Languages

It bothers me that so many people are upset with Spanish language speakers being in the United States. Some even think that Spanish might overtake English as our national language. Spanish is a beautiful language, spoken by millions of people in our hemisphere. When people come to the US (legally or illegally) they of course still speak the language of their birth place, just as we would probably speak English if we would relocate somewhere else.

Yes, I know, you will say "Why don't they try to learn English?" .. How do we know they don't? But even if they don't... check out the language that their children rush to learn.... English.. the language of the music and entertainment culture in the US. As far as I can tell, the native language (English in this case) usually takes over in the second generation.

For example, when I first met my future wife, her family spoke only French at home and little English elsewhere. My wife went to a school where they spoke French in the morning and English in the afternoon. As she got older, she would only speak English, even to her parents at home, even though she could still understand French. (In fact, when we visited French Canada on several occasions, she would have me speak the necessary French.)

In just a few years I noted that her family spoke less and less French.. and eventually, they spoke almost entirely English.. except with very elderly relatives. All of their children, grand-children and great grandchildren speak English exclusively.

I have also observed this with Portuguese and Italian people I know.

Many people are afraid to learn another language. Probably close to the fear of public speaking. I have always looked upon language learning as a wonderful experience. I spent almost 4 years in Germany (US Air Force).. and I was able to travel around the country a lot. I got myself an Assimil (spelling?) book that I used to teach myself German and even to teach myself the old script, both written and printed (something that some German natives don't know today) and I had a great time. I am sure that some Spanish speakers hurry to learn English in the same way.

And then there is Maria.. the wife of a friend of mine.. Maria has no aptitude at all for learning English.. she has tried.. she has been in the US for at least 40 years and still speaks a very broken English. Her husband and children speak Spanish and English beautifully, without any trace of an accent and they communicate with her in either Spanish or English.. if she doesn't understand the English, she says: "que?" and they elaborate in Spanish.

When I was a child, I grew up in a multi-cultural neighborhood in a wonderful multi-cultural city.. all of us kids could talk to each other in different languages as we played together.. we had kids of Portuguese descent, French-Canadian descent, Polish descent, Yankee descent, Italian descent .. and we never had any problems with language. All of us grew up speaking American English and that is the language of choice now, as far as I can tell for all of us.

So, my advice (if anybody cares) is to relax, learn a little Spanish, try some Spanish food, listen to some Latino music.. have some fun!