Time to make English the official language of the U.S.

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  • Reply 121 of 159
    giantgiant Posts: 6,041member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by steve666



    Open your eyes for they are closed...........................................




    Boy, am I lucky you took time out of your algebra homework to tell me that.



    So, I didn't see a single quote in there that had any relevance to what I'm now posting for the fourth time:



    "There is no evidence that bilingual accommodations slow down English acquisition...only unsupported claims about ethnic separatism and immigrants' disinclination to learn English unless forced to do so."



    http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...D/question.htm



    And as pointed out on another page, "The rate of linguistic assimilation is clearly accelerating, a phenomenon that can be seen even in the relatively brief span of the 1980s."



    http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...RD/can-pop.htm
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  • Reply 122 of 159
    Quote:

    Originally posted by steve666

    Go Arnold! I thought he held his own in the debate, although he could have been more vocal about illegal immigration.



    Is he not being quiet on that issue because he illegally took a job while visiting the states with a student visa?



    Damn illegals, coming over here, stealing our jobs and women, talking funny and stuff.
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  • Reply 123 of 159
    giaguaragiaguara Posts: 2,724member
    steve, there seems to be something wrong with your dot key. for some reason when you hit it it makes 200 dots, not one. could you have it fixed? it looks a bit annoying.
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  • Reply 124 of 159
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by steve666

    Unfortunately many Americans are boobs. They should bring an electronic translator with them....................................



    Or maybe they should learn 6 different languages just to be allowed to enter Europe.
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  • Reply 125 of 159
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Scott

    Or maybe they should learn 6 different languages just to be allowed to enter Europe.







    There go the European beer-crawl plans.



    Damn.
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  • Reply 126 of 159
    steve666steve666 Posts: 2,600member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by giant

    Boy, am I lucky you took time out of your algebra homework to tell me that.



    So, I didn't see a single quote in there that had any relevance to what I'm now posting for the fourth time:



    "There is no evidence that bilingual accommodations slow down English acquisition...only unsupported claims about ethnic separatism and immigrants' disinclination to learn English unless forced to do so."



    http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...D/question.htm



    And as pointed out on another page, "The rate of linguistic assimilation is clearly accelerating, a phenomenon that can be seen even in the relatively brief span of the 1980s."



    http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...RD/can-pop.htm






    You can pull links out of your ass all night long, and i can find plenty of sources on USEnglish's website that says just the opposite. You get your links from folks who support bilingual education and your position. It proves nothing..................
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  • Reply 127 of 159
    steve666steve666 Posts: 2,600member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Giaguara

    steve, there seems to be something wrong with your dot key. for some reason when you hit it it makes 200 dots, not one. could you have it fixed? it looks a bit annoying.



    I know its annoying, sorry about that. It seems that my sentences tend to get cut off if I dont do that. I'll try not doing it for awhile and see what happens.
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  • Reply 128 of 159
    Quote:

    Originally posted by steve666

    i can find plenty of sources on USEnglish's website that says just the opposite.



    Stop talking shite and post them then.
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  • Reply 129 of 159
    steve666steve666 Posts: 2,600member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by stupider...likeafox

    Stop talking shite and post them then.



    Here you go, knock yourself out:



    http://www.us-english.org/inc/official/
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  • Reply 130 of 159
    Quote:

    Originally posted by steve666

    You can pull links out of your ass all night long, and i can find plenty of sources on USEnglish's website that says just the opposite. You get your links from folks who support bilingual education and your position. It proves nothing..................



    Just to be clear, you're getting your links from folks who support unilingual education and your position.



    Combine your links with Giants links and we're in danger of creating a black hole. \



    All of these links are great, but I much prefer reading a cogent personal opinion, rather than links.



    That goes for both sides of the argument.
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  • Reply 131 of 159
    steve666steve666 Posts: 2,600member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by audiopollution

    Just to be clear, you're getting your links from folks who support unilingual education and your position.



    Combine your links with Giants links and we're in danger of creating a black hole. \



    All of these links are great, but I much prefer reading a cogent personal opinion, rather than links.



    That goes for both sides of the argument.




    I listed so many reasons, personal reasons that I have always felt before I knew USEnglish even existed. I am opinionated out! I think it boils down to whether you lean one way or another. It would be very difficult to sway someones viewpoint who has pretty much already made up their minds. To someone who hasnt thought of the issue before our opinions may be more persuasive.
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  • Reply 132 of 159
    giaguaragiaguara Posts: 2,724member
    what if france or spain or portugal happened to conquer the states instead of uk (hundreds of years ago)? besides, americo vespucci was from genoa, working for portuguese ... we would be now complaining that there are some people that don't speak portuguese (or spanish) ... like when we go to uk we'd have difficutlies with out portuguese...
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  • Reply 133 of 159
    steve666steve666 Posts: 2,600member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Giaguara

    what if france or spain or portugal happened to conquer the states instead of uk (hundreds of years ago)? besides, americo vespucci was from genoa, working for portuguese ... we would be now complaining that there are some people that don't speak portuguese (or spanish) ... like when we go to uk we'd have difficutlies with out portuguese...



    Then we would be speaking French or Spanish or portuguese, but that didnt happen so English is where its at.
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  • Reply 134 of 159
    i think, instead of forcing people into an english-speaking nation, we should accomodate them in any way we can. american culture is one of diversity. forcing a language onto them may help them get jobs, or whatever, but perhaps in allowing them to not learn the language we are instead creating markets for other languages' to grow. if an area has a noticeable amount of x-language speakers, then businesses would probably profit more if they communicated in language-x. then, in these areas, english-speakers are at a disadvantage (perhaps we should be forced to speak 'x' when traveling to these areas ). it just so happens that most places in the u.s. speak english, but walk around chinatown and try to convince them to convert. its fvcking offensive. no one should be forced to do anything they don't want to, so long as their inaction doesn't hurt anybody. and the hurt caused by multilingualism is far too small to outweigh its inherent value.
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  • Reply 135 of 159
    steve666steve666 Posts: 2,600member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by thuh Freak

    i think, instead of forcing people into an english-speaking nation, we should accomodate them in any way we can. american culture is one of diversity. forcing a language onto them may help them get jobs, or whatever, but perhaps in allowing them to not learn the language we are instead creating markets for other languages' to grow. if an area has a noticeable amount of x-language speakers, then businesses would probably profit more if they communicated in language-x. then, in these areas, english-speakers are at a disadvantage (perhaps we should be forced to speak 'x' when traveling to these areas ). it just so happens that most places in the u.s. speak english, but walk around chinatown and try to convince them to convert. its fvcking offensive. no one should be forced to do anything they don't want to, so long as their inaction doesn't hurt anybody. and the hurt caused by multilingualism is far too small to outweigh its inherent value.



    No one is forced to move here either. If they do decide to move here they should be forced to conform at least somewhat with our language and culture. if thats too much for them they can stay home. They should accomodate us, not the other way around.
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  • Reply 136 of 159
    giantgiant Posts: 6,041member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by steve666

    You can pull links out of your ass all night long, and i can find plenty of sources on USEnglish's website that says just the opposite. You get your links from folks who support bilingual education and your position. It proves nothing..................



    You are still at this? There's nothing I can find on the website that addresses the facts I am citing.



    What I do see, however, is a very unprofessional site grasping at straws.



    For instance:



    Quote:

    he New York Times reports that Hispanics account for over 40 percent of the population of Hartford, and that the city is becoming ?Latinized.? Last year, Eddie Perez became Hartford?s first Hispanic mayor.



    Note, too, that in the longer version it is never specified which of the 15 or so Hartfords in the US this is referring to. Regardless, this is a Hartford issue, not a national one. Certainly if this is a nation wide problem, surely they wouldn't have needed to devote two of their bullet points to one city and could have explained how the same thing is happening in the other 19,354 cities in the US. But it's not, so they didn't.



    To show how much they are grasping for straws, check out what a whole bullet point was reserved for:



    Quote:

    A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) housing inspector who spoke only broken English was sent to Germantown, New York with an interpreter to inspect flood damage. The inspector couldn't speak English well enough to understand the flood victims' needs. (Register Star, 2/13/96)



    Come on!



    And I found this particularly interesting:



    Quote:

    Only 20 percent of the residents of Puerto Rico ? a commonwealth of the U.S. ? speak English.



    Funny they included this, since it actually undermines the argument.



    So we have an unscientific (and almost every reference is to a newspaper article) collection of points that only demonstrate the growth of the Latino population in the US. They still don't address the problems cited here in what I am now posting for the 5th time:



    "There is no evidence that bilingual accommodations slow down English acquisition...only unsupported claims about ethnic separatism and immigrants' disinclination to learn English unless forced to do so."



    http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...D/question.htm



    And as pointed out on another page, "The rate of linguistic assimilation is clearly accelerating, a phenomenon that can be seen even in the relatively brief span of the 1980s."



    http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...RD/can-pop.htm
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  • Reply 137 of 159
    steve666steve666 Posts: 2,600member
    You're grasping at straws and seeing only what you want to see. Plus, your links are wrong. Just because you provided a link with someones opinion doesn't make it a fact.



    the facts are, that if there were no problem then

    1 why are bank ATMs in spanish and english?

    2 why do govmnt forms have to be printed in a language other than english?

    3 with the advent of spanish-language media, both print and TV, and govmnt forms in spanish, latinos can never learn to speak english. They can never get a better job, but they can function to some extent. This is happening today deny it all you want.

    4 why is there bi-lingual education for only one set of immigrants?

    5 most, if not all, products have brochures in spanish and english, most packages the same.

    6 I cant use a calling card without specifying that i speak english.



    These are all enabling policies that keep latinos in a lower economic and educational strata. The only group that benefits from this is the Democratic Party because they have their own little 'downtrodden' minority that always needs assistance.



    Cut the crap and treat all immigrants the same, with no assistance and entitlements and in 10-20 yrs time the latino community would be much better off...................................
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  • Reply 138 of 159
    Quote:

    Originally posted by steve666

    with the advent of spanish-language media, both print and TV, and govmnt forms in spanish, latinos can never learn to speak english. They can never get a better job



    Are you going to support this opinion in any way?



    Never is a very strong word.
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  • Reply 139 of 159
    Quote:

    Originally posted by stupider...likeafox

    Are you going to support this opinion in any way?



    Never is a very strong word.




    Good catch, I didnt phrase that properly. I meant to say that latinos can continue to speak spanish without ever having to learn to speak english even though that means they will not get a better job because they didnt bother to learn to speak english.
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  • Reply 140 of 159
    Alternatively you could embrace the future with some generosity and introduce compulsary Spanish lessons in your schools.
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