Aye; I'm certainly not suggesting english-only; just... be prepared to learn english if you are going to move to an english speaking country, you know? They expect similar pretty much everywhere else in the world, so why do english speaking countries have to bend where others will not? Never particularly understood that part... then again, so many of these places are teaching english anyways; so there is that. Still, they actually HAVE official languages with the USoA does not. Kinda odd.
Oh, I really don't want people to believe that I think people should get away with not learning English (and I'm not saying that's what you saw me saying) I agree that people should learn English in America if only for the sole reason that it is
extremely important to be economically and socially successful. Standard English is taught around the globe because of the way the West controls the world economy, and the way America affects the West.
This is America. You come to our country, you learn our language. Our language is English. If I were to move to China permanently, for example, I'd be expected to learn Chinese. If I was visiting, I'd be expected to maybe know a few phrases, but it'd be understandable if I couldn't speak Chinese well. If I moved to China permanently and didn't speak Chinese other than a few phrases, they'd expect me to learn Chinese. They wouldn't just allow me to speak English all day and demand everyone speak to me in English. It's their country. I'd learn their language.
But as Kav pointed out, our language
isn't English. The official language of Hawaii is Hawaiin, Puerto Rico's are Spanish and English. Should we make the US's English the state and territory would be in a disharmonious position. Also, the vast majority of immigrants in the United States
want to learn English because they know just how important it is to learn. The thing is the resources simply are not there to educate all of these people. Programs are cut, countless immigrants are turned away from existing programs because they are overcrowded, and people are constantly criticized for 'wrong' English even as they are trying to learn.
It's not that these people are unwilling to learn (according to my Linguistics prof somewhere between 90-95% of immigrants want to take ESL classes) it's that programs are inaccessible, and in the mean time if everything is in English they will never have a chance to learn. If they can't drive, they can't work. If citizens that don't speak English can't vote, how is that constitutionally right? (when they cannot read already confusing ballots and props) Second generations immigrant children are losing their ability to speak their native tongue because they are never able to practice it, and are even
ashamed of their heritage.
It's not about losing America or enabling others to not speak English, it's that we aren't allowing them to learn, and then chastise them for not doing so. We force kids to learn English in a year (impossible) and then fail school, and even make things such as cultural studies illegal (Arizona with immigration bill)
In regards to @
mf , i'm not certain you are wrong... maybe just incomplete. There is far too much biological evidence kicking around suggesting that up until the point where the brain stops growing (11-15 years old, depending on individual), it's an incredible sponge and is not just learning, but learning HOW to learn (and WHAT best to learn.) After that point it continues to learn, but mostly along the paths of least resistance (in reference to the aforementioned 'what to learn.') A child taught multiple languages early on can continue to do so with remarkable ease throughout their life while a child who only learns one prior to this point will struggle with and more often than not give up on learning the second simply because they hadn't "established" that particular pathway.
I tend to lean in the direction of this body of science most specifically because I have half a dozen examples of it in my own family, and twice as many again among school-time acquaintances, and without fail, every example follows this same pattern... the adults who arrived late in life NEVER caught up in english while their children ALWAYS mastered it flawlessly. It's a tad more than anecdotal for me. *shrug* Again, it's a body of observation you can take or leave as you see fit.
I definitely think that you are right that children have an easier time learning language (and I think it's because of what I said before about motor skills and losing the sound ability with aging) but there is a big difference between conversational English and academic English.
I agree that children pick up conversation English quicker, but I stand by what I said earlier (and so does linguistic research) that adults understand language quicker, but due to motor skills have a hard time with conversational English. Think of professors from foreign countries. Their speaking can at times be 'god-awful' but written language is a different story. In their writing they have the ability to be much more academically correct than a child, and even profound in their writing. An adult learning language for a year has a better grasp on concepts and rules than a child which is evident through writing (assuming both children and adults have the same time to practice and learn the language) but generally lag greatly in pronunciation and conversation.