Arnold Swarchenegger advocated having English as our official language

[MichaeltheGreat]

BTW, the illegal voter thing has turned out to be pretty much talk radio myth.

The ex-state senator (Richardson?) who went on talk radio after having his ass kicked by Loretta Sanchez made a big stink on the radio about it, even after the (white) (Republican) Orange County Registrar of Voters told him to shut the **** up unless he could document even ONE case of an illegal alien registered to vote and voting for Sanchez.

Pollos don't give a **** about pocho politics here, certainly not to the extent of risking deportation by going to a government office or showing ID to what they think is a government official and giving a useable mailing address. They pay too much money to come up here for the privilege of picking our lettuce and sewing in our sweatshops.

[gunkulator]

I can just see it now. Gov. Arnold: "Speak English if you want to live."

[gunkulator]

MTG: pollo = chicken, right? At least that's what my menu seems to imply. Just what have I been eating?

[GePap]

Of course people in Purto Rico speak Spanis: they are not part of the US, and what else would an ex-Spanish colony speak, swahili?

The sad thing is that enlgish education in Puerto Rico lags so much: even in Panama people know more english.

As for the question: as sais before, we did not need one for 200 years, I fail to see the need now.

Besides, if anything other than english would be the official language due to lationos it would be Spanglish.

[Dom Pedro II]

Official langauge, as has been said, is a non-issue.

I mean, really, what difference will it make? Legal documents and forms in english? They already are!

And bilingual education, though I'd like to see it on the chopping block, isn't the point of the official language and only MAY catch some of the splash effect.

Although IIRC this would also force private businesses to do all business in English... and such an intrusion is something I would expect any Republican to be against.

But again, the impact isn't earth-shattering, but I agree that it could breed resentment. Especially in Puerto Rico... what would be the case there? Would this force their whole island to become english-speaking? That might even be enough for them to say Adios the next time the state/commowealth/independence issue comes up.

Not that many people would care... except Democratic candidates in urban areas that is.

[GePap]

Being a commonwealth of the US does not mean they would have to adopt our official language, as far as I can tell. They wouldn;t anyway.

[Dom Pedro II]

Good to know.

[CorpusScorpius]

Official Language or not.........people learn what they have to to survive......They might not understand every word you say but they seem to understand perfectly when it comes to money or jobs

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by gunkulator
MTG: pollo = chicken, right? At least that's what my menu seems to imply. Just what have I been eating?

Pollos (chickens) is Mexican slang for the immigrants (wherever they come from - a lot come here from other countries and pass through on their way north).

Polleros (chicken herders) is Mexican slang for the smugglers.

Not far south of our house here, part way into Rosarito, there's a grilled chicken place called Pollos "Los Ilegales" I wondered if the guys who started it tried to cross and couldn't make it, or if they just picked the name (there's so many chicken places here, that creative names are hard to find) because it was creative and untaken.

[monolith94]

"Well, Arnie wouldn't be the first Austrian populist, would he?"

He's no populist.

[JohnT]

I didn't even notice that... somebody Godwined the thread?

Shame on you, Ralph.

[Oerdin]

Originally posted by GePap
Of course people in Purto Rico speak Spanis: they are not part of the US, and what else would an ex-Spanish colony speak, swahili?

Reread my post. I said there are more Spanish speakers in California then in all of Porto Rico. Now, do you understand? We're just comparing numbers here.

[Dr Strangelove]

Look on the bright side, he can't go on to become President.

[Proteus_MST]

I´d go for German as the Official Language in the USA
It would be very useful to be able to communicate with the people on the other side of the great pond, without having to learn english first

[Harovan]

Originally posted by JohnT
I didn't even notice that... somebody Godwined the thread?

Shame on you, Ralph.

It was godwined before me by elijah:

German for the fourth Reich!!

And I was talking about their chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, or can you prove this wrong?

[Sava]

I think this is a non-issue. That status-quo is fine. Someone should make a case for having an official language, so far, I've mostly seen the normal, predictable xenophobic responses, as well as the predictable responses on the flipside.

[korn469]

come on people we need english as our official language!

as Arnold would say when asked about what is the best thing about being govenor

To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women in our nation's official language!

[Nubclear]

Why make an official language? First of all, schools do encourage English as the primary language considering:

1. Most teachers speak English
2. Most documents are in English
3. Most things are taught in English
4. Most schools teach English in the first few years of schooling
5. Most peers speak English

Second, you just can't get anywhere without English. Thats encouragement enough.
Third, making English as the primary language would only fuel the anti-american fire and will have no gains. Meaning there is no point other than to say "Ha! I live in America where ENGLISH is the official language!".

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Comrade Tassadar
Third, making English as the primary language would only fuel the anti-american fire

Where's the anti-Danish or even the anti-Dutch propaganda over this issue then?

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Where's the anti-Danish or even the anti-Dutch propaganda over this issue then?

I must have missed the CNN headline declaring Denmark and the Netherlands dominant military, economic, and cultural powers.
Pardon me, it was my mistake. Really.

[Q Classic]

if an asian has to learn english to do anything here when he or she moves here for a better life, so should every latino and hispanic who comes here. speak what you want at home, but when you're doing business with the government or with non-community businesses, use the common tongue, english.

hell, it ain't that big of a leap from spanish to english, not compared to c/j/k. vietnamese, bengali, lao, hmong, or any of the others.

no fund should be diverted to make any sort of translations for any official forms. if you can't read it, learn. if you can't speak it, learn. offer english classes, but don't, don't even think about making a second government language, even unofficially.

[Asmodean]

But we are, Tass. We are. And don't you dare say otherwise...

Asmodean