language

but honestly people. the least an immigrant can do is adapt to the country they chose to come to... i hate when immigrants come in Montreal (trust me , we have tons, when you walk in Montreal downtown there are more immigrants then Quebecers) and they whine about their rights, they want to carry their knife with them, they want prayer times, they want everything man, without respecting our OWN culture we have here... that is very a lack of respect.

but of course not all immigrants are like that, some are real cool

 

^EXACTLY^

ya hit the nail on the head, phil

 

all the immigrants i've met (who dont speak english even), may not like everything about it here (hell, i dont either). but they let me be me. and we show each other things. like when i say the price in spanish, they laugh and i tell it to them in english.

i've only had one immigrant actually piss me off cause he wouldnt tell me what his hat said (he said i wouldnt understand).. but he spoke english.

 

i guess youre lucky... in Canada we have montly fuckin debates over immigrant rights, now arabs are aloud to have their knife on them everywhere they go.. and yes even little ones in elementary school have their knife on them 24/7.

after a while... they gotta learn to realise, if they cant live like they want to, if they cant follow their religion like they want to, well... with all respect, "just go back to your country."

like i said, when u leave your country for another, you have to come with openmindedness, at LEAST learn french or english and respect the culture already established... and that is something a few immigrants fail to realise.

 

Are you talking about sikh people and their kirpan

 

you bet

 

we've been having immigrant rights debates a lot lately (in idaho). there was a huge march the other week to the capitol building.

and part of my argument is that the united states is supposed to comprise of tons of cultures (as far as i know, canada isnt as big on that). and so its hypocritical for us to say they cant be here if they dont speak english.

but then again.. i was majoring in french to get canadian citizenship... but that also had other reasons to it.

you remind me of idahoans. a lot of californians move to idaho.. and then idahoans get mad cause "they are trying to make this like california".... i think its just a rise in population... but whatever.

 

ouuuffff i dunno about that.. Canada is super open to immigration, ive read things differencing it to the U.S. and we really are an easy country to get inside to... we're not strict enough on immigrants entering our country unlike U.S. either... And the States have gotten mad at us for this reason many times.

I dont mind immigrants, there are loads who i like at school and are really good people... but when i hear stories about kids and sikhs walking around with kirpans, when i hear stories about some guy working for TAXI and completely not respecting the guidelines of the uniform, wearing their religious robes and actually complaining about it to the government. well come on, if we werent this little bit strict (and trust me we are not strict with immigrants in quebec)... we'd become completely out of control

we gotta keep our culture and morals to a certain degree u know.

 

I totally support people learning the language of their country of residence....

Likewise they should be free to communicate in their own mother tounge

 

yes, when speaking to family members or people of the same nationality, but they should use english when speaking to ppl they meet on a day-to-day basis. (people in shops, waitresses, etc.)

 

agreed

 

yea for godsakes... something ridiculous in quebec (french speaking DUH)... , when i go in stores sometimes, the people working there DONT FUCKIN KNOW french!!!!... that really pisses me off. i could switch and talk to them in english, but i never do... they gotta take their head out of their ass and realise their feet are in quebec, and theyre working in quebec, for a french-speaking government in effin french province. man

 

While i agree with you that it sucks totally , i must say that the Bill 101 doesn't force people to learn french and to speak it in their stores ...

It never happens in granby but this winter when i gave ski lessons, i had a little boy ( i think he was 8 or something) that didn't speak a word of french ...

And it was a group lesson and i had to translate everything for him while i was taking of 5 of 6 other little children..

But we can't force people to learn french and people are free to talk the language they want , that's a thing every PQ governement forgets ...

 

i give up on this. you all want to make everyone talk like you, go ahead.

i'll stick to learning to have cultures live together and yet being themselves.



and i just read a article saying 25 percent of americans dont speak english. so the 90 percent might be off (i dont know where the article is.. so excuse the lack of a link)

 

of course

i don't get what people are arguing about to be honest

you live in a country you learn the lingo, of course not bothering is a classic anglophone thing to do...

 

I don't think anybody wants to take away peoples right to their own language

The point here is if you live in an english/french/spanish/whatever speaking country you learn the language, no ones saying they can't speak in their own language....

 

and I'm saying you shouldnt force them to learn shit. Its their choice. Does it hurt you if some dude doesn't learn your language? No more than it hurts him that you don't learn his. Its their choice. If they want to learn it, than good for them (though many places dont have the educational resources for adults to learn english). But if they dont, who cares? I still am able to say what I need to say to them and vice versa.

 

ahaha me neither. i think you're right hugh. If I lived in a country that spoke a different language than mine, I would learn their language, not to conform to them, but to make it easier on MYSELF.

think about it, living somewhere and u cant understand a word anyone is saying? that would fucking suck..

 

Really, if you move to a country and you don't speak the languages spoken at all, how are you going to buy food? Clothes? WHEN IN ROME...

 

According to the CIA world fact book, the US has a population of 295 million.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/peo_pop

With 280 million english speakers.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/lan_eng_spe#source

25% is wildly off. Nobodys saying That immigrants can't retain their own culture. Part of that culture is language.

However, to function in the US, speaking english is esential. By essential I mean finding any work, and communicating with people around you.

Any jobs that aren't demanding english to be spoken within a set amount of time are probably paying under the table. Thats bad for the worker and bad for the conomy.

I've lived in Texas most of my life. Where I live now, a little under half of the population is hispanic. Most of them have learned english, and still retain their native culture. (Cinco De Mayo was awesome.)

It's actually hard to get a lot of professional jobs here if you're not bilingual.

However, living in a common area, communicating with each other helps. A citizen not learning the native language isn't intigrating, and so therefore, we should have all schools teach in a common language.

There are places where they've tried out the model of letting immigrants 'retain their culture' to the degree that their we'e schools that taught only in Arabic. What happened was these cultures became segregated and ghettos formed.

The young generation of immigrants were unable to find work, and unable to fit in with the society. This led to unemployment being as high as 50% in some of these Arabic ghettos Eventually civil unrest started, and month long protests insued. This is whats been happening in France.

I'm all for a rich and vibrant culture, but having things common such as language like this help our country function much smoother.

What if we didn't insist that immigrant use our currency? Trade would be a lot harder with Francs and Pecos flying around in your change. Ever gotten a turkish quarter or something in your change and wondered, 'Huh?' It would be like that, but times several hundred thousand.

Our what about Courts? Should immigrants be allowed to set up their own legal systems? They we're trying to set it up in Canada for Arabic migrants for a while, with courts based on Fundamentalist Islamic law.

http://www.llrx.com/features/islamiclaw.htm

"Hadith, this is your third time stealing candy. We have to cut off your hand."

"can't I just go to court?"

"Sorry kid, your family and the store owner are Muslim, and must obide by Sharia"

Of course, that's a pretty extreme example, but the points the same. If you're moving to a differnt country, you should be allowed to retain your culture, however, you should neither be seggregated from the community, or have special Judicial treatment.

We should expect people in the US to learn english in an appropriate time period and obey US laws. That's integration.

Imigrants should be allowed their culture, while still living up to societys expectations of citizens.