Bilingual signs...

Bilingual signs...

In Tulsa, they're posting bilingual signs in both english and spanish in a four block portion of downtown where our courthouse and city hall is at....in Tulsa, the hispanic population rose %118 from 1990-2000....

Personally, i dont agree with these bilingual signs posted up like street signs...i mean, if you're in america and the only language u know is spanish, then you're not gonna get too far...u cant expect to go everywhere and have someone who works there to translate just to provide customer service...ive had a bunch of relatives come from the Philippines and they didnt kno a lick of english but before they came to america they learned it in a year, THEN they came here...its not the hardest language in the world to learn...i learned it when i was 4-5 years old when i first came here a few months before i went to kindergarten...i say keep all these bilingual signs out to promote education in the english language...people should learn it before they come here, all of my family did, thats my take....

What's everyone's opinion...I kno there are some hispanic members here on vvt-i so im interested to hear your opinion..

i condone... i also hate it when i go to a korean store and look for something and no one understands you... that pisses me off... i just transfered here in the states 2 years ago... and i know english before i left...

I agree fully that you should learn english.

yeah, its America, learn the damn thing. i did it, its not that hard....er...2-3 years to get it right lol omg im dumb... :smashfrea

yes but in canada every provice close to qubec has sighs in french and english. i guess if theres a significant population of a certain ethnicity you have to accomodate for it.

thats different, its canada

stop hatin on my old motherland

but canada has 2 official languages right(france and english) where as here in the US we have only English as our official language

unofficial language is spanish..

you got a point there

exactly, its UNOFFICIAL, so why do they need to start postin up signs with spanish on them?? i could see if they adopted it as another language

dunno, dont argue wit me about that. go on down there and talk to them about it lol..

well yea, if it were canada, then it would be legit for them to have two different languages since the french were the ones to settle on that land and the brits battled over it so french and english is understandable....btw, i dont think ive ever heard a french canadian talk b4, wonder what kinda accent they have...

I was down in N Carolina or some such place one time and stopped at Target. I was trying to find something (lawn chairs maybe) and I kid you not, I asked THREE people who worked there with the red vests and none of them spoke english! I had to pick up the red telephone to get some help...

I mean, I'm all about different cultures and languages and I'm not prejudice by any stretch, but if you're going to work in an ENGLISH store in and ENGLISH country, shouldn't you know enough ENGLISH to at least get by???

yeah, speaking of english, my sis just got her US Citizenship yesterday she's american now...

couldnt have put it better. if you choose to move to a countyr thats different than yours adapt to the basics atleast if nothing else.

i don't agree with the bilingual signs being put up but if you think about it the government has a lot o do with it since they allow them to work and live here and are avalible for cheaper labor in reality. Down here we have 90% hispanic,8% caucasian and 1% african american, and 1% other. I myself grew up speaking english only till i was about 12 yrs old. after that i started to speak other languages including, but not limited to, english,spanish,german, and french. if i can learn it on my own i anyone can it you put forth the effort. Down here it help knowing spanish because if you cross the border you can get around easily but if you speak english they still try and help out if they can.they don't leave you hanging. But putting signs up it not something i would allow regardless of my speaking,race or ethnic background. thats MO.

I disagree

I may be incorrect, but if my memory serves me right, English is NOT the official language of the U.S. We never formerly adopted one. So really, the only reason most people think we shoud speak english is ONLY because the majority (at the moment) do. Remember, before we invaded here, there were french, different native american tongues and SPANISH, WAY before the English stole the land. To get discusted at someone for not learning english when it is not official really seems to me to be a jealous kind of attitude. They don't learn english because they do not have to. (One of the MANY freedoms we enjoy, to speak whatever language you want) Granted, it would hinder certain career opportunities, but that is their choice. For as many Americans who have taken spanish in school, how high is the percentage that no one remembers most of it? Other countries teach there children english as well as their own tongues in school; oftentimes additional languages are learned, to enable them to compete in todays "World Economy", however, we do not. Check the history books, civilizations fall over and over after becoming lazy and complacent. I for one hope that never happens to us. But no culture is immune to it. We as Americans are lazy in that the majority of us do not know any other languages. (1 or 2 years of high school spanish or french really do not count) I think that we have become rather complacent with ourselves and have crippled our children by giving them the attitude that everyone should learn english instead of encouraging them to learn multiple languages at a young age. This breeds (often) more tolerance for other cultures and broadens understanding different people.
Just some food for thought.

An insightful article.
"Does the United States have an official national language?"
http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20011107.html

I am not going to touch that subject because then i am going to get really touchy and a bit pissed.

...not intended to piss anyone off. Just my humble insight is all.
I just fear that if English-only laws are put in place, to "patch the problem rather than fix it, then we are avoiding the problem rather than addressing it. Education I think is the only solution.

Read the article I linked to in my last post. Provokes good thought on both sides. The English only movement has only been going since 1981, if I remember.

To quote from that article:

the reason i say that is i know a lot of history on this subject.

I am just going to put in short phrases, because i don't want to get out of hand , everything expressed is from the history in know and have read it is not meant to piss anyone or anything for that matter. its MO.

it starts with who were the first ones here and thier own language (native Americans),then who took it away (europeans) , those who migrated from spain (spanish, later became know as mexican{os}), the knowing of areas such as texas and other states belonged to Mexico, those who supposedly bought texas from them which was not really true. It was known as the Louisiana Purchase. and from there it went all hell and when the pilgrims migrated to the US is made everything to what they wanted yet we still put them on the reservations and yet we took away what was rigthfully thiers and yet we still celebrate thanksgiving as a way of saying thank you. but are we realyl saying thank you. if you think about it an put evertyhing in order as to how it actually happened you will find the actual language was that of the Navajo,Kiwanis,Cherokee and others and how we took that language and theier culter and used it against them in a way that is not explainable to those who do not understand. Read your history and speak to those whose ancestors knew what really happend. The truth will hit you and more than likely those who will not accept it will deny it. But soon the truth will be told and there will be nothing more to say.
REMEMBER EVERTYHING IS MY OPINION, THOUGH SOME OF THE INFORMATION IS/ARE BASED ON FACTS ALTOGETHER.

I ask that is you have anything bad to say please keep it to youself for the respect of others regardless of anything, including race or ethnic background.

I did this for Paolino who asked for IMHO.

the languaes are there but finding how they originated and have lost thier dialect is sad. my moms family are from a city called Basque, Spain a small village and the language Basque is very rare that trying to learn it can take years.

Thats different, since the damn quebecs have wanted their own country since Canada was settled.

I think its rediculous. We arent helping these people by catering to their language, since they'll never prosper in America w/o learning english. What bugs me more is that hispanic kids can go through our public schools and never learn english due to "ESL" classes......

hahah when i 1st came, the put me in those classes all day!

Quebec has been trying to seperate for a long time, but my Province is the only officially bilingual province in the Country (New Brunswick), and almost everything here is Bilingual usually, except for Stop signs (Bilingual in some areas, french in others and english in others). Which is cool, i'm Bilingual, first language was english but went to french schools all my life (except for an english college).

i understand on the ESL classes but at the same time remember that the Latin population is currently the fastest growing one for the current time.

english and spanish are no the only two languages i know before i was multilingual.but oh well.

i know

- cantonese, but cant read lol
- lil bit of mandrin, but cant talk or read. just understand a bit.
- vietnamese, but cant read or write lol.
- french, took that in school, but dunno shit anymore lol.
- english....er... lol

haha..................um ok.........................................um verdische'

:thefinger

hahah...................... it nothing bad really................um maybe it is but i doubt it hahah.

here is one you could use ae102>>>>>> lastique' dische' fashen.