Millions of US citizens don't speak English to each other, continuing decades-long rise

[rangerrebew]

Millions of US citizens don't speak English to each other, continuing decades-long rise

Christopher Ingraham, The Washington Post Published 9:49 am, Monday, May 21, 2018
 

Last Wednesday, a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Montana stopped and questioned two U.S. citizens for over 30 minutes after he overheard them speaking Spanish at a gas station.

The day before, a lawyer in New York City went viral after he was videotaped making xenophobic comments and threatening to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Spanish speakers in a deli.

The incidents underscore a key fact about modern American society: as of 2016, 35 million U.S. citizens over the age of 18, or more than 15 percent, speak a language other than English at home, according to the U.S. Census.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Millions-of-US-citizens-don-t-speak-English-to-12931310.php

[Sanguine]

It's not an issue of being bilingual.  It's an issue of not  being able to speak the common language - which prevents to a great degree the ability and desire to assimilate.

[WingNot]

It's not an issue of being bilingual.  It's an issue of not  being able to speak the national language - which prevents to a great degree the ability and desire to assimilate.

Liberals abandoned assimilation for "Diversity".   Thus precluding America ever coming together again.

[LauraTXNM]

@Wingnut Obviously there has always been a tension between becoming American and still worshipping, eating, dancing, etc., the way your ancestors did.  I'd argue that some of the immigrants who faced more discrimination often kept up their traditions more fiercely, maybe as a way of reminding themselves of their community and their pride?  I think about Serbian families my dad grew up with in the 1930s as an example.  The kids definitely spoke English, but the parents were still keeping the old customs alive in this tiny Colorado town.

I was always slightly jealous of people I knew who had that additional cultural background, possibly spoke another language at home.  My family had been here long enough that we didn't have any "costume" or music or dances.  This was part of celebrating immigrants to me; they were absolutely American but still remembered where they came from and had cool little quirks that made them different.  I went to an international school for two years, and it was simultaneously odd and wonderful having no national cuisine, etc., because we were a nation of immigrants.

It's necessarily harder to assimilate when you look very different than the natives.  And if you have an accent that isn't recognizably at least Anglicized, it's also hard to blend in.  How many ads do I see, especially in Eastern cities, for speech coaches to eradicate an accent?

I think some people have given up trying, much to their detriment and ours.  But I can imagine a sense of fatigue if they come to feel like they'll never "fit".

[Smokin Joe]

If you can't read the founding documents in their original language, if you can't read and comprehend the philosophy behind them, if you can't viscerally understand the grievances against the Crown (and the bases for those), you are going to have a very difficult time understanding what America is, is supposed to be , and what it is not.

If you want to become an American, it's more than a new label on the outside, there is some content involved, too. That doesn't mean you can't keep cooking goulash, or wearing a kilt, or celebrating some holiday or another, but realize that is your past heritage, the future is here.

[LauraTXNM]

If you can't read the founding documents in their original language, if you can't read and comprehend the philosophy behind them, if you can't viscerally understand the grievances against the Crown (and the bases for those), you are going to have a very difficult time understanding what America is, is supposed to be , and what it is not.

If you want to become an American, it's more than a new label on the outside, there is some content involved, too. That doesn't mean you can't keep cooking goulash, or wearing a kilt, or celebrating some holiday or another, but realize that is your past heritage, the future is here.

I totally agree, @Smokin Joe!

[mirraflake]

We went to a mall outside Falls Church VA a few months back. Maybe 10% whities. 60% Indian (dot on forehead indians) and muslims, rest black. Interestingly saw very few hispanics though the Indians and muslims are all HB-1 white collar workers I suspect.

Saw a full burqas but mostly hijabs and Indian, is it sarongs?

What the rest of coastal America will be like in 10-15 years.

[GrouchoTex]

Como?

Seriously, as @Smokin Joe said "realize that is your past heritage, the future is here".

[skeeter]

If you can't read the founding documents in their original language, if you can't read and comprehend the philosophy behind them, if you can't viscerally understand the grievances against the Crown (and the bases for those), you are going to have a very difficult time understanding what America is, is supposed to be , and what it is not.

THAT is exactly the goal of those so keen on bringing them here by the hundreds of thousands.

[Fishrrman]

Wingnut wrote:
"Liberals abandoned assimilation for "Diversity".   Thus precluding America ever coming together again."

Absolutely correct.
I just read an excellent book on the subject.
However, I cannot post the book's name nor the name of its author.
If I was to do so, the moderators will redact that information or remove my post altogether.
(sigh...)

[Smokin Joe]

Wingnut wrote:
"Liberals abandoned assimilation for "Diversity".   Thus precluding America ever coming together again."

Absolutely correct.
I just read an excellent book on the subject.
However, I cannot post the book's name nor the name of its author.
If I was to do so, the moderators will redact that information or remove my post altogether.
(sigh...)

Perhaps the most insidious censorship of ideas occurs when thoughts are judged on their sources and not their merits.
Whether a thought is offensive or not has little bearing on its veracity. The truth frequently offends someone, especially if that exposure thwarts evil plans hidden behind humanitarian facades.