Oh, please...What is the flap about learning Spanish? We are groping to catch up with the very neighbors in this hemisphere we have ignored so long, and are being gripped by xenophobia of the Latin kind. My humble take: I studied Russian and Italian for four years, Russian because I thought it the wave of the future (oops, I forgot the Chinese) and Italian because one of my great-grandparents was and I thought it was so romantic. Where did it get me? Nowhere! If I had been at all inclined to learn Spanish with all those mundane, Jewish girls, I might have been in a better position in life. After a certain age, the mind doesn't take to new languages. As I have said for a long time, if you could learn a language through injection, I would be the Infanta of Spain.
posted by Alexis du Bois @ 8:24 PM
2 Comments:
It's not learning another language that gets Americans up in arms. It is being FORCED to learn Spanish when so many Spanish speaking immigrants don't learn English- our national language.
If I moved to Paris, I would be expected to learn French. Cubans or anyone else who come here to live should learn English.
Every country has an "official" language which is part of their heritage- English is ours. And should be protected the same way as Spanish should be protected for Spanish speaking countries.
I am totally aware and in agreement with your argument. You can't watch Lou Dobbs every night and not. All I am saying is that--given where I live, say--it would be NICE to know Spanish, although if Russians keep moving to Miami Beach in the numbers they are, I will get some use of my language education after all.
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