Iowa Aviation Weather...en Espanol

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

The US has never had an 'official' language and it does not need one now. I
don't need some government regulator telling me what language to speak.

You (and others like you) are dooming us to Balkanization.

Without a common language, no country can long survive.

But that's beside the original point. Who in the HELL authorized the
creation of a foreign language webpage by our supposedly cash-strapped
National Weather Service?

Apparently they have money to burn, and we shouldn't be concerned with
their budget in the future.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Would you call Lakota a foreign language in the US?

In the context of modern-day America, and this conversation, of
course.

Really, I don't care WHAT language is mandated. Hell, let's use
Sioux, if you want.

But one must be decided upon and adhered to, officially, or America is
doomed to become Yugoslavia.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 22:31:47 -0800, Morgans wrote
(in article ):


"Hamish Reid" wrote

None of that really answers the question: in what sense is Spanish a
foreign language in the US? As several people have pointed out, it
predates English in these parts by a long way, and has been spoken
continuously 'round here by immigrants and native-born citizens alike
for all of that time.

Now you are being silly. English is the official language in the US, and is
the only language of record. That says it all.

There is no official language in the US. Anyone who says that there is is
ignorant of American history, American law, and American values.

Saints preserve us from becoming like the French, arguing endlessly about
whether every word is sufficiently pure enough to be used in both daily and
official discourse.

Now then, I know of places, I have been to places, where they speak English,
have for generations, and you would barely understand a word they say.
English is now the dominant language of the world. There are more people who
speak English as a second language than those who learned it as their primary
language. But that English has many forms. There is no international or even
national body that can decide what is 'proper' English.

If you want to make English an official language, you then have to decide
which English is the official form. And then you get into arguing about
whether words like "turkey" are English or not. Some knothead will decide
that you cannot eat "beef" because that is French; you have to eat "cow." You
cannot drive an "auto" because that is German. And "cars" are too French. So
they will make up some purely English word. You allow some board of academics
to decide that their politically correct version of English is preferable to
the sexist, racist, patriarchal, oppressive, obnoxious English that you
speak. And there will be endless litigation over whether some contract was
actually written in English. Do you want that? Because I can guarantee you,
all those countries that do have an official language have those things.

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

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

On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 04:43:49 -0800, Jay Honeck wrote
(in article .com):

The US has never had an 'official' language and it does not need one now. I
don't need some government regulator telling me what language to speak.

You (and others like you) are dooming us to Balkanization.

Without a common language, no country can long survive.

Nonsense. Plenty of countries without a common language have been around for
a lot longer than we have. Even the US has never had a common language and
for part of its history English was a minority language.

You keep insisting that Spanish is a foreign language. In what way is it a
foreign language that English is not?


--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

Jay Honeck wrote:
cut
Without a common language, no country can long survive.

Cut
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"


Well Switzerland did quite well for more than 700 years(4 official
languages), as did other multilingual countries around the world.
How old is USA?

The United States was made great because of the immigrants moving here, and the US becoming the "melting pot."

The United States was made great... er... powerful, because all of us
(at least all of us who matter) are the same. We speak the same
language, we have the same religion, we have the same moral values, we
are the same color, and we have the same aspirations. That we are all
the same allows us to unify in a very deep sense, and saves us from
unnecessary effort and angst.

Before you spout off calling this all BS, consider how we are reacting now.

People who are different are a crack in that unity. They make others
uncomfortable. They are a threat to the lifestyle, rights, and control
that the others (already) have. They require special accomodation, both
in the legal sense and in the social sense. They require us to be tolerant.

Tolerant of colored skin. Of wrong religious beliefs. Of depraved
marital ideas. Of incomprehensible tongues. Of idiot politics. Of
choice of intoxicants. Of ideas and ideals that we ourselves do not
share, we are required to be tolerant. We are required to share the
power, the vote, with those who do not deserve it because they are
different from us. This does not go down well. Americans seem to feel
that everyone else should conform to our views.

We preach tolerance, but don't practice it very well. How many
Americans whose native language is Engligh can actually =speak= a second
language?

Pilots as a group are also "different" and we want "accomodation" from
the masses, so that we can do what we do, which is not something most
people are interested themselves in doing. We are different, and thus
inconvenient. It's kind of hypocritical to demand accomodation on one
side, and then demand conformance on the other side.

Jose
--
Humans are pack animals. Above all things, they have a deep need to
follow something, be it a leader, a creed, or a mob. Whosoever fully
understands this holds the world in his hands.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 04:47:24 -0800, Jay Honeck wrote
(in article . com):

Would you call Lakota a foreign language in the US?

In the context of modern-day America, and this conversation, of
course.

Really, I don't care WHAT language is mandated. Hell, let's use
Sioux, if you want.

But one must be decided upon and adhered to, officially, or America is
doomed to become Yugoslavia.

I sincerely doubt that. Yes, English is more dominant now than it was when
you were born, but now it is losing a little of that dominance. You need to
get out of Iowa once in awhile. Visit Washington, D.C., or New Mexico, or
Puerto Rico. We have managed to hold this country together for more than two
centuries despite the fact that so many languages are spoken in it. I suspect
it will continue for a few more.

You must believe that America has become weak indeed if it can no longer
tolerate what has been the situation since its inception. I suspect that the
problem is more that we now have better communication in the country, and a
lot of folks who live in what were relatively isolated, English speaking,
farming communities are suddenly discovering that the rest of America is not
like that. And they don't like it.

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 04:47:24 -0800, Jay Honeck wrote
(in article . com):

Would you call Lakota a foreign language in the US?


But one must be decided upon and adhered to, officially, or America is
doomed to become Yugoslavia.


No. Intolerance created Yugoslavia's problems. You decide that somebody who
speaks a different language or who has a different religion is no longer
worthy to be allowed to do that or to live next door to you despite the fact
that his ancestors have for centuries -- well, when you decide that then what
separates you from Milosevic? I really hope we have learned better than that.



--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor