Barack Obama: Learn Spanish
"Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English -- they'll learn English -- you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish," Obama said at a recent campaign event in Georgia, according to a CNN clip posted on YouTube. Then he went on to scold Americans for their alleged lack of multi lingual skills. "It's embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe and all we can say is merci beaucoup."
It is a good thing for every American child to pick up some second language. Study of other languages broadens the mind. And, Obama is correct that it allows one to be understood better when ordering in a European restaurant. Mind, Obama may have opened himself up to charges of elitism again with his crack about Ugly Americans saying "merci beaucoup" in Europe. With high fuel prices and the value of the dollar as opposed to the euro, most Americans can't afford a European vacation.
Obama also seems to be oblivious about an old problem in the United States. Contrary to what Obama suggested about immigrants learning English, many in fact are not. The government has responded by posting multi lingual signs in government offices and mandating bilingual education in public schools. One does not have to be a nativist to wonder how immigrants could be expected to prosper in the United States if they are unable to speak the language.
And there seems to be a contradiction in Obama's admonishment to American children to learn Spanish. It would seem that the obligation of any immigrant is to learn the language of the country he or she is living in. It should not be the obligation of the citizens of that country to learn the language of the immigrant.
The French language is so beloved in France that there is a bureaucratic department designed to maintain the purity of that language. Imagine an American going to France and demanding that there be signs posted everywhere in English and that all French people should learn English? The reaction would be predictable.
Finally Spanish is not the only immigrant language in the United States nor are all immigrants from Latin America. Imagine trying to learn Chinese or Vietnamese or Arabic. Spanish at least shares an alphabetic system with English. Teaching school children to translate Chinese pictograms is certainly an activity much more important than learning math, science, or-one would think-English.
Source: Barack Obama: Your Children Should Learn To Speak Spanish,Youtube, July 9th, 2008
Published by Mark Whittington
Mark R. Whittington is a writer residing in Houston, Texas. He is the author of The Last Moonwalker, Children of Apollo, Dark Sanction, and Nocturne. He has written numerous articles, some for the Washington... View profile
- Spanish Classes in Boston Create Cultural Diversity Spanish classes are a great way to learn a second language that can carry you through many social situations, help you in learning other languages, and provide you with an understanding of one of the largest populatio...
- Spanish Classes in Houston, Texas Spanish classes in can expose you to the culture of one of the largest growing American populations today. Nowhere in America is this truer than in Houston, Texas.
- English as Global Language, TEFL International Facts from notable sources about English being used as a global language as well as my views after taking a TEFL course. TEFL has taught me people around the world need to communicate more easily and TEFL can help ev...
-
Great Inventions Courtesy of the United States Government
Relatively speaking, the United States has not been around for a long period of time. When you take a look at what we have invented and brought to the world it is incredible.
-
The Biggest Money Machine Ever, in World History, is the Government of t...
John Maynard Keynes Said that in the long run we are all dead. In the long run the United States government will own all the property and wealth of it's citizens as the result...
- Barack Obama Embarrassed by Americans Not Speaking Spanish
- Koreans and the English Language
- English Only Amendment Added to Immigration Bill
- Spanish Classes in New York, New York
- Classes for Learning Spanish in Atlanta, Georgia
- Spanish Classes in Chicago, Illinois Are a Great Way to Increase Your Earning Pote...
- Our Country's Official Language is English & Why it Should Stay that Way
|
|
23 Comments
Post a CommentAmericans need to learn Spanish, for the people inside USA have become more and more. It is good for communication as well as for work. It is wise to do so. But if you don't want to do it, it is OK. Not so much trouble. But you will lose something important others have and use to work.
Mr Vega,
Your language sounds like fat hens clucking at rapid fire speed or like dogs barking (at least the Latin Americans I hear talk like that)and your people speak way too loud, as if they want the entire store they are in to hear their conversations. Your Spanish isn't music to the ears like French, sexy like Italian, or sacred like Hebrew. Go back to your own country if you want to live amongst the sounds of your own language-you have no authority to leave your own country to tell someone else's how they should speak.
Carmen: I agree with your sentiment; I passably speak four "foreign" languages: Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Russian. But I still think that if one emigrates permanently to the US, they ought to be expected to learn English, our "native" tongue.
My brother (an American) runs a business in Prague, Czech Republic. In order to make his biz successful, he had to learn Czech. My family has been in America for about 350 years speaking English. Why should I be forced to teach my kids to learn Spanish to accommodate newcomers? You want to live here and be successful here, learn ENGLISH.
I have been around most of the world. English is spoken in every country I have been to. Hey Mr Obama. This is AMERICA%21%21%21%21 we speak English.
Yes, learning a second language is beneficial and encouraged. I am myself bilingual and I speak English and Chinese. However, I respect monoglots as long as they're nice, good people.
I think everyone needs to be treated with respect whether they are monolingual or speak 2 or more languages.
If you're in your own country, learning a second language should be an option, not a requirement.I don't go to Mexico, don't get vacation time, therefore cannot afford to travel to other countries, so what would be the point of learning other languages.
Well, Americans should learn Spanish because its own merits as a language, rather than to be kind with immigrants.
Spanish is a derivation of Latin, the language of the Romans.
If you, Americans, learn Spanish will be exposed to a rich culture that's not only from Latin America but from Europe as well.
As a language,Spanish is better sounding and more human. It will be a good thing for you, fellows, to speak at last a language that comes from the ancient Western Civilization, rather than from the Germanic barbarian tribes, as English do.
A lady once said to me, "We have a saying in my country. If you speak 3 or more languages, you are multilingual. If you speak 2 languages you are bilingual. If you speak one language, you're an American:" I speak 3 langauges, and I am learning Mandarin as an African American female born and raised in the USA. Do I do it because there are Hispanics in the US? No, I do it because over 400 million people in the world speak Spanish. I do it because I enjoy traveling and don't like to be perceived as one of the ignorant Americans who is too arrogant to try to learn anything other than English. I do it beacuse there is more to life than what can be found within our borders and knowing only English is not going to be a barrier for me. President Elect Obama was not saying that we should cater to Spanish speakers but that we should raise our children to be global citizens. Anyone too ignorant to see that probably could not handle a second or third language anyway.
1st off
All immigrants are not Latin American. don't be an idiot.
2nd
Traveling is not some elitist privilege. It's kind your duty as a global citizen. how do you know whats best if you havent seen everything?
and going to an expensive version of America in another country doesn't count.
Mexico is close and super cheap. drive there, take a bus. go to Mazunte, one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
(i should'nt tell you about mazunte,but im hoping you go and wake up a bit.)
Listen, Learning is great. There is no downside to learning anything. Don't be an idiot.
ok cool " THIS IS AMERICA" feel better. Now take a step back Where are your great grand parents from? "AMERICA"?
Nope! probably not.
Almost every where in the world people speak more than one language. poor people, rich people, Just people.
No GOOD? how about..
English is a West Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain by Germanic settlers and Roman