I agree that learning multiple languages is helpful. And considering we are next door to Mexico, and have a large Mexican population, it would be smart to teach our kids Spanish.

However, I disagree that our Mexican friends are learning English. I'd like to see somebody ask any of my neighbors for a cup of sugar and see the responses they get.

Reaganite's attitude is why we have such trouble overseas.

Wondering why we can't market the Nova in Spanish speaking countries. Oh wait, No va means won't go

Or the add for shampoo in Belgium that said it would give your hair corpse instead of body.

Everybody should learn a foreign language - it is good for you.

I encourage people to learn other languages....Spanish is a good one due to our proximity to Mexico and our growing hispanic population....however....I would also encourage those who choose to live in the US to learn English.

I must rely on interpreters to explain very detailed medical/consent information prior to taking them back into the operating room....also...when emerging from anesthesia...trying to talk to them is challenging...

I agree 100% with your theory. I think Obama though was stating practicalities. With so many spanish speaking immigrants living in the USA, it is handy for some americans to habla espanol.



I tended to think this until I visited USA late last year. I was absolutely stunned with how many people speak spanish in the USA. I always thought it would be prevalent in places like Miami but LA, Las Vegas, Flordia etc is packed with spanish speaking immigrants. There are also spanish speaking suburbs in the outskirts. I would think it possible for a south american immigrant to come to USA, work in a well paid job and have a good life without having to speak one word of english. That is how well developed the spanish speaking communities in many states and cities of USA have become. If you have a look at the growth of industries such as spanish written newspapers, books etc, it is a boom industry.

Not that I am arguing against your point that they should learn, or at least attempt to learn english. It is polite and well mannered to do so and to plain not be bothered to even try is the hight of rudeness IMO. However I disagree with your point that to speak english in the USA is the be all and end all. The spanish speaking community and industry is huge and only getting bigger in the USA.


You make a reasonable point and one I can relate to. Australia is similiar to the USA in that there is no need to speak anything other than english, because of the cut off location factor. As a result, we are embarrassingly inept in foreign languages. So your location factor is well made.

However IMO it goes deeper than that. In some sense, I get the impression that some americans have a myopic view of the world. That is to say that they think that only USA is important, and they are not interested in what is going on outside their country. They will not watch foreign movies only hollywood movies, they will not travel much overseas and if so only to places like Venice, Rome etc, and they will not place any importance in international news. Not all americans are like this, but there are a portion of those who fit this criteria. And for these people, learning a foreign language would be deemed unimportant and distasteful as they do not want to learn about foreign cultures. This would be similiar for australians and brits who also have a myopic streak through them. Although I think americans tend to be more patriotic than australians and brits, therefore tend to mainly view things through american eyes.

So, I think this is what Obama is hinting at. Trying to get americans to embrace foreign cultures and to become a bit more globally aware. That was my impression anyway, but maybe I am reading too much into Obama's speeches.

No doubt.  There are tens of millions of fluent Spanish speakers in the US.  Some portions of the country have well over 50% of people speaking at least some Spanish.  There is no doubt that there are huge numbers of Spanish speakers.  However, you are at a major disadvantage if you can't speak English in the US.  You may be able to get by and make some money doing custodial or landscaping work.  You may also be able to contribute in large Spanish speaking communities.  But will these people have a chance to become doctors, lawyers, engineers, or company managers?  The likelihood is very slim.  There are no shortage of opportunities in the US, but it isn't easy to find your way into higher paying jobs even when you know English.  Without knowing English, the chances of you being a member of the lower class if far greater.


There are always exceptions.  I think that a large Spanish-only speaking community can become a place where you don't need to learn English to make a living.  But merely making a living should never be the definition of success, but rather survival.  It is possible to survive in the US without knowing a word of English.  But we run a very real risk of creating a permanent underclass if we pat ourselves on the back as being "culturally tolerant" or "diverse" and accepting the fact that some people just don't speak English.  To me, this is very dangerous.  Also, it fosters some resentment amongst Americans that don't speak Spanish because many see it as wasteful and unnecessary.

Here is an example:  I live in a part of Florida where English still dominates, but Spanish is ubiquotous - you hear it just about everywhere.  Indeed, some people don't speak a word of English.  About a year and a half ago, I was at a friend's apartment complex and there were two older Hispanic women attempting to communicate with a police officer.  The cop spoke very little Spanish, but he was trying.  However, he couldn't really get his point across to the women, nor could they communicate effectively with him.  He had to call another officer that was bilingual to assist.  This took some time, and in the end, there were three officers needed to deal with this situation which I think was some sort of minor domestic dispute.  This took another officer away from his business to act as an interpreter (and of course his partner was along for the ride).  To me, this was ridiculous.  You might expect these things in an Airport, some place where you have huge numbers of tourists that are just visiting.  But these women were living here in the US.  Their refusal or inability to learn English required more police resources to solve their little squabble. 

Some would say that the police officer should be bilingual.  I disagree 100%.  That is always a plus, but should NEVER be a requirement to work inside the United States unless under some special assignment (like working at an Embassy or maybe an airport).   The problem is that it is becoming necessary for these guys to further adapt because others refuse to.  When do we draw the line?  We can't have super-cops running around that are fluent in 25 languages.  Should doctors be REQUIRED to learn a second, third, or fourth language to practice medicine in the US?  I don't think so.  What about teachers?  Should we be required to fund schools that only teach in Spanish so that non-English speakers can move forward?  Should we even require that high-school graduates speak English?  Believe it or not, these are all things that we have seen in one form or another - and this is just in my state.

Obama may very well have been trying to make a point that American's need to be more "worldly".  Certainly, I can't argue encouraging more learning in the United States.  What I can argue with is the point that we "should" learn "their" language so that we can help "them".  That is antithesis to how things work in this country (and things have worked very well in this country for many years).  In order to get ahead, you have to work at it.  You have to help yourself.  America would be destroyed if she became a nanny state where the government provided everything and people were not expected to pull themselves up by the boot-straps.  That model of society is completely unsustainable.  This nudges us in that direction by planting the seed that society will adapt to YOUR needs.  That cannot work and I know of no civilization in history that ever espoused such a notion.

Why did no one say it yet?

Cause it's wrong.

Clinton can give him the Latino vote he needs, so he doesn't really need to pander with a comment like this, which would anger more people then it would satsify - and he knows that. The audience is made up of white people, for God's sake...


But of course, as usual, Reaganite's reactionary approach to the matter combined with a penut sized brain has lead him to a conclusion that Obama never intended. He was promoting the benefits of a society that took time to learn another language, not imposing a standard to school children across the country.

I took 3 years of French because I was required to and today I don't remember a lick of it. But now, with the prevelance of spanish speaking people in the work force, I wish I took Spanish instead.

Should they be speaking English? Of course, I know that, and so does Obama (he said it). But given the number of illegal immigrants (someone at my work doesn't know any), it would be prudent to know a little until we can effectively curb and control illegal immigration - something that won't be fixed by making English the official language nor something a country BASED on immigration should be considering.

European countries accomodate English speaking Americans to a GREAT degree - a luxory that Americans take for granted. And the ones that don't take advantage of it are the same people who never leave the country and shouldn't really be listened to. America has got great sights... but so does Denmark... and Australia... and Japan...

Basically, what this loooooooong reply is trying to say is that Reaganite is wrong. He's not telling people to learn Spanish, but rather telling people that learning a second language as a range of benefits, namely the newfound respect other countries will have for us.

Brax; I also took 3 years of French in high school and figured it was all lost, until 10 years later when I spent a two week vacation in Val D'Isere, in the French alps. Very few there spoke any English at all.  The total immersion brought back all I had learned and then some. By the end of the first week I was able to get along quite well, ordering dinner, discussing the weather, asking directions, etc. You don't think you've retained anything until you absolutely need it. You will surprise yourself one day if you ever go to a french speaking country.
 I didn't take any high school Spanish but I work at a hotel where the Housekeeping staff are almost exclusively Spanish speaking. Everyday I take the time to pick up a Spanish word or a phrase so that I can converse on some level with them. They are greatly appreciative of the effort and respond in kind.