Face it, you've lost....
Jul. 5th, 2005 09:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeffxandraI've always found it odd how some people are so strident in their defense of the English language as being the proper language of our nation. While I can appreciate the desire to believe in the melting pot, it's never really been that way. Especially not in the cities. People have always retained their own language to some extent. What always puzzled me is that English is neither the language of the original inhabitants, nor the language of the first people to land here from Europe. Heck it was not even the official language of most of the territories of this nation. Indeed, this land, America, is named after an Italian.
So I write this to those who wish to fight for the sanctity of America's English only culture.
You've lost. It's over.
On the way down to visit my sister this weekend, we passed the sign for Kings Dominion, which now includes a Spanish message. When commercial interests, beyond those of niche markets like ethnic grocery stores cater to the non-English speaking public, they have accepted that it is in their financial interest to be bilingual. If major commercial entities see the Spanish speaking community as having buying, they have real power. The Spanish language is here to stay.
My son, my nine month old son, will begin learning Spanish in his daycare in another nine months. America's culture is moving to that of a bilingual society. Whether it becomes an upper class of largely English only speakers, a middle class of bilinguals, and a lower class of Spanish only speakers or a truly completely bilingual culture is irrelevant. We are no longer a society, if we ever were, of one language.
In the long run, I think we'll be better off for it.
So I write this to those who wish to fight for the sanctity of America's English only culture.
You've lost. It's over.
On the way down to visit my sister this weekend, we passed the sign for Kings Dominion, which now includes a Spanish message. When commercial interests, beyond those of niche markets like ethnic grocery stores cater to the non-English speaking public, they have accepted that it is in their financial interest to be bilingual. If major commercial entities see the Spanish speaking community as having buying, they have real power. The Spanish language is here to stay.
My son, my nine month old son, will begin learning Spanish in his daycare in another nine months. America's culture is moving to that of a bilingual society. Whether it becomes an upper class of largely English only speakers, a middle class of bilinguals, and a lower class of Spanish only speakers or a truly completely bilingual culture is irrelevant. We are no longer a society, if we ever were, of one language.
In the long run, I think we'll be better off for it.
