obama,your responsibility to make sure your child speaks spanish..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZprtPat1Vk&eurl=http://www.infowars.com/?p=3282

he has a point...

 

Some of can't use youtube at work.

"I don't understand when people are going around saying, 'We need to have English only.' They want to pass a law 'We want English only.' Now I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that. But understand this. Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English. They'll learn English. You need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about how can your child become bilingual. We should have every child speaking more than one language. It's embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe and all we can say is merci beaucoup, right?" (crowd applauds.)

If his main point was this: We should have every child speaking more than one language.
Then, screw that idea.
If you really need another language, go for it, but there are far more advantageous things to learn while at school, than a foreign language.
They did not force me to learn Welsh at school, and it did me no harm.

Obama, go teach your kids to not chew chewing gum while a camera is on you. You self righteous, grandiose, snob.

 

i dont see where he said it was the schools responsibility.. i think he states its the parents responsibility..
as one who lives in a bilingual household,,i tend to agree..

the reason i do agree is i dont speak any other language but english and i see the advantages the rest in my household have over me because they do.
i feel it does open up doors that otherwise would be closed when one is bilingual.

 

I'll chill out a bit then.
He does come across as a little snobby though.
I still don't think we should feel inferior or we all should be speaking more than one language.

I wonder how many languages he speaks?

Yeah, sure, if you wanted to work abroad or felt hindered in some way, go learn another language.
But, you are always going to be at some disadvantage because there are numerate amount of languages you could learn.
At the moment English gets me by quite well.
Maybe my horizons are not as high as yours.

 

oh obama is a elitist prick and i doubt he speaks any second language fluently,however i see nothing wrong with encouraging a child to learn other languages besides there native tongue.

i do believe english is the universal language,however i cant help but think it hinders one to have english as there sole language.. even in america..

 

after a quick google search, no he speaks no second language fluently.
he has a working knowledge of spanish(as do i which isnt saying much) and speaks basha "passable". that would imply that both are on a very limited level..

 

yes he does, I know how to say lots of thing and phrases in other languages, and Im always try to learn more, But I couldnt write a letter or notes without help. Its very hard, should teach earlier in life to be mulitilingual.
hope I spelled that right.
Helps in the workplace too. at least it does sometimes for me.

 

What you mean by more advantageous things? Creationism? European cached this idea 20 years ago. It's most basic thing to get be talkative and with dialogue with other nations. What is significant each culture have other solid way of thinking, multiculture cooperation allows for new ideas and new solutions to be appear. As for example in software developing when we have multiculture staff we compare many different way of working and finding best algorithms as it would be newer done with people from one school only. Do you know what I mean?

I had to learn Russian in primary school, my mother learned me French for a while. Then in secondary school advanced English and German. Now I learned Spanish myself.

Ola amigos. Como esta?


HHillbilly: Whatever he says - it is parents AND school responsibility.

 

Encourage, yes. Make them feel inferior, no.
What language do other "Europeans" learn over their own? ENGLISH.
I don't think he is correct in his assumptions "Europeans" speak other languages over there own, other than to learn English.
So, as Americans have English as a first language, they are at an advantage already.
It is not even a requirement to learn a second language, in our (UK) schools any more.

English won out - get over it Obama.

I'm sure in the future other languages will dominate, and English will flounder, but that is many many decades to come.

 

Oh, I don't know, maybe learning to read, write, and add things up.
Not cluttering the brain with a language you will probably never use.
We had to learn French and German at school, maybe we should have learnt Chinese, or Indian, as that would probably be more useful.
As it is, both those countries adopted English as a secondary language, as that is more advantageous to them.
I'm not suggesting my rule applies to non English speaking countries.
But, here and in America, we don't really need to learn a second language as such.
If people have an interest in doing so, fine.
Being made to feel they (Americans) must, is just not living in the real world.

No.
Life skills.
Such as sexual health, managing money, dealing with relationships etc etc.
There are schools that teach creationism...they are called faith schools.
If you want to learn that go to one of them.

When you say "Europeans" are you including the UK in that?
We STOPPED mandatorialy learning a foreign language in school, because it was pointless and a waste of valuable time.
You can still do a second language if you wish, however.

I do know what you mean...
But, English is the leveller.
Not French, not German, not Russian.
You don't speak French to your Russian friends do you?
People speak English in this multicultural world.
It is a simple fact, one we should recognise.
I'm not suggesting people should not learn a second language if they wish.
But, Obama, makes it sound as if the world will fall in, and us "Europeans" are in some way superior for learning a second language.
The majority of "Europeans" speak English.
Which is accommodating the English speaking world, and putting them at an advantage.
He suggests Americans should learn Spanish.
How is that going to help them if they decide to move to France, for e.g?
It won't.
If needs arise, learn the language that you need to.
Just having a second language, is a pointless exercise, if it is not going to help you.

Good for you, hope you get a kick out of it.

 

Doesn't he suggest learning Spanish because there is a high population of Spanish-speaking people in the United States? Would it kill you to learn some so that you can converse with your new hispanic neighbours in their native language, to make them feel more comfortable moving in? How about going to a real mexican restaurant in town and being able to order in Spanish?

Having a second language, even in the States, is helpful. It opens so many doors to employment opportunities, doesn't it? In Canada, I think there isn't enough emphasis on second language learning which is sad. We have two provinces who have french as official language and many new immigrants who come to the country not having a great knowlege of English. Language can equal better career in many instances. For example, you're a politician, you want to be the leader of a party. You don't know French? Forget it, you lost.

Everybody keeps saying that English is the language spoken all over the world...Well, I'm sure that if you walk into a store in a (non-capital, non-tourist location) city in China, India, R.D.C., or Yemen, you'll certainly be in for a surprise.

Havig kids learning language and culture in school is a bad idea? Sounds to me like it is a great idea! Maybe cultural education will help lower any remaining levels of racism in the country...expecially if they began with Arabic...

And by the way, odon, there are no such languages as "Chinese" or "Indian"....Maybe you mean Cantonese, or Mandarin and Hindi, or Punjabi, or one of the MANY other languages of India.

 

Sorry if all that came off badly, sarcastic, or "snobby"...I had a long day at work today :toetap05:

 

Odon:
I think it's good idea to teach children Chinese. I always thought that there should be better communication between nations that writes different alphabets.
Beside I USA there is 25% (I think something about) Spanish speakers - so there will be chance to use it in practice.

 

It all hinges on his support or SPP.
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital-commerce/2008/02/29/trade-wars-obama-vs--obama.html

Just another indication that career democrats are not so very different from career republicans.

 

En masse it would be a pointless exercise.
There are more countries out there that we could be communicating with other than China.
Where does it all end?
If people did actually, en masse, learn a foreign language, it would
A. Be those that were less inclined to be prejudiced in the first place
B. Not taken up by those that were prejudiced (bar learning to insult foreigners in their own language).
We (our governments) do communicate with other nations, but first they have to listen, which goes for us too.
Obama said: "You need to make sure your child can speak Spanish" - "They'll learn English".
So, if "they" will learn English, why should Americans learn Spanish?
Not a particularly strong argument Obama has, is it?
It is not necessarily the idea of learning another language that I find somewhat of a pointless exercise, it is the notion people should, and that we (Europeans) do.
Other Europeans tend to learn English.
"we" don't (on the whole) learn Arabic, Punjabi, Hindu or the other myriad of languages commonly spoken, do we?

 

I would imagine that is why he said Spanish.

No, it would not.
But, Obama makes out that "Europeans" speak other languages.
I put it to him and you, yes, they do, (in general) they speak their own language, and English.
Here in the UK we don't (in general) learn Punjabi, Arabic, Patois (or the whole host of other languages commonly spoken here).
We used to have to learn French or German, which has now been dropped.

You tell us.
I don't nessearily think so.
Maybe if you were moving abroad or were working for a foreign based company (such as BMW workers learning German).
In general, IMO, no.

If you are a politician in that position, maybe it would be wise to brush up on your language skills.

I'm saying it is either the main language, or a second language.
Ofcourse you can find pockets of areas where people don't speak English.
But, I also doubt you would be applying your logic to them, either.
What other language would you have them speak?

Cultural education is one thing, learning a language is another.

Yes, yes, I know.

(Sorry for repeating myself, I was writing this post first)

 

There has got to be a demand for people ton have second-language abilities, with your government services, in corporations, all over the place in the UK...The ability to communicate efficiently with other governments and corporations around the world is dependant on language and those who can use it. I know you believe that if they learn English, well, problem solved. But does that not further the stereotype of stuck up Westerners (which includes UK) who can't make the effort. It's called meeting them halfway, showing them you are eager to do business with them and don't look down on them to ensure they do more work than you to have relations that are successful...

And cultural learning and language learning go hand-in-hand, take it from someone who has been learning two other languages. It is almost impossible to not learn things about cultural differences between countries when learning language. For example, in Arabic, I'm told there are many words used of religious importance, which teaches you about a part of specific culture. Reading in Spanish for my class, taught me new things about the way Mexicans live day-to-day and how they value life and death together. In Quebec French, their curse words all have religious significance, they pretty much all come from the church. This is due to some of their history and the way attitudes changed throughout the years.

 

it really pisses me off when people come into the country and they can't even speak english. on one of the elections not too far back they even had subtitles in spanish so everyone who spoke it could vote. they can't even speak english...who gives a fuck what they think when it comes to elections. who gives a fuck what they think anyway? if you want to come to our country, fine. i have nothing wrong with that. i'm not prejudice. but learn how to speak our language. everyone should have a very complex english test before being allowed in the country another thing that really pisses me off is when they degrade the neighborhoods. alot of immigrants come into the country and they park their cars on the lawn (which they let grow 2 feet long), throw trash all over the place, and make their houses look like shit. they don't even have the decency to maintain any of it. so they come into our country, don't learn how to speak our language, and degrade our neighborhood. then we specialize the elections so they can vote? something isn't right here.

 

I guarantee if you walk into a place in India, there will be a person that speaks English.

And English is the international language of science and medicine because of it's wider technical nomenclature. It is. Computer science books in China are widely untranslated.

But yes, I think learning Spanish is a good thing in the US. Learning Chinese (Mandarin obviously) would be also. These are functional reasons. I also support learning for the sake of learning if people also want to learn Greek or some such language.

In the next hundred year so many languages are going to die.

 

First off, you are prejudiced.

Secondly we invite these people into our country because we require their labor, not so you can be comfortable with whose in your neighborhood or what language they speak.

Thirdly, immigrants can't vote. Citizens can, no matter what language they speak. You can't deny that to anyone because of your prejudice. If there were natives who didn't speak English, they would also still be allowed to vote.

Your vitriolic statements bring down the whole caliber of discussion here.