Ask how?

A supplier of mine, a small manufacturer, has about 8 employees, all Mexican immigrants, and all legally here. The boss has one ironclad rule, and that is that the only language allowed to be spoken during working hours is English. No exceptions. This is a safety issue. His employees are fine with that, too. They appreciate the work and the pay, and consider the English-only rule to be just another work rule, like wearing steel-toed safety shoes. It’s almost like everyone involved is practicing common sense.

Welcome to the new economy

With immigrants, there seems to be a natural progression from no English to almost no original language over two or three generations. My family and my husband’s are both relatively recent European arrivals and the original languages are only spoken by the oldest members. I think part of why we are seeing persistence in language in the Spanish population is government interference in the process – bi-lingual education and lax English requirements for legal documentation.

A case in point: my son went to pre-school with a Mexican classmate named Omar whose mother, who spoke almost no English, deliberately placed him there to force him to learn English before starting kindergarten since she was unable to teach him. Omar was miserable at first but after only five months was able to speak English well enough to have play dates with my son. When it came time for kindergarten, the school system immediately channeled Omar into the bi-lingual program because Mom spoke no English. Marisela came to me for assistance in getting him removed because she was determined that Omar speak English well to be able to succeed in the US. She was eventually successful in getting Omar “mainstreamed” but it took a fight. It’s sad when our immigrant parents understand better then our government what their children need to succeed and are denied the opportunity to make it happen.

It just seems a little harsh and unreasonable to me to expect recent immigrants working as laborers, stocking grocery shelves, to have mastered the language (although many have and will, given time).

Some posters here point to their own experience learning a foreign language while living in the Netherlands or somewhere else in Europe. That is not a good comparison. Immigrants arriving here as laborers from Mexico, for example, are working long hours at physically draining jobs, supporting families back home. Despite a willingness to make sacrifices to learn English, they often don’t have the same leisure time to devote to that. And there are not a lot programs available to immigrant adults to learn English at an affordable price. Is it really fair to compare the struggling immigrant to the American learning Dutch and Flemish in Amsterdam?

I do agree with the premise that immigrants to any country should learn the language if they are going to stay there any length of time. But I think the vast majority of people seeking work in the US do in fact desire to learn English. Given time, most eventually succeed at it.

Even if she knew, it might not affect her the same way it does the blushing Marine(something I’d like to see!). There are words that I’d _never_ use in English (my first language) that have no such effect on me when the same words are in German (my second language). I don’t understand the psychological mechanism, but somehow I think words forbidden in one’s mother tongue just don’t translate in their “forbiddeness”.

No deaf person , no blind person , no white male, no Asian, many people missing. A French speaking Canadian. The list could go on.

Language is a funny thing… A Deaf, American Born, person knows english but can have a harder time communicating it to a non-signing person.

Likewise you can’t show something to a blind person and expect them to see it. There’s still a communication barrier to get around.

In the end, no matter what the language barrier , it takes both parties to work at finding a way to express themselves, or the first one to give up and walk off. Given enough exposure they will find a common language.

Cultural barriers are just as great sometimes. Beyond language, there’s triggers in every culture that sets people off.

Could it be that we Americans want English spoken just so we can overcome most of the barriers, because there are so many, and without a common language, communication is very difficult?

You want a multi-cultural nightmare…think about this…

Non-English speaking ultra-modest Japanese girl… parroting , rap music… at the top of her lungs.( full blast )

She has no idea what she is saying. And she listens to music that makes a Marine blush.

Seems the parts of the music that is most passionate, are all the things she shouldn’t be shouting. Curse words, racist words, hurts my ears thinking about it.

There is a huge language barrier to be addressed, I have no idea how to explain rap to her. Or if I even can. I just know I won’t be able to listen.

( Her fiance ate all our Tylenol in a week. She will be back to the States soon …I’m hiding my stereo )

Was it Bill Clinton?