Press One For English (Miami: schools, universities, camps)

[cuba libre]

funny video,

I likey the singer...


YouTube - Press One For English

[doggiebus]

So are you the one on the left or the right????

[cuba libre]

Originally Posted by doggiebus

So are you the one on the left or the right????

Very funny. I thought that Tallrick would get a kick outa this.

I like watching that woman jump up and down as she sings...

[tallrick]

Originally Posted by cuba libre

Very funny. I thought that Tallrick would get a kick outa this.

I like watching that woman jump up and down as she sings...

Yes I did, but I wonder what exactly was supposed to catch my attention? Imagine if everyone who migrated here actually did learn English....what a concept! Being separated by race or language only serves to divide us and give more power to the criminals at the top.

[doggiebus]

Please stay on topic. The topic is about Speaking/Learning English.

[Carlitosway]

Pre-July 4 special: “English only” video insults U.S. flag « Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub

[Michael Di Meo]

Originally Posted by tallrick

Yes I did, but I wonder what exactly was supposed to catch my attention? Imagine if everyone who migrated here actually did learn English....what a concept! Being separated by race or language only serves to divide us and give more power to the criminals at the top.

I prefer freedom of speech over comformism any day.
I will gladly fight for freedom of speech in this country.
I also prefer to have the freedom to accept the consequences of my actions, as long as we are in a free and democratic society.
Therefore, if I feel that Spanish in Miami is threatened in any way, I will fight tooth and nail to preserve it.
Honestly, we have not done enough in Miami to assure that Spanish takes its rightful place in the community.
I'd like to do a little what Montréal does, and have all OFFICIAL and PUBLIC signs in Spanish. Right now it's too inconsistent.
People are still afraid to speak Spanish in certain public situations for fear of upsetting the minority Anglos, and also to have Spanish-speaking rights taken away - because let's face it, we are lucky to have gotten this far regarding the Spanish language, but we are always living in the fear that Anglo Unilingualists are going to force us to learn English, and discriminate against us if we choose to speak Spanish (or Italian, French, Portuguese, whatever) in public or the workplace. Anglos are threatening to wipe out our existence! Luckily we are the majority and there's a certain comfort in strength in numbers. We fight a little underground now, even if by sheer numbers it seems we are mainstream, but I maintain that there is not enough official Spanish here.
We need more mainstream Spanish radio stations, TV stations, etc, and we need all public offices to provide all written materials in Spanish if requested. All city government meetings should be officially bilingual with the minutes recorded in both languages.
Miami should become an official bilingual city, that way we can officially admit to the world what we are, and quit trying to hide it.
Universities need to have large quantities of degrees taught in Spanish (like MBA programs taught entirely in Spanish, etc).
In Italy, one of the best business schools offers MBA in English. We need to develop at least 2-3 similar programs here for Spanish.
Finally, we are in danger of destroying the quality of the Spanish here in Miami if we continue to relegate Spanish to a second class seat. The more official our language policy is, the easier it will be to legislate policies that will work to not only preserve and protect Spanish, but it will also help improve Spanish for those of us who have grown up multilingual, but since we lived many years in the States, we don't always speak the language perfectly as someone who was born, raised, and educated in officially Spanish-speaking countries.

Puerto Rico's language policies should serve as a role model for us. They are part of the US, if they can do it, we should be able to carve out a city-state situation here too. Furthermore, anyone who has ever been to Montréal knows this can work. Europeans who live here are quite used to multilinguaism, and they seem to enjoy to live here, for the most part. If Anglos don't like it, there are 49.5 other states they can move to.

In Miami we are the majority. Anglos always tell me that in the States majority rules, well then we need to rule even more intensely than what we already do.

Next fight will be Broward (to liberate our brothers and sisters, of course).

[doggiebus]

^^^So when a community in Mexico or any other LA country becomes a majority English speaking, the people of those communities should speak English. No, the English people should speak Spanish. When you move to another country you need to show some respect and speak their language. Which hasn't happened by all of the people that have come to this community, when my mother moved to this country the first thing she did was learn the language. When I travel, I don't expect people to speak English, I speak their language. Its called Respect.

As for your comments of speaking Spanish in the work place, its called common courtesy, when someone in the area doesn't speak your language, that you should speak the language that everyone can understand.

[Michael Di Meo]

Originally Posted by doggiebus

^^^So when a community in Mexico or any other LA country becomes a majority English speaking, the people of those communities should speak English. No, the English people should speak Spanish. When you move to another country you need to show some respect and speak their language. Which hasn't happened by all of the people that have come to this community, when my mother moved to this country the first thing she did was learn the language. When I travel, I don't expect people to speak English, I speak their language. Its called Respect.

As for your comments of speaking Spanish in the work place, its called common courtesy, when someone in the area doesn't speak you language that you should speak the language that everyone can understand.

Doggiebus, every community is different, so I would not be able to tell you how I would propose to legislate other situations in LatAm. And I would strongly vote against trying to impose some kind of universal principle and value that you may have, because it may risk to be narrow-minded.

So, it's possible that if an English-speaking colony gains enough political clout in Peru, they may be able to unite and protect their language and even officialize it.

Why don't you look at examples of countries where people do the opposite of what you propose? Valle D'Aosta, autonomous region in Italy (French and Italian official languages), Trento-Alto Adige in Italy (German and Italian offical languages). What about Switzerland? South Africa? India? Russia? I'm sorry, but your principle of adaptation is limiting, and is not even applicable to how many countries choose to legislate language policy.

The fact is, we are the majority, this is the situation, and Anglo Unilingualists want to destroy the domination that Spanish has in Miami. They don't want an official recognition of an official fact. I'm not saying that Miami should be unilingual, I'm saying it should be officially BILINGUAL.

When your mother moved here, she learned English, but just because someone does something in history does not mean it's applicable today. Look at slavery, or female genital mutiliation, or divorce (thank God for that). Those could be loosely called "traditions" too. Traditions and/or past cultural norms are meant to be broken. It's 2010 almost ... in the days before internet and globalization, a person was cut off/disconnected from other countries, learning English was a must. These days it's becoming less important, as we can see clearly in Miami. The Cubans helped tremendously by obliging their families to retain the language, unlike many Italians who were forced by the Anglo Unilingualists to "speak American" during the war, and/or were sent to concentration camps, along with the Chinese and Japanese.

I admit, my German is lousy, but whenever I'm in Germany I never have any problem getting service in English.... hmmm.... now who is being rude here? What language do you speak when you're in Sweden, Finland, Norway, or Portugal, etc? That's right ... so quit telling me that Spanish speakers have to speak English in Miami.

Finally, your comment about the workplace was rude too. I think it's terribly rude when a coworker complains that he/she cannot understand Spanish, because they refuse to (or cannot) learn at least a little. I think it is so rude to want to take away my right to have freedom of speech to speak Spanish, because your feelings might get hurt, or you feel that it is "courtesy"" as you say - a very subjective defense in my opinion, as Anglos definition of courtesy leaves a lot to be desired.

And Anglos wonder why they don't get hired in the workplace ...

[Trusses]

[quote=palermodude;10828062]I prefer freedom of speech over comformism any day.
I will gladly fight for freedom of speech in this country.
I also prefer to have the freedom to accept the consequences of my actions, as long as we are in a free and democratic society.
Therefore, if I feel that Spanish in Miami is threatened in any way, I will fight tooth and nail to preserve it.
Honestly, we have not done enough in Miami to assure that Spanish takes its rightful place in the community.
I'd like to do a little what Montréal does, and have all OFFICIAL and PUBLIC signs in Spanish. Right now it's too inconsistent.
People are still afraid to speak Spanish in certain public situations for fear of upsetting the minority Anglos, and also to have Spanish-speaking rights taken away - because let's face it, we are lucky to have gotten this far regarding the Spanish language, but we are always living in the fear that Anglo Unilingualists are going to force us to learn English, and discriminate against us if we choose to speak Spanish (or Italian, French, Portuguese, whatever) in public or the workplace. Anglos are threatening to wipe out our existence! Luckily we are the majority and there's a certain comfort in strength in numbers. We fight a little underground now, even if by sheer numbers it seems we are mainstream, but I maintain that there is not enough official Spanish here.
We need more mainstream Spanish radio stations, TV stations, etc, and we need all public offices to provide all written materials in Spanish if requested. All city government meetings should be officially bilingual with the minutes recorded in both languages.
Miami should become an official bilingual city, that way we can officially admit to the world what we are, and quit trying to hide it.
Universities need to have large quantities of degrees taught in Spanish (like MBA programs taught entirely in Spanish, etc).
In Italy, one of the best business schools offers MBA in English. We need to develop at least 2-3 similar programs here for Spanish.
Finally, we are in danger of destroying the quality of the Spanish here in Miami if we continue to relegate Spanish to a second class seat. The more official our language policy is, the easier it will be to legislate policies that will work to not only preserve and protect Spanish, but it will also help improve Spanish for those of us who have grown up multilingual, but since we lived many years in the States, we don't always speak the language perfectly as someone who was born, raised, and educated in officially Spanish-speaking countries.

Puerto Rico's language policies should serve as a role model for us. They are part of the US, if they can do it, we should be able to carve out a city-state situation here too. Furthermore, anyone who has ever been to Montréal knows this can work. Europeans who live here are quite used to multilinguaism, and they seem to enjoy to live here, for the most part. If Anglos don't like it, there are 49.5 other states they can move to.

In Miami we are the majority. Anglos always tell me that in the States majority rules, well then we need to rule even more intensely than what we already do.

Next fight will be Broward (to liberate our brothers and sisters, of course).[/quote]

Why stop there? Just go right on up the state! It's gonna happen eventually...