Why do many Mexicans refuse to learn English?

Question

They try to play both sides of the fence when it comes to the immigration issue. They claim that they are no different from the European immigrants that came here in the late 1800's and early 1900's, yet unlike the European immigrants, they do not want to assimilate. The European immigrants learned English and became Americans. The Mexican immigrants, on the contrary do not learn English, and in turn have children that are taught Spanish at home. It makes me absolutely sick. Living in L.A. I see this all of the time. I'm not saying that they are bad people - many of them that I know are very nice - but this is highly irresponsible and detrimental to our country's future.

Answer 1

Why should they learn english? We are in what is formerly known as mexico. Have you noticed that "Los Angeles" is not english? Also, San Diego, San Bernadino, San Fransisco, etc etc.

They got us to learn spanish without even knowing it.

Answer 2

Actually, jdc6733 is right, Latins can't speak proper Spanish and that infuriates me. Thanks to them Spanish sadly has become some sort of "uncerclass" language, spoken only by the ignorant, uneducated workforce. This truly is a pity, since Spanish is a very beautiful language, when used correctly - one of the most important works of Western literature, Cervantes's Don Quixote, was written in Castilian (which, by the way, is the proper name of the "Spanish" language).

What the problem is in this country is not that Hispanics speak Spanish. I would be very glad to have a French-speaking neighbor, for instance. The problem is, that the Latins' indifference towards education and advancement are damaging the country as a whole. Sure, Mexicans mow your lawn and do the things that no-one else will do, for a ridiculously low wage . But, being part of a culture that "emphasizes the value of the family," Latins tend to have more children than the average non-Hispanic. Then the country will have to find a way to deal with thousands of children with neither moral nor academic education. And those children, just like the Anglo-Saxons, are to become citizens.

Hispanics are not the only to blame, to be sure. When i first came to America, i found it rather ironical that most of the public tv broadcasting companies, as well as many radio stations, are Spanish-speaking. Anywhere you go in California there will be government agencies, and all sorts of commercial estalishments where Spanish is spoken - not the Spanish of an educated person, but the Spanish of a Chicano who perhaps cant even write decently and has an awful, absurdly "americanized" accent.

So, the answer to the question is: many Mexs refuse to learn English due to conformity and mediocrity - they would rather break their backs and sell oranges illegaly for a couple of bucks a day for the rest of their working lives, so that afterwards, once their multiple offspring grow enough to become citizens, they can become residents, and depend on the welfare system for which we all are paying. After all, what can you expect from someone who abandoned his country, and risked his life to cross the border because he was too selfish to help his own nation to get out of poverty?

Answer 3

Let me say something here. I live in the metro Atlanta area which is eperiencing a rise in the Hispanic population.I have had experiences with Hispanic people and most of the Hispanic people I have know had knowledge of and spoke English, even if it didn't seem that way. This is what I have seen. Many Hispanic families, unlike the earlier immigrants, want to pass their heritage to their children, therefore, many families teach their children Spanish. The parents may have full command of the English language but may choose to not employ the use of English when they are around other people who speak Spanish. There are some immigrants from Central America who don't learn English, but there are many who do know English, but use Spanish more than English because many of them often associate with people like themselves. They will often speak English to English-speakers. I have had experiences with Mexicans and most of the Mexicans I have know had knowledge of and spoke English. I This is not always the case, but this happens in many cases.

Answer 4

A lot of the imigrants that came over had a lot of difficulty learning English, and they wanted very much to hold onto the culture that they came from. Think Little Italy and China Town, that are in many major metropolitan areas.

As the generations of their families progress, you'll find that they become more "Americanized." Their children, with better abilities to learn new languages, speak English rather well. Often times, these children will tend to prefer the American culture that they grew up in, so they will be more assimilated.

What you see now are recent imigrants. As generations pass, you'll see that their decendants become more Americanized.

Answer 5

I'm Mexican, but I do not speak Spanish. I totally understand why people are upset about Mexicans 'not wanting to learn English.' However I blame the US government for this. I'm no expert on the whole Elis Island era, but I don't think that back then there was documents and translators and other services that were given in multiple languages. I think it was a 'learn the language or else' situation. But today, you see voting guides, tax forms, public transportation etc all written in more than one language (not just Spanish but Vietnamese, Chinese etc.)
By allowing people to continue to read things in thier own languages allows them to bypass the neccessity to learn English. THat's why I blame the US, not the people who've emmigrated here from any culture.
I don't think the issue 'they don't want to learn', but its more like why should they learn if the government makes it easy for them to continue thier life using thier own languages.

Answer 6

Most of the illegal Mexicans are poorly educated (if at all) and raised in in villages where the biggest aspiration is to farm or sell cheap wares (and I don't mean "warez"). If they were educated to at least a competent high school level (preferably basic college) they could at least do jobs other than picking crops and construction.

As it is, they aren't and we're stuck with 13 million laborers. They should try working on their own country training workers for tech jobs like India did. However, with the amount of corruption and class tiers, it isn't likely to happen any time soon.

Answer 7

i do agree with you... and i think it is wrong when people try to contact you and they speak a different language .. we are born American citizens and learn the English language ... if they want to live in America... they should learn the English language too... i have a fear of letting so many illegal immigrants in the us anyway.. how do we know that they are not here to go against the USA.....and they come to take the Americans jobs and so on...we should take care of our own people... and let others stay in their own land......

Answer 8

I totally agree with SharkPrincess, the government makes it way to easy, but I also think that a person can use any language that they choose in there own home.

Answer 9

Maybe they are not interested in learning English.

Answer 10

Here's a plan, instead of complaining, why don't you use you superior intelligence to learn spanish, teach their young and then change them around. That would be proactive. Let me know how your lessons go.