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Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 10:05 am
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Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 11:17 am
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Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 1:23 pm
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Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 8:36 pm
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Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 6:08 pm
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Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 8:38 pm
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The MoUsY spell-checker Shinobi 1977 I say English should be our national language. It's been what we've spoken all along. What people speak in the privacy of their homes is their business, but no one has the right to demand menus and movie subtitles in their language. In English-speaking countries, the people who do not speak English at all are at their own disadvantage. For example, I remember seeing someone who had trouble catching the train because of inability to understand English. Having English as a national language should help to reduce the number of such people. In Australia, the idea of including a basic English test in the application for Australian citizenship has been brought up in the past month or so. I agree that people have the right to speak what they want in the privacy of their homes, but they really can't expect everything to be available in their language. (There are communities of people who speak other languages all over the place, but it's not everywhere, and there are many different languages too.) If I remember correctly, US legal immigration already includes a basic English proficiency test. Making it the official language is more a political stament than anything else, I think.
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Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 8:42 am
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Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 9:08 pm
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Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 12:07 am
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Yami no Hitokiri Elizabeth Hawkeye I'm insulted. My family is from India and we all would enjoy a Bollywood film. I haven't been to India for ten years and so it's a nice way for me to learn the language, menus always have the english translation (at least that what they say.), and where have you seen movie subtitles in any language besides English? No offense is meant. It's fine for people to be able to enjoy films in their own language and all that, but in California it's the law that all movies must have Spanish subtitles at the bottom of the screen and restaurants must provide Spanish menus on demand. That's what i'm talking about. If movie theaters and restaurants wish to cater to non-English speakers voluntarily, that's fine. But too many people come to this country thinking they have the right to demand everything in their own language or sue to get what they want. Nicely put. wink
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Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2006 11:59 am
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Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 6:29 pm
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Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:17 am
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This might get me into trouble but this discussion begs a question - how about the Ebonics movement? Granted, no one hears as much about it now as they did a few years ago, but the movement thrives nonetheless. The issue with all of this, as I see it, is that in this country we try to be respectful (well, some of us do) of other cultures. I'll grant that in a post-911 world it seems we care less and less about the freedoms that non-English speaking people have here in the US, including the right to speak their own language without fear of reprisal. However with all the brouhaha lately about homeland security, it's become impractical and unfashionable to let people speak their own tongue. Let's face it - if you were at a cafe and the people next to you were speaking in Arabic, would you not be nervous? This is just my own opinion, but I think it's all psycholgical. Fearless Leader (as I like to call Mr. Bush - remember that from Rocky and Bullwinkle? Or all you all too young?) can barely speak his native tongue himself, at least not in a cogent or coherent manner, so of course he wants English to be the national language. He can't understand anyone who doesn't speak English, so it makes him nervous. Now, that was half a joke, but the theory is pretty sound, I think.
Look, we learn English in school - it's the name of the course, for crying out loud. And I do agree that people living here should have more than a little English skill to get by with. But should we force people to speak it? No. As for it being the national laguage, I always simply assumed it already was. Honestly - I see all of this as yet another attempt to deny foreigners basic rights under the guise of "nationalism". Put yourself in the shoes of some poor immigrant (a LEGAL immigrant.... don't get me started on THAT subject) struggling to learn English. It's complicated, and it takes a long time. Should he be persecuted, as some are, particulalry in rural areas, because he struggles to make himself understood? Let the restaraunts in Cali have their Spanish menus. Or Hindi, or German, or French. I look at it as a courtesy, not a hardship. That's just me though. We take for granted a lot of things in America - the right of people to speak their own language shouldn't be one of those things.
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Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 5:54 pm
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 1:53 pm
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