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Is it racist to ask for immigrants to speak English?

Is it racist to ask immigrants to speak English?

  • Total voters
    118
Harry Guerrilla said:
That's not realistic.
I've learned (rough working knowledge) about 5 or 6 languages and they continue to deteriorate because I almost never use them.
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I hope three of those 5 or 6 languages are spanish, arabic and chinese, as one or all of those may well be at the forefront of your language center.
 
I speak English and French to a point, it's a real job to speak to Quebeckers. The accent is hard but I've mastered it and that's the biggest hurdle. In Canada we are officially bilingual so being bilingual helps. Language education in Quebec is a hot debate since in order to receive education in English one of your parents must have been taught in a Canadian English language school. Especially if you live in BC, Chinese is very helpful since there is very large part of the population that is Chinese. The Natives usually speak in their language aswell as English but in NWT they have 11 official languages and most of them are different native tongues.
 
ChrisL said:
Nope, in certain cities, it is ALL foreigners who, for the most part, speak VERY broken English. They figure it out eventually, but you have to point to what you want and they pick up the wrong things repeatedly. I could use Framingham (a suburb of Boston) is a good example with a HUGE Brazilian population. Nice people and rich culture, but it would be nice if some people put more effort into learning the language or at least being able to understand adequately for communication purposes.
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And if you're a member of a minority immigrant community and you need to find someone to tend the cash register...who's the best person you can trust (more or less) with the job? Your family.
 
Anything that inconveniences the immigrants in any way, such as learning anything about the United States or paying taxes, learning English, etc., etc., is racist. Certainly any imposition of the inferior American culture over their own is racist, this is particularly true if they come from a 3rd world country and are here because they can live for free off the work of others.
 
Dooble said:
I hope three of those 5 or 6 languages are spanish, arabic and chinese, as one or all of those may well be at the forefront of your language center.
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The US actually has no official national language. We should make English the national language and make provisions in immigration policies that immigrants must be proficient (to a point) in English.
 
Cardinal said:
And if you're a member of a minority immigrant community and you need to find someone to tend the cash register...who's the best person you can trust (more or less) with the job? Your family.
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That's true, but it sure makes it difficult for us English-speaking customers.
 
Dooble said:
I hope three of those 5 or 6 languages are spanish, arabic and chinese, as one or all of those may well be at the forefront of your language center.
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Besides English for obvious reasons, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, German, French and Romanian.
When I stopped working with Brazilians, Portuguese became nearly useless, the rest I did for fun.

Again they're nearly useless to know, because of all the people I've come into contact with, nearly 99% spoke strong English.
 
LoopyPaladin said:
I hear people talking about this subject all the time, and I'm just curious.

Is it racist to ask immigrants to speak English (or whatever language the country they immigrated to speaks) when in public places?
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I don't know about asking them to speak it in certain places but I think it's sound advice to ask them to learn the language(s) of the country they immigrated to and are living in.
 
ChrisL said:
The US actually has no official national language. We should make English the national language and make provisions in immigration policies that immigrants must be proficient (to a point) in English.
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Don't you have language proficiency already? here you have be proficient in either English or French.
 
0bserver92 said:
Don't you have language proficiency already? here you have be proficient in either English or French.
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In as far as school goes, you have to be good enough to pass English class, but don't confuse that with being able to speak proper English.
A lot of people here, can graduate, being functionally illiterate.
 
0bserver92 said:
Don't you have language proficiency already? here you have be proficient in either English or French.
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I'm not sure, and if so I'm not sure how seriously it's taken.
 
Just imagine being on a construction site, and somebody drops a hammer from 20 feet above and says "look out below!" but the non-English speaker doesn't understand and gets clocked in the head. In a lot of jobs, good communication is imperative for safety and other reasons.
 
If I were uneducated and to suddenly move to any other country but live in an area of english speaking people, it would probably take me quite awhile to catch on to the national language. You've got to put yourself in other peoples shoes. Trying to survive on a daily basis usually trumps, "did I offend anyone with my poor communication skills today?" Given time most people will eventually pick up enough of a native language to get by but for some of us, especially older ones it don't come quick.
 
ChrisL said:
Just imagine being on a construction site, and somebody drops a hammer from 20 feet above and says "look out below!" but the non-English speaker doesn't understand and gets clocked in the head. In a lot of jobs, good communication is imperative for safety and other reasons.
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By the same logic we shouldn't have two official languages either then.
 
grip said:
If I were uneducated and to suddenly move to any other country but live in an area of english speaking people, it would probably take me quite awhile to catch on to the national language. You've got to put yourself in other peoples shoes. Trying to survive on a daily basis usually trumps, "did I offend anyone with my poor communication skills today?" Given time most people will eventually pick up enough of a native language to get by but for some of us, especially older ones it don't come quick.
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Well, I know there are plenty of resources (even free) where immigrants can learn English. I looked it up, and says that you need to be able to write, read and speak simple English (I would only expect for them to be able to speak the language), but that SOME exceptions are made. It seems like a lot more than "some" though, at least in my area.
 
0bserver92 said:
By the same logic we shouldn't have two official languages either then.
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It must make things confusing at times for some people who don't speak both languages. I'm sure that even if learned in school as children, if not used frequently, most people are going to forget how to communicate in one of the languages. I just don't see how things can work smoothly with more than one official language, but I don't live in Canada, so :shrug:
 
ChrisL said:
Just imagine being on a construction site, and somebody drops a hammer from 20 feet above and says "look out below!" but the non-English speaker doesn't understand and gets clocked in the head. In a lot of jobs, good communication is imperative for safety and other reasons.
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Ten years ago the Hispanic mortality rate on construction sites was obscene. Too many workers said, "Si, hablo ingles" when they actually didn't. Construction companies have responded by providing bilingual safety training (and at the same time requiring project superintendants to speak limited workplace Spanish), and now numbers are down.

I often shop by choice at an ethnically diverse grocery store where I'm frequently the only Anglo, and what disturbs me is the number of shoppers who are clearly not bilingual. At all. No problema with the abuelitas, but the young moms don't speak English, and the kids aren't just speaking Spanish because it's the "home language" either. I've seen kids go through the entire K-12th grade system in bilingual classes and still not speak enough English to function in the workplace.

Conversely, I know folks from the People's Republic of China who speak nearly flawless English. People from the Congo whose first language is French who manage to get by. Why?
 
ChrisL said:
Well, I know there are plenty of resources (even free) where immigrants can learn English. I looked it up, and says that you need to be able to write, read and speak simple English (I would only expect for them to be able to speak the language), but that SOME exceptions are made. It seems like a lot more than "some" though, at least in my area.
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They're scared, intimidated, overwhelmed with other worries and learning the native language just isn't a high priority at first. If I were to rely on my Spanish to even ask for food I'd starve. I'm not saying it isn't a smart thing to learn only that poor immigrants aren't usually real educated.
 
ChrisL said:
It must make things confusing at times for some people who don't speak both languages. I'm sure that even if learned in school as children, if not used frequently, most people are going to forget how to communicate in one of the languages. I just don't see how things can work smoothly with more than one official language, but I don't live in Canada, so :shrug:
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We are taught as children, we are required to learn form Grade 4 - Grade 9 after that it is optional. if you want to be in government you need to be bilingual, for example since I want to be in the page program in the first year of university I have be fluent in both languages since you are working with both languages. The bilingualism that dates back to even before Canada was a country, rebellions things like that over language. Then in the modern era Quebec has the influence to do it since Quebeckers get very mad and protest if their language or culture is threatened and it's half the reason Quebec is not part of the Canadian constitution and has their own. It's all politics and nothing bad has ever happened. There are francophones like Prime Minster Trudeau that speak English perfectly(he also made the country bilingual):
 
IMO a person that can't speak English you should not be able to vote, drive, or own property.
 
nota bene said:
Ten years ago the Hispanic mortality rate on construction sites was obscene. Too many workers said, "Si, hablo ingles" when they actually didn't. Construction companies have responded by providing bilingual safety training (and at the same time requiring project superintendants to speak limited workplace Spanish), and now numbers are down.

I often shop by choice at an ethnically diverse grocery store where I'm frequently the only Anglo, and what disturbs me is the number of shoppers who are clearly not bilingual. At all. No problema with the abuelitas, but the young moms don't speak English, and the kids aren't just speaking Spanish because it's the "home language" either. I've seen kids go through the entire K-12th grade system in bilingual classes and still not speak enough English to function in the workplace.

Conversely, I know folks from the People's Republic of China who speak nearly flawless English. People from the Congo whose first language is French who manage to get by. Why?
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I don't know, but it can't be good for anyone. This could be why a lot of immigrants remain in poverty.
 
nota bene said:
Ten years ago the Hispanic mortality rate on construction sites was obscene. Too many workers said, "Si, hablo ingles" when they actually didn't. Construction companies have responded by providing bilingual safety training (and at the same time requiring project superintendants to speak limited workplace Spanish), and now numbers are down.

I often shop by choice at an ethnically diverse grocery store where I'm frequently the only Anglo, and what disturbs me is the number of shoppers who are clearly not bilingual. At all. No problema with the abuelitas, but the young moms don't speak English, and the kids aren't just speaking Spanish because it's the "home language" either. I've seen kids go through the entire K-12th grade system in bilingual classes and still not speak enough English to function in the workplace.

Conversely, I know folks from the People's Republic of China who speak nearly flawless English. People from the Congo whose first language is French who manage to get by. Why?
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A lot of those from other nations who come here, at least where they have to travel by plane, are likely more educated, than people who ran/sneak/whatever across a border.
The probably explains a lot of that.
 
ChrisL said:
I don't know, but it can't be good for anyone. This could be why a lot of immigrants remain in poverty.
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Only certain groups...and that's part of my point.
 
grip said:
They're scared, intimidated, overwhelmed with other worries and learning the native language just isn't a high priority at first. If I were to rely on my Spanish to even ask for food I'd starve. I'm not saying it isn't a smart thing to learn only that poor immigrants aren't usually real educated.
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Right, and we should change that. IMO, if we are going to have immigrants in the country, they need to be able to get by on their own, and learning the language is one step in the right direction. Classes in English should be mandatory for those waiting for citizenship (which takes YEARS, so there is plenty of time). It only makes sense to me.
 
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