English is becoming the universal language, why don't  many Hispanics acknowledge that?
107124
Pero que paso contigo? Se parece como usted está teniendo un día muy malo?\n\nHispanics do not need to acknowledge English as a universal language. Maybe the imperialist white man should have learned to speak Cherokee or Lakota when plopped their fat they arses on American soil.\n\n\nIf your public school ONLY offers Spanish and French, it is probably becuase those are the only two languages they could get instructors for. It has NOTHING to do WITH accomidating ANYONE.\n\nI attended a public high school and was offered Russian, Japanese, Spanish, German, Mandarin as well as French. \n\nI don't know what part of the woods you live in, but almost all colleges offer foreign language aside from French and Spanish. \n\nI am not sure what is stemming your animosity towards hispanics but you should try and overcome it. You obviously have lived a life that lacks diversity as your views of latin culture is severely distored.\n\nThere is no need to feel that latinos are so demanding. It truely appears that you have some inferiority complex toward those that speak spanish. :) Your comments are not backed by anything of true substance except negative emotions. Did you have a latin friend that hurt your feelings? Did you fall for a beautiful latina that decided she was not interested in you?\n\nPlease try to be a bit more open minded when acknowledging other cultures. You miss out on alot when you focus on the negative.
471569
The world is changing, and there are more immigrants in this country than ever before. Census reports show hispanic rsidents as growing rapidly in numbers. This is difficult for the economy because of the expense to educate immigrant children, and provide Medicaid & housing for immigrants. However most of them come here just looking for a better life. Can you blame them?
362162
I -somehow- agree with you, I know there´s no official language in the USA but for years English has been the predominant language and it is something that should be kept like that. On the other hand I think the American government should get more involved to preserve English, HOW? Simple teach English to those foreigners who come legally, I know there´s lot of issues now with that matter but lets set them aside for the meanwhile.Here for example there´s lots of ppl who come from sud America Africa and Asia no breaking ground news still Spanish comes second what the guv does here is to teach Swedish to those ppl who come there are schools that are called SFI (svenska for invandrare) Swedish for foreigners the classes and books are for free so there are no excuses for not to go and ppl are shown the benefits of speaking the language, these courses are not for illegal ppl but everybo knows here taking those courses will give em a better job indeed that ´s taken like a lil motivation. About other languages driving lessons and tests can be taken in English and Spanish as well as some university courses (English) .Now a days ppl are lazy to learn but not all I met lots of Mexican/Latin ppl in Miami who would speak English as well as up north in Chicago =).
221341
It's up to the states to decide...opponents like the ACLU debate that making English the offical language would be unconstiutional because it would not enable the Spanish-speaking, German-speaking, and French-speaking immigrants and citizens from a fair and just trial, liberties and such.\n\nGoogle it, but I think because the United States is soo big and diverse, that it wouldn't be fair to the first immigrants of this country.
113265
Depending on how you mean this question there are two problems.  The first is in learning English: English has stolen from many other languages over the years including a lot from romantic languages (which are very different from our germanic language).  The language has further been abused by a large variety of slang that has become incorporated (due to the large number and the geograpic spread of speakers).  This makes our language riddled with exceptions and filled with more words than any other language, many of which break even our most fundamental rules (i before e except after c, rules for past tense...) not to mention the large degree of slang phrases (why do you drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?)  This makes teaching a standardized form of English difficult.\n\nTesting for standardized English is also difficult.  Looking at the reasons cited above it is obvious that a "standardized" form of our language doesn't exist.  Which would you choose, the language spoken in England, Australia, Jamaica, West coast America, East coast, Louisianna?  The reason that standardized spanish exists and is easy to teach is that the language is officially controlled by Spain.  English has no such driving factor, what's more it isn't even the "official" language of the United States.  This is why millions are spent each year providing official documents in multiple languages and providing translators for any language in courts.\n\nI know this ended up being more of a rant but I hope it has helped a bit.  Teaching or Learning, English can be difficult.
307087
Yes, and you have to understand that though the US has a great Hispanic and bilingual influence, there are still MANY AREAS of the US, where many Latinos do not have a high presence.\n\nIf you rarely see Latinos or any Spanish speakers in your daily life, it's hard to believe that it's a bilingual nation.  I taught in Virginia Beach, and I had a small number of Latino students and out of 120 students only 2  spoke fluent Spanish.\n\nBasically, though it's absolutely true that we are becoming a bilingual nation, we are NOT YET bilingual everywhere.
292376
Until the last few years it wasn't necessary to have an official National Language. But now that we have illegal aliens coming here in droves it is suddenly important.
942406
Some Americans are so accustomed to hearing only English for the majority of their life that it DOES make them uncomfortable when there are others nearby speaking a foreign language.  I had to laugh at one of my friends when we stopped at a little gas and go place to get some cold drinks on the way home from work. There were two guys behind us in line joking and talking in Spanish. When we got back to the car my friend commented he didn't like it when they spoke gibberish, "they might be saying bad things about me."\nI said, "so what, as long as you don't know it won't hurt."\n\nThe Hispanics were okay with them speaking language foreign to us but guess what happened the next time?\n\nA few days later, we were standing in line at the same store and the same guys came in speaking Spanish. I poked my friend on the arm and said "Just nod your head once in awhile and go along."\nWhen I started speaking to my friend in German, the two Hispanics stopped joking and were looking at us a bit disturbed. Now guess who was uncomfortable? It would seem they too were ill at ease when they couldn't understand what was being said.\n\nI would say it is rude if in a group the people can speak the same language and two of them  switch to another language that excludes the rest. That suggests they have some secret they don't want to share with the group and makes the others feel left out.  \n\nWhen people  are in a multicultural environment they should be expecting to hear other languages. When I was in Vienna, Austria for a week I think I heard 90% of every language on earth. When I heard one I thought was new I would politely ask if anyone could interpret English and I would try to learn what the language was and where it was from. All but one group was complimented that I cared enough to learn about them. But they had no interpreter and that may have caused them to be uncomfortable. For the most part they were glad to share what they knew, proving to me that most people really do have a good heart and a wish to get along with the others in the world.
1078416
Not only Spanish... I speak Portuguese and live in Florida, which has a lot of Hispanic people, and whenever I talk with my mum, we have a bunch of people that think we're speaking Spanish, or a bunch of Spanish-speaking coming over to talk to us... And I'm crap with Spanish.
107021
We're already seeing the changes as we go to a Hispanic majority; everything is printed in two languages, IVR systems all have the choice for Spanish speaking customers,\nthere is a bigger push to embrace & celebrate Spanish/Hispanic culture.
129695
The US does not have an offical language.  Some people would like to make English the one (I tend to agree).  But with our diverse culture I hardly think it would be fair or right
837428
Because English is THE world language. By all means, speak your regional languages at home, but don't hold your breath waiting around for all the English speakers in the world to learn them too.
910153
Our culture, our language, our traditions are being eradictated as we speak. Republicans and Democrats have sold this country down the river for votes.\n\nShame on them all.\n\n_________\n\nlpkm:\n\nWhy, then, did more than 40% of Hispanics vote for W?
76929
English is the offical language... but this being a free country they do not require you to learn it... it would go against certin rights if they required it... but I do agree with you that everyone should need to know at least the basics... I hate being asked "ah spanish?"\n\nGets very nerve racking....
455231
HAve you noticed this discussion is turning more and more and more aggressive, aren't we here to play a game, to talk about our ideas, and to share information.\nWe don't have the solutions, but believe me, the aggression would create more aggresive environment, wich is not what is needed here!\nI believe the immigrants don't need to learn english but MUST learn english, just as many people in the world learn english to get better oportunities, and - wheter we like it or not - like many people had to learn spanish to make business or get to important positions al over the world.\nRemember, we live now in a globalized world, don't take that apart!
373033
Because for some reason our education system thinks that it is a foreign language when the truth is that English is not the primary  language in the US. English and Spanish are pretty much  equally used.
1015767
(Technically, not even English is an "official" language of the US; it's simply by far the most predominant language spoken in the country.)\n\nAs I understand it, those who are native speakers of Spanish typically reside in those states closest to Latin America, so it is in essence a localized issue. It simply would be impractical to expect, say, the state of Wisconsin to provide Spanish translations for everything (from road signs to legislation).\n\nAdopting Spanish as an second language might be more practical in states like Texas and Florida, but these states are rather conservative and probably invest much nationalistic pride in the English language. So the debates there will not be over the practical concerns, but over national identity: should America expect more "melting" in its melting pot, or should it support multiculturalism?