience with the likes of Hitler, Stalin, et. al.

As to the second one, isn’t that why the founders of this nation left England, to get away from being forced to believe what someone else said they had to believe?

I don’t necessarily disagree with the underlying sentiment - who doesn’t want unity and common bonds, etc. The problem I have is with the hypocrisy of saying you are standing up for this great country by telling someone else how they should think, feel, and act.

If you want to try to convince everybody that your way is the best way, more power to you. But when you try to legislate your way, I have a problem.

What’s great about this country is that I can think, feel, and act anyway I want to (as long as it doesn’t harm someone else).

By Johnny

July 1, 2008 1:29 PM | Link to this

Learn the language or learn to leave!

By dawgbees

July 1, 2008 1:37 PM | Link to this

Yes, it matters that English should be the official language of the United States of America. The reason is to avoid discrimination among our many newcomers. We don’t have immigrants coming solely from Spanish speaking countries — they come from China, Nigeria, Bosnia, Russia, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Haiti, Indonesia, and so on. All these immigrants must find a way to communicate in this English-speaking country, so why do we cater to those who speak Spanish? Don’t tell me it’s because they come from poorer parts of the world (see Pakistan, Brazil, Haiti, etc.)

That common language of English unites us as a people. Should we native born citizens learn another language? Sure. And I’m not against our immigrants speaking their native tongue amongst themselves. But we are encouraging the illegal immigration issue by making it easier for people who speak Spanish to avoid assimilation. (Please note: I’m NOT saying all Spanish-speaking people are illegal immigrants! I value our Spanish-speaking legal immigrants, many of whom are on their way to U.S. citizenship.)

By providing so many services and public interactions in both English and Spanish, we are guaranteeing that our Spanish-speaking immigrants won’t become full members of American society while their brethren from Pakistan, China, Bosnia, Haiti and so on will.

By Mcgroots

July 1, 2008 1:40 PM | Link to this

And another thing, Buzzer, why do you hate America?

“There is no common bond and that is want makes the US weak.”

I wholeheartedly disagree - the US is not weak!

By Al Kida

July 1, 2008 1:43 PM | Link to this

I think it is a waste to learn spanish. What we need to learn is Arabic/muslim. THEY are the ones who will be taking over. It’s only a matter of time before we give this country to them.

Muslims will start getting offended that we are speaking English, and not their language, I mean after all they get offended at EVERYTHING these days and we are just bowing down to them.

Just wait, when Obama gets elected, you will see change, but it wont be the change you want……….trust me!!!!

Now, where did I leave my burka? Anyone know where I can get a new one?

By C.A.

July 1, 2008 1:45 PM | Link to this

I wish that most of the native-born Americans that I hear speaking every day could communicate in English as well as our ESL students do. How about requiring remedial English for all those who should know the language, (but obviously don’t), before they can vote or receive any of the benefits previously mentioned?

By Arlen

July 1, 2008 1:47 PM | Link to this

Language is a basic. If you can’t understand each other’s words, you won’t understand much else. Fact is, America speaks english and if you choose not to, you ghettoize yourself. You limit your mobility, you limit your income, you limit your prospects. And it’s your own damn fault if you do.

And if our government schools are enabling that attitude, that’s yet another reason to get your kids out of them!

By Asian doctor

July 1, 2008 1:47 PM | Link to this

as asian immigrant physician i speak fluent english but i am totally stunned by latino immigrants refusing to learn english.

a ILLEGAL mexican worker told me recently, they are here to take over the WHOLE SOUTHWESTERN USA. THIS IS OUR LAND AND WE WE WILL TAKE IT BACK HE SAID.

USA HAS SO MUCH FREEDOM- PEOPLE ARE ABUSING IT , UNFORTUNATLEY MY FELLOW US CITIZENS WHO WERE BORN HERE HAVE NO IDEA THAT THE WHOLE COUNTRY HAS BEEN GRADUALLY TAKE OVER AND INVADED BY FOREIGN BORN PEOPLE.THEY HAVE TAKEN OVER AMERICAN JOBS AND YET VERY FEW AMERICANS PROTEST.

INFACT HUSSIEN OBAMA IS GOING TO GIVE THEM CITIZENSHIP IN 2009.

YOU NEED TO STOP ILLEGAL IMMEGRATION NOW. IMMIGRANTS OR US WILL BECOME 3RD WORLD COUNTRY.

By Asian doctor

July 1, 2008 1:48 PM | Link to this

as asian immigrant physician i speak fluent english but i am totally stunned by latino immigrants refusing to learn english.

a ILLEGAL mexican worker told me recently, they are here to take over the WHOLE SOUTHWESTERN USA. THIS IS OUR LAND AND WE WE WILL TAKE IT BACK HE SAID.

USA HAS SO MUCH FREEDOM- PEOPLE ARE ABUSING IT , UNFORTUNATLEY MY FELLOW US CITIZENS WHO WERE BORN HERE HAVE NO IDEA THAT THE WHOLE COUNTRY HAS BEEN GRADUALLY TAKE OVER AND INVADED BY FOREIGN BORN PEOPLE.THEY HAVE TAKEN OVER AMERICAN JOBS AND YET VERY FEW AMERICANS PROTEST.

INFACT HUSSIEN OBAMA IS GOING TO GIVE THEM CITIZENSHIP IN 2009.

YOU NEED TO STOP ILLEGAL IMMEGRATION NOW. IMMIGRANTS OR US WILL BECOME 3RD WORLD COUNTRY.

By mcgroots

July 1, 2008 1:50 PM | Link to this

I beg to differ Al, we need to be learning Chinese.

By steve

July 1, 2008 1:53 PM | Link to this

McGrrots, Actually I did not say “it’s up to me to learn to speak Spanish if I want to read their signs”. I said, “I have no problem with Hispanics speaking Spanish among themselves (it’s up to me to learn their language it I want to know what they are saying).” That does not mean I should have to learn Spanish to read business signs in this country. Coincidently, Buzzer’s statement concerning “separatism leads to distruction and failure” can also be applied to pretty much any Team environment you can think of.

By Son of immigrants

July 1, 2008 1:56 PM | Link to this

You’d think that a newspaper/website would understand how important a common language would be… or is there a spanish version of the AJC out there that I’m missing?

(And if there was, would the editorial content be the same? Would we know?)

By alan

July 1, 2008 2:14 PM | Link to this

Learning a different language is not a bad idea, BUT WE NEED ONE LANGUAGE —THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE—TO KEEP US GLUED TOGETHER AS A COUNTRY.

CONSIDER THIS:

If immigrants from Africa, Europe, Asia, etc who come here only insisted on speaking their native langauge, we will have to learn Yoruba, Ashanti, Fanti, Swahili, Mende, Wollof, Polish, French, Russian, Italian, Malayalam, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, etc—-WE WILL HAVE TO LEARN AT LEAST 1000 LANGUAGES—leading to utter chaos.

That is why it makes sense to keep one language—the English language officially, even though each person may be free to interact in a different language in private.

Alan

By Daniel Jones

July 1, 2008 2:44 PM | Link to this

Thanks for your post, I really enjoyed it. I think it is really important in today’s globalised world, as you put it, to be bilingual. I think that to just remain monolingual just forces self-constrained limitations on you. In fact, there are so many reasons to learn a foreign language and as we live in a fantastically richly cultured world and we should all strive to understand and learn as much about our world’s diversity as possible.

By Copyleft

July 1, 2008 2:52 PM | Link to this

“The fact is, America speaks English”—until that “fact” changes, of course. As all of our customs inevitably do, whether we like it or not.

And I haven’t noticed Canada collapsing into anarchy and chaos because it embraces both French and English.

By Copyleft you are garbage

July 1, 2008 2:59 PM | Link to this

Copyleft, Keep your anti-American garbage on your other blogs, no one cares here either, better yet move out of the Country you insignifigant liberal midget. We should all learn to speak English, I am not learning a third world language to be able to speak to Jose to cut my grass correct.

By D.Cook

July 1, 2008 3:02 PM | Link to this

It’s a sad day in this country when you are a stranger in your own land. Americans can not go to another country and be catered to the way imigrants and foreigners are catered to in America unless we are on vacation and we are somewhere that cater to tourist.

By C L

July 1, 2008 3:07 PM | Link to this

Present and past American society has always being multicultural. In the newly formed American colonies a diversity of languages were spoken daily in business, family life, and in the teaching of school children. Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Native American languages were common. The Articles of Confederation, for instance, were printed in English and German. In colonial Pennsylvania, German speaking immigrants made up about one third of the population; they freely printed newspapers in German, conducted their businesses in German, educated their children in German, drew up legal contracts in German, to the horror of Benjamin Franklin and other nativists, who referred to Germans as Palatine Boors. Germans comprised a large portion of the non-English population at that time. They were accused by Anglos of laziness, illiteracy, a reluctance to assimilate, excessive fertility, and Catholicism.

In the colonies, the different ethnic groups freely used their language to communicate in daily affairs. Newspapers were printed in several languages and were distributed in all the territories. In the 1800’s, there were newspapers printed in numerous languages, like the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, or the New Mexico Crepusculo. In 1880 alone, there were 620 newspapers printed in German. Press publications in Yiddish, Spanish, Czech, Polish and Italian languages were common. In cities with large German-immigrant populations the government regularly printed notices in German. During the mid 1800s, in Tell City, Indiana, city council meetings were conducted in English and German and city ordinances were printed in both languages (see Indiana Historical Magazine 1918, 124)

After the US acquired what is now Louisiana, under the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, it acquired a territory with a French-speaking majority. The majority of government transactions were conducted in French. Louisiana’s second governor from 1816-1820, Jacques Villeré, spoke no English when he was elected. Louisiana’s Constitution of 1845 established that the state legislature would conduct business in both French and English. Bilingual education was authorized under a law in 1847 and French-language public schools were established to teach those of French ancestry. It was only after the Civil War that French-speaking rights were terminated in various forms as a way to punish the French-speaking population who had supported the Confederacy.

Long before English speakers arrived in what is now the US, Spanish speakers were conducting their businesses in Spanish, when they first set foot in California around 1542. The first White settler did not arrive in California until about 1820, long after Mexicans had founded Los Angeles. In California, the 1849 state constitution recognized language rights of Spanish speakers, stating that “all laws, decrees, regulations and provisions which from their nature require publication shall be published in English and Spanish.” Spanish was regularly used in court proceedings.

It was only after whites invaded California illegally in great numbers searching for gold that the language rights of Spanish speakers were eventually taken away. During the Gold Rush, Whites invaded the land en masse. They squatted and forcibly seized the land of native Hispanics. Mexicans are mostly an Indigenous population, made up of different Native American groups. English-speakers overwhelmed the original inhabitants of the territory and began to impose the English language on the occupied land. By the late 1800’s, Anglos had acquired four fifths of the land grants that had been previously owned by Mexicans. See A History of Multicultural America, by Ronald Takaki.

Spanish speakers arrived in New Mexico in 1598, and established a settlement in Santa Fe in 1609. Similarly, by 1690, Mexican Spanish speakers had settled in Texas. They reached Colorado in the mid 1700s. They were in Arizona around 1539 and founded St Augustine, Florida, in 1565. The first 1876 Constitution of Colorado decreed that annual sessions be published in German and Spanish, along with English. A 1867 law stated that a bilingual school should be established in districts where there were at least 25 German children. In Denver, one of the public schools taught children entirely in German. The NM territorial legislature kept records both in English and Spanish. In Arizona, the legislature published its documents in both English and Spanish during the 1800s.

In the 1800’s, schools were set up in New York City that taught immigrant children in Italian and German. Likewise in Chicago, a German school was formed in 1866. In 1870, Denver had schools where children were taught entirely in German. Schools that taught children of immigrants in German were set up in Maryland, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska. Baltimore permitted public schools in the upper grades to teach art and music in German only. In Texas in the late 19th century, there were seven Czech-language schools supported by the state school funds. In the city of San Francisco, children of German, Italian, and French immigrants were taught in their native tongue in regular public schools. See Paul E. Peterson, The Politics of School Reform, 1870-1940 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985) and Diego Castellanos, The Best of Two Worlds: Bilingual-Bicultural Education in the United States (Trenton: New Jersey State Department of Education, CN 500, 1983). Spanish language instruction in public schools has been very common in states like Texas, California, New Mexico, and Arizona, where the native Spanish speakers have historically been present, long before English became the dominant language.

In 1900, 25 percent of immigrants did not speak English.

In 1910, of the 92 million people in the United States, 23 percent did not speak English.

Documents were routinely published in different languages to assist these immigrants. In 1917, the US government created The Foreign Language Division of the Bureau of Publicity of the Treasury Department, which routinely printed publications, pamphlets, newspapers, news releases, in numerous languages. The US Food Administration regularly published forms in different languages as well. In 1937, when the Roosevelt Administration published information dealing with the Social Security Act, it translated the document into 20 languages, such as Yiddish, Chinese and Italian.

By Arlen

July 1, 2008 3:10 PM | Link to this

No, Canada is merely irrelevant, a footnote in most world affairs and history. And their ‘embracing’ of French and English is a deeply divisive factor in their culture… such as it is.

By Mcgroots

July 1, 2008 3:14 PM | Link to this

“Copyleft, Keep your anti-American garbage on your other blogs, no one cares here either, better yet move out of the Country you insignifigant liberal midget. We should all learn to speak English, I am not learning a third world language to be able to speak to Jose to cut my grass correct.”

Perhaps you should focus for the moment on learning english so you can speak and/or write it correctly

By Mo

July 1, 2008 3:24 PM | Link to this

To all these people here who are defending those that resist learning English in order to live here: Ihr habt offensichtlich keinen blassen Dunst, was Sprache bedeutet!

I am asking you, if you were living in a foreign country and you only spoke English - what were you going to do in Russia if your appendix starts to hurt? If you want to apply for a job in Indonesia? If your child gets bullied at a school in China? If you are in a traffic accident in Nigeria? If you were unfairly treated by a police man in Brazil? If you had severe food allergies and wanted to eat out in Marocco?

I hope you are getting my point. Language is very powerful. I have been living in three different countries so far and I find it very annoying when immigrants are not even trying to learn their host country’s language and adapt as good as they can. It is not only important for the whole society but also for the foreigners themselves.

By Observer

July 1, 2008 3:37 PM | Link to this

How about driving? These immigrants manage to get a valid driver’s license but can’t read any of the street signs which are still printed in only one language - ENGLISH - the designated language of the land.

By Beth

July 1, 2008 3:45 PM | Link to this

The underlying assumption by folks like Copyleft is, in all regards, that “if Americans do it, it’s wrong.” Language, politics, food, energy, environment, cars, architecture, music, you name it, we’re wrong. Not wrong enough to leave, not wrong enough to fix anything, just wrong enough to complain about it all the time. It’s a lifestyle choice.

By Phil

July 1, 2008 4:04 PM | Link to this

This is from another website but it is realavent to this discussion:

NOT MULTICULTURALISM, BUT COVERT COLONIALISM: As a resident of the Greater Vancouver area, I’m both grateful and proud of the cultural diversity that surrounds me. By virtue of my parents and their jobs, I travelled a lot when I was just a kid, and grew up in non-Western environments. This gave me a marked appreciation for cultures other than the one I now call home here in Canada. Canada has long been an advocate of multiculturalism, a policy which encourages its immigrants to bring their culture with them to their new country, although there is a clear understanding that they will be subject to the laws and customs of this land and not their country of origin. And that’s all good because I’m a huge fan of food from around the world! Indian curries, Vietnamese noodles, Mongolian khuushuur…the mouth waters. The greater the variety, the better. Dining is an excellent excuse for socializing and making new friends, and even an introvert like myself opens up to strangers when seated at a table and introduced to new culinary marvels.

I live in a suburb of Vancouver called Richmond. Although Vancouver has a Chinatown, Richmond has become the de facto centre of Asian Everything in Vancouver. The city is peppered with really excellent Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese restaurants, and there is a large section of Chinese malls. Within one of the malls is where I discovered an egregious example of “reverse colonialism.”

I occasionally go to the Asian malls because they sell products you just won’t find in the regular malls. One day I had a hankering for a Chinese confectionery known as “Haw Flakes.” I walked into a new convenience store in the mall and asked the proprietor if he carried any. He gave me a blank stare and didn’t reply. I asked again, and he just shook his head and went back to what he was doing.

I looked over his shoulder and sure enough, on a shelf, was a box of the flakes. So I pointed at them and asked him for a bag of them. He grumpily took them off the shelf and gestured at them, so I took a bag and put them on the counter. He rung it up and told me the total, in Cantonese.

As it happens I speak Cantonese, but his grumpy attitude annoyed me. So I pointedly looked at the cash register display and counted out the money and left. I could tell he was relieved that I was no longer in his shop.

It was abundantly clear that the shopowner either didn’t speak a word of English or simply refused to. I was sorely tempted to go back and explain to him, in Cantonese, that Canada has two official languages, and he had better start learning at least one of them. I’m glad I didn’t though, because the problem is a lot bigger than just one convenience store owner.

After this incident I began to pay attention to the attitudes of the merchants in Richmond. Anecdotally, I’d say about half of the retailers in the Asian malls have zero interest in learning or speaking English. If you need help buying something and you don’t speak their chosen dialect —it’s usually Cantonese, but Mandarin is really starting to take over— you have about a fifty-fifty chance of being ignored. In English-speaking Canada.

I have always been of the mind that when you visit a foreign country you’re the one that should make the effort to communicate with the locals. Speaking your birth tongue slower and louder doesn’t make yourself any more understandable, it just makes you look like a jackass. The onus to learn the local language is even heavier if you’re an immigrant. After all, you’re the one asking for the privilege of becoming a part of someone else’s community. That means you can bloody well learn the language; you don’t even have to succeed, you just have to show that you’re willing to try.

And trying is the attitude that counts! I recognize that a lot of older folks immigrate to Canada, and it’s a little tough for an 80-year old Mongolian granddad to become even quasi-fluent in English. But if he smiles and can say “hello” and “goodbye” and “thank-you” at least I’ll know that he cares about his adoptive community enough to make the effort, which is what I expect from an immigrant.

Hopefully a day will come when my wife and I can buy property in the Dominican Republic. They speak Spanish there, and as a result I will learn Spanish! The first phrase I learned was Lo siento, no comprende. Habla ingles? Most of the time the local will say no, but will happily work with me to figure out a way to communicate with each other. He knows I want to try, and that his language is the one that rightfully takes precedence in his country.

Those immigrants who refuse to learn the local language are in effect attempting to carve out an enclave, or colony, for themselves in their new country, an enclave where they can ignore all of the locals and in fact reject the community in which they live. I abhor this behaviour, as it serves only to erect walls within the community, and in this age of globalization that can’t possibly end well. Make no mistake, if you’re an immigrant to a nation that speaks a language other than your own, and you’re so arrogant as to refuse to try to learn the local tongue, you should turn around and go home. We don’t want you here, wherever “here” may be. And you can take your colonial arrogance home with you.

By T

July 1, 2008 4:11 PM | Link to this

Even the lady in India who handles my customer service issues for products I buy in America speaks English.

By DeDe

July 1, 2008 4:15 PM | Link to this

When I was in college I had the opportunity to go to Europe to study. I promptly began to learn the meaning behind “Brittish” English, and German and French to get by and make my life and theirs easier. In my opinion, that shows only Respect for the Country you are visiting or living in. And the citizens of that Country appreciate it and are a lot more helpful and friendlier. It was my job to learn their language, not for them to learn mine while I was in their Country. It made my extended stay so much better. And allowed me to make friends that I don’t think I would have made if I didn’t have a handle on their language. For visiters and transplants here….It just comes down to one thing.. Respect…for our Country, our Language (English),our way of life, and our citizens.

By Why

July 1, 2008 4:21 PM | Link to this

Why don’t THEY learn a second language, ENGLISH. All you butt kissing libs who thinks it’s so hip to act like you’re so multi-cultured, give me a break. You’re a joke, you hicks. Most of you grew up in the sticks, your dad worked in a factory and mom made dinner and your family vacation was 3 days long. Where and how did you all get so hip all of a sudden. Was it when you moved form your towns of thirty thousand people and moved here to the big A, the mecca. You’re jokes, all of you are. All you’re doing is flushing your American way of life down the toilet. Have any of you idiots ever traveled to Mexico, the real Mexico and not some cheesy tourist area like Cancun where you were drunk all the time banging strangers you met in a bar. The place is a Third World disaster. Why do you think they risk life and limb to come over here and wreck our way of life? Because Mexico and most if not all of the countries below it are so sub-standard to live in, they’d rather die in the desert than stay there. The Hispanics are going to take over this contry soon. They breed like rats and can live in conditions we find utterly deplorable. They will undercut your job soon and then see how hip and cool you libs are then. Go to Los Angeles. Over eighty per cent of the people sitting in jail for murder are of Hispanic origin. You don’t know crime and gangs until you’ve lived near LA. You’ll think SW DeKalb is a walk in a botanical gardens compared to the feceshole LA has become. Go ahead…be hip…be cool… think they have rights to be here illegally. Drive up to Gwinnett and see how lovely it is now. See how the property values have decreased. Your dumbness is like cancer, it’ll get you…sooner or later.

By Emily

July 1, 2008 4:24 PM | Link to this

Copyleft, you bitter old queen is there anything about America you like, other than watching 13 year old boys changing clothes at your local pool? You are utterly D I S G U S T I N G.

By gwarfan

July 1, 2008 4:44 PM | Link to this

English is the international language of bussiness.

By John

July 1, 2008 5:19 PM | Link to this

There is free software you can learn Spanish and English. You can get it at [www.valodas.com]

By Anthony

July 1, 2008 5:31 PM | Link to this

It’s funny how people forget or perhaps just really don’t know where they came from. It seems to be of a European mentality to conquer everything and destroy that which you do not understand. I hear so many Americans talk about how people that come here need to learn to speak English, but did your ancestors come here and say “I should really learn to speak Choctaw, Black Hawk, Apache or Crow etc…Judging by the popularity of those languages, I would have to say NO. What most “Americans” fail to realize is that unless you are a Native American, then you too are more than likely an illegal immigrant. Does it make you a LEGAL immigrant because the Native Americans didn’t have a border patrol or minute men? I mean there are people throughout the southeast that have been here for several generations and they STILL don’t have the grasp of the English language. So what’s their excuse? Perhaps they should be deported to England, Poland or Germany. When I see you fools on spring break in Cancun, I don’t see you trying to speak Spanish. Why is that? There is a joke that says If you speak 3 languages, you’re tri-lingual, if you speak 2 then you’re bilingual. And if you only speak one language then you’re American. Open your minds people. Learn about your culture and where your ancestors came from because I can guarentee that at one time they too did not speak English unless they ran away from that oppressive Monarchy in search for a better life here.

By marie

July 1, 2008 5:42 PM | Link to this

When natives from India come to Georgia (this is the area I see — maybe it is different elsewhere, but I doubt it), they assimilate into the American population readily. I witnessed a group of six come to live with relatives and run a convenience store six months ago. Already, all six speak the English language. Hispanics, many who have been here for years, are still speaking Spanish. It is ridiculous. They should be mandated to learn the language and pass a test in twelve months or be deported.

By Beth

July 1, 2008 5:46 PM | Link to this

Anthony, my grandfather spoke Polish… until he came here. (Legally, I might add.) He learned English, and refused to teach his sons any Polish because “we’re in America now.” And because of that, my culture is American.

By sml

July 1, 2008 6:02 PM | Link to this

Why is it that the Hispanics are kow-tow’d to while every other immigrant must learn English for at least some of their interactions with Federal State and Local Government agencies Drivers License, Ballots, etc.) and other necessities (phone, utilities, etc.)? Everywhere I have lived in the past 50 years has most if not all of these items are published in both English and Spanish but seldom in ANY OTHER LANGUAGE! Additionally - when was the last time any one heard a business, charity or government office greeting that said press 2 for German or some language OTHER than Spanish?????!!!!!

By Chris

July 1, 2008 6:04 PM | Link to this

If you do not want to learn how to speak english or ebonics go back to where you do not have to speak english or ebonics.