If your ancestors were able to come here and learn English, why can't you learn Spanish?

Answer 1

Being bi-lingual counts for two. I think everyone should speak spanish in this country as well as english.

Answer 2

I can and am, but for most people, why bother? The only reason other countries are learning English is that America has been so successful in business. Why learn Spanish? What has that got to do with being successful in the United States? Or are you admonishing people in Spanish-speaking countries to learn Spanish!

OH!

I agree. If you move to a country, you should definitely learn the dominant language so you are not a burden on the society. We have the same problem in the United States with illegal aliens. Good luck with that. I hope they learn Spanish there.

Answer 3

Any idiot can learn Spanish, it's one of the easiest languages for an English speaker to learn. But unless there is a need, why would anyone? People learn English so they can have the privalge of doing business with American companies. Like it or not, thats how it is. Eventually, people will start learning Chinese for the same reason. But if an immigrant wants to work anything more than day labor, they should learn English. It's part of the cost of doing business in the US.

Answer 4

Why should I?
If I immigrated to Spanish speaking country I would not have much of a choice.
Well, I would have a choice.
I could choose not to learn the language but life would be difficult.

There are people that study English before they come here.
I have said it in other posts.
Somalis and Ethiopians are able to communicate in English.
People from India speak very good English.
People from India working the phones for companies are getting so good at it they are speaking UN-ACCENTED ENGLISH.
Koreans speak enough to operate stores here in the great Satan.
I have come across people from Latin American countries that have been here for 15 years and still can't string two sentences together in English.
That is just pure laziness.
I can learn more Spanish in one weekend with a bottle of tequila, a Spanish /English dictionary, and videos of Sabado Gigante than alot of these folk pick up in a year. If they even bother.

Note: America is named after AMERIGO VESPUCCI...an Italian
http://geography.about.com/cs/historicalgeog/a/amerigo.htm

Answer 5

Why can't we learn to speak Cherokee, or Apache, or Arapaho, or Navajo? Those are the Native American languages? As soon as the United States is called "The United Federation of Mexico," then we will all have to learn Spanish. But until then, we will speak whatever language is most widely accepted in world trade, commerce and finance. Which is, English.

Just a bit of history, though:

The aggressors who stole the land occupied for thousands of years by Natives, who are now referred to as "Native Americans", were French, Spanish, and British---just to name three cultures. The French, Spanish or British felt it necessary to strangle all Native American languages. In fact, the European "powers" tried their best to eliminate all life to the original Americans' languages, cultures, and progeny.

Now, Mexico was originally populated by tribal natives called "Aztec". The Aztec had their own language until the Spanish Conquistadors nearly annihilated the culture. After that, the Aztec people that survived were forced to speak Spanish and were taken from their lands of origin so that the Spaniards could have the Aztec gold, land, wealth, and women.

The United States has been, and always will be, what is called "the melting pot." Which means, our culture is made up of many separate cultures. In our larger cities---New York, Chicago, L.A., etc., you would be hard pressed to look at people who are solely "American", because there are hardly any Native Americans anywhere, other than on the reservations that were made for them by the British, the French, and the Spanish.

My ancestors and your ancestors were prisoners of Europe. English was an imposed language. Spanish was an imposed language. My question is, if you are going to live in America, why can't all Americans speak the native languages of the Native Americans? Why must we speak the languages of Europe?

Answer 6

My ancestors didn't come here and learn English. My ancestors were here long before the Europeans, English or Spanish, had any idea that the Americas even existed.

Answer 7

If we were all moving to Spain or any other country in which the national language is Spanish, then we'd all learn to speak that language. But since this is the USA and the national language is still English, then we don't have to if we don't want to.

However, I do think that people should be a little more open minded about wanting to learn other languages. Not just Spanish, but all types. Plus, it would be nice to know other languages so that when others are speaking in their native language, we'll be able to tell if they are talking about us or not! :-)

Answer 8

To C R the majority at that time spoke Spanish and native American. Until European Immigrants came over and took us over. Terrorized our family's and made us learn English. So actually Spanish was used more then English was at one time.

That's what America is all about so maybe us Americans should be required to learn every language since America is the land of the immigrants know.

Answer 9

Most of our ancestors come from Great Britain and they spoke English. They colonized this continent. Perhaps if the Spaniards colonized North America the national language would be Spanish but it isn't. English was spoken then and it is spoken now, it is up to people to learn the national language of a country that they live in.

Answer 10

English is the required language for airline pilots, engineers, scientists and no doubt many others. It is the core language of the UN, G8 and European Parliament.

The advent of a commonly spoken language allows for greater understanding in a troubled world.

People do learn other languages but usually only when they are going to a country that uses that language.

The case of the US is interesting as it is forecast that Spanish will overtake English speakers in a few short years. But English will still need to be kept as the first language because if you turned to Spanish you would cut your communication with the outside world to a trickle.

Even Spain itself uses English for all the reasons in the first paragraph.

If you speak good English in a country with English as it's first language, why expect people to learn Spanish to talk to you? That would tend to isolate you and I am sure many would see it as somewhat arogant!

A common language promotes understanding and peace. Virtually every country in the world is now learning and using English.

Answer 11

First, let me say I have no problems with other languages. Second, the original settlers, the Pilgrims, already knew English because it was their language from England. Third, I know some Spanish, but you can't force someone to speak Espanol in Estados Unidos because the language here is English. That would be like me going to Mexico or Latin America and telling them they should speak English. It is their land, they can speak Spanish if they want. It's the same way here.