Who has a problem with Spanish being our second native language?

Question

I noticed that many people, regardless of political affiliation, are bothered by the "press one for English" ordeal. It used to bother me until I realized that Europeans speak 3 or 4 different languages. Yet, many Americans can't even master the English language. Wouldn't it be great if America became more cultured and more affluent in other languages.
However, many people believe learning Spanish enables illegal immigrants. They also believe that this is an English speaking country. But what's wrong with broadening ourselves like the Europeans?! What's your opinion?!

opps.... I mean fluent. See, I am a prime example. lol

Ok. Some of you are missing my point. I wasn't suggesting that we become more like Europe, what I was trying to say was that if Europeans can master 3 or 4 languages why can't we. This has NOTHING to do with LIBERALS.

I never said Spanish was our second native language, I asked if anyone had a problem if it was.

Answer 1

I speak two languages (english/spanish), my wife speaks three (english, thai, cantonese). But you know what? If you want to live in this country you should:
1- speak english
2- know american history
3- embrace american culture.
If you don't want to do these things, you are a tourist and should go home when your sightseeing is done. I went to Thailand with my wife and I spent three months learning enough Thai to at least let them know I respected their country and their culture enough to care about it. I was very well received by the people there, they wer both pleased and honored that I cared enough to try.

Answer 2

The Europeans have been around a whole lot longer than America - yet we have succeeded in mixing every possible culture and ethnicity into one common people and one common language - Americans and English.
And in a little over 200 years we have arguable become the greatest nation in the world - a literal magnet for immigrants, both legal and illegal.
Why would we want to change or adopt policies which have not historically produced countries as great as ours?
As far as a second language, here in the north east, I suspect French would be the choice. In other sections of the country, I'm sure they would have a different take on whether Spanish should or shouldn't be the second native language depending on the percentage of different cultures which have settled there.

Answer 3

For starters I agree with you...

It bothers me that the United States thinks it has an "official language" at all...
Just because English people killed more natives than any other group doesn't mean that their language is any better.

But I must confess - the thought of learning a 2nd language at this point in my life seems a bit much...
I'm still trying to figure out how to vote in the primary elections...

Hell, the President can't even speak English well enough, don't confuse the poor thing... at least not til '08...

Answer 4

First neither English or Spanish are native to this continent.
Both languages were brought here by the Europeans!
Second, I have had the opportunity to have traveled all over the world and when people from different countries (Spain and India) work together they speak English.
As for mastering the English language, we speak a dialect of English. Remember people from Mexico do not speak true Spanish as is spoken in Spain where their language came from.
Now, here we are millions of people leave their home country and come here to the US my home, and then tell me to learn Spanish. What do we do about all the people coming here from Europe, do we learn all of their languages or do you think they should learn Spanish too?
How about this, regardless of what country you came here from you learn the language of the land which is English.
Do you think it would be acceptable for a million Americans to move to Mexico, Tokyo, Rome or Paris and say hey learn English? NO that would not be acceptable if we move to another country to live (not visit for a few days) we should learn the language of the land. Whether the language is Japanese, Italian, French or Spanish.

Answer 5

I have a problem with it....this is america and we speak english, if people want to speak spanish amongst other spanish speaking people fine, but they don't even learn our language sometimes , so why should we cater to them if they don't learn our native language. Also, i was in Germany for a few years and although many of them speak some english , they still have the expectation that others speak deutsch (the german language), when we were in rural areas most people did not speak much english and we had to learn to speak their language or we just couldn't communicate.

Answer 6

Most people have a problem with this because of race. Pure and simple. They don't mind the illegal aliens from Canada, just the ones from south of the border.

That being said, I do have a problem with Spanish being our second language for two other reasons.

1. The difference between Europe and the US is that we have people from all over the world coming into this country to permanently live. The one thing we ask is that you learn the language and our traditions. We are a melting pot. We accept everyone. But that melting pot speaks English. In the 20s a large number of Italian immigrants came into the US. They didn't demand for Italian to become the second language of the nation. If we do not expect those coming into the nation to speak our language we will have hundreds of options on the phone tree. As for European nations, most have 1 national language and those that have two usually have two distinct nationalities in their country (like the Belgians).

2. There is a big monetary cost in second languages for our nation. Every government form, every sign, etc. must be printed twice. Are you willing to add that cost into your taxes?

That all being said, it's not a bad thing for us to choose to take a foreign language in school. In fact it makes you a far more rounded person.

EDIT - Trovolta: The founding fathers choose a nation language when they published ALL of our original documents in English and in English alone.

Answer 7

I do. The reason "Europeans speak 3 or 4 different languages" is because every European country is small and right next to one another. It is almost a necessity to learn more than one language. Our country is one, large English speaking country. I am not opposed to being bi-lingual. I speak German. However, to have to choose what language I get spoken to in my own English speaking country drives me crazy. "Press 1 for English" is a joke. I shouldn't have to press anything.

Answer 8

I do not object to Spanish being a 'second native language' anymore than I object to Russian, Chinese, French, Hindi, or Nuahtl, having that status. Which is to say that I object strongly to having multiple 'official' languages, at all.

One language - especially when it's as voluminous and syncretic a language as English - is quite enough, thank you.

It's true that Europeans often speak two or more languages, but, when you consider the density of languages in Europe, this is understandible, there are many different cultures crammed into Europe, each with their own language, many with multiple mutually unintelligible dialects. Being multilingual has long been a good idea for them, tough, through most of history, most have merely been bi-lingual with thier native language, and the dominant language of philosophy or commerce or diplomacy of the day (first latin, then french, then english, IIRC).

A common language is a great boon not just for a nation or state, but for trade and diplomacy.

Today, English is that language, not just for America, but for most of the world. English suplanted French in that role when the British Empire achieved global influence in the 18th & 19th centuries. Coincidentally, America's rise to global prominence in the succeeding century cemented the global role of the language. The internet has also tended to perpetuate English as a common language.

The big competator with English, BTW, is Modern Standard Arabic - Arabic being a religiously-mandated common language for any who would accept the Koran as the word of God.

Spanish is a major language, no doubt - thanks to the massive global empire that Spain conquered in her colonial period - but it still makes more sense for native spanish speakers to become bilingual english speakers than for native english speakers to learn spanish. MSA and Standard Mandarin, OTOH, might be something worth learning if you already speak English, and are concerned with really broadening your ability to connect to other peoples of the world.

Answer 9

I totally agree w/ you. Many of my european family think that we are somehow not as smart, sophisticated, b/c we don't learn multiple foreign languages. BTW there are MANY parts of EU where you really need to speak 2+ langs in order to live/work there. I personally have no problem w/ people speaking spanish, I really don't see that it would be much of a hassle to print everything in Span too, since we practically already do that. Engl should be always our first, but the only one, I dont think so. There are many countries that have several official languages; india, sweden... I think that encouraging our people to learn other langs and improve their engl. would be a great bridge to other cultures/peoples. Our country was built on the backs of foreigners, it's all our heritage...

Answer 10

I have no problem with it.

Most African nations speak several languages. Some speak up to seven languages including European languages like English and Spanish.

So why can't Americans learn one more language. It should be required in school, from the first grade through the 12 grade.

Answer 11

English needs to be made our first 'official' language before we start worrying about a second. I would love to make it a pre-requisite to high school graduation for every child to be bilingual, but most of our graduates can't even find other countries on a map. A concerted effort needs to be made to educate our children, with real consequences for failure. Expulsion should be allowed more readily. Instead we get a bunch of unemployable morons, all who think they are too good to work at McDonald's.