One nation, not just speaking English

[Heracles 417]

So why not teach the kids Hindi, Mandarin or Arabic then. These languages are certainly more marketable around the world than Spanish.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

So why not teach the kids Hindi, Mandarin or Arabic then. These languages are certainly more marketable around the world than Spanish.

40 million Spanish speaking people here in the states. Go figure.

[Heracles 417]

Actually, that's not true. Many companies do consider applicants who are bilingual an asset, particularly if they speak Spanish. It makes absolutely no sense not to foster a nation that is bilingual and it goes beyond commerce. My wife has a cousin from the Netherlands (she's half Filipino). She fluently speaks Dutch, German, French and English. I think that goes beyond just a conversational piece for her at dinner parties....it actually makes her much more marketable in terms of jobs.

But you don't find it funny that the rest of the world is trying to learn English and we are being told to learn Spanish. But at the same time we are not asking Latino to learn English in an English speaking nation. Now that is just stupid.

Edited July 11, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[Heracles 417]

So why not teach the kids Hindi, Mandarin or Arabic then. These languages are certainly more marketable around the world than Spanish.

40 million Spanish speaking people here in the states. Go figure.

Of course. And with Steven style leaders that number will probably soon jump to 100 million.

[jundp 191]

or maybe the meant Latinos were....

I would not say racist but I certainly dislike a group of people who feel they can walk into another nation, as they please, with their MS13 and all then demand everyone else cater for them.

Can you imagine someone went to a German public school and the teachers were told that they cannot force them to learn Deutsch because that is forcing German culture on them. Even though this kid was born in Germany. I think not. Certainly not in Australia.

Yes, I see your point. And as an educator it is absolutely frustrating to hear stories about schools that have to employ bilingual teachers or at least increase EFL classes. I don't have that worry, because in order to be at my school a student must make a minimum score on his or her TOEFL test (even the International students).

But over all, I would say that there's nothing wrong with expecting American students to learn other languages. My son will be 17 this summer (which is so weird, because I'm still 26, but w/e) and he is fluent in English and German, has taken 2 years of French and is currently self-studying Latin so he can take the accelerated test and begin his senior year in Latin 2. I didn't force him though I'm sure that my career helped influence him, but it was his idea. I see a direct correlation in my students between those who score well in math and those who know more than one language. Truly. There have been scores of educational studies on the benefits of learning a foreign language. It's the same with music...knowing music helps students as well.

Also, I do have a second job tutoring at a major tutoring center. I got my job over another candidate because of my background in Spanish. My very first day there I acted as translator for a mother who didn't speak English very well. It was kind of a clusterf@$% because my Spanish was rusty, but it helped for sure.

[alienlovechild 75]

Try and stay focused.

Obama said . . .

We should have every child speaking more than one language.

You said. . .

Many companies do consider applicants who are bilingual an asset, particularly if they speak Spanish. It makes absolutely no sense not to foster a nation that is bilingual and it goes beyond commerce. My wife has a cousin from the Netherlands (she's half Filipino). She fluently speaks Dutch, German, French and English. I think that goes beyond just a conversational piece for her at dinner parties....it actually makes her much more marketable in terms of jobs.

Obama said he wants every kid to learn a language but there's no way that will lead to a job for most of them. Our schools can't handle the teaching of English, let alone math and science. Tacking on more mandatory classes will not help and your wife's cousin is an exception not the rule. Ask her what divides Belgium. Yep, it's divided by the Dutch and French languages. They have had bilingual education for years.

The word "marketable" implies one is paid to for a skill, here, it's a second language. We have plenty of bilingual Spanish speakers many of whom will work cheaper than Anglos with degrees in Spanish. Learning any subject in school is great but few are paid based on their knowledge of a single subject- any subject. Why not push for science or math? If you're that specialized, you must be good enough to paid doing it. I speak three other languages (badly) besides English so I'm not saying outlaw foreign languages. Forcing all students to learn a foreign language is a bad idea.

[Teacher Mark 53]

I agree with the Senator from Illinois. Good post.

[Steve Y Jessica 1]

Well before we worry about english speaking americans learning another language, maybe we should worry about all of the people who come to the United States and have no intention of learning english.

I have known many people who live in the US and only speak spanish with no intention of learning english because they do not need to. We cater to them in every way.

My ex-wifes grandmother, who died a couple years ago at the age of 96, was born and raised in the US, New Mexico. She only knew a few words of english.

I agree that it is very good for kids to learn other languages. But we as a nation should stop trying to cater to the people who do not want to learn english when the live here.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Try and stay focused.

Obama said . . .

We should have every child speaking more than one language.

You said. . .

Many companies do consider applicants who are bilingual an asset, particularly if they speak Spanish. It makes absolutely no sense not to foster a nation that is bilingual and it goes beyond commerce. My wife has a cousin from the Netherlands (she's half Filipino). She fluently speaks Dutch, German, French and English. I think that goes beyond just a conversational piece for her at dinner parties....it actually makes her much more marketable in terms of jobs.

Obama said he wants every kid to learn a language but there's no way that will lead to a job for most of them. Our schools can't handle the teaching of English, let alone math and science. Tacking on more mandatory classes will not help and your wife's cousin is an exception not the rule. Ask her what divides Belgium. Yep, it's divided by the Dutch and French languages. They have had bilingual education for years.

The word "marketable" implies one is paid to for a skill, here, it's a second language. We have plenty of bilingual Spanish speakers many of whom will work cheaper than Anglos with degrees in Spanish. Learning any subject in school is great but few are paid based on their knowledge of a single subject- any subject. Why not push for science or math? If you're that specialized, you must be good enough to paid doing it. I speak three other languages (badly) besides English so I'm not saying outlaw foreign languages. Forcing all students to learn a foreign language is a bad idea.

The marketable part was your argument for one...I was merely pointing out that if you based the need to know a second language on marketability, 40 million Spanish speaking people in the U.S. would be a good place to start.

Obama commented on those who want to pass English Only Laws - so I'm going to assume then you're not supporting such laws, yes?

As for learning a second language - it is already a requirement in most public high schools. What we don't have that European schools do is a willingness to teach Spanish from elementary through high school. Some schools do teach rudimentary Spanish even in Kindergarten, but without the will to really focus on getting kids to be bilingual, we won't see it happen. There are too many forces that already have an aprehension towards public education as it is...and that could be whole other thread by itself. In any case, children would be much better equipt for tomorrow's world if they learned to speak fluent Spanish by the time they completed high school...for a multitude of reasons.

[Steve Y Jessica 1]

However, the two most spoken languages in the world are English and Spanish. So I feel there is a very good reason for speaking both English and Spanish.

[pedroh 21]

business wise it's a no brainer, right now latinos are the most spending 'group' of all american

Wow! Sen. Obama can I get you nachos with that sombrero... Gsss...

what does nachos and sombrero have to do with the latinos? are you implying some stereotype here? mhh

[Heracles 417]

business wise it's a no brainer, right now latinos are the most spending 'group' of all american

The $23,000,000,000 they ship back to Mexico does not count as spending.

[pedroh 21]

business wise it's a no brainer, right now latinos are the most spending 'group' of all american

The $23,000,000,000 they ship back to Mexico does not count as spending.

no im talking about internal consumption.. why do you think all retail places have spanish signs, they are the biggest spending group.. they don't even use cards.. cashhhh thats why you see el español

Edited July 11, 2008 by pedroh

[Heracles 417]

business wise it's a no brainer, right now latinos are the most spending 'group' of all american

The $23,000,000,000 they ship back to Mexico does not count as spending.

no im talking about internal consumption.. why do you think all retail places have spanish signs, they are the biggest spending group.. they don't even use cards.. cashhhh thats why you see el español

But I thought they jumped the line because they where poor.

The retail signs are there because a lot of the wankers America has as politicians are more concerned about winning votes than doing what is in the best interest of America.

[pedroh 21]

business wise it's a no brainer, right now latinos are the most spending 'group' of all american

The $23,000,000,000 they ship back to Mexico does not count as spending.

no im talking about internal consumption.. why do you think all retail places have spanish signs, they are the biggest spending group.. they don't even use cards.. cashhhh thats why you see el español

But I thought they jumped the line because they where poor.

The retail signs are there because a lot of the wankers America has as politicians are more concerned about winning votes than doing what is in the best interest of America.

i really don't think politicians have to do anything with the spanish signs at the walmart.. i think that's the corporations itself.. or what, would you make other-than-english signs illegal in private owned businesses?