If Americans started living in Mexico or Quebec, would it be fair for us to demand that everyone else speak english? They’d laugh at us, and I don’t see how the situation is any different for Mexicans coming to the States.
That said, I LIVE in a foreign country where nearly everyone speaks English: the Netherlands. I could walk nearly anywhere to do business or engage in employment, and do it all entirely in English… and yet learning Dutch is still very important. Before I could everytime I was at parties, or among others and they spoke Dutch, I was instantly alienated from the conversation, unable to participate, unable to know what was going on. Since I’ve learned Dutch, I’ve become much more confident at doing business, going shopping and making friends.
My experience with Mexicans is that they are a friendly, hard-working people, and we could certainly do worse than them. But if they don’t know the language, they come across as xenophobic and isolated. The mexicans I worked with would sit alone and chat among each other, unable to relate to tne english speakers. Any attempt to address them in spanish got warm responses in return.
Imagine how much happier they would be if they could just speak English and participate? People act like demanding Mexicans learn English is some sort of racism, but it’s not! Anymore than forcing this American to learn Dutch was. It’s a hard reality and a gift: To be able to culturally relate to those around you, you must speak the language. Failure results in isolation, success results in opportunity. Denying Mexicans the chance to learn English (and constantly speaking spanish to them will do just that, as it was very hard for me to learn Dutch when all the shopkeepers and colleagues would automatically switch to English when I walked into the room…) isn’t “multiculturalism,” it’s alienation and exile to a permanent second class.
Disgraceful. Integration and Assimilation doesn’t mean “abandon all your roots!” Nobody cares if mexicans enjoy tacos and dance latino dances. Heck, we like that too. Integreation and Assimilation means “Get all the tools you need to operate in our country.”
