Lo siento, no hablo español

TomG2 wrote:

TexasShadow wrote:
IMO, the reason many spanish speaking immigrants never learn to speak english is because they don't have to.
I took spanish in school a hundred years ago and never learned to speak it fluently, but if I HAVE to, I can communicate in spanish, albeit very very basic.
And the more I do it, the easier it gets...it's like riding a bike...it comes back to me.
So I say we need to stop making it so darn easy to avoid english. people will do what they gotta do if they gotta do it. :)

Absolutely. When people want a job or to sell me something, they learn my language. When I want to do business with them, I will learn theirs. If I had a dozen campers to sell down here, you can bet I would learn enough Spanish to conduct the sale.

Without a doubt. But as a foreigner looking in I can't see why it would bother anyone what language anyone would speak. I guess I can't wrap my head around what positive effect on society making it "not easy" to avoid english would have. Additional languages and culture add to a nation, not subtract from it. Especially a language as important as spanish. Not to mention the employability factor for the next generation. The fastest growing middle classes in the world are mostly from Spanish speaking nations. Anyone with a resume with secondary and tertiary language skills is going to have a leg up.

Certainly I wouldn't classify a country with more than 60 million spanish speakers not to mention an entire territory (Puerto Rico) with one of the official languages being spanish as an English speaking country. AT very mininimum I would classify it as an unofficial bilingual country. Really its one of the main things that attracts us to the area where we are. That and its only a three day drive to a nice warm winter. :) :)

Its an interesting discussion.