On Thu, 25 May 2006, [log in to unmask] wrote...

>>
>> Eduard,
>   I can understand your personal frustration.  I don't like 
rudeness of
>any kind, in part because it can have such negative impact.
>   In the U.S., I think the marketplace tends to straighten these 
things
>out. It's customary for the paying customer to be "right", and the
>business that accomodates their needs will flourish. If I owned the
>business, I would hire a bilingual clerk precisely because I could 
sell
>more books that way. It's the rule of the marketplace.  Even people 
who
>have advocated English Only for government business have been careful
>to say they don't want to constrain profit making enterprises or
>constrain advertising to target consumers.  If Pepsi can sell more
>pepsi by marketing in Spanish, they will do just that.  It's the
>American way.
>   Were they buying books in English? That would seem to me a sign 
that
>they were headed toward increased literacy.  If buying books in
>Spanish, one would expect a Spanish speaking clerk.
>   The fact that we have always been a nation of immigrants has 
meant that
>language differences have always been a part of it, but I think the
>long term trend has always been toward English and the long term
>contributions have always been very positive.
>   My mother's parents were fluent in French and not so fluent with
>English. They settled in a community of French Canadian immigrants in
>Rumford Maine, where my grandfather worked in the paper mills until 
he
>retired. My mom was bilingual, in part because she came at age two. 
The
>nuns in her Catholic school taught Kindergarten in French and eased
>them into English over the first few grades. Her children (I include
>myself) know very little French. I assume my grandfather did much
>business in town, much of it with people who could talk to him in
>French. He was such a funny, easy going guy, so I find it hard to
>imagine him being rude to someone who didn't know French, but I 
assume
>it was a factor in where he spent his money.
>   I work alongside very capable and caring Latinos. They are proud 
of
>their heritage, but deeply concerned with the success of young people
>within their own community, which they certainly understand has
>everything in the world to do with literacy and with English.
>   The Latino community will continue to be a growing force in 
American
>public life, and I'm not at all worried by that.
>
>Craig
>
>Craig
>> On Wed, 24 May 2006, Craig Hancock wrote...
>>
>>>Your own fears and concerns have been with us throughout American
>>>history, and to this point they have always turned out to be
>> unfounded.
>>>The big enemy hasn't been lack of ambition in the immigrant groups,
>> but
>>>the hostility (and outright discrimination) of mainstream America.
>>
>>
>> Craig,
>>
>> I am a first generation immigrant, too, so my concerns are related 
to
>> those intollerant immigrants who expect Americans to speak 
immigrant
>> languages. My first job in the United States was in a bookstore, 
and
>> half of the people who visited the bookstore were Latinos. Those
>> people scolded and insulted me quite often because I did not speak
>> Spanish, as if it was my obligation to speak their language, and 
not
>> *their* obligation to speak English. Now, who was with the problem?
>> How many languages do you speak? Are you going to learn all the
>> languages spoken by the immigrants who come to the United States,or
>> stay with your English? Most countries have a lingua franca, if 
not a
>> national language. What should the United States government do? 
Force
>> its citizens to learn the languages of its immigrants?
>>
>> Quite often the American government has been blamed for the failure
>> of the immigrants to learn English: "The government has not 
provided
>> the funds," "The government did not give me a job," "The government
>> did not leave the milk at my door in the morning," etc., etc. 
People
>> forget that the United States is not a socialist country. We, the
>> people of this country, have the obligation to take care of 
ourselves
>> and do what it takes to succeed if we want so.
>>
>>
>> Eduard
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>

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