i mean if i decided one day to become a citizen of France, then they wouldn’t change their school system, or pay for a translator just so i could understand what they’re saying, thay would tell me to F*** off ar something, it’s their country, their culture, and their language, i would have to adapt to ot of i chose to become a citizen of their country, it’s just the way it works.

so why do mexicans or russians come here and take advantage of us???? i mean welcome them here, we are completely made up of immigrants, but they should speak english fluently as well, it drives me crazy when solicitors call me and i cant understand them, its bad enough that they constantly call, but when i cant even understand them then its just plain rediculous!

or when your waiting in line at an airport or cash register and your stuck waiting for 20 minutes because the bozo in front of you cant understand what the english speaking cashier is saying, it really pisses me off, and i usually end up saying something….

HERES MY MOTTO:
ADAPT OF STAY HOME!!!!!

The writer of this blog claimed Mexicans could make 50-60% more if they speak English, well that also works the other way around. In many states especially where the Mexican population takes up majority (where I am from in New Mexico) there are many jobs that actually REQUIRE you be bilingual and offer bonuses for those who are in other professions as well.

My mother teaches bilingual education to 5 years olds and her students for 14 years consecutively have scored higher in the English competency exams when compared to the children taught in one single language. This has proved itself over and over again also statewide with the performance of her students.

So this author also did not experience “first-hand” effects of bilingual education. My mother was a first-generation American having been born and raised in Mexico. The criticism she got and embarrassment she went through because she was harassed about her inability to speak English had a major effect on how she viewed school and being unmotivated and disliking the education system here in the U.S. This is why she chose her profession in bilingual education.

We all so ignorantly scream “speak English!” when if it were that easy to learn a language, everyone would know it. We are in a comfortable position knowing our language so we point fingers at everyone else. Lets focus on our own lives and deal with real issues that actually effect people.

I am a degreed person with a credential to teach ESL. I am of Mexican descent and I have had an uphill battle just to secure a position in my field. Most teachers and districts where I live seem to believe (though they don’t express it openly)that a male of Mexican descent couldn’t possibly teach ESL as or more effectively than a person of any other subgroup.

One of this issue’s respondents claimed that the ability to speak English will yield 50%-60% more earnings. WOW! If they work for minimum wage that would give them, hmmm, less than survival money.

My mother decided early on to speak only English to me. What did it accomplish – only a fluency in this language. It did not earn me any more money. It did however cost me student loans to get my degree and a debt that still haunts me because I cannot get a job in the field of my choosing – because I am still Mexican in a country that disrespects, hates and blames us for all its maladies.

Good post.

I say, lets all start flyin’ planes with a language specific to geography or national law and see how many people of any native language want to get on the plane then.

Or have Microsoft originally produce software in a multilingual work environment … maybe that what went wrong with the Vista roll-out, do ya’ think?

I go to France all the time, and if you’re simply polite and smile, and don’t clomp around looking like you’re going to the gym or going off to clean out the garage, people will generally treat you well. In fact, I’m usually treated very well — as is a friend of mine who can barely say “bonjour.”

My friend Pierre, a retired master woodcarver who’s 70 and grew up in Paris, tells the reverse of your friend’s little story. I once asked him how to say a particular thing correctly in French — I think it was the difference between “retourner” and “revenir,” to say to a salesgirl that I would come back to perhaps buy a particular item. No need to know, he quipped — all the salesgirls speak English. (Actually, not true, but many do — at least some.)

Pierre, by the way, who is one of the boys climbing the St. Sulpice fountain in the old Doisneau photograph, happens to speak no English. I work a little harder on my French every week so I can talk to him. Speak other languages abroad, you may learn something.

Encourage all Americans to at least be proficient in English — and Aaron is right that immersion is best — and it means that all Americans will be able to join our economy to the best of their ability.