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ORIGINAL: Smith117
Ahh but you don't let others' views stop you from kissing girls. Sadly, our legislators let the racism cries force them to abandon their attempts at getting an official language passed.

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ORIGINAL: Smith117

Well, what we've seen differs greatly. I've seen parents on parent-teacher nights have to have their child translate what the teacher is saying about their students. That's sad.

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ORIGINAL: Level

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WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - A judge known for creative sentencing has ordered three Spanish-speaking men to learn English or go to jail.



The men, who faced prison for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, can remain on parole if they learn to read and write English, earn their GEDs and get full-time jobs, Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. said.



The men, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Dominguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo, plus a fourth defendant, Kelvin Reyes-Rosario, all needed translators when they pleaded guilty Tuesday.

The article doesn't say if these guys are illegal aliens, on visas, or citizens.  I doubt they are citizens, because who the hell is born here without learning English?  So why aren't they being deported? 

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ORIGINAL: GreedyTop

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ORIGINAL: Smith117

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ORIGINAL: AquaticSub

You changed the subject. It started that you think it's a shame and disrespectful to the country to teach a child any language other than English first - regardless of circumstance.

Actually I followed the subject down the winding path of conversation.

I never said regardless of circumstance. Though from what I have seen, (and no, I haven't seen EVERYONE.....duh) more often than not, the reason for teaching the child other than english first, is so the parents can have built-in translators. Which goes back to my other point about illegal aliens coming here 'claiming' to want to be Americans and to have a better life, but they really have no interest in that at all.

Honestly, how long should it take to learn the 'common' (if not official) language in a country you immigrate (legally or otherwise) to? I think it takes quite a concerted effort to 'avoid' learning it when you're here 3 decades and still can't navigate through the most basic of conversations.

As someone who was considering moving to Holland let me throw this thought out for consideration:
As far as I know there is no other language with sentence structure the same as English.  For someone unfamiliar with the language, trying to pick up on a totally different phrasing, it can be daunting! and frustrating.. I know that's how *I* felt trying to learn to speak Dutch.. I think I had a harder time grasping the totally alien (to me) way the sentences were structured.
Why should it be any easier to someone trying to learn English?

ETA: also, if I'm not mistaken, studies have shown that (in general) the older one gets the more difficult it is to learn a new language

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ORIGINAL: AquaticSub

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ORIGINAL: Smith117

Well, what we've seen differs greatly. I've seen parents on parent-teacher nights have to have their child translate what the teacher is saying about their students. That's sad.

That's logical. If the child speaks better English, why should they take up more time trying to communicate? It's just going to make you wait longer for your turn to go in. It'd be nicer if parents didn't need it, but fuck... be happy they are there and interested in the child's learning!

And no, I still think you are flat wrong that it's sad. They aren't required to learn it any more than they are required to drive a car.

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ORIGINAL: LadyAyla7053

If you want to get really technical about it why don't we all know how to speak Apache, Lakota Siox, Blackfoot or any of the other Native American languages that were used to be around?

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ORIGINAL: Smith117


Ahh but you don't let others' views stop you from kissing girls. Sadly, our legislators let the racism cries force them to abandon their attempts at getting an official language passed.

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ORIGINAL: Smith117

And yet all the street signs are in english. Tell me, if you can't speak it....how in the hell are you going to read it at 60 mph in heavy traffic?

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ORIGINAL: Smith117

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ORIGINAL: AquaticSub

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ORIGINAL: Smith117

Well, what we've seen differs greatly. I've seen parents on parent-teacher nights have to have their child translate what the teacher is saying about their students. That's sad.

That's logical. If the child speaks better English, why should they take up more time trying to communicate? It's just going to make you wait longer for your turn to go in. It'd be nicer if parents didn't need it, but fuck... be happy they are there and interested in the child's learning!

And no, I still think you are flat wrong that it's sad. They aren't required to learn it any more than they are required to drive a car.

And yet all the street signs are in english. Tell me, if you can't speak it....how in the hell are you going to read it at 60 mph in heavy traffic?

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ORIGINAL: Smith117

Difficult, yes.....but 30 YEARS without learning it? There has to be at least SOMETHING they can pick up in 30 fricken years. I'm reasonably sure, if you dropped me into a foreign country, I could at least be basic-conversational by about 6 months.

I say that with confidence as well, since the military did in fact drop me into a foreign land and I was only there 2 months and very quickly mastered or at least had knowledge of quite a few helpful phrases in their language.

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ORIGINAL: hopelessfool
Personally if they are going to force someone to speak a language I think It should be chinese, because its the most widely spoken lanugage.

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ORIGINAL: AquaticSub

4. LOTS of people who don't speak English are driving quite well so this has been proven by trial to be a non-issue.

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ORIGINAL: Smith117

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ORIGINAL: hopelessfool
Personally if they are going to force someone to speak a language I think It should be chinese, because its the most widely spoken lanugage.

It worked well enough in "Firefly."

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ORIGINAL: domahpet

i want to be deported back to the reservation,
should be easy, i never got a green card when i left.

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ORIGINAL: Smith117

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ORIGINAL: AquaticSub

4. LOTS of people who don't speak English are driving quite well so this has been proven by trial to be a non-issue.

Really? Because being hit by an illegal with no insurance is a fairly common problem around here. Apparently "STOP" isn't always clear enough.

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ORIGINAL: GreedyTop

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ORIGINAL: Smith117

Difficult, yes.....but 30 YEARS without learning it? There has to be at least SOMETHING they can pick up in 30 fricken years. I'm reasonably sure, if you dropped me into a foreign country, I could at least be basic-conversational by about 6 months.

I say that with confidence as well, since the military did in fact drop me into a foreign land and I was only there 2 months and very quickly mastered or at least had knowledge of quite a few helpful phrases in their language.

And the immigrants I work with have phrases they use that are useful.  2 of them are in their 60s, have been here 15 yrs. 
see my statement above re: age/learning.

Another thing to consider is this: generally speaking, many Americans mock those with thick accents, dismiss them as being somehow less intelligent, or flat out ignore them.  I know that there are a couple of employees I work with that do actually know way more English than they speak. Why don;t they use it more? because they have been made to feel self-concious about it.

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ORIGINAL: Smith117

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ORIGINAL: AquaticSub

4. LOTS of people who don't speak English are driving quite well so this has been proven by trial to be a non-issue.

Really? Because being hit by an illegal with no insurance is a fairly common problem around here. Apparently "STOP" isn't always clear enough.

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ORIGINAL: Smith117

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ORIGINAL: AquaticSub

How on earth is that possibly a shame? Knowing more than one language is better mentally and makes you more hirable!

BTW, her post never said she refused to learn it or that her parents refused to teach it. Just that she didn't learn it first. I had a friend who spoke German before speaking English simply because she heard it more as a toddler, but no one was refusing to teach her English. She was quite fluent in English as a young child.

It all goes back to what I said about the other "immigrants" that come here wishing to BE American. Americans speak english, or at least an Americanized version of it (so there's no hair-splitting). Teaching another language first is, to me, disrespectful and sounds more like something an illegal alien would do rather than someone wishing to assimilate and become an American.