Rubber314Chicken
Golden Master
- Messages
- 5,574
Not the point.
What is the language that everyone actually speaks? What do you speak?
Well, if I lived in Miami, I'd probably speak more Spanish than English.
Not the point.
What is the language that everyone actually speaks? What do you speak?
Not the point.
What is the language that everyone actually speaks? What do you speak?
Do you know what it means to have English as an official language?http://news.aol.com/article/dallas-police-cite-drivers-who-dont/735298
I don't know what to say about this.
Ok, maybe I do. These people were legal citizens of our great country. They should understand English well enough to carry on a conversation with a police officer, or anyone for that matter.
I realize it is very hard to learn a new language for some people. For me, it it is the exact opposite. But many people never fully understand a foreign language. Hell, a lot of people don't fully understand their native language.
But I wish a day came when this country had an official national language. As of now, we have none. Sure, English is our primary language, but Spanish is catching up.. Too fast. Would I like to go to my Mexican restaraunt and be able to order in Spanish? Sure, why not. Would I like to go to Taco Bell, KFC, McDonalds, or other places like this and order in Spanish? The answer is NO.
Opinions?
Well, I don't think it's right for the people who came to America not knowing English so their kids can have a nice, decent life, and be a typical American dream chasers.
I am an immigrant in America, I was born in Venezuela, and my parents learned Spanish because of it, my mom still remember parts of it, and my dad knows it fully. However, my parents only knows English at an elementary level, so they can't really communicate, and needs me to help them translate. My dad knows Cantonese (an dialect of Chinese), Spanish, and a bit of English, while my mom knows Mandarin (another dialect of Chinese), Cantonese, and a bit of English. So they both speak over 2 languages, which in my opinion is better than me, I only know English, and a bit of Cantonese.
You should know what's my side of opinion in this matter by now.
And yeah they don't just affect your life, but they affect mine too. Ever try talking to someone who can't speak your language period, or who has to speak it through their kid?
I speak fluent English, and Cantonese at an elementary level (as I was told), right now I am trying to learn Mandarin and Japanese.What is the language that everyone actually speaks? What do you speak?
That's cool, I am a bit jealous too for some reason.I speak English, Cantonese and Mandarin.
Can I ask how long your parents have been in the US now?
Yes,So then if some US residents want to live in other countries, they should spend a couple to few years to learn that language before they should actually buy the ticket to move there? What about doing business and you need to reside there for a few months?
you don't need money to pay for lessons, there are plenty of free courses available on-line that can show you the characters/words and plenty of resources to learn by audio tape or audio download courses. all of these things can be gotten for free. most towns have free public libraries with free internet access. basically if you don't learn it's a self motivation issue, not a resource issue.A lot of people don't have the self-motivation to learn an different language, or even have the money to pay for lessons. Places like Hong Kong and Japan started to have English almost everywhere, heck, even learning English is mandatory in Japan.
I find it more disrespectful that someone should immigrate to a country and expect that country to bend over backwards for them, (e.g producing road signs in different languages).That's just disrespectful,
Why do you feel discriminated against?maybe because I am an immigrant, and these things affects my life. This is one reason why I don't want to live in the US. Don't worry, my parents are moving back to China once I graduate college and get a successful job, so that's two less people you have to worry about, and maybe me if I still continue to get discriminated against, although I might have a hard time communicating with them like how my parents are now.
no, that would be the case if there were only one recognised language.Do you know what it means to have English as an official language?
It doesn't mean everyone has to speak it. It means, gov't issued forms only NEED to come in English, and accommodations don't need to be made.
Having English as an official language is plain stupid. Most people want it, but don't actually understand what it means.
You don't think that living in a country for more than a decade is long enough to learn a language? if I moved to France I'd hope that after 13 years I could speak French well enough to have a life! i'd consider it a bit of a massive fail personally if in 13 years I couldn't learn a language, or at least most of it whilst being immersed in it on a daily basis!I think about 12-13 years now.
so with what you were saying above... they clearly have the motivation to study, when and if it suits them, and yet don't bother to carry on that study to continue to learn a language?they studied about 5 hours a day or so until the test day.
How does this make them feel?the US was a better place to live than China was back then. They still need my brother and me to translate a few things though, like taking a car for repairs.
yes, I don't doubt that. and nobody ever questioned that,Isn't people around the world one reason why the US is so great?
Yes,
exactly that. if you can't speak the language of a country then how will you integrate into society? if you don't want to integrate then moving to a country and living in small areas, (like china towns) is little more than colonisation.
if you don't want to learn a language so that you can successfully integrate then why do you even want to go there?
if you can't speak a language then how do you propose to do business there successfully?
you don't need money to pay for lessons, there are plenty of free courses available on-line that can show you the characters/words and plenty of resources to learn by audio tape or audio download courses. all of these things can be gotten for free. most towns have free public libraries with free internet access. basically if you don't learn it's a self motivation issue, not a resource issue.
and I struggle to believe that a person can have the self motivation to uproot their life and family and move half way round the world, or to a different country (even if it was only a neighbouring country), yet not have the self motivation to learn a language. so that their life can be more complete inside of that country.
I find it more disrespectful that someone should immigrate to a country and expect that country to bend over backwards for them, (e.g producing road signs in different languages).
Why do you feel discriminated against?
from this thread it sounds like you feel that you're discriminated against because you haven't taken the time to learn the most popular language in the country that you decided to live in? a language that is recognised as the de facto standard?
You seem to say that your family has moved to America for the benefits of a western life and education, but as soon as you have what you need you'll be off again?
You don't think that living in a country for more than a decade is long enough to learn a language? if I moved to France I'd hope that after 13 years I could speak French well enough to have a life! i'd consider it a bit of a massive fail personally if in 13 years I couldn't learn a language, or at least most of it whilst being immersed in it on a daily basis!
.
so with what you were saying above... they clearly have the motivation to study, when and if it suits them, and yet don't bother to carry on that study to continue to learn a language?
How does this make them feel?
personally I'd find it embarrassing and degrading to have to rely on my kids to translate for me, perhaps not at first, but after a decade or more I'd have hoped to have been able to fully integrate into a society.
and like I said, I don't blame any of you guys, just showing my views because of how I was raised.I hope that my views are not too controversial, or upset anyone too much...
I do have a kid (a daughter), and yes if I was living in a corrupt regieme or under a totalitarian, extreme (facist or socialist) government I would want to get myself and my child out of that country.For their kids, I don't know if you have kids or not, but if you live in country that is corrupt and ruled by somebody that's not a very good leader, wouldn't you want to move to have a better life not just for yourself but for you kids too? Isn't that why most people move to the US?
how many people know that there are libraries in many town where you can borrow books, on a variety of different subjects, including language tution books? I would hope a lot.But how many immigrants or even American born even know about this?
in the first case of the tourists, I didn't say that ignorance was the preserve of non-english speakers, in fact far from it, there are more english speakers in the world that any other language, and thus more ignorant people speak english than any other speaking people, (assuming even distribution!).Doesn't US tourist do the same thing? I saw some people that spoke English that went to China, and expect some of them to know how to speak English. Like I said, places like HK and Japan has English at most places, so they did produce signs in different languages. I never actually met anybody that expected their native language to be on signs and stuff. They only expect places like a Chinese restaurant, or a place that only sells air tickets to China.
why would anyone discriminate against you because you are chinese?I feel discriminated because I am Chinese, not because of any language problems, I know more English than Chinese because I have been going to school in the US since kindergarten.
My parents see China as a better place now, which is why they want to move back, and because it's where all their family members are, wouldn't you want to see and be with your family as much as you can?
I choose to go because of how I was treated back then because of my race, and I still see it now and then. Look around, and you will see that most people group other people by race and treat each other differently.
I think that integrating into a society that you've chosen to live in to better and enrich your own life and that of your children is different from studdying a course in college where the aim is to get a qualificaion for the point of getting a job, or getting enough credit to progress to university.Doesn't most people do the same thing, especially in college? They learn what they need just to get that credit, but completely forget once a new semester starts. My parents are still learning English, I never said they stopped.
of course you don't mind! and if I were you I wouldn't mind either, I'd do anything I reasonably could to help my parents.I really don't mind, they have been raising me up to now and still continues, it's only right help back in return. They are actually happy that I am able to help them translate.
I would like to say that I wouldn't jump to that conclusion, but I'll have to wait and see if the occasion ever occurs.If you were walking on the street and are lost, you see somebody (a tourist that doesn't know the native language, but you don't know). You go up to them and ask them a question, and they don't know how to reply, wouldn't you assume that this is just another person that is an immigrant living in your country and not an tourist?