Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Swedish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Russian were all relatively common in various colonies, not to mention Tagalog and the various Native languages spoken throughout the interior.
There is a strong element of bi-linualism in the history of many of our states (Louisiana, New Mexico, Hawaii, Michigan, New York, etc.).
Heck, the State of New York was still publishing its laws bi-lingually (in English and Dutch) up until the 1920's.
Virtually all of our founders spoke at least two languages, and most spoke three or four. Honestly, I think we've done ourselves a great diservice by gradually abandoning the idea that speaking more than one language is a good thing.
I think speaking in one language is a good thing because we may be unified that way. Language barriers are exactly that: barriers. They are cultural walls meant to be cut down that divide us.
Implementing a universal language is the solution.
It's not fouding it's founding.
No soup for you! :)
"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions.
" ~ Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis Adrian Van der Kemp July 30, 1816
I agree, although I did make that mistake without clarification!
:D
on Thu, 05/31/2007 - 1:26pm.
. I just don't think that people should be forced to learn English or any other language for that matter. If it is their wish to learn another language so be it, does it help them?
? Of course it does; but just like they say there is no cure for stupidity. I'm a spanish/english speaker and I do wish to learn more languages, but thats just because of my determination.
ENGLISH IS NOT THE DECLARED LANGUAGE IN THE USA!!!
! The US has not declared a national language, and if you say that when you go to france you speak french that becasue they have declared french as their own national language. If you want to read some more on this issue please visit my blogs!
! ^_^ There is one that tatianaromanov you'll like in particular.
Its not my job to kill you.
...
.. my high school (as mandated by the state) required at least a year of foreign language to get a diploma.
However, I disagree that you should force feed students Spanish. Let them pick the language that they want to study. French is far more useful in areas of the Northeast than Spanish is, and it is generally considered a 'business' language.
For instance, you wrote that the Founding Fathers all spoke English, then later wrote that you know they didn't.
You wrote that English is the official language of the United States, then later wrote that you know it's not, but you think it should be.
I've always enjoyed my second language classes. It's a wonderful opportunity to be exposed to another culture.
Not to mention, depending on the language you take, you can see some of the roots and how parts of our own language developed.
I live near to where Child of Light and Dark lives, and he's right about the area here. It's not uncommon to see a majority of the people here (of several different races) speaking a mix of Mexican-Spanish and English.
Additionally, I used to live in Albuquerque, having moved from there in 2004. And I'm not sure which area of New Mexico you are in, but in the area I was in, there was a lot of people who spoke the same type of Mexican-Spanish and English mix, as well as Navajo. Even working as a manager for one of the restaurants up there, my best workers spoke only Spanish.
What was I to do, fire them because they didn't know English and hire new cooks that may or may not work out; or brush up on my Spanish?
"Dream as though you'll live forever, but live as though there's no tomorrow" --James Dean
Yes, a lot of people are bilingual, but not most. I think if you read my entire thread and ALL of my comments, you should be able to understand my point. I said the COLONIES didn't all speak English entirely.
But its pretty clear our Constitution was. My entire point is, that English is the American language and I think it should be the ONLY one. To compensate for that, people should learn Spanish since its the SECOND most common language, but it SHOULD NOT be considered a national language.
ON TOP of that, since many in our country speak OTHER foreign languages besides Spanish (such as French, Navajo, German, Chinese, whatever) we should be required to FLUENTLY learn a total of three languages before we exit high school (ENGLISH, SPANISH, and a CHOICE language)
Is that clear enough?
We shouldn't have to adopt a "national" language. What is that going to change? In Hawaii they speak English and Hawaiian.
In Louisiana they speak English and French. In Arkansas we speak English and something that resembles English. That is not going to change simply because we decide that we MUST have an official national language.
"What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?" George Elliot
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." Aristotle
Those are the top 11 most widely spoken languages in the world.
At least as of 1999. While I strongly belive that if you are going to live somewhere, you should speak the "native" language of that place, I have to admit that English isn;t that widely spoken. Only 322 million people speak it natively.
By your logic, We should all learn Chinese.
Now, if you add the number of people who learn a language as a second to the number that speak it natively, you get this list of 10
More nations in this world speak enlish than any other language. It is the international language, much like French was when our nation was Founded.
Our Founding Fathers, though bilingual, knew that if they were going to make it so everyone a nation across could understand, they would have to write the Constitution in English. Therein, they chose our national language long before we were a nation. The Declaration of Independence was written in English (Thank you Thomas Jefferson).
Though the data may not show it, worldwide, you're better off learning English and Chinese. In the United States, you have to know English, Spanish, and Chinese. Chinglish and Spanglish are important languages in the West.
I do not think it should be required to learn a language aside from English. Forcing students to do something breeds contempt, and therein does not remove language barriers.
Para mí, prefiero inglés.
Pero sé hablar español también.
For me, I prefer English. But I know how to speak Spanish, too.
Oh, if you wanna fact check, here's the site I was using:
..
"Dancers are instruments, like a piano the choreographer plays.
" ~George Balanchine
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