Did you see that one of the major Stamp companies is now going to offer not only stamp sets in Spanish, but also business supplies and a Spanish version of both the Customer and Demonstrator Web sites? As if bi-lingual signs in stores were not enough, and the ability to take your driver's test in Spanish, and I heard a rumor you can take your Citizenship test in Spanish, too, and we all know you can VOTE in Spanish ... ENOUGH ALREADY!!! If you want to live here and work here and contribute to society - LEARN THE LANGUAGE!
I am sick to death of not being able to communicate with my association's lawn maintenance staff, since none of them speak English. Neither did the guys who installed my capret, or repaired the roofs, or replaced the siding, or installed the fence. And I refuse to get a cleaning service because I cannot find one that sends English-speaking people to actually do the work. How in the heck am I supposed to leave out a note for them?!?!?
When immigrants came over here in the late 1800's and early 1900's, they all learned English so they could get work to support their families, and their kids learned English to be able to take advantage of the school systems. What happened? When did we start cow-towing to the vast numbers of Spanish-speaking people? I'll bet if all the illegal ones were to leave, the numbers would not be so large, but I'll save that discussion for another time.
I have no problem with ANYone coming into this country of ours as long as they do it legally and they make an effort to become a functional member of society. This whole "let's capitalize on the Spanish-speaking populace" business approach is just wrong. Am I alone in this?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
20 comments:
I guess you arent quite alone...but you really should be! Your rant is so racially prejudiced! Spanish is not the only other language offered aside from English but you sure seem to think Spanish speaking immigrants are the only ones causing you a problem. After all, I guess it is a good thing they are here to "maintain your lawn, install your carpet, repair your roof, install your siding or your fence." *Sheesh* get a life!
I don't have any problem with other people not speaking English. My SIL and her family speak spanish as a first language. My grandparents-all 4 of them-spoke another dialect. When I hire someone for a job, I talk with them first to make sure everything is kosher. Most liscenced and bonded workers in my state speak English and get paid very well. Those who don't usually are not getting paid a living wage or under the table.
As for the ATM, do you want the
Braille off too? We live in such a diverse world and I would not change it at all as far as communicating. I am so excited that I will be moving to a place where I am in the minority and don't speak the language and the shoe will be on the other foot. I am betting I will be welcomed along with my Americian dollars.
BTW-the hardest I have ever had as far as language barrier was when I was sick and had multiple hospitals and operations. Most were middle eastern and very thick dialects. But they saved my ass more than once. So what if I didn't understand if he asked if I'd peed that day. I am here to laugh about it now.
Welcome to a global society. I love it.
I mentioned lawn care, manual labor, etc, because if you cannot speak the language, that is the only work you can get! Heavily-accented doctors, yes, but I'll bet if they did not speak English, they would not be there. I work with hundreds of people from India, and they speak English - it is a pre-requisite for employment! Heavily accented English, but English all the same. I can have meetings with them and they are a functional part of our working team. And not one of them has ever been offended when they were asked to repeat something because they were not understood!
I am not sure where you live, but I have not had an English-speaking work crew in the past 10-15 years. One time I was not able to tell them they'd cut my phone line because they did not understand me, and then it became MY problem, which really pissed me off. They also put my outside light back up with scotch tape on the electrical connection, and I had to pay an electrician to figure out why it was not working and to fix it - I could not prove who did it or when, so that became my problem, and expense, too. Which just goes to show these are day-laborers who lack the skills necessary to do the job, but they work for cheap, and the companies hiring them love that, but that is another topic you can scream at me about.
Oh, and let me mention the guy in front of me at Traffic Court. The judge asked him to state his name, and he did not understand the question. The judge repeated "state your name", and the guy spelled his last name, slowly. The guy got off because the other party did not show up. These people are driving on our roads and are unable to read road signs. No wonder we have problems!!!! What's next? Bi-lingual road signs?!?!?! Where does it end?
All four of of my grandparents came from overseas in the early 1900's, and they learned English to get work, and my parents grew up learning English so they could take advantage of this country's education system. I'll bet if you did a percentage-of-the-population study back then, based on today's standards, these people should have been able to go to school and be taught in Polish or Russian. Speaking of which, all the native Russians I work with speak English at work!
Honestly, I am not willing to learn Spanish (or Russian or Polish or Vietnamese) to live in my own country. Melting pot? Yes. But make an EFFORT, people! Go ahead, move to France or Spain or Germany and see how long you can live there without learning one word of the language. I'd bet it would be a little tough. And you would not get a lot of sympathy from the natives, either.
AMEN, sister!!!
Brail on drive-through ATMS! How crazy is that!?!!>!>
Because of a car accident two years ago and damage to my left eye I can't drive anymore. SOmeone drives me to the bank, I get out and step up to the ATM and do my business. Since I can't go inside as I have no ride during business hours (I live 17 miles from the nearest ATM so walking is out too) I do this. My city has a lot of blind people including a K-12school for the blind. Just because it says drive thru doesn't mean everyone is driving. I used to bike up there long time ago. I also walk up to the drive thru at the pharmacy for my eye drops. Am I also supposed to go away because you find my life out of the comfort zone for you?
A woman I know speaks Spanish and is the liason for the local schools for migrant farmers. When she got the job, she had no education other than she could speak fluent Spanish and a little english. She could not write English however. She is still doing this job 20 years later-her english is much better and she is invaluable. She makes great money too. Interestingly, she came to my city as a migrant farmer. She worked one day in the field and didn't get paid but a buck or two. She took herself off the field and went looking for something better and got hired at the school.
a woman lives in texas, and sells SU to her local community. She has family in Mexico and shows them the fun she has, and they want to buy some. She gives them the offer sheets and a catalog, they fill it out and sent it to her with money. She orders it and the stamps arrive. Had the Mexicans not been able to read in their own language, would they know what they were buying etc? probably not. If you don't want the products or have any need for them, don't bother. I sent GS cookies to Guatamala once because I had talked about them so much-the person I sent to (unknwn to me) had a peanut allergy. She could not read the label and got very sick. The labels are now in both Spanish and English where I live because there are about 30 % Spanish speakers. Very soon ,the Hispanic community is going to be the predominant ethnic group in the US-what happens then?
First, it is against the Demo agreement to sell stamps outside the country, whether to your own family or to anyone else, so she is in violation of her agreement.
Second, the reason those package labels are now printed in Spanish is these people refuse to learn English, and companies are giving in to the 15% of the population who claim the need. This is bull-shit. I doubt the packaging in Mexico is printed in English.
I used to work with a man from South VietNam. He was a boat person who escaped without his family, worked for the Red Cross, learned passable English, and eventually made his way to the US. He worked here for a year, taking extra English classes to perfect his communication so he could advance in his job. He eventually sent for his family - his wife and two young daughters...I think they were 6 & 8 years old. At the end of their first year - ONE YEAR - both of his daughters had earned awards for their essays in their public school. How many people in non-English-speaking households send their kids to school here and expect them to be taught in their native language - not English? Why is this okay? THIS is what I object to. TRY, people, just TRY!
I am not objecting to immigrants BEING here. I object to them expecting special exemptions for not bothering to learn the language of this country, which is English! There are free ESOL classes offered, so there is really no reason they cannot learn, they just choose not to.
There was an episode on NPR about an 18-year-old who was refused a college scholarship because his parents were illegals. He pleaded that they'd been here 18 years, and he should not be penalized because they were here illegally. During the interview he mentioned that neither of his parents spoke English, so they had difficulty getting jobs to help pay for his college. Eighteen years? No English? How can you live in a country and in 18 years not pick up any of the language? In all that time, why did they not bother to try and become naturalized citizens or at least legal residents, so their children could benefit? THIS is what I have a problem with.
Let's compound this rant with the fact that because these people have trouble getting higher-paying jobs, they tend to be poor and on public assistance. YOUR payckeck, and mine, are paying for this segment of our population, helping them stay here and not having to even TRY to help themselves.
I think they should get off their butts and try to help themselves, and learning English is their first step.
If you are worried about the quality of the work that people are doing, don't hire them. It's not a great deal if you have to hire beyond the original job to take care of it. The best way to get around this is to make sure the company is liscenced and bonded. I recently had some major work done on my home and the estimates were all over the place. The best prices were not the best deals but the most expensive one was not bonded. He told me my home insurance would take care of that. SO NO. Do your homework before you hire anyone-period.
BTW-I can see someone who is here illegally not learning English. They stay with thier "own" out of fear of being discovered and sent back-and the negativity in this country in recent years to those not like us makes them hide more. Sad situation all around.
In my state to get pulbic assistance is so hard and humiliating, you do anything to not get it.
They handout public assistance here like candy. Lots of Hispanics with food stamps and WIC coupons in the grocery store. They need help making change. I guess our opinions are colored by our different experiences.
In my home state, where the unemployment rate is the highest in the US, the food stamp people are mostly white. Blacks, who used to be on the dole more back in the 70s and 80s, are rarely seen with food stamps. The elderly maybe with the fact so few have anything but SS checks. Hispanics are creeping up on 25 percent of the pop yet I rarely see any in the stores. If you take assistance, you have to also work 30 hours a week doing volunteer or something similar to qualify. Max 3 years total lifetime for aid. there is a special fund for kids but its for the ones between the two groups-aid verses none. we also have a county tax to pay for this so everyone pays if they live here.
I just had my roof done. The guy has a degree in English Education (geared toward grade and middle school) but he makes better money roofing-the schools essentially want baby sitters for the kids. So even English speaking kids are out of the loop-have you seen how they write and what they read (nothing-too busy playing Guitar Hero).
I know a teacher who is contemplating quitting because of the amount of money being taken from the budget for bi-lingual programs. Her schools have dropped Art and Music to get the money needed to help teach non-English-speaking kids. This approach is wrong. How about an English-immersion program for 6 months to get the kids up to speed so they can take classes with everyone else? Kids are sponges - they'd learn real fast, given the opportunity. I think we make it too easy for them not to have to learn the language, and their parents certainly are not encouraging them to do so.
Don't be fooled, they know the language, they just choose not to use it unless it's a priority.
Well, here is the deal. You can actually find people to do the labor around your house that speak English if you are willing to pay the right price. Same thing goes for housekeepers or maids. Of course, if you want to pay minimum wage, all you're going to get is someone who barely speaks and understands English. The thing is, foreigners who speak English have knowledge about labor laws, competitive wages, etc. They will work for you, but WILL NOT do it for minimum wage.
I agree that we should pay an honest wage. You want a crappy job done, you will get it if you cut on wages. I prefer to pay a little more and have it done right and have the work insured. With my recent roof replacement, the job only cost 130 more that the cheap low brow offer. There was a "summer" worker involved but they did an excellent job. I won't have to worry about it again.
Wow. It really is unfortunate that you can't get your menial labor done in an efficient and easy manner because people moved here due to circumstances of which you are completely ignorant and haven't learned English yet for any one of a myriad of reasons. Maybe they're too busy listening to you snipe at them to find time to learn it? Let me just ask you this: how many languages do you know? Have you ever tried to learn a second language? It's not easy, especially when you're busy trying to support yourself or possibly a family on slave wages from demanding American princesses such as yourself.
Thank you again for your flawless service, and I look forward to working with you in the future.
Post a Comment