http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZprtPat1Vk
âŚand Jim Rogers wants your child to learn Chinese. :eek:
I want more kids to learn English!
I wonder how long before Ali-bama will start wanting your children to study the koranâŚ
Amazing.
Probably about the time Sen. McCain buys a gun. 
Or when Pres. Bush gets a clue of his own. :rolleyes:
I favor secure borders and English-only. But principle is one thing, sad reality another.
My wife and I encourage our spawns to learn Spanish. Wish I had. Itâs a brave new worldâŚ
Well, I find it interesting that he is âembarrassedâ by US touristâs language skills and wants to compare that to language issues caused, in great part, by illegal immigration.
English should be the primary language of all Americans, but children should be REQUIRED to learn a second conversational language by the end of their high school years.
It does not need to be a fixed language, as in âSpanish Onlyâ, but one of choice. A child may choose to learn a language of their ancestors, or they may choose to learn a language thatâs more practical for their city, community, or professional aspirations.
The bottom line is, when a language is learned, itâs almost always within a cultural context. Itâs very hard to learn a conversational language without learning about the cultures that it is used in. That âcultural awarenessâ may be the biggest plus in learning a language, and it cannot be underestimated.
I saw that on FOX this morning. Someone E-mailed in and said if obama is embaressed by Americans speaking only English then he should go somewhere where he will be more comfortable.
Iâm down with that. It looks like this guy is just going to keep stepping in it until he makes everyone angry.
Here is what bothers me. When I was growing up in California my high school offered German, Spanish and French. I studied German for 3 years in anticipation of being stationed in Germany after enlisting into the Army.
However, as I understand now only Spanish is being taught due to âbudgetâ problems. So just who made the decision and why Spanish? Well itâs obvious. With all of the illegals and especially those that refuse to learn English it was probably the smartest choice and no doubt motivated by politics. This guy is nothing but a panderer and a socialist. The kind of change that he wants is not the kind of change most of us want or need. For him to suggest that âour kidsâ should learn Spanish is nothing but pandering to the hispanic vote. Why not Chinese, Russian, Italian? Well I guess itâs because they arenât voting in November.
Hereâs what we call a clue: There are billions of people that speak English.
Maybe the reason people in Denmark or the Netherlands or his favorite tourist destination in Europe speak English is because there are only 3 million people that speak Danish or Dutch or whatever.
Thereâs no point in us learning dying languages. Do you think the Roman Pro Consuls were worried about learning languages other than Latin? Greek, yes. Hebrew? Not a chance.
There is a point in learning Chinese or Arabic. The Indians already speak English so thatâs covered. German? Might as well learn to program on floppy discs in Basic.
English is the language of trade. If you want to fly an airliner, you have to speak English - because all of the global air control system is in English.
It just proves what an out-of-touch moron Obama is, thatâs all.
M_P
I took 6 years of Spanish in HS and college, including AP and AP testing.
I was extremely proficient, bordering on fluent. Itâs all been forgotten, sadly.
Itâs a nice thing to learn, and appreciate. Iâd not be embarrassed by my fellow countrymen who travel abroad and do not know French, German, Gaelic, Chinese, Japanese, etc.
In all honesty, the ability of travellers to speak other languages wouldnât even be on the radar in this day and age.
Why donât we talk about how to get oil refineries and nuke plants built here? Letâs discuss and take actionable steps to tapping in to ANWRâŚ
PfftâŚspanish language classesâŚ:rolleyes:
I have no trouble with my kids learning SpanishâŚas well as French, German, Latin etc. Iâm multilingual myself. French, Spanish and Japanese.
I do have trouble with immigrants coming to this country and not learning English.
When I went to live abroad, I had the courtesy to learn the language of my host country.
What cheek. 
No they shouldnât.
WellâŚWhy not?
It was required when my parents came from Spain they had to take English classes things have changed from the 70âs to now.
Almost the exact same scenario here, both with Spanish and Italian. This surprises me because I am usually very good memory wise, but I have forgotten so much in the past 16 years since college. Lack of use sure, but I would expect better of myself regardless.
Still can maintain a basic Spanish dialog, such as âlos zapatos es rojoâ (the shoes are red) or âel camiso es azuleâ (the shirt is blue), but that is about it. Not going far with that. :mad:
Becasue this is America and we speak American here.
GIT 'ER DUN!
Just because you reside in America doesnât mean that you wonât interact socially and professionally solely with English speaking people. We donât just live in America. We live in an America that lives in a global economy and workplace. Shortsightedness like this will be the downfall of our economy and our standard of living.
The big movers in the world now, in respect to the world economy (China, S. Korea, India) all heavily push multi-lingual students. If weâre so much better than the rest of the world, why shouldnât we expect the same from our children? Just like anything else, if you donât keep working and training hard to improve yourself, youâll fall behind the curve as the more motivated/dedicated pass you by.