Gingrich on Bilingual Education

[Savaric]

Well I kinda like Newt Gingrich. I can't approve of his reference to "ghetto" language, which I attribute more to ebonics, but he is correct in my view on the issue of bilingualism in the U.S.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/....ap/index.html

"There's no resistance to learning English, really, among immigrants, among native-born citizens," he said. "Everyone wants to learn English because it's what you need to thrive in this country."

I can't disagree more. You certainly don't need to learn English to get by in America, especially when the U.S. government caters to your language. Now read:

"On voting, federal law requires districts with large populations of non-English speakers to print ballots in multiple languages."

Right buddy, whatever you say. These kinds of things send the message that you don't need to learn English in the states because the government and the American taxpayers are going to accommadate you.

[Grantref]

"On voting, federal law requires districts with large populations of non-English speakers to print ballots in multiple languages."

Well, I don't see anything in the constitution saying that you have the right to vote unless you can't read english. In fact, I believe (though IANAL) that courts have ruled that the constitutionally guaranteed right to vote, and the principle of equal protection under law, requires the government to make it possible for english-illiterate citizens to vote.

They're U.S. citizens, regardless of whether or not they speak english. They have the right to cast their vote for the candidate they prefer without having to try to muddle through in a language that is unintelligible, and it seems to me to be a reprehensible point of view to argue that they should not.

[Rosuav]

Originally posted by Savaric
Right buddy, whatever you say. These kinds of things send the message that you don't need to learn English in the states because the government and the American taxpayers are going to accommadate you.

The government may very well do its best to accommodate you, but that doesn't mean life will be easy if you don't know English. English is the language of technical documents, and to a very large extent, computers speak English as their only human language. Sure, some programs are multilingual - but English is still the primary language. Even among people with a common mother tongue, it's common to speak English when discussing computing concepts, simply because it has the richest technical vocabulary. Linus Torvalds, author of Linux, naturally commented his source in English, for instance. So if you don't speak English, you're going to be in big trouble whenever you touch a computer - fighting through imperfect or nonexistent translations.