Should it be mandatory to learn English?

[Midav]

I am not wanting to start a flame and am making that clear! The Bill Mandates Youngsters Learn Spanish (http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=61893) thread got me thinking about the topic.

It's like when I volunteer at the local food bank. If someone is in need and hungry, they should get food. I agree with that and do not care who they are or where from. No one should go hungry.

With that said, it irritates me at times when we get people in from other countries and they do not know English. Some have lived here in the US for decades! We have to have someone there that speaks that particular language at the food bank. On the other hand, many of the others do not even want to learn English. It also gets frustrating when they get rude about it.

I personally believe that if someone comes to reside in the US, they should be put through a schooling to learn English. It is out common language.

How do others feel about that?

[mi35d]

Whatever country you decide to reside in: LEARN THE LANGUAGE!!!

There is a concerted effort to make the US a bilingual country and all it will lead to a is a dilution of the culture.

I had a short stint as a teacher. One of my students had been born in the US. He was considered "English as a Second Language" student as a HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR. Therefore, he was given special assistance on tests, didn't have to do certain papers, etc. Pure crap. The kid could speak fluently but he would put on a "me no speaka eenglish" when he felt like it. Pure crap.

[Herrmannek]

Only english, whole world uses American english and now you want introduce Spanish.... Damn how stupid it is... Now half of the Spanish world will not learn english anymore and by induction more people will need to learn spanish...

[Chulo]

Only english, whole world uses American english and now you want introduce Spanish.... Damn how stupid it is... Now half of the Spanish world will not learn english anymore and by induction more people will need to learn spanish...
ah u forget that chinese would be spoken by the most people as a first language (i think there is a few billion of those people somewhere)
english is the international language, ( dont think you can call it american english - india being the second largest speak the queens english more than american - look how they spell words and sentance structures) however i dont think its governments place to tell you what to speak, but if they control the money and wish to teach in a certain langunge, well its their money.
lets face it, speaking only one language is largely a handicap now a days, yes its a small world and everyone speaks english. but you forget that most of those that do speak english also speak another language, the small minority that only speaks english then is at a disadvantage.
i plan to make sure my kids speak atleast 3 or 4 languages when they grow up, i speak 4, my parents speak around 12 (languages and dialects)

if you establish only one language in your country, then you should not complain about people not speakinng english when you go to another country- i guess it would just be polite to learn theirs then.. which then would make you multi-lingual

[rocket13]

I think all government and legal business in the USA should be only done in English. English should be taught to anyone coming into this country with a desire to learn and or staying for a long period of time. The school system should also be teaching children other languages. The major ones of course, Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish.

I agree that one should not limit themselves to knowing just one language. But at the same time, its not the governments role to promote or use more than one language either. I have no problem helping someone out that is not fimiliar with language and needs a hand. But I wont help someone if they expect that they should be helped because they choose not to put in the effort to learn the language.

I've been to Argentina several times to visit my family. I always tried to put the best of my effort to speak spanish to them and try to accept their customs. Sometimes it didn't come out right and sometimes it too a bit longer, but atleast I tried. I would appreciate it when people did the same when they came to this country.

[ed316]

Yes, becuase it forces you to intergrate in the society you're living in the present.IMHO

[Hydro]

Totally agree. English should be mandatory if you're going to live in an English speaking country. You should learn to speak French if you're going to live in France. Likewise German and Germany. Italian and Italy. Not bothering to is IGNORANT.

It's always good to learn another language anyway. It broadens your horizons, always looks good on a CV/Resume, and you never know when it comes in handy. I learnt French in school, it was extremely handy for my location. I lived in the south east of England, where my mobile phone got French networks, I could listen to French radio, and going to France was easier than going to London. I'm a little rusty, but when I'm over there, it's not perfect, but it feels quite natural.

[Durandal]

No, it should not be mandatory to force people to speak English.

At the same time there should be no other law forcing the adoption of a second language. You want a driver's license? You need to speak and read english. You want to become a citizen, then you need to speak english.

Now if a business wants to have multiple languages on their ATMs or a hotel's pool rules in 2 languages, that's fine.

FORCING a person to speak a language is unconstitutional.

[Wodan]

HELL, even the regular german student has to learn english...

[Vandervahn]

Its a completely different question what language you have to learn in school. Germany is a close ally of many English-speaking countries as well as an influential member of many international organizations. German students learn English to be able to communicate in the most likely situation for them: to meet another English-speaking person (be it a natural or 2nd-language speaker) under whatever circumstances while they are NOT in Germany. A second reason would be that English is the dominant scientific language after German was disbanded in the aftermath of the 2 world wars.

But being forced to learn English because of LIVING in an English-speaking country is a matter of social integration, and how far this integration can and may be enforced by the governing body.

[rocket13]

No, it should not be mandatory to force people to speak English.

At the same time there should be no other law forcing the adoption of a second language. You want a driver's license? You need to speak and read english. You want to become a citizen, then you need to speak english.

Now if a business wants to have multiple languages on their ATMs or a hotel's pool rules in 2 languages, that's fine.

FORCING a person to speak a language is unconstitutional.

How would a person know whats unconstitutional if they can't read the constitution. lol. The way I see it, the constitution was written in English so all government business must be handled in English only. If you want to do business with them in anyway then you have to learn english and get a translator at your own expense.

You might be right that it shouldn't be forced on anyway, but that also means that the government doesn't have to help either in providing multiple languages.

[rocket13]

Also a note, The world heritage foundation came out with an article a few years about about how many languages are on the verge of being lost for ever.

http://www.ogmios.org/163.htm

[Midav]

Thanks for the replies and glad to see so many agree that English should be learned when livng in the US, or in general that people should learn the language of the host nation.

[oregongrunt]

Yes, everyone should learn English, it makes it easier on me.

[Count Lippe]

I say every country should adopt mandatory language training for immigrants. Nevertheless, Americans could also use a mandatory Language at school and Spanish would be the best choice, because most of America (the continent) speaks Spanish. ;)

[rocket13]

I say every country should adopt mandatory language training for immigrants. Nevertheless, Americans could also use a mandatory Language at school and Spanish would be the best choice, because most of America (the continent) speaks Spanish. ;)


Give it 20 years :/

[punanyswami]

immigrants should learn to speak english, but its not all that easy. It is alot easier to learn a new language when you start learning it as a child, but once ur an adult, it isnt so easy. The govt. should help out legal immigrants learn english because even though its not official it is the toungue of the land in most places, but the same ppl wh want everyne to learn english cannot expect it to be learned in 2 or 3 days, its not easy to take up a new language after only speaking 1 almost your whole life.

[Creeper]

Yes, everyone should learn English, it makes it easier on me.
^^^^ LMMFAO. ok , thats it, discussion over, it is settled. !!! I like it.

[Durandal]

They should be teaching them ƒucking Latin if they are going to teach anything besides English. More useful than Spanish in the long run...

[Count Lippe]

immigrants should learn to speak english, but its not all that easy. It is alot easier to learn a new language when you start learning it as a child, but once ur an adult, it isnt so easy. The govt. should help out legal immigrants learn english because even though its not official it is the toungue of the land in most places, but the same ppl wh want everyne to learn english cannot expect it to be learned in 2 or 3 days, its not easy to take up a new language after only speaking 1 almost your whole life.
I don't think anyone really expects immigrants to learn the language in a couple of days, but giving them lessons would defenately speed it up and it would be a sign that America actually cares and the immigrants will have one reason more to learn English!