https://www.uscitizenship.info/en_US/citizenship/quiz/quiz.jsp?oprn=continue U.S. Citizenship/Naturalization Quiz Can you read, write and speak basic English? Yes No
Explain to me why we have to print voting registration cards in Spanish? And in what language is our Constitution written?
British English, but no one is calling for reform to turn music back into musick and all the stuff that muddles kids at spelling bees. American English is a constantly shifting language because as a lingua franca, people are always adding new words into its common usage that aren't of Germanic origin. Is the word 'lagniappe' not English just because it's derived from a Spanish phrase? It's used here in Louisiana all the time. Getting back to the original point, though - Spanish has upwards of 400 million native speakers worldwide, and inside the US, 11% of the total population speak Spanish. Look it up on http://www.census.gov - 31% of Texans speak a language other than English at home - and these are all legal, registered individuals. A better question would be, why WOULDN'T we print voting registration cards in several languages? The census already prints its forms in English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Korean.
Any immigrant who does not learn English is a joke and should not be taken seriously. I mean really, make a little effort to become a citizen, nobody's asking you to move mountains.
Buddy it's not like those people don't try. For some people it comes easier than others. You have to learn to be more tolerant towards other. You and bigtexx seem to have the same problem, you both are extremists. You don’t try to understand the grey area.
While you are wording it a little too strongly for me, I agree with your sentiment. Immigrants will find life hard if they don't learn English. But it isn't a requirement to do so. To bring it the back around to my original point, you can't force immigrants to "assimilate." That is unAmerican.
Well, I stand corrected. The part of that website I looked at that listed requirements made no mention of speaking English. Now that I've been shown this, that makes you "assimilation" mongers argument even weaker. Some of you say they should AT LEAST speak English. Well you'll be happy to know that they do ...if they are naturalized. My point still stands that you can't force people to "assimilate." You can promote assimilation but you can't legislate it. If a US citizen decides to keep to themself, it is none of your business.
I don't believe in forcing them either. I just don't think that we have to go out of our way to accomodate them in Spanish (or other languages). I mean, they are the ones who need to take the initiative. My position on immigration is come on in, but learn English.
The US is not a monolingual country, and there are so many people who possess some foreign language proficiency that it's very easy to get along in America even without formal mastery of English. I do think that immigrants should learn English so as to better communicate with other Americans, but speaking fluent English should not be the sole criterion for citizenship. Check this out: http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/november/USlanguages.html If you read the section about heritage speakers, then you see that there's no need to force assimilation; it happens by itself, when people arrive from foreign countries. They bring their children up in America, and the kids grow up with both an American viewpoint and their parents' perspective on where they came from, until they have kids, and those kids are brought up wholly American, and there you go, fully assimilated. That's how it's been happening for generations, and America has done just fine up until now - but don't you think that while immigrants are raising our future populace, we can provide them with the affirmation that in America, the 'melting pot', there is room for ingredients with more than one flavor?
Just to nit-pik, how are you personally affected by putting Spanish on a ballot? Is it really that big a deal?
Great post! Despite your moniker, you're not blind. Quite the opposite. That's exactly what typically happens. When I was growing up, there was an extended family on my block that was largely German, and had come over between WWI and WWII. Several had strong German accents, and frequently spoke German around the house. My friend's grandmother was one of them, and she'd married a guy that was a native Houstonian, and had an English surname. Well, my buddy's mother didn't have an accent, and spoke a little German, and the friend only knew a few words, and had trouble following what his great-uncles were saying. It's a common story that's been happening here as long as we've had the United States. Good of you to point out a reminder for those who have forgotten how immigrants are assimilated here. Personally, I am most troubled by the illegality of the immigrants, then anything else. I know those who live here the rest of their lives will learn English, and certainly their kids will. I just wish they could come here legally, and work here legally. We should have work visas for them, with everything above board. It would be nice if those here illegally were exempt from the constitutional right of their children to become an American citizen, by virtue of not being legal immigrants, but the chances of that happening are less than zero. (yes, I'm sure my even bringing this up will upset my fellow liberals here) Anyway, another two cents from me. Keep D&D Civil.
I'm coming late to this thread but a lot of the issues here have been brought up in other threads. The one thing that everyone is missing is that there is one guarenteed way to end illegal immigration. Make the standard of living comparable in all countries. This isn't an easy or short term solution but as long as income and standard of living disparities exist there will always be a demand for cheaper labor and a steady pool of people to fill them. No matter if we build a wall or fill up our jails with illegals as long as there is a vast disparity between us and our neighbors employers will be happy to hire illegals and illegals will be happy to risks the danger of coming over.
Please provide examples of how I am an extremist and how I am not tolerant towards others. Thanks in advance. I will await your response. You have 1 day. Your credibility is on the line, rookie.
I've heard the suggestion before and while I agree with the idea in principle, it's a much more idealistic solution and far less explicit with details on how exactly the US would go about doing so. Just supplying foreign aid doesn't equate making the standard of living comparable. To better the standard of living and maintain that level, the infrastructure of a nation (Mexico in this case) must be altered from within - without both an educated, skilled populace and high enough levels of production to compete in the free market, there isn't enough incentive for these workers to stay in Mexico and find jobs there, because they know there's not enough industry to support them and their families. Those aren't things that American policy can really induce on its own. Even if hypothetically, Bush suddenly took a Bizarro Republican approach to the situation and implemented market controls to allow Mexican industries a larger foothold in the North American market in order to stimulate their economy, the outcry from US businesses would be massive and Adam Smith would start spinning in his grave so fast that his corpse would go back in time. Altruism doesn't sit well with the public if they're the ones who have to pay for it, even if in the long run the policy benefits everyone. Anyway, how exactly would the US tell Mexico that they should completely alter their budget? I mean, how would that conversation go? BUSH: Foxy, can you stop sending all the poor people over here? FOX: Mr. Bush, I understand your predicament, but I have long been an advocate of free-flowing traffic between the US-Mexico border. Does NAFTA ring no bells to you? BUSH: Well, okay, but can you just... I dunno, make them not poor? Oh, and I want you to spend billions on reforms making them educated, so that your workforce develops severe brain drain a generation down the line when all your skilled professionals leave to take jobs in other countries. You're doing a helluva job, Foxy. All jokes aside, though - realistically, the US can't expect Mexico to suddenly devote a significant portion of its GDP to objectives which pursue the vague intention of raising living standards just because Bush says that they should. And if the US government decided to apply external pressure on another sovereign nation to force them into a dramatic infrastructure shift because it would better protect American borders, well... how's that working out for us now?
I apologize; I guess that was a too general of a statement to make about anyone. I hope my credibility is still intact
oh hell no you don't have any credibility. You just cut and ran by apologizing. Cowards aren't credible.
2 things, 1) i don't think anyone posting in this topic is against immigration. i do think the majority of the people that are along the same lines that i am, dislike illegal immigration and dislike them protesting for rights that they have no legal say over. 2) assimilation is necessary because if we cease to mold together, we will cease to exsist as a country. even if there were a law saying you must assimilate, that being learn english, or listen to a certain type of music, or dress a certain way, one wouldn't achieve true assimilation if its forced upon them. this is why the draft doesn't work in providing an appreciation for one's country. some will come to love it and hold it dear, but others will be hardened and become angry with the country.
Blind, The reason it seems impossible is because you are looking at it the wrong way. The rest of the world is not going to rise to the level of the US, everyone is going to meet in the middle. In order to have everyone at the same standard of living, the US is going to need to fall a long way. What we need to realize is that in the era of outsourcing and multinational corporations, there is one market for goods and one labor market, and both are global. We can't expect a company to pay an American $20 an hour to do what a Chinese will do for $20 a month. In the world of globalization, our time standing over the rest of the world economically is limited.
