Originally Posted by kaykwilts
Originally Posted by zoeytoo
Originally Posted by kaykwilts
Forgive me for this....but I would love it if we went back to all immigrants desiring to learn English and wanting to become an American....I get really tired of not being understood by someone who lives here but chooses not to speak English....and the feeling that at 52 I have to learn a new language in order to communicate with most checkers at the grocery store.
I once tried to communicate with a Spanish speaking person in their language after two years learning Spanish in high school. I came away with more appreciation for how difficult speaking a second language is. Most of them work jobs that are physical and raise a family as well on little money. When you are tired you don't feel like tackling another hard task, yet many do learn English. Becoming a literacy volunteer and you would help them. We'd have to walk a mile in their moccasins as the American Indian saying goes, to understand how it is to be an immigrant. Kindness is a universal language...we all understand it.
I appreciate the difficulty inherent in working a physical job (something I HAVE done before...for three years) and in being tired at the end of the day....AND having to learn a new language. BUT I personally know of Spanish speaking people who have been in this country for 30 years and never learned English. (My new DIL's mother is one) From all that I have read and studied, that wasn't the case during the time of the "Great Immigration" of the early 1900's. Back then, if the history books are correct, those coming here sought to find a better life for themselves, AND learned English as a means to achieve that better life. I have worked as a Literacy Volunteer before, and found that because there was NO desire or push for the adults at home to learn English, the children were less interested too...just doing it because they we told they HAD to by the teachers at the school (I worked with the children of the "boat" people from Cambodia, North Vietnam, and Laos).....I feel I have been kind and understanding of how hard many Hispanics work...and the struggles they go through when coming here....BUT when you have been here for 30 years and still can't understand or speak English...to me, that isn't about just being too tired at the end of the day....that is just NOT wanting to become an American.
Sorry if I offended you....that was not my intent.
And I agree, kindness is a universal language....and English should be the official language of the United States.
Oh, you didn't offend me and I agree with your main point about learning the language. I wanted to make an additional comment not contradict yours. My family came from Italy (but I was born here) and the funny thing is my dad made us talk English at home
so I do not know very much Italian except what my maternal gram said and I asked what it meant. I worked with ESL kids who are eager to be just like the American born kids and it is hard because their accents and limited vocabulary makes them different. I once taught a Russian girl 7 years old who spoke and wrote better English than the rest of the USA born kids. Our language has many confusing aspects, especially for Oriental children who have to learn the abc formations as well as the words. Glad I was born here:) Thank God for America every day.