Should America speak more than one language

[maxcamaro]

actually i will be a junior next year. I took debate for 1 semester. Heres the inherency....the question was should americans speak more than one language and i said that americans already speak more than one language. Inherency is something that already exist in the status quo and in my opinion americans already speak more than one language

[maxcamaro]

if you want a laugh go to google and type in "French Military Victories" and hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button lol.

lol i love it

[95Batmobile]

Originally posted by C.O.Jones:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Mighty Thor:
Before I was married and living with my parents, I was lucky to travel all over the world. I been to most of the parts in Europe, Asia, Central America, Canada, and so on. And most of these countries do speak more than one language.

English for the most is spoken in these country. I would be lost too if road signs, menus, and so on were not translated in English.

Should be no suprise right. I mean you can even see that an educated person in Iraq or any in the middle east are speaking english.

The only country I know or have been too that only speaks one language is Japan and the United States.

My cousin went to a University in the Philippines to save some money and to experience culture, came back with a bachelor's degree in Engineering. Not knowing a single word of filipino he told me that the Universities there only taught in English. I flipped out. Why didn't I think of that. I could have gotten my degree in Physical Therapy there.

I am more leaning to think the US citizen should start speaking more than one language. I can see spanish being one of those languages.

What do you guys think.

I think there are 2 topics here:
1) Should we learn another language in high school?

When I went to School in Scotland, students were required to have at least 2 yes 2 years of french to graduate high school. However, this is because the European countries are so tightly packed together. You could pass through 3 counties in a day being subjected to different languages and dialects.

In the US a foreign language is required, but only for 2 semesters (was in Washington, don't know about here). Would it be helpful? No. Aside from this, a growing trend across the US is ESL classes (English as a Second Language). At the rate we go, we will be one of the very few counties in the world with more than 2 major languages (The UK has Gaelic, Welsh and English).

2) Should the US adopt a primary and secondary language?
Yes I believe we need a primary language. What language "should" we adopt? English as a first right? Ok what about a second? What percentage of the US speaks Spanish/Chinese/Eastern Indian/Native Indian? Do we open it to a vote?

This sort of problem was faced by Quebec just a few years ago when a small group wanted to break off of Canada, form their own country and adopt French as the national language. </font>[/QUOTE]My highschool also had a 2 year requirement.
In college, it's 3 quarters, 2 semesters, or 1 year.
my major, humanities, requires you to be fluent! which is 6 quarters, 4 semesters, or 2 years.

[Justin Kirkham]

I believe that it is good for people to learn at least one other language than their native tongue. That being said, I think that America should make English its official language. All voting and governmental business should be performed in only English, with the only exceptions being for those who are blind and need braille. ¿Sano bueno?

-Justin

P.S. No hablo espanol bien, pero puedo hacer bastante bien.

[j_downey50]

yo hablo un poco espanol. dos anos en la preparatoria.

[Flowbee V6]

no

[j_downey50]

[img]graemlins/rofl.gif[/img] sorry flowbee. haven't used any spanish in a long time.

[98goldbird]

I haven't even read what has been posted, cuz I stand firm on my belief...... If you come into our country, learn to speak our language DAMMIT! I hate it when (not to sound racist or anything) mexicans or asains talk to others of the same culture in their language, and you have no idea WTF they're talking about.

[speedracer95v6]

Je parle français un peu.

Hablo español tambien. (well, just as much as I use it. I try to go to mexico at least once a year).

I'm starting Russian this semester and I'm taking up German in the meantime.

But....

The US should adopt an official language (english) just for practicality. This doesn't violate anyone's rights. That doesn't stop anyone from speaking other languages, but it will save money, increase cultural cohesian, and simplify things.

Look around the world..people have their languages, but be realistic, English IS the new latin.

One more thing for those of you that want to have several official languages, look at the EU.

Do you know how much time and money they have to spend to do anything? Do you know why they spend that time and money...cause they all speak different bloody languages..and EVERYTHING has to be translated across every other language before something can really get started(yes I know they have like three languages for general use, but they still have to translate documents and stuff into the other languages).

[3.4 [deployed]]

Originally posted by Justin Kirkham:
I believe that it is good for people to learn at least one other language than their native tongue. That being said, I think that America should make English its official language. All voting and governmental business should be performed in only English, with the only exceptions being for those who are blind and need braille.

I agree w/this rare on-topic response.

[pontiac nino]

Originally posted by Justin Kirkham:
I believe that it is good for people to learn at least one other language than their native tongue. That being said, I think that America should make English its official language. All voting and governmental business should be performed in only English, with the only exceptions being for those who are blind and need braille. ¿Sano bueno?

-Justin

P.S. No hablo espanol bien, pero puedo hacer bastante bien.

I strongly agree w/ justin on this one. [img]smile.gif[/img]
That being said, a lil rant, I find it shameful to have.......eh "Mexicans" who have been here for years (10, 20, 30 years) yet they don't know a word of english, WTF? Yet I have asked several people why they don't learn the language, most say they don't have money for that type of education or it increases their opportunity to work. Most communities actually give free lessons usually at schools.
It's actually cool to learn several languages, but in the states you know which is used the most.

BTW Please guys don't start this into a flame fest. please......... [img]graemlins/slap.gif[/img]

[PewterBird]

People will speak more than one laguage, thats no big deal.

People can speak as many languages as they want, as long as one of them is English.

I don't think it is right, when I drive through a heavily ethnic community, and all the signs are in another language. They can have signs in their language, but at least have English on the sign as well.

[PewterBird]

And learning another language is like college, not everyone has goes to college, but it will probably help you out later in life.

[Mighty Thor]

Very interesting. This is the same response I got from my anthropology class.

I knew multi-culturalism and immigrants would enter the debate.

It's true that in all the countries in the world America is the only country that is not homogenuis. Even the majority of the european decent here are still multi-cultural, but the melting pot has boiled it into one.

But you know in the Philippines is even more multi-cultural according to my studies. There are over 600 different languages spoken and numerous tribes and decents from main-land Asia and yet the official language is Tagalog.

By comparison, I don't think English would be watered down if we spoke more than one language.

Learning another language in High School or College is not going to work. It only works well when taught to you before the age of 12. That's when language receptors in the brain closes and learning a new one becomes a bit more difficult. Ever notice that kids before 12 that comes to this country speaks english very fluently. Kids over 12 tends to have an accent.

My grandfather who is originally from Spain speaks Spanish, French, English, Filipino, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese. He learned all this when he was a kid. That's why he ended up working for the US embassy and he loves to travel too.

If memory serves me right, Pope John Paul II can speak 17 different languages. In the Bible Jesus spoke Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin.

We are diverse, but as an individual I think we are missing out alot if we only know one language. I sure wish I was a linguist like my Grandfather.

[imported_admin]

Originally posted by SilverRS96:
if they dont wanna learn english then stay in ur own country...i cant stand when im workin and a person that cannot speak english comes up to me and get pissed that i cant understand what they r sayin...its total bs

Agreed fully.

And this is coming from an immigrant who speaks FOUR languages. Yes, four: English, Swedish (my native tongue), German, and French.

Despite the fact that other countries speak multiple languages, there is always one OFFICIAL language and that's that. Here English isn't even the official language--yet I don't see the Constitution written in Spanish.

There should be a Constitutional amendment to make English the official language of the United States. Second, if people want a job, they had better learn English. Third, if people want to migrate here, they should learn the language FIRST.

My family moved here in 1978 from Sweden and guess what? My parents had taken the time to learn English BEFORE they moved to the U.S. I never took an ESL class or expected special treatment because I was an immigrant. My parents never accepted a dime from the U.S. government because of their alien status.

Yet migrants today think the U.S. should cater to them. :rolleyes:

Being multicultural, educated, and able to speak multiple languages is fine on the individual level, but not on the national level. It just causes rifts and does not allow for one strong unified nation. If you don't even have a common language what do you have? Is Jose Eduardo who's a naturalized citizen but doesn't speak English, doesn't know who George Washington was, and has never even said the Pledge of Allegiance really your countryman?