Iowa Aviation Weather...en Espanol

Hamish Reid writes:

In what sense is Spanish a foreign language in the US?

In just about every sense. It's the language of the mainstream, of success,
of society, of the media. You can't really participate in American society
without it.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

No. Finally government begins to respond to citizen needs and all you
do is bitch about it.
--
Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.
Groucho Marx

In article , Bob Fry
wrote:

No. Finally government begins to respond to citizen needs and all you
do is bitch about it.

How many citizens can only read/write Spanish?

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 04:18:53 -0800, Bob Noel wrote
(in article ):

In article , Bob Fry
wrote:

No. Finally government begins to respond to citizen needs and all you
do is bitch about it.

How many citizens can only read/write Spanish?



The last survey indicated about 14 million, including Puerto Rico which,
IIRC, is part of the United States. The United States is the fifth largest
Spanish speaking country in the world. Spanish is spoken by more people than
all other languages, including Native languages, combined except for English.
New Mexico provided in its constitution when it became a state that the
government would be bilingual. For a time, after the Louisiana Purchase,
Spanish was more commonly spoken in the US than was English, and French was
almost as common.

On the other hand, Spanish is dying out in some US and former US territories.
It has almost completely disappeared in the Philippines in less than two
generations, where just thirty years ago it was one of the official
languages. Few people speak it in Guam or the Pacific Islands any more.

Today, Spanish is rapidly becoming the dominant language in many big cities,
including Washington, D.C. Birth rates among Spanish speakers are higher than
English speakers and, if the trend continues, there will come a time when
English will be a minority language.

Despite centuries of assimilation, there are still pockets of people who
speak only French, German or other languages in the US. And let us not forget
our debt to the Navajo code talkers. Perhaps one day people will be concerned
about catering to those pockets of Anglos who refuse to assimilate.

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

C J Campbell writes:

Perhaps one day people will be concerned
about catering to those pockets of Anglos who refuse to assimilate.

I don't see that happening in the foreseeable future.

What really happens is that Spanish speakers who wish to get ahead in the U.S.
learn to read, write, and speak English. Those who confine themselves to
Spanish live in a large but isolated ghetto and fall prey to hucksters and
demagogues who profit from the captive audience created by monolingual
Hispanophones to further their own ends.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Mxsmanic wrote:

What really happens is that Spanish speakers who wish to get ahead in the U.S.
learn to read, write, and speak English. Those who confine themselves to
Spanish live in a large but isolated ghetto and fall prey to hucksters and
demagogues who profit from the captive audience created by monolingual
Hispanophones to further their own ends.


You continue to impress me with your rather accurate grasp of American
politics... especially the part about some politicians actually
exploiting certain socio-economic groups... sucking up to them and
ultimately playing them against others for their own political (and
financial) gain.

("Bob Noel" wrote)
How many citizens can only read/write Spanish?


Citizens.

Trick question! :-)


Montblack

On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:34:03 -0800, Montblack wrote
(in article ):

("Bob Noel" wrote)
How many citizens can only read/write Spanish?


Citizens.

Trick question! :-)

Not really. As I said, about 14 million, including the Puerto Ricans, all of
whom are US citizens. The same surveys show that of those *citizens* who
speak Spanish at home, another 15 million or so are able to speak some
English, whether it is a few words or fluently.

As for aliens, both legal and illegal, they are hard to count, but most
reliable counts indicate about 11 million who speak only Spanish. That would
be a total of 40 million Spanish speakers in the US.

I am disturbed by the apparent assumption that any Spanish speaker must be an
illegal alien. The vast majority of Spanish speakers in the US are citizens.
A lot of them are descended from people who were living in what is now the
USA long before the Mayflower ever got here. It really is ignorant not to
know that.

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

C J Campbell writes:

As for aliens, both legal and illegal, they are hard to count, but most
reliable counts indicate about 11 million who speak only Spanish. That would
be a total of 40 million Spanish speakers in the US.

Kick the illegal aliens out, and you can reduce that figure by several
million. Although 40 million is quite an exaggeration.

I am disturbed by the apparent assumption that any Spanish speaker must be an
illegal alien.

Who has made that assumption?

The vast majority of Spanish speakers in the US are citizens.
A lot of them are descended from people who were living in what is now the
USA long before the Mayflower ever got here. It really is ignorant not to
know that.

They are pretty ignorant not to speak English. I guess they want to clean
toilets all their lives.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

("Bob Noel" wrote)
How many citizens can only read/write Spanish?
Citizens.
Trick question! :-)


the citizenship test doesn't require being able to speak english. you
can take it in your own language if you pay/provide a translator.

just like in court, they will get a translator if a witness or
defendant doesn't speak english.

(all this i know from being surrounded by Russians who just recently
came here and don't speak enough english to be useful)