How Important is for all Immigrants to learn English and Spanish?
921624
English yes, Spanish no ...
159374
I used to think the same when I was very young, you never know when an information is going to come in english or español or francais or portuguese, you never know. So don´t be afraid of learning more stuff in your life!!
451833
My Great Grandparents were immigrants but THEY even learned to speak English.  Where I live there are so many immigrants they make a point not to learn English. I feel like an outsider in my own Country.  We need to look at what we're doing, we need to be much, much stricter in our laws and it should be a requirement that the immigrant speaks fluent English.  Enough is Enough.  PS: Report your boss.
762376
The question is whether those who live here and didn't have expensive ESL education, making them bilingual in Spanish and English, should be expected or required to have any knowledge of that language.\n\nMany would like to be bilingual, but when I went through the LAUSD I could choose French, German or Spanish as my language (I chose French).  Now the program cuts are so severe, our children are only offered Spanish, if that, and many aren't interested in learning Spanish.
532687
No, it seems that most people who work towards legal citizenship already work at learning English because they realize that is the language of this country. What it will do is allow us to stop wasting tax payer money on providing services in multiple languages for people who tend to be here illegally. Of course, it's hard to say if this will happen or if states will continue to offer bilingual education, services, etc. The new legislation does not force states to stop offering these services, it just allows them to stop if they decide to.\n\nCheers :)
1129852
It's better to have two languages spoken. It would be more conveinient if everyone knew how to speak english, but that's a long and hard task to teach many.
1134099
Think about it. If you were to emigrate to another country that speaks Spanish, do you think the locals would all learn English just for you? Hell no. They would expect you to learn the country's official language. I don't see why that is such a hard concept for some people to grasp.
585
i agree with you; noone should be able to immigrate into this country unless they can first prove some sufficiency in speaking the english laguage. english is rapidly becoming the international laguage of business, so why should we not require everyone here to speak the language in order to interact in our society?
1065897
At least you only have to worry about Spanish, where I live we have to do everything pretty much in English, Spanish and Hmong.  \n\nI was in line at the DMV and the young Hispanic gentelman in front of me needed an interpreter so he could get his paperwork filled out for his license.  God help us all, if they can't read the forms and such or understand when things are explained to them, how the heck can they read the signs.
992061
It is a privilege to be a United States citizen and the official language of a US citizen is English. If your mother truly wanted to become a citizen she has had the last 15 years to learn English and unless she is incompetent she should would have learned the language if she wanted to. I understand this is your mother and I would be upset if someone talked down about my mother but you are wanting to bend the rules for yet another immigrant. I think even to live here you should know English because I'm tired of going somewhere and everything is written in 3 or 4 languages, it's ridiculous. Invest some time and money into her so she can learn the language, you obviously speak the language so you and everyone else have just been enabling her not to learn the language by continually translating everything for her. When I learned Spanish, why you may ask because I was going to Mexico and they shouldn't have to speak English for me (what a concept learn the language of the country you are going to and not expect people of that county to cater you) back on track in my Spanish class a single English word could not be uttered it was full submersion. Quit speaking the native language to her and force her to learn English if becoming a citizen is what she wants to do she'll learn.
1064985
I agree with you.  Immigrants often live in heavily immigrant neighborhoods where they can get by without learning English.  However, all of my ancestors came from non-English speaking countries and learned English as soon as they arrived here -- that's the idea behind the melting pot.  If immigrants don't want to learn English they should move back to where they came from.
1106491
As a citizen - absolutely.  It amazes me that there can be any discussion about that.  This does not necessarily mean that you become fully proficient, but you need a working command of the language and have the skills to communicate with others in normal day-to-day situations.  If someone were motivated enough to learn then they should be able to grasp the basics in a couple of years. This is already a requirement for US citizenship. The problem is that a vasty majority of people sneaking in have NO desire to become part of the mainstream.  All they want to do is get what they can get and send it back to Mexico and that's it.  In the meantime, they are supported by US taxpayers for everything from hospital emergency rooms to public schools.  These are the ones who need to be rooted out and tossed into the slammer. Sending them back won't work because they will just creep back in.  \n\nThe result of all this refusal to learn English is the outright absurdity that not a day goes by but that I have to press 1 for English.\n\nJesus H. Christ Almighty, we are not living in Spain.
1075827
There's nothing wrong with learning a language. But, in the USA, you shouldn't have to know Spanish to get a job. And yet, employers want bilingual employees especially in Texas. Many classified ads say "bilingual preferred" which means they only hire bilingual, which isn't right. We shouldn't be pandering to people who can't speak English. It's the responsibility of everyone living in the USA to learn English. Americans can't be expected to learn the language of every immigrant (German, Italian, Chinese, Thai, etc.) who moves here.
144829
Where to you get your information?????  Only the older generation immigrant has problems learning a new language (English) but the younger ones eagerly learn it and unfortunately forget their native languages.\n\nYour opinion clearly shows your prejudices.  What is so very sad as can be seen from many posters is that many, many Americans are not able to write in English and needless to say in any other language.\n\nI have lived in many other countries where there are expatriate americans living and they do not speak the local language nor make any attempt to do so.  They are under the idea that everyone, everywhere must speak English (as though they could really understand it)\n\nPlease change your bigoted ideas.  Nearly all immigrants make a greater effort to learn and understand than the anglo-americans do to understand them.
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....
155650
I speak 3 languages and English was not my first language.\nI believe in amersion in school. If it's an adult find a friend that speaks , writes and understands the language. Remember depending where you speak Spanish the dialects are different. New Mexicans speak different then Mexicians, Cubans different then the people in Spain. And so it goes. If you just focus on simple basic Spanish have a friend just teach you the basics and you'll be surprised how quickly you will adjust and plus an even more interesting insite to a different culture,and quite a great friendship!\nAsta La otra ves!
498987
English and a little Spanish