Press one for English

Rabs said:
So you expect a person trying to support a family to become proficient in a language in a year? I have 2 years of Spanish under my belt and in no way shape or form expect to be able to conduct business in Mexico. What your asking is impossible.
Click to expand...

What we learn in school doesn't even come close to what we COULD learn in two years. I think the goverment should give him support when he's learning english. If he does come here and agrees to learn english but never goes to classes, well then we dont send the check. It's simple, a girl in my class learned english in one year, and that was WITH her other classes work. It was broken, but she could comprehend and communicate

If they want to be here that bad, they need to work
 
also, to add to philam, it helps with them being immersed. They are in America and just have to hang around people speaking English and they will pick it up. However, alot of what happens is that when they come they stick with other people from the same area and speak the same language together and dont learn English.
 
istealfreefood said:
also, to add to philam, it helps with them being immersed. They are in America and just have to hang around people speaking English and they will pick it up. However, alot of what happens is that when they come they stick with other people from the same area and speak the same language together and dont learn English.
Click to expand...

Exactly...

When my step-mom gets together with her friends, all they speak is Tagalog
 
what a lot of people dont consider when they mention immigrants "assimilating" is that 1st generation immigrants *never* assimilate, it's their children who do. and i find it ironic that it's usually citizens of immigrant nations that kick up the most about new immigrants
 
Infern0 said:
what a lot of people dont consider when they mention immigrants "assimilating" is that 1st generation immigrants *never* assimilate, it's their children who do.
Click to expand...

There is no need for this, this is the generation that made the decision to migrate, the children never have any say in the matter. How can one migrate to a country knowing it to have a different language and not wish to learn that language?

I grew up in the Barossa Valley here in South Australia right in the middle of the post war migration boom 1953-60. Our school would have had one of the highest ratios of foreign to native born families in Australia, all I can say is that most parents learnt to speak English quite quickly, all without the benefit of adult education classes. The men had to learn so that they could get work, the kids learned at school, their mother's learnt from the kids.

It is true that many families spoke their native tongue in the home, but this got less and less very quickly. Mainly because the Mums knew that they had to be able to communicate.
 
Infern0 said:
what a lot of people dont consider when they mention immigrants "assimilating" is that 1st generation immigrants *never* assimilate, it's their children who do. and i find it ironic that it's usually citizens of immigrant nations that kick up the most about new immigrants
Click to expand...
Reiterating what senojekips said...That shouldn't be the way it is...They need to assimilate as much as their children, since they, not their children, are the ones who made the decision to come here...




"i find it ironic that it's usually citizens of immigrant nations that kick up the most about new immigrants Perhaps I am misreading you, but are you suggesting we have no room to talk because we are immigrants too?
 
C/1Lt Henderson said:
Reiterating what senojekips said...That shouldn't be the way it is...They need to assimilate as much as their children, since they, not their children, are the ones who made the decision to come here...
Click to expand...


ok. ok, maybe i should clarify. 1st generation immigrants (IMHO) will never *completely* assimilate. sure they may learn the language, but to expect them to speak it fluently from day one is unreasonable.

but your selves in their shoes, if i dropped you into the middle of mexico, or hong kong (as examples), what would you do? my bet is that you would seek out the nearest english speaker....or in the case of my fellow Australasian's...find a bar with english speakers lol

and maybe this is just my own new zealand experience, but i find the folks bandying about these assimilation demands often set the bar too high as part of their arguement against immigration

IN the US's case, where would it be without it's old european influences, spanish, french, german and dutch to name a few

(i hear the beckhams just arrived, assimilate them before they do it to you!!!1!11!)


C/1Lt Henderson said:
"i find it ironic that it's usually citizens of immigrant nations that kick up the most about new immigrants Perhaps I am misreading you, but are you suggesting we have no room to talk because we are immigrants too?
Click to expand...


to a degree, yes.

English colonists certianly didn't assimilate into the cultures of the countries they colonised. thats a wee bit cheap i know. but i certainly wouldn't want to go without any of the many benefits of a multicultural nation.

especially here in the south pacific
 
Infern0 said:
ok. ok, maybe i should clarify. 1st generation immigrants (IMHO) will never *completely* assimilate. sure they may learn the language, but to expect them to speak it fluently from day one is unreasonable.

but your selves in their shoes, if i dropped you into the middle of mexico, or hong kong (as examples), what would you do? my bet is that you would seek out the nearest english speaker....or in the case of my fellow Australasian's...find a bar with english speakers lol

and maybe this is just my own new zealand experience, but i find the folks bandying about these assimilation demands often set the bar too high as part of their arguement against immigration

IN the US's case, where would it be without it's old european influences, spanish, french, german and dutch to name a few

(i hear the beckhams just arrived, assimilate them before they do it to you!!!1!11!)
Click to expand...
I don't want them to completely assimilate...That's the general idea of America...Someone brings something different to the table from back home.I also never said they should speak it fluently from day one...I just want them competent.

See, that's the thing...I don't want to go to Mexico, so I wouldn't have to find myself in that situation...They WANT to come here, so why shouldn't they play by our rules, including speaking sufficient English to get by day to day.





Infern0 said:
to a degree, yes.

English colonists certianly didn't assimilate into the cultures of the countries they colonised. thats a wee bit cheap i know. but i certainly wouldn't want to go without any of the many benefits of a multicultural nation.

especially here in the south pacific
Click to expand...
Too right they didn't. But honestly, until the Mexicans can come in and do what the English did to us(I am Native American), I don't care. :D Just kidding.

I believe that my ancestors followed the proper channels for immigration...Learned English, and started their lives...Why can't Mexicans do the same?
 
A person born in Alabama will never fully assimilate to life in New York City, why should it be any different for people coming from other countries to the United States? They'll always "talk funny" and "eat strange foods" and have "weird beliefs" compared to those around them. (Them can refer to immigrants and that poor good ole boy stuck in NYC in this case)
 
^^^LOL, thanks for that particular example. And yes...My cousins let me know all the time about my accent and my affinity for grits. But we still get along.
 
I don't see why northerners think grits sounds so weird, but then again I live in South Dakota, during the summer, or at least from mid-June through September, pretty much every meal involves fresh, hand picked sweet corn because we have it in such great abundance up here.
 
Que Paso. Porque no ti gusta la idioma espanol? Yo no cruzas la frontera la frontera cruzas mi.:wink:
 
more than me. I took Spanish in middle school cause there were no other languages, and I dont remember any. Every now and then I hear a word I understand, but not much.
 
^^And that's not a bad thing...Because you're not in a Spanish speaking nation...If you were, then I would advise you to learn Spanish. But since you're not...It's up to you.
 
philam15 said:
America is a country of different cultures.

I think when people come here they should be given one year to learn english. and at the end of that year they should be given a test, if they pass they get to stay, if not they have to back to their own country, and if they decide to come back the next time they only get 6 months to learn english.
Click to expand...

America has been a country of different cultures for so long that that is what makes it American culture, now to completely come in and push one culture onto the melting pot of the states is just wrong.
 
Donkey said:
America has been a country of different cultures for so long that that is what makes it American culture, now to completely come in and push one culture onto the melting pot of the states is just wrong.
Click to expand...

So are you saying that because a person comes to another country that they shouldn't be able to practice their own culture?

Eat their food, talk their language with the other people who know it...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top