Timothy V Poll Questions for the Day: 4-01-07

No-we should not be required to learn a second language.

In France, they truly prefer you speak french to them, SO I guess it is a choice, but I( do not want to learn a second, actually 3rd language...

It is already a requirement in high school, and usually students pick what they want (usually French, German, Spanish). Most universities also require this for graduation.

Immigrants should learn English to succeed in this nation.

If we visit other countries, we should learn their language, but it would be a great courtesy if they helped us out.

I would be happy if people born here would learn to speak the English language. But I think if you are to be a citizen you should learn English and it would not hurt us to speak more than one language as well. Well old boy looks like I have a bit of competition lol. Enjoy you ask the questions and think you know how they will respond and they never do.

Timothy, we are so far behind other countries. They require second language classes in this country, but I don't know many people who have come out understanding or speaking those second lauguages fluently. Most children I know in (or from) other countries speak at LEAST two languages.

Many Americans go to other countries expecting the people there to speak English.

I agree with Carol, that it would be nice if Americans would learn to speak/write English. But, as we've seen right here on Gather, many of them don't want to and resent anyone who suggests they should. They are usually the ones who don't want to learn a second language and insist that others who come here should learn to speak their language better than they do, also.l

The Queen... love your new avatar *LOL*

Sandy....I would suggest that you quit showing your baby's ass on my threads. That's a violation of Gather's TOS and I'm going to have to report you to MaryAnne! lol

BTW, I just got the divorce papers....

Randy..At last we actually agree on something..I think..

Carol...You stole this idea from me..remember ??

Leti...What ??

Over and out, Timothy. Back to work and boycotting. See ya!

I believe the status Quo is fine. I also feel that if immigrants are seeking permanent reidency they should be required to speak, read and understand spoken english at a suitable level for them to be able to accomplish basic needs. My wife is bilingual and also I have two sons who are and my 4 year old will be. I think it should be the need that dictates the course and still remember suffering thru H.S. Latin classes.

Timothy, what what??? *LOL*

Vicky, you hit another great point. Most U.S. citizens don't care about the rest of the world and her peoples, so why bother with foreign languages, right?

The fact is, our nations is multicultural, and people find it very threatening to their way of life (which Italians, Irish, Germans, and Natives also went through the same thing back in the day).

I also have my own 'ugly' American stories, especially with the border towns in Mexico. If you've never been, most people (especially college students) go down there on weekends, Spring Break, etc. and expect everything to be in English.

1. Should we Americans who were only taught English be required to learn a second language?

No, Americans should no be "required" to learn a second language if by required you mean a compulsion (as in if you drive, you're required to have a drivers license and follow the rules). On the other hand, it is obviously a good thing to do, and in most other countries it is considered an indispensable part of being an educated person.

2. And if so, which language should we be required to learn ?

N/A for the "compulsory" sense.

In the educational asset sense, whichever they would like to learn and/or consider useful.

3a Should the recent immigtants from other countries be required to learn English?

Again, legally speaking, no, even if it intuitively feels right to say yes. Clearly someone who doesn't speak English at a functional level is not going to do well here, so immigrants should be encouraged and offered help to learn English--if they don't already speak it well. Because of course, among legal immigrants (and if we use the word "required", they are the ones we're talking about), the ones that qualify through education/job skills already speak English when they enter the US, and those that don't are immigrating because they are the family members of qualifying immigrants (or US citizens). They can't possibly be denied, and there are people who genuinely cannot learn another language (or anything else for that matter). If you're not careful in crafting the law, you will end up barring the mentally challenged child or the 93 year old parent of a Nobel Prize winning researcher from immigrating to the US, and this is clearly not a good idea. I know this is not the situation you meant, but this is a real problem (while permanent residency does not require English skills, the citizenship exam does, and until quite recently, there was no exception for mentally incapacitated people.)


3b Or should we be required to learn their languages ?

As per 1, clearly not. Some people might consider it useful and freely choose to do so.

4a. If we English only speaking Americans plan to visit, work in or move to another country, should we be required to learn the language of that country?

Same as 3a. Encouraged, not required to. How necessary it is would depend on the circumstances.

4b. Or should the people of that country be required to learn English ?

Same as 3b, but as a matter of fact, many of them already do (how many depends on the country).

Comments: There are many Americans living in other countries and working in high-end jobs who do not speak the "local" language. That's impossible in the US--the immigrants here who don't speak English do the lowest-paying jobs. Not a good analogy.

There are many more people in most non-English speaking countries who speak English as a foreign language than there are Americans who speak any foreign language. Not a good analogy either.

Timothy,

1) I feel that it shouldn't be a requirement. It should be a choice. There are many benefits in learning another language, especially in the work-force. More languages you know, you'll make more money.

2) If so, answering your question the best way that I can, um, Hebrew, French, Armenian and Spanish would be nice (that's if it dosen't bother you).

3) It's a two way street.

4) It would be beneficial. So we'll know what the heck they're talking about. I'm not a big fan of the word "REQUIRED" in this case.

Hope I answered your questions. May I ask, what point are you trying to make in asking these questions, I'm curious.

I believe, for a well rounded education, a foreign language requirement is not a bad idea.

Yes, all immigrants should be required to learn English. It is required for the citizenship papers, which makes one wonder, WHY do we have Spanish ballots?

Answer: So illegals can vote.

Yes we, as Americans, should learn the language of the country we are going to live in, if other than America. I am learning Chinese, as I have been offered a job, after I retire here.

Thanks everybody for your thoughts and opinions.

Here's where I stand on this issue.

Just beacuse people from other countries have made the decision to come here, we Americans who were only taught English shouldn't have to learn their languages, or any other language for that matter.

If anyone wants to live, work and become a Citizen of the U.S. , they should be required to learn English at their expense, not the taxpayers expense, no free rides. Again, they made the choice to come here.

If any American citizen decides to move to another country to live and work, then they should be required to learn the language of that country. The citizens of that country shouldn't be required to learn English because and American citizen decided to move to their country to live and work.

Timothy, okay, that's fine if you don't want to learn anyone else's languages, but the point is that whether or no anyone likes it, we have a diverse speaking population, yes, especially Spanish because of our neighbors. Whether or not those Spanish speakers are illegal, it's not fair to the other Spanish speaking legal immigrants here who are in different stages of learning English.

Do you think a job that requires bilingualism is unfair? I don't. It's the nature of the job. If a person thinks it's unfair and/or they want that job, then they should learn the second language.

Mark, or anyone else, how do illegals vote?

Liz, maybe I'm one of the youngest Gather members, but learning a foreign language IS a requirement in high school and then in college. YOU HAVE TO TAKE a foreign language.

It seems like that started around the 1980's?

You see Leti...you keep trying to paint this as a Spanish issue, when nowhere in my article did I mention any particular language.

And again, just because people from other countries DECIDED THEMSELVES to come here doesn't mean that I should learn EVEN ONE of their languages, NOT EVEN ONE !

Timothy, I'm not trying to make this a Spanish issue. I only posted in regards to what Mark said about illegals.

Okay, Timothy, that's great...but then will you complain when you get passed up a job because you don't know a second language?

OK Leti....I can't answer that question because I would never apply for a job that listed speaking a second language as one of the requirements.

Actually, the only jobs that require speaking a second language should be jobs that require traveling to other countries and doing buisness there. But then again, I have a problem with that also if those jobs are buyers positions that require buying products from other countries. Too much shit being imported, and too many American jobs are being lost because of it.

Learning another language is now a "frill." Other countries can do as their governments prescribe, but face it, language-wise this is the American century. When I was in high school I was told that French was the international language.

These days requiring another language makes as much sense as requiring musical notation. Nice but not necessary, practicality-wise! The real problem here is the variety of language roots. It would be relatively easy for a native French speaker to transfer skills to other Romance languages, but not so easy to learn Africaans .

And then there's the slang! Do you think most classes even mess with that? You know, talkwise...

Timothy, but there's that word...'should'. Our country is multi-ethnic/multi-cultural... so naturally, we will have various languages.

I am friends with the mothers of my son's friends, and they tell me they have a Russian translator at some of their schools because of the huge Russian population here. Also, the Department of Health and Social Services (DSHS) have openings for social workers that are bilingual in English and Russian. Am I going to get upset because of it? Nope. Would I if 'they' started demanding language changes? Nope, as long as English was still spoken.

My post about Spanish is that its tied in to this dilemma about illegals from Hispanic countries.

Leti...

This dilemma would be easily solved if we could just get all American citizens to learn about six or seven different languages. Not the entire language, but just a few phrases to get by on like:

"Hello, NO I'm not paying for your medical coverage." Or how about...

"NO, you're not taking our jobs." Or maybe just a friendly little phrase like...

"Get the f**k out!"

Zut alors, HG!!

Leti...

"et puis zut". If your going to say it say it right!

Mi no comprende any of that shit !! lol

Is that freaking German ??

The problem here is that because of our government never making any language official, we do not really have that choice. So the door is open and anyone coming here, does not have to learn another language, but we as citizens should to deal with them, so many have accepted, rudely I will add.
I agree that any one comeing to this Country to live and work, should have to learn our language just as we have to in other countries. But before that can be mandated, our Government has to make English our official Language.

HG...it can be said zut alors...Timothy, it's French for 'Darn' or some such exclamation...

Dan, I just don't want a select group of people to feel English is superior to other languages...

Leti, that is not the point, what is, is that we have some ground to make it easier to work anddo things in this country when you do not have to know 30 different languages.

Good point Dan...30 languages is pretty much how many I would have to learn where I live.

Dan, hence we have translators (could this create jobs?!!)..and Dan, you KNOW it's going to happen with the superiority. I grew up in the south, and the prejudices are there. Dan, as I've told people, I've been told I couldn't speak Spanish to my friend (we were practicing off to the side of the crowd) because I should be speaking 'American'. This was in 1995.

And you know, even if English becomes the official language, it won't make a lick of difference because people's needs dictate policy.

Timothy, before you go off, it's how I see things.

Leti...I know how you see things, and quite frankly, it makes no sense.

So a person decides to migrate here from Russia and speaks no English. So I guess according to how you think, we should learn to speak Russian as well as provide free Russian to English translations for this person ? And signs in Russian in all of our stores and such ?

Timothy, I already say it behooves immigrants to learn English. If not, then they will always be at the mercy of that country, and their prospects will be very limited.

I also won't be offended if people choose to speak their native language. Why should I care? Seriously, who pays for those translations? I'm not saying you guys are lying, but I have yet to see a .gov site about it since I want to learn more.

Leti...

The courts are filled with people who can't speak english. Who pays for translators? Who else, American taxpayers. You don't need a .gov site to figure that one out.

HG, but that person who is a translator already speaks English...the second language is a bonus. Aren't these translators usually book keeping, record keeping, transcriptionists that would be there ANYWAY? Also, usually it is their lawyers that will translate for them.

STOP SPAMMING MY ARTICLES!!! THANKS AGAIN