#I'm back
9 messages in this thread
Jack,
Balkanizing America won't include us. Our ethnic backgrounds unfortunately
don't count anymore.
Paul
Speak for yourself. We Celtic Americans will not rest until every single
road sign is in Welsh (and hence forty feet long)!
Hey, most of the signs here are in someone's idea of Spanish. In a few areas,
there are signs in Chinese or Korean, too.
When living in Miami, I remember a Little Havana store with a sign in the
window reminiscent of those seen in European tourist shops: "English spoken
here."
Balkanization? Here? Invasion, perhaps.
Invasion? Maybe, but didn't we all? The Indians invaded from Asia, then the
Spaniards and Portuguese invaded from Europe, followed closely by the English,
French, Dutch, even the Swedes. For a period between the Civil War and the
Twenties most major cities looked and sounded like a Disney exhibit with the
original languages in tact (and smellier). Old bubbly Lawrence Welk was born
and raised in North Dakota and didn't speak English until he was 13 and never
with complete command. The U.S. doesn't have an official language but it does
have a de facto one which the children and grandchildren absorb as the one for
everyday use no matter what they speak in the home. That's the way we got where
we were. Having absorbed, conquered, or whatever about 20% of the U.S. from
Spanish-speaking nations we've always had a substantial hispanic population and
it's where new Spanish speakers feel most at home.
The only thing new here is that we had a period from the end of WWII through
the early Sixties when immigration was severely restricted and most of the
older cultural ghettoes had become tourist attractions (Little Italy,
Chinatown, etc.). Now that we're back to substantial waves, we're actually back
to the U.S. norm for most of its history.
A friend of mine who has a research company in Miami that specializes in
Hispanic projects mentioned to me that at the Continental Congress, German ran
a close second as the language to write documents in. Some of this may have
been anti-English sentiment, but it is interesting, if true.
I often see anti-Hispanic feelings here in the southwest, mostly from folks who
do not realize who was here ahead of "us." Of course, I guess I am expecting
people to know more about history than the subjects covered on "60 Minutes."
David,
In Europe that's probably true what you say about German. Especially with the
opening up of the East. There are a lot of people there whose first foreign
language is German rather than English. In the 'West', the first foreign
language is usually English (except the UK<g>, where it's French).
I'm English myself and French was the first language at school. Later we moved
on to Latin and then German. I only studied Latin for a year, but kept French
and German going all the way through school. Curiously, although I started
German some three years later than French, it's always been my stronger
language. It will almost certainly stay that way as I live in Germany and don't
get as many opportunities to practice French<g>
Adrian
As my family is bilingual (English and Spanish) I have noticed how easy it is
to add additional languages. When living in ecuador, I had many Italian and
French friends, and ended up speaking with them a rudimentary version of each
with little trouble. Of course, those languages come from the same roots, and I
had 5 years of Latin in school (No, I did not study for the priesthood!).
If I had the time, I would go for a bit of Japanese, Russian and Mandarin
Chinese. So few people realize the fun and advantages of learning more
languages.
David,
It's the _first_ foreign language that's the hardest. Each new one gets
progressively easier.
Adrian
As someone once comment to me, the second language teaches you the cultural
adaptation as well as the vocabulary and pronunciation. Once you are adept at
that part, additional languages are incrementally more easy.
I used to be amazed at Europeans who spoke 3 or 4 languages. Now I am just
envious!