This is America, Speak English!
The projected Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2050 will be 102.6 million. That will make up a total of 24% of the United States population. My Father is an immigrant from Mexico. He came here illegally across the border,then met my Mom. That was more than thirty two years ago. You would never know to look at me that I am half Mexican. I look like a typical California girl, with blonde hair, blue eyes and very fair skin. I speak very little Spanish. It is hard to believe that I have a Hispanic background. I attended junior high school and high school with an estimated 90% of students being Hispanic.I want you all to know that I am definitely in no way predjudiced. But as times have changed and the Hispanic population continued growing over recent years, it has become more difficult living and working here without speaking another language other than English.
We continue to cater to the non-English speaking population,so why should someone coming into this country have to learn English? People get by in their daily lives without it. If you drove through the neighborhood I live in, you would notice huge billboards written in Spanish. The neighborhood restaurants have menus written in Spanish. In fact if you eat out you are lucky to get your order understood at all. In most cases the person waiting on you or filling your order will not understand much of what you say and can not understand you either. I have recently tried to find a new job I have been turned down many times because I do not speak Spanish fluently though I do understand it a bit. This has not been the first time this has happened. This is frightening. What is the problem here when an American born and raised in this country can not get a job because they do not speak a foreign language? Isn't this America? Isn't our primary language English?
My Father came to the United States the wrong way. He eventually married my Mom and received his legal residency. He learned English fluently and found a very good job. He did not count on people to learn Spanish for him. He took every chance he got to learn English. As a result of that, he learned language skills well enough to find a good job and support his family. He has admitted that learning English has been to his advantage in many ways. He believes that knowing the language of this country has made his life a lot easier. I believe there are many hard working illegal immigrants who just want to come here to work and make an honest living. That is what the United States is all about,but they should also get in line and come here the right way. We make it easy for people to come here, to start a new life. It should be a requirement for benificiaries that arrive here in the United States that are seeking permanent residency to learn to read and speak our English language.Why go through all of the struggles to come to another country without the willingness to learn my language and then expect me to have to learn yours?
Published by Dacia J.Medina
I live in California born and raised. I am a freelance writer in my free time and a single mother of a beautiful daughter who has Asperger's.I also volunteer as an advocate for Autism Awareness. I try to li... View profile
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18 Comments
Post a CommentI think if people want to come to this country they should learn the language because that is the primary language of this country. I am not going to move to Italy or Mexico without learning the language. I can't imagine doing something like that. I mean learn to speak our language and maybe so many people wouldn't be so mad at them and it would possible that immigrants could get somewhat of a better job.
found on another blog about the philly rest owner and posting a sign...
someone commented ...
"So what does he do if a customer is deaf and or speech impaired. Sling them out because the owner doesn't understand ASL?"
did someone say A-SL? last i looked it means American Sign Language.
i even took a beginners class in ASL and guess what, they speak ENGLISH. only with their hands. i know a person whos primary language is ASL and guess what, he can READ the menu and point to the item he wishes to order. if the person speaks only spanish or any other language they PROBABLY can not READ it, so wont be able to point to the item. i dont think ppl on these blogs MEAN to discriminate agains spanish. i think what is being said is that having knowledge in more then one language is actually a gift but if you want to LIVE on a country for the rest of your life, or a better part of it, then you SHOULD speak the primary language spoken there. if i go on vacation in another country and am g
i live in hawaii and find this to also be trye.
i am from the north east USA and hawaii last i checked is also the USA. so why is it that when i have 20yrs experiance that i can not get hired for a hotel front desk possition because i do not speak japanese? they will hire a kid fresh out of high school who has never worked a day in their life and took a yr of japanese before someone with 20 yrs customer service experiance.
isnt this what the translators desk should be for? i find it also difficult going into a store and trying to speak to a clerk and they do not speak english, um, last i checked, this was an english speaking country. if i go to say japan and need a translator, i will find one. why do i need to find one in america? i get the ppl who move here for a new start and are learning, what i do not get is the 3rd generation that wont because at home mom and grandma didnt....and still i can not communicate with them.
what you do within your own home and 4 walls is your ch
typo correction: "frustrating when we are inconvenienced"
I agree that it can be frustrating we are inconvenienced because we don't know Spanish. I feel like if a person goes to a country expecting to stay there permanently (or for a significant amount of time), they should learn the official language of that country. I took 4 years of French because I want to go to France one day. I'm not going to go there expecting them to speak my language when I'm in their country. That would be unfair and disrespectful to them, in my opinion. :-)
I agree with you all the way. Why should I being an American born citizen learn another language just to get a job. It is very frustrating to go to a store and ask the salesperson a question and that cannot understand you because they do not speak English. That is wrong. I am not against legal immigrants, I just want them to learn our language and not expect us to learn theirs.
Great article with many great points.
AMEN! I get so irritated when I go thru the drive-thru at McDonalds and ask for sweetener for my tea...the hispanics ALWAYS try to give me sugar and I have to try telling them 50 different ways,"NO SUGAR! SWEETENER! You know, the BLUUUUUE packets??" Cheese and rice! How rediculous!
Thanks for sharing
Tiffany, I agree that everyone that comes to the U.S. should know English, and we need to stop making it easy for people to get by without learning it.By expecting us to learn their language.