Llamando los mojados

[marklevoyageur]

/Mexico rant

Comments

[steven]

I'm so on board with that. Of course it's the sort of thing that's generally a taboo statement, because it's not politically correct.

My grandparents were all off the boat from Romania and Poland, and I know nobody was speaking their native language when they got here and started a life for themselves.

[marklevoyageur]

I think it's not fair to all of the other immigrants who have at least integrated from a language standpoint. I can appreciate them keeping their cultural identity. The problem is with such massive numbers, and the Mexican government encouraging open boarders, the battle for a mono-lingual American has been lost.

[lifeongoing]

I agree with you. Although my boyfriend is a native of Mexico, he has been learning English. He wants to learn English. He has been here 2 years and I am so impressed on how much English he has learned so far. Most of the time, we do not need a dictionary anymore. And in turn, I am learning more Spanish. When I first met Armando, he had only been in the US for a few months and knew almost no English. He had an English class in school, but he has explained to me that what they teach in Mexico is far different from what is actually spoken here.
I work with many Mexicans, some of them speak English. While the ones that do not speak any English may be nice people, I do not speak to them very much. Most of them know I am trying to learn Spanish, so some of them, at least, are trying to speak to me in English from time to time.
I do agree with you on the fact that if you come to this country to live and work, you should at the very least learn enough to get by. It is what would be expected from us if we moved to their country to live and

[marklevoyageur]

I know it is another burden for them, but if they want to take economic and educational benefit from living in the US they could at least spend 15 minutes a day trying to learn some English.

[marklevoyageur]

OMG, I've blocked out all of the 20 Spanish stations from my cable. I get enough of it on the street. For some reason Georgia is one of the most popular states for our Mexican guests.

[craic]

I had a professor who teaches at a refugee center here in Tampa, and it mostly caters to a Spanish speaking population. She said it takes them weeks to learn basic things (not because they're stupid), she just assumed it was because they were all so lazy. But then she realized that a lot of these people gave up everything to have a better life or at least an opportunity in this country, and they're most likely working two or three jobs just to get by...which is why it might take them two weeks to learn how to spell their name in English out loud. Not disagreeing with you, just raising another point. :)

[adaon]

Oh, so true. I was an American living in Hungary, and I spoke no Hungarian when I arrived there. Very few spoke English, and the culture was very different. I was exhausted learning not only my job, but basic things like how to make a telephone call, read a bus schedule, and use a washing machine that looked nothing like any washing machine I'd ever seen, that learning Hungarian was too time-intensive. I didn't have enough time in my day.
I was too busy just 'getting by.'

As time went on, however, I did learn more and more Hungarian, partly through cultural immersion, and partly because I had more time and desire once I'd learned how to go through the motions of my job. Do you know how I first started to learn Hungarian? By figuring out the aisle signs and the food labels at the grocery stores and markets!

[marklevoyageur]

That is an interesting perspective. I know some of them work hard while others are driving around here in vehicles superior to mind. Their economic boat has risen. Even the ones working at the lowest levels might take 15 minutes a day and try to speak English. However, I know from experience, if you don't have to and aren't forced to, then there is no reason to pick up another language. The battle here is already lost, the US will be a bi-lingual country with all of the additional expense. We can't divorce ourselves from it any more than we can conserve on Middle East oil or cheap Wal-Mart goods from China. Again, we have shot ourselves in the proverbial foot.

[spudpuppy]

I've had this discussion in the past with others. Especially when politicians start talking about making Spanish an official second language and require all public accommodations to include everything bilingual.

But I have the same feelings as those voiced here. If you move to another country, it is your responsibility to integrate into that society, not for that society to adopt your language, customs, or philosophy.

I look at it this way, we adopted English as our national language, and until such time as a new government comes in and changes everything, that the language we use. Well, now that I think about it, maybe we do have a new ruler. I'm not sure if I can learn dipshit.

[marklevoyageur]

I wish I could blame this solely on the Bush admin, however this is one thing the Clinton admin really did for us with NAFTA. Being a bilingual country is going to cost us all big time, more than is "saved" from cheap labor.