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red dog
Joined: 31 Oct 2004
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 Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 12:30 am Post subject: |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| red dog wrote: |
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| Gopher wrote: |
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...I wish we would become officially bilingual. As a friend once commented, we seem to be the only industrialized nation in the world that is proud to be monolingual -- Western Europeans, for example, tend to speak several languages. |
Why? Officially it's not such a great policy. Look at Canada. Very few Canadians (outside of Quebec) are relatively bilingual ( French and English), even though it has been official policy for years. |
Maybe the problem was poor implementation? Maybe the importance of a second language should have been stressed more, and more should have been done to ensure that kids got exposed to their second language as early as possible? |
Good points, however the biggest problem by far was that the policy was imposed from the top down, when people didn't really care. Even after 4 years of MANATORY French classes in school most Canadians can't hold a basic conversation in French.
And most could care less. There is a lot of apathy and dislike towards French since it is seen as giving concessions to one particular province which gets a lot more 'goodies' than the rest of the provinces. A lot of Canadians just wish it would separate for good. |
Well, four years isn't nearly enough -- especially when you're studying French as just one of many subjects and all the other subjects are taught in English. And what Mith said ... there's a need to promote the benefits of a second language and encourage students to keep at it, because the students will be better off in the long run.
I think if Quebec ever separated it would likely wreak havoc on all of Canada -- but that's just my opinion and I don't claim to have studied this matter in depth. Do you really think we'd be better off as two separate countries? |
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SirFink
Joined: 05 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 2:43 am Post subject: |
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As with all things, money drives any real change. The government can pass all the laws it wants. Any "official" pronouncement by a local, state or federal government declaring the nation "bilingual" is purely symbolic and done to garner votes.
If there's money to be made by producing Spanish-language media, then investors will put their money into it. And they are doing just that. And that, ultimately, is what will drive America towards bilingualism.
That said, the US is enormous and incredibly diverse, especially in the large cities. There are 1,700+ religions in the US. I would guess hundreds of languages. Most major US cities have China towns, Little Italies, heck even Little Koreas. I doubt Korean, Chinese, Russian and Eastern European immigrants coming to the US will put learning Spanish above learning English on their list of priorities. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 3:43 am Post subject: |
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| red dog wrote: |
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| red dog wrote: |
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| Gopher wrote: |
[
...I wish we would become officially bilingual. As a friend once commented, we seem to be the only industrialized nation in the world that is proud to be monolingual -- Western Europeans, for example, tend to speak several languages. |
Why? Officially it's not such a great policy. Look at Canada. Very few Canadians (outside of Quebec) are relatively bilingual ( French and English), even though it has been official policy for years. |
Maybe the problem was poor implementation? Maybe the importance of a second language should have been stressed more, and more should have been done to ensure that kids got exposed to their second language as early as possible? |
Good points, however the biggest problem by far was that the policy was imposed from the top down, when people didn't really care. Even after 4 years of MANATORY French classes in school most Canadians can't hold a basic conversation in French.
And most could care less. There is a lot of apathy and dislike towards French since it is seen as giving concessions to one particular province which gets a lot more 'goodies' than the rest of the provinces. A lot of Canadians just wish it would separate for good. |
Well, four years isn't nearly enough -- especially when you're studying French as just one of many subjects and all the other subjects are taught in English. And what Mith said ... there's a need to promote the benefits of a second language and encourage students to keep at it, because the students will be better off in the long run.
I think if Quebec ever separated it would likely wreak havoc on all of Canada -- but that's just my opinion and I don't claim to have studied this matter in depth. Do you really think we'd be better off as two separate countries? |
http://www.fin.gc.ca/news95/95-1003.html
As my link shows, Quebec takes far more than its share 11.6 billion or 31 percent as the link says. Imagine if we didn't have to spend that money every year. Quebec is a drag on Canada. It doesn't contribute that much, and in many ways is practically a separate country anyway. |
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