I agree 100% and have my kids enrolled in Chinese classes. That being said, wouldn't it benefit Mexican immigrants just as much to learn English? People such as NAOS would have you believe that I'm a 'tard for believing such. If it's good for the goose it's good for the gander.
This Makes Me Happy, Part 2
- Thread starter Scat
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I agree 100% and have my kids enrolled in Chinese classes. That being said, wouldn't it benefit Mexican immigrants just as much to learn English? People such as NAOS would have you believe that I'm a 'tard for believing such. If it's good for the goose it's good for the gander.
gregbroncs
Well-Known Member
I agree with this. I had a neihbor who lived next to me for 8 years. I could never talk to her because she did not know english. I could talk to her kids though. I will never understand living somewhere and not learning to communicate in the main language of the people. If I moved to a country I would make a point of trying to learn the language of that country.
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Agoxlea
Guest
A useless skill I also possess.
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Agoxlea
Guest
I won't even respond to the point you are making, because others have addressed that, and it is a valid point. The way you phrase it however and saying "pes, er, dollars" is borderline being intentionally derogatory. Yes, the peso is the currency used in Mexico, and the man was originally from Mexico, but the use of this phrase suggested that is a bad thing. In summary, stop being racist, and your point might come across as more sincere instead of as a token disguise for your xenophobia.
NAOS
Well-Known Member
but racism lurks at the foundation of his point. It also serves as the mortar between the bricks. How can he take it out without fear of the whole thing toppling down?
NAOS
Well-Known Member
this is classic. FEAR KNOWLEDGE MOTHA ****er!
Actually, my job is to get students to use their own voice in research and writing, to think independently, to fashion research questions and understand the ethics involved in the way the question is posed. The really interesting thing about this job, I've found, is that nobody ends up repetitively repeating the positions that you espouse. Isn't that just cRaZY? I think they realize that it's boring to be predictable, and that the world is far more complex and interesting than that.
sincere question here, I know xenophobia and racism are not the same thing, but I'm not sure I could explain the difference. I know racism technically deals with race - does it also deal with ethnicity, or is xenophobia the equivalent of racism but based upon ethnicity? Or something else entirely?
LOL, in quoting your post, I realize you worked REALLY HARD to spell out CRAZY!!! Props for the effort
Just curious, what subject do you teach and at what age level? It's good stuff that some schools/curricula just don't emphasize enough these days.
Duck Rodgers
Well-Known Member
I'm all for learning Spanish, just because the opportunity abounds. You really always need to learn the language around native speakers for a time, or else you'll sound like the Japanese students that try to speak English based on what they tried to learn from their textbooks - it's not pretty. And basically anywhere in the Western US, for better or worse, you have plenty of opportunities to speak/hear it the second you step out of your door, so why not?
Most people don't learn languages to converse or for fun however. There are usually economic reasons for that. Comparing the linguistic behaviors of an economic giant's populace to countries that couldn't survive healthily unless they adapted linguistic abilities is ludicrous. You're not going to find people that speak your language in Japan or China very often for the same reasons. Again, the young Japanese are taught English, but you can barely find one to speak it with. They don't need to. Both English speaking only, and others who have come to America that don't know any other languages beyond where they are from probably don't see a reason. If you were living in a **** slum in Mexico and were able to come to America, get a job, live in a good apartment, and live a functioning social life in a Hispanic enclave somewhere, you probably wouldn't bother either. Just because the social engineers in this country are trying to create American balkanization by leaving the borders basically wide open and allowing enclaves to grow beyond all control, doesn't mean it's a good thing for the rest of us. There has to be an assimilation process somewhere because language barriers more than anything else allows that divide to grow. It's going to be a huge issue down the road.
I just spent a week in Imperial Beach, CA. Border beach town to Mexico. Nice place, solid surfing, but I wouldn't live there because 90% of the people don't speak English and don't have any clue about anything related to America. I speak Spanish, so I was okay, but that shouldn't be the case in any town in America.
Most people don't learn languages to converse or for fun however. There are usually economic reasons for that. Comparing the linguistic behaviors of an economic giant's populace to countries that couldn't survive healthily unless they adapted linguistic abilities is ludicrous. You're not going to find people that speak your language in Japan or China very often for the same reasons. Again, the young Japanese are taught English, but you can barely find one to speak it with. They don't need to. Both English speaking only, and others who have come to America that don't know any other languages beyond where they are from probably don't see a reason. If you were living in a **** slum in Mexico and were able to come to America, get a job, live in a good apartment, and live a functioning social life in a Hispanic enclave somewhere, you probably wouldn't bother either. Just because the social engineers in this country are trying to create American balkanization by leaving the borders basically wide open and allowing enclaves to grow beyond all control, doesn't mean it's a good thing for the rest of us. There has to be an assimilation process somewhere because language barriers more than anything else allows that divide to grow. It's going to be a huge issue down the road.
I just spent a week in Imperial Beach, CA. Border beach town to Mexico. Nice place, solid surfing, but I wouldn't live there because 90% of the people don't speak English and don't have any clue about anything related to America. I speak Spanish, so I was okay, but that shouldn't be the case in any town in America.
NAOS
Well-Known Member
sincere question here, I know xenophobia and racism are not the same thing, but I'm not sure I could explain the difference. I know racism technically deals with race - does it also deal with ethnicity, or is xenophobia the equivalent of racism but based upon ethnicity? Or something else entirely?
LOL, in quoting your post, I realize you worked REALLY HARD to spell out CRAZY!!! Props for the effort
Just curious, what subject do you teach and at what age level? It's good stuff that some schools/curricula just don't emphasize enough these days.
I teach sociocultural anthropology at the university level. I also lecture in an undergraduate core sequence on modern global history, from Columbus to the present.
I just don't believe the theory that every single person can learn a language totally fluently if they live in a place even for 20 or so years if they came here as an adult. I've been trying to teach my dad computers for 10 or so years with no luck. Conversely, he's been trying to teach me carpentry for the same amount of time and I still suck at it. To me the concept that language can be extremely difficult for people to learn isn't exactly a foreign one (pun intended!).