I spent a little time living in Germany, while there I always attempted to use the little German I knew, I took courses on my own time in order to not be the ugly American, who expected them to accommodate me. I have forgotten most of what I knew from lack of use, but while there I did try to sprecken da dutch as much as they allowed me. They like to speak "American" as much as they can to hone their skills.
In my first week over there I learned enough basic language to order food and ask directions. I still catch myself using words I liked, like verboten, I love the way it feels when ya say it. I still say danka and bitta.
I know enough Spanish to help Spanish speaking folks find the bathroom, I would like to learn more and the girls at the chicken place teach me a word every time I am there. I can understand piqueto <sp> if they talk slowly.
If I learn Spanish, French, German and Mandarin then visit Nairobi I will still be lost. So how many languages are Americans supposed to learn to accommodate our immigrants? What the hell is expected of me, to make me PC?
In our brains we have language receptors, if they are not taught to respond to different languages when we are very young, no matter how well we "learn" a language if we don't use it all the time it goes away. If those receptors are activated when we are small learning a new language isn't all that difficult. That is scientific fact.
Back in the 70's when I was around many Viet Namese, I spoke awwwww maybe 100 words, I have forgotten most of them,,,,,,, so ya see it isn't like I am a total jerk, ugly American.
I have been taking classes in Choctaw, dammit, I am just getting kinda good at it and now I am moving. grinnin ya gotta see the teacher, I'd try Cantonese if she'd teach the class. When I leave here and no longer go up to the Choctaw nation, I will forget most of what I have learned, I will not have anyone to practice with. Sure, I will say things like hola and halito but I been saying those words for years. My friend Two Bear is trying to teach me NA sigh language, we can now talk across the pow wow grounds well enough to meet at the frybread place or get each other to look at some really nice looking woman.
I don't ask what I am not willing to give. If I were knowingly moving to a country that didn't speak English, I would be on learning some of the basics, like right now. Count on this, though, I ain't goin no place, I am here to stay. Nothing I want to see across any waters.
__________________
my days left here may not be long, I wouldn't waste my time telling you nothing wrong, love is a flower that needs the sun and the rain, alittle bit of pleasure is worth a whole lot of pain. no pain no gain. betty wright
i dunno why but you remind me of the chelsea lately chick. <<psych lit
Don't tell the brunettes, Misty Spice or Satirical Spice, but...but I've had a thing for this chick for a while. 'Cept Chewey? that creepy lil sidekick? He gives me the willies.
yeah i can see why. shes a bit too femme for my taste but i can see the reason for attraction. its all in the sharp wit!
Actually, two additional points. Most tragic medical emergencies depend upon critical thinking and decisive action, not the hopes that a patient can communicate, in any language. Also, Milo, Americans are plenty screwed over when traveling in other countries. The first time you know your being screwed is when you think the hand is being extended for a shake and it slips the rolex off your wrist. No lie. Americans are just as easy prey as anyone else travelling "abroad", wherever that may be for them.
even in chicago! lol.
As a footnote, I don't want to share a stage, I want my own show. I just think it would be better for everyone. :)
i dunno why but you remind me of the chelsea lately chick. youd be great at your own show!
But hey, if bo's plans include teaching everyone French? Don't know where the hell that money will come from, I'm thinking Chinese would be a more prudent venture, but hey if he has the dough, sure I could use a refresher.
from what i gather the second language of first choice in many countries now is chinese. no more english. imagine if the world were to decide on that universal language and the language chosen by virtue of numbers was chinese? id be lost im tellin ya, lost.
heres something that ive always wondered about. humans are hard wired for language so what if we are hard wired for a specific language and maybe our straying away from that has led to the limits of our knowledge?
In my mind I have been advocating Signing as the universal language. I'm not clear on the curve, but it would certainly be interesting to find out. Of course, I still wouldn't believe a damned thing BO or the Chinese were saying, sign language or not.
i dunno why but you remind me of the chelsea lately chick. <<psych lit
Don't tell the brunettes, Misty Spice or Satirical Spice, but...but I've had a thing for this chick for a while. 'Cept Chewey? that creepy lil sidekick? He gives me the willies.
Actually, two additional points. Most tragic medical emergencies depend upon critical thinking and decisive action, not the hopes that a patient can communicate, in any language. Also, Milo, Americans are plenty screwed over when traveling in other countries. The first time you know your being screwed is when you think the hand is being extended for a shake and it slips the rolex off your wrist. No lie. Americans are just as easy prey as anyone else travelling "abroad", wherever that may be for them.
even in chicago! lol.
As a footnote, I don't want to share a stage, I want my own show. I just think it would be better for everyone. :)
i dunno why but you remind me of the chelsea lately chick. youd be great at your own show!
But hey, if bo's plans include teaching everyone French? Don't know where the hell that money will come from, I'm thinking Chinese would be a more prudent venture, but hey if he has the dough, sure I could use a refresher.
from what i gather the second language of first choice in many countries now is chinese. no more english. imagine if the world were to decide on that universal language and the language chosen by virtue of numbers was chinese? id be lost im tellin ya, lost.
heres something that ive always wondered about. humans are hard wired for language so what if we are hard wired for a specific language and maybe our straying away from that has led to the limits of our knowledge?
>Firstly, may they all rest in peace. What a tragic accident. The kind we've seen too often in third world countries, not here. Also, and ironically, it wasn't but a couple of weeks ago at a rally that obama mouthed off how arrogant we americans are to expect foreign speaking visitors and such to learn English yet we visit FRANCE and can't speak FRENCH? I'm sorry, that guys an idiot. Most French people speak English, and A GREAT many SPEAK Spanish and Italian. Yeah, how about Americans learn to speak(s) English versus "american", obama?
I mean really, how many of his "core" worshippers have ever visited, or know where France is located? Idiot. He's as "in-touch" with mainstream black, lower class, struggling american families as the next Senator, matter of fact, since he sold his soul? Even less in touch. Raising taxes is NOT what will help us get to France, by the way. And canvassing the streets registering homeless, addressless and felons is not what makes a happy Fireball. I swear to god, that did it.
I just want immigrants to be able to protect themselves. Not just in a medical emergency, but at the auto repair shop.
I am not bilingual, I should be, but how can we expect to learn all the languages that come into America? Are we as Americans obligated to learn 40 languages just to ask for a loaf of bread at the corner store? Would these other countries be that accommodating towards us?
im thinking we oughta get a talk show going lol. you and bd can take the moderate or conservative side and owl and i can take the liberal end of things.
anyway,if we were to all follow that rule we would live very small lives and rarely venture out of our neighborhoods, yes? i mean if we were to be in a bus crash in rural areas of any european city or even mexico city or quebec city the chances of finding someone who spoke fluent english might be about the same as finding someone who spoke fluent vietnamese in cali. so what do you do about it? not many english speaking americans try to learn the other languages we sorta expect others to speak english no matter where we are.
whenever ive been in europe ive been very impressed by the numbers of people who are multi lingual. often youll see people, especially in the hospitality industry who have 4, 5 or even 6 different flags on their name tags indicating the other languages that they speak. here in america the majority of non immigrants speak only english. ive always been puzzled when people think of an immigrant population as being something less than or not as smart as or any of those other things people tend to think about them. seems to me that someone who knows several languages is prolly a whole lot smarter than i am. the more words we have for something or shades of something the more ways we can think about things. i know thats not what youre saying here tho its often what people think about people who speak other languages and little or no english.
i get the idea that there should be one common language and i get that most people think that language should be english even those who live in towns where the hispanic population may soon, if it hasnt already, outnumber the non hispanics where it would seem that spanish should perhaps be that one language.. ive been in countries where people have been unwilling or unable to speak english and i havent spoken the native language or spoken it well enough to get some important bit of info.its pretty scary. i remember being on a train in europe with some coworkers and an announcement was made which nobody in my party understood but the train stopped at a station and people got off and we continued to sit there. none of the passengers or employees bothered to try and get us to understand. it seemed like a lot of people got off but we thought that those who had gotten off had reached their stop. as it turns out the train was broken and everybody had to get off:) i wished then that someone had reached out and bothered to try and communitcate but i guess they had a point to prove vis a vis americans unwillingness to speak anything but english.
im sad for our children who cannot speak any other languages. i am sad that they educational system has become so specific to the 3 rs that other important areas like languages or art or phys ed are dropped from the budget as if they werent of equal value
but heres where i think you answer your own question. you say that youre not bilingual but that you should be. my question is why is it that you arent? and why is it that for the most part, people born in the us more often than no are unable to speak more than one language and why, for the most part, isnt it taught in schools as a matter of course?
yanno, my first thought when i saw the accident reported was i wonder if that bus had seat belts? have you noticed how few do? we make people on planes have seatbelts tho if ya hit the ground at 600mph they wont do you a lot of good but buses and trains? it makes sense to have them.
Where does PC end and reason begin?
just playing devils advocate here when suzy and mary go to finland from the US and they dont speak the language what would be the politically correct observation? and would it be the same observation it would be if sven and olaf came to boise from sweden without any english skills?
OK that is off my chest, for the moment.
Actually, two additional points. Most tragic medical emergencies depend upon critical thinking and decisive action, not the hopes that a patient can communicate, in any language. Also, Milo, Americans are plenty screwed over when traveling in other countries. The first time you know your being screwed is when you think the hand is being extended for a shake and it slips the rolex off your wrist. No lie. Americans are just as easy prey as anyone else travelling "abroad", wherever that may be for them.
As a footnote, I don't want to share a stage, I want my own show. I just think it would be better for everyone. :) But hey, if bo's plans include teaching everyone French? Don't know where the hell that money will come from, I'm thinking Chinese would be a more prudent venture, but hey if he has the dough, sure I could use a refresher.
I just want immigrants to be able to protect themselves. Not just in a medical emergency, but at the auto repair shop.
I am not bilingual, I should be, but how can we expect to learn all the languages that come into America? Are we as Americans obligated to learn 40 languages just to ask for a loaf of bread at the corner store? Would these other countries be that accommodating towards us?
im thinking we oughta get a talk show going lol. you and bd can take the moderate or conservative side and owl and i can take the liberal end of things.
anyway,if we were to all follow that rule we would live very small lives and rarely venture out of our neighborhoods, yes? i mean if we were to be in a bus crash in rural areas of any european city or even mexico city or quebec city the chances of finding someone who spoke fluent english might be about the same as finding someone who spoke fluent vietnamese in cali. so what do you do about it? not many english speaking americans try to learn the other languages we sorta expect others to speak english no matter where we are.
whenever ive been in europe ive been very impressed by the numbers of people who are multi lingual. often youll see people, especially in the hospitality industry who have 4, 5 or even 6 different flags on their name tags indicating the other languages that they speak. here in america the majority of non immigrants speak only english. ive always been puzzled when people think of an immigrant population as being something less than or not as smart as or any of those other things people tend to think about them. seems to me that someone who knows several languages is prolly a whole lot smarter than i am. the more words we have for something or shades of something the more ways we can think about things. i know thats not what youre saying here tho its often what people think about people who speak other languages and little or no english.
i get the idea that there should be one common language and i get that most people think that language should be english even those who live in towns where the hispanic population may soon, if it hasnt already, outnumber the non hispanics where it would seem that spanish should perhaps be that one language.. ive been in countries where people have been unwilling or unable to speak english and i havent spoken the native language or spoken it well enough to get some important bit of info.its pretty scary. i remember being on a train in europe with some coworkers and an announcement was made which nobody in my party understood but the train stopped at a station and people got off and we continued to sit there. none of the passengers or employees bothered to try and get us to understand. it seemed like a lot of people got off but we thought that those who had gotten off had reached their stop. as it turns out the train was broken and everybody had to get off:) i wished then that someone had reached out and bothered to try and communitcate but i guess they had a point to prove vis a vis americans unwillingness to speak anything but english.
im sad for our children who cannot speak any other languages. i am sad that they educational system has become so specific to the 3 rs that other important areas like languages or art or phys ed are dropped from the budget as if they werent of equal value
but heres where i think you answer your own question. you say that youre not bilingual but that you should be. my question is why is it that you arent? and why is it that for the most part, people born in the us more often than no are unable to speak more than one language and why, for the most part, isnt it taught in schools as a matter of course?
yanno, my first thought when i saw the accident reported was i wonder if that bus had seat belts? have you noticed how few do? we make people on planes have seatbelts tho if ya hit the ground at 600mph they wont do you a lot of good but buses and trains? it makes sense to have them.
Where does PC end and reason begin?
just playing devils advocate here when suzy and mary go to finland from the US and they dont speak the language what would be the politically correct observation? and would it be the same observation it would be if sven and olaf came to boise from sweden without any english skills?
I know I am seen as raciest on occasion, I see me as simply a realest.
Another bus to casino accident has happened, this one in CA, it was noted in the article that the people were difficult to treat because they spoke Lao. In our recent accident here in TX, the same thing happened, the EMT's and hospital workers required translators in order to treat the injured. The only difference is in TX, they spoke Viet Namese.
I know how people view my attitude about one language but don't they owe it to themselves to at least be able to communicate with the person who may save their life?
I would never ask of anyone they forsake their language or their culture. I just want immigrants to be able to protect themselves. Not just in a medical emergency, but at the auto repair shop.
I am not bilingual, I should be, but how can we expect to learn all the languages that come into America? Are we as Americans obligated to learn 40 languages just to ask for a loaf of bread at the corner store? Would these other countries be that accommodating towards us?
Where does PC end and reason begin?
OK that is off my chest, for the moment.
Firstly, may they all rest in peace. What a tragic accident. The kind we've seen too often in third world countries, not here. Also, and ironically, it wasn't but a couple of weeks ago at a rally that obama mouthed off how arrogant we americans are to expect foreign speaking visitors and such to learn English yet we visit FRANCE and can't speak FRENCH? I'm sorry, that guys an idiot. Most French people speak English, and A GREAT many SPEAK Spanish and Italian. Yeah, how about Americans learn to speak(s) English versus "american", obama?
I mean really, how many of his "core" worshippers have ever visited, or know where France is located? Idiot. He's as "in-touch" with mainstream black, lower class, struggling american families as the next Senator, matter of fact, since he sold his soul? Even less in touch. Raising taxes is NOT what will help us get to France, by the way. And canvassing the streets registering homeless, addressless and felons is not what makes a happy Fireball. I swear to god, that did it.
I know I am seen as raciest on occasion, I see me as simply a realest.
Another bus to casino accident has happened, this one in CA, it was noted in the article that the people were difficult to treat because they spoke Lao. In our recent accident here in TX, the same thing happened, the EMT's and hospital workers required translators in order to treat the injured. The only difference is in TX, they spoke Viet Namese.
I know how people view my attitude about one language but don't they owe it to themselves to at least be able to communicate with the person who may save their life?
I would never ask of anyone they forsake their language or their culture. I just want immigrants to be able to protect themselves. Not just in a medical emergency, but at the auto repair shop.
I am not bilingual, I should be, but how can we expect to learn all the languages that come into America? Are we as Americans obligated to learn 40 languages just to ask for a loaf of bread at the corner store? Would these other countries be that accommodating towards us?
Where does PC end and reason begin?
OK that is off my chest, for the moment.
__________________
my days left here may not be long, I wouldn't waste my time telling you nothing wrong, love is a flower that needs the sun and the rain, alittle bit of pleasure is worth a whole lot of pain. no pain no gain. betty wright
But hey, if bo's plans include teaching everyone French? Don't know where the hell that money will come from, I'm thinking Chinese would be a more prudent venture, but hey if he has the dough, sure I could use a refresher.
