Thread: "Why do I got to learn Spanish? Why can't they learn English?" America Heated Discussion

Originally Posted by YesterdayToday

It doesn't matter. English is the majority language of the US, and it is only common courtesy and common sense that immigrants adapt to the language. Whatever happened 400 or even 200 years ago is not relevant to the current immigration discussion.

I disagree. America is billed as being a "melting pot." It is an all-inclusive Nation (or so it claims to be). Part of this includes assimilating some aspects of those diverse cultures within. This country changes along with its ever-changing demographics. Yes, English is the main language of the country now, but soon it's going to apparently have two main languages, and that is due to the number of Mexican immigrants we have moving to this "all-inclusive" country.

It wouldn't make economic sense for a country that is obviously trying so hard to integrate more Mexican immigrants to not require a course in Spanish, as part of the regular curriculum.

In the past, I have traveled to different countries on short notice, and I have done my best to learn the basics of the language and grammar to get by. My opinion is that people should not try to change the society around you that you move to, you should adapt to it.

In another country, I might back you on this. But this is America. If it was just a couple of tourists coming in and out of the country, or a couple of people coming over here to live, then sure, they should be doing what they can to learn the main language. But when the country is visibly trying to more closely-knit the two cultures (one of which is already a diverse mixture of other cultures), things are going to change.

Certainly English was imposed on the US, but so was a whole plethora of other languages on other regions of the world. That doesn't mean that if you move to those countries you should snub the whole population by trying to get by on your own native language without having the decency to try to learn the basics of the local language. By that logic, if I move to Algeria I should not try to learn Arabic or French because those languages where themselves imposed on the local population (who are descended from the indigenous Berbers). My thinking is what is in the past is in the past, and what is in the present is in the present. The present that we have is one where the United States is a majority Anglophone nation and just for the sake of a cohesive society immigrants should adapt to the language and culture for that matter.

Yes, the US is a majority Anglophone nation, and the more America wants to integrate with Mexico, and encourage their migrating here, the more sense it makes to allow language to accommodate each other. Sure, it's easy to just have everyone who comes over here learn to speak English, but the gaps between cultures are going to be bridged much more quickly, if they both learn to speak each other's languages.

Personally, I think the whole argument is silly. It's not like they are completely erasing the English language. Maybe I'm just biased because I actually enjoy learning Spanish, and have lived around Spanish culture all my life, but I really don't see what all the fuss is about.

And what do you have to say about people in other countries being made to learn English?