There is a lot of debate right now on the solution to the number of people coming across the border. There also seems to be a lot of contention between illegal immigrants and American citizens. This contention seems to be spreading into contention between Hispanics in general and other American citizens.
I believe that we do have problems with the large amount of Mexican immigration, especially illegal immigration. The problem I want to comment on today is our response, as American citizens, to it. There are many examples of things we could do to improve our response to Mexican immigration. I will focus on the language barrier.
"They need to learn English"
Let me start out by saying that I believe that if you move to a place where they predominantly speak a different language than you, then you should learn that language. This isn't happening as often or as quickly as it should. Programs or incentives or something for people to do this might help. I do not know. While we work to figure these things out, the problem still remains that there are a large number of people in this country that do not speak English.
We can complain that they don't speak English and we can continue to leave communication between us in an impassable condition or we can do something. If you frequently interact with people who are Hispanic, Korean, Indian, or whatever you could help your situation by learning their language.
America is one of the few countries in the world where the majority of the population isn't fluent in a second language.
My position that we should do what we can to fix the results of a bad situation does not mean that we stop attempting to find a way to eliminate the bad situation. One might look at one's inability to communicate in the language of those around as their problem, but learning other languages than your native language could also do a lot to coexist peacefully.
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2 comments:
Your kidding right?
If you want to be American you must learn English, that is and should be non negotiable.
If they are actually invading the country, which many people believe they are, then I guess "converting" people to the Spanish language as you would like would be the smartest course of action.
Good luck.
The point is not that there are not problems that need to be addresses with government policies and the like, but that all takes time. In the meantime hate and contention, which in places is turning into racism, is growing. That is more damaging to our families and our country than illegal immigration.
The point is to look inside yourself to see what you can do to make the situation better. Part of that making it better is to pursue changes in policies and laws. The idea in the post is for more immediate effect.
What effect does our position have on us personally? Do we feel peace or do we feel contention?
I agree that when you live in a country you should learn the predominant language and that it might need to be a requirement of citizenship. I also am not sure that signs need to be bilingual. That doesn't mean that you don't learn a secondarily predominant language to help your value to yourself, your family, and society.
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