Americans..."officially" speak English?

PJ24

PJ24

Active member
Senate Votes Twice for English Language

Whether English is America's "national language" or its national "common and unifying language" was a question dominating the Senate immigration debate.

The Senate first voted 63-34 to make English the national language after lawmakers who led the effort said it would promote national unity.

But critics argued the move would prevent limited English speakers from getting language assistance required by an executive order enacted under President Clinton. So the Senate also voted 58-39 to make English the nation's "common and unifying language."
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Okay, so it's start. If we can get rid of this PC crap about "common and unifying language" I'll be happier.

Some things I do not agree with. I do not believe voting ballots should have to be in any language BUT English. I also do not agree that making the citizenship test more difficult (as long as there is a purpose to the questions) is a bad thing.

As far as putting 6K NG troops on the border temporarly, well, I've said my peace on that and I think it is a bad idea. Adding CONUS deployments to OCONUS deployments is going to be very harsh on the pocketbooks and lives of these guys.

They're going to add 3K (an extra 1K added to the already approved 2K) more border patrol agents and put up some more fences, which is good.

The bill also states that any illegal immigrant that has been in the US for five years can apply for citizenship. Those that have been in the US for two to five years can apply and wait for approval. Anyone less than 2 years would be send back home.

As for the criminal element, Those convicted of a felony or three misdemeanors would be deported no matter how long they have been in the country.

1.5 million farm workers can stay legally, and they'll start giving out 200K temporary work visas a year.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Immigration/wm1076.cfm

The above link has some good information.
 
As a legal immigrant that speaks spanish. I say about damn time they make English the Offical National Language.

THis is the United States of America, not Mexico or Cuba. You move to the USA and learn it's ways. No the other way around.
 
Nobody Said It Was Going To Be Easy ...

5.56X45mm said:
As a legal immigrant that speaks spanish. I say about damn time they make English the Offical National Language.

THis is the United States of America, not Mexico or Cuba. You move to the USA and learn it's ways. No the other way around.
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I couldn't agree with you more ... part of what has made immigration such a great contribution to this country has been the 'assimilation' of the immigrants. You can NOT accomplish this if you don't learn the language of the country ... in this case, English is the language of the United States ... NOT ... Spanish.

As far as the rest of the bill, I am still a little unsure how I feel about the proposals ... I still don't like rewarding criminals for breaking our laws (illegal entry into our country). I also realize that we would open a can of worms IF our policy at this time, was to send ALL illegal aliens home. Many of these people have children that were born in this country and that policy could very well split families.

NOBODY SAID IT WAS GOING TO BE EASY........
 
Now make that mean something for immigrants. I live in a mostly Armenian community that is roughly middle class and if they can people speak Armenian to one another. It's the familiarity of the language which makes people speak their native tongues, not selfishness or cultural conflicts. You know what would work instead of this political move that tries to garner support during the immigration problem? English classes for free or a small fee that immigrants can attend and understand the language better, that's a lot better than just saying english is the official language and doing nothing about it, which i bet is exactly what they'll do.
 
WarMachine said:
Now make that mean something for immigrants. I live in a mostly Armenian community that is roughly middle class and if they can people speak Armenian to one another. It's the familiarity of the language which makes people speak their native tongues, not selfishness or cultural conflicts. You know what would work instead of this political move that tries to garner support during the immigration problem? English classes for free or a small fee that immigrants can attend and understand the language better, that's a lot better than just saying english is the official language and doing nothing about it, which i bet is exactly what they'll do.
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So, you didn't really read what was in the articles, huh? This was addressed. :wink:

Free English classes are already being offered to legal immigrants and have been for years.
 
Chief Bones said:
I couldn't agree with you more ... part of what has made immigration such a great contribution to this country has been the 'assimilation' of the immigrants. You can NOT accomplish this if you don't learn the language of the country ... in this case, English is the language of the United States ... NOT ... Spanish.
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Right, Chief! English is the language, not French, Spanish, or anything else. period. End of story. Done. Nuff said.
 
Its all part of this trend of "dumbing" things down... lowering the standards for the bell ends rather than educating them up. Its obvious which one is easier to do but it most certainly does not make it right. This legislation is a step in the right direction but in my opinion is only dealing with a symptom and not the disease. Remove the PC language like PJ said and its even closer to hitting the mark. Our country was not made strong and successful by pandering to the weak and feeble-minded but it most certainly will fall from grace by continuing down this path. Hopefully this bill might embolden a few of our public servants to shore up some other areas, namely education, where they have been taking rungs off the ladder to make the lazy and the dumb feel better about themselves.
 
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A bunch of half-measure bs which now has teachers spending more time documenting and proving that they are teaching to the whole class, ie diversification, ie dumbing it down for the slow kids, than they do preparing lessons and grading homework. No I mean a real change re-instating standards, holding parents accountable for their role in education and stop blaming teachers because Johnny is a lazy dumb :cen: who doesn't apply himself while his parents make meth and collect welfare checks because the world owes them something. Its time people realise that weakening the strong does NOT strengthen the weak (thanks to the member who posted that elsewhere). No sir, reinstate standardised tests and put the onus on THE STUDENT to pass and if he doesn't tough! No one made exceptions for me, I had to suck it up and do the work or I would be digging ditches for a living. The education system is there to educate but it is up to the student and the student alone to LEARN. I will digress as this is going off topic and would more appropriately be handled in the thread about the erosion of standards... here... http://www.military-quotes.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21511
 
Standardized tests are pointless since students are just learn what their teachers tell them to in order to pass those tests. I'd like to see more written exams rather tests like the SATs telling us how competent we are. My other suggestion, vocational schools, some kids don't like academics so give them a wrench instead so that they can make a decent living doing something else.

I'm also confused as to why congress would make English the official language on the federal level when most states have that standard anyway. California does and it has a large hispanic population, doesn't really change anything now does it. I'm disappointed that capitol hill wasted their time debating something that is so pointless rather than trying to resolve important issues like social security and national security issues.
 
WarMachine said:
Standardized tests are pointless since students are just learn what their teachers tell them to in order to pass those tests. I'd like to see more written exams rather tests like the SATs telling us how competent we are. My other suggestion, vocational schools, some kids don't like academics so give them a wrench instead so that they can make a decent living doing something else.

I'm also confused as to why congress would make English the official language on the federal level when most states have that standard anyway. California does and it has a large hispanic population, doesn't really change anything now does it. I'm disappointed that capitol hill wasted their time debating something that is so pointless rather than trying to resolve important issues like social security and national security issues.
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English MUST be made our countries 'standard' at the federal level in order to bolster other federal programs ... there are way too many federal pieces of legislature that pander to foreign speaking individuals. This country REQUIRES a unifying language ... it was/is/always will be English, NOT Spanish (or) any other language.

The only way to force assimilation is by requiring ALL citizens speak on standard language.
 
If a person doesn't know english and have lived in this country for years in say a spanish speaking neighborhood, and can become a citizen then i think they'll have to be helped. English is the national language, everyone speaks it and that's the only language public schools teach in. Any immigrant that comes here will retain their native language but their descendents won't. Remember all those half literate italian immigrants in the early 20th century? They had poor english skills but their children and grandchildren speak it fluently.

I hope we do have better measures for helping foreigners speak english, it would make the whole immigration business much easier to figure out. Assimilation isn't going to come from a government program, it's cultural and it takes time. I don't see anything insidious happening with the spanish immigrants here except maybe being bilingual or eventually just english speaking.
 
WarMachine said:
English is the national language, everyone speaks it and that's the only language public schools teach in.
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Wrong. Many public schools have Spanish classes for legal AND illegal immigrants. Don't believe me? Check out the NC public school system. A friend of mine's wife teaches English as a second language.

NC is not the only state to do this.

I hope we do have better measures for helping foreigners speak english, it would make the whole immigration business much easier to figure out. Assimilation isn't going to come from a government program, it's cultural and it takes time. I don't see anything insidious happening with the spanish immigrants here except maybe being bilingual or eventually just english speaking.
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Wrong again. Assimilation DOES start at the government level. When you allow immigrants to take the citizenship test in Spanish, you are creating a problem.

We have what is called legal residency, this is when the assimilation process, controlled and standardized by the government, should take place. Only when certain criteria have been met only should citizenship be allowed.



 
PJ24 said:
Wrong. Many public schools have Spanish classes for legal AND illegal immigrants. Don't believe me? Check out the NC public school system. A friend of mine's wife teaches English as a second language.

NC is not the only state to do this.

Wrong again. Assimilation DOES start at the government level. When you allow immigrants to take the citizenship test in Spanish, you are creating a problem.

We have what is called legal residency, this is when the assimilation process, controlled and standardized by the government, should take place. Only when certain criteria have been met only should citizenship be allowed.
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Yep. My school system teaches up to Advanced Placement Spanish(equivilant to Spanish V). I'm taking Spanish II now...Madison City Schools, in case your interested.
 
WarMachine said:
Now make that mean something for immigrants. I live in a mostly Armenian community that is roughly middle class and if they can people speak Armenian to one another. It's the familiarity of the language which makes people speak their native tongues, not selfishness or cultural conflicts. You know what would work instead of this political move that tries to garner support during the immigration problem? English classes for free or a small fee that immigrants can attend and understand the language better, that's a lot better than just saying english is the official language and doing nothing about it, which i bet is exactly what they'll do.
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I speak Spanish with my family and friends. But we also speak english 100%.

At any family gathering or dinner we speak both english and spanish. Why, because there are somethings that can only be said in each language and also Spanish is part of our family history. But now english is part of our family history too.

To make it in America and for America to say as America. English needs to be in force. Nothing says that immigrants must forget their past. I will never forget my family past and the land of my blood. CUBA, but I will also forever love the United States of America. The land of my freedom and future.
 
5.56X45mm said:
I speak Spanish with my family and friends. But we also speak english 100%.

At any family gathering or dinner we speak both english and spanish. Why, because there are somethings that can only be said in each language and also Spanish is part of our family history. But now english is part of our family history too.

To make it in America and for America to say as America. English needs to be in force. Nothing says that immigrants must forget their past. I will never forget my family past and the land of my blood. CUBA, but I will also forever love the United States of America. The land of my freedom and future.
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Yea, thats fun to listen to my teacher(A native puertorriqueno) talk in Spanglish with other teachers...We try to eavesdrop and then we hear an English word and get confused...lol...And amen to the second part. Just because I move to America doesn't mean I have to adopt American customs and become the "100% American." Thats what makes this country great, the fact that people come from all over and influence the culture with their own little qwerks...Its what makes us all Americans.
 
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