Dallas police chief says officers have written dozens of tickets to people for not speaking English

i would like to visit japan ... that is why i am learning japanese before i go... i mean it seems a bit redundant to say but ... why not learn the language before you go ... .tho i dont agree with the ticketing for it.

First, it was probably a mistake. Because there is a USDOT law for anyone with other than a regular license to speak/read English. So, if you have a CDL or Chauffeur License, by law you have to speak/read English.
Second, I am living and working in Puerto Rico, have been for the past 8 months. Out of respect for there culture I am learning Spanish. Not out of need, all the customers that I work with speak English, but out of respect.
Third, Is it not a legal requirement to speak English for Citizenship? I do believe that is true, but correct me if I am wrong.
Finally, They should have just arrested them for being illegals and deported them. But that was too much paperwork. So, just like the nice Cop who reduces your speeding ticket from 20 over to 5 over, they wrote them up for not speaking English and now the poor illegal immigrants are crying foul. Just a bunch of BS if you ask me.

reply to post by danishD

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I'm gonna have to say that this whole, "the whole (western) world speaks English" thing is a myth. It simply isn't true. As I've traveled around Europe, I can count the number of people on my hand that speak English well enough to actually get help from (apart from touristy places/things). I'd say that, at least here in Germany, the average person can only say, "I am hungry," and things of the like in English.

A friend of mine traveled through Europe this past summer and came up through Germany to visit me. One of the things that amazed him was the inability for people to communicate with him in English.

reply to post by dgtempe

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Which is a shame. English is a simple enough language that someone could immigrate to America when they're thirty and be completely fluent in it and their second generation kids can be, too! My father-in-law came to Germany as a missionary in the '70s and speaks German fine. He hasn't lived her for thirty plus years with "broken German". There are many Turkish and Russian immigrants that live here in Germany that speak German perfectly, and they're first generation immigrants. Their kids (second generation) learn German as a first language just like Germans do! German is way more difficult that English is, too, by the way.


I'm only an immigrant here in Germany. Not in America. To say so is silly.

Its a old joke on cops to play dumb and answer in a foreign language.

"i no speake enlish"

I have seen many spanish speakers and Asians do it just to mess with the cops minds and beat tickets.

I have also seen people from germany, france and even french Canadians do it to.

Many times the cops just give up trying to communicate and let the person go without a ticket.

Others have found that in court they can use this in criminal cases to invalidate anything the cops claim they said due to missunderstanding the language.

Not only do I like this story. I also support it. Also, the moral of the story is
DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS

reply to post by fleetlord

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Speaking the language of the country your moving to should be the very First Hurdle.How do you expect to get employment when you can not speak the nation language
Just a few reasons why:

1. How do you fill out an immigration form
   
2. Getting a car license,reading traffic signs
   
3. Need to understand what emergency services are telling you for your own good
   
4. Cautions on Poisonous products
   

The best example I have heard of(friends of mine) is a Parents and teachers night where there was Five Interpreters in one class room and the English speaking Parents left the class room and went home!!

Zelong.

In most countries, gaining citizenship requires making some kind of oath or pledge.
How can anyone possibly do that, if you cannot understand the language ?

You can go to almost any ethnic neighbor hood in the US and find 3rd gerneration people that were born in the US, that can't speak English.

South Florida

Chinatown LA, San francisco

Detroit, It sounds like English but I can understand it.

I wonder if the MOD will give me a red flag [ticket]for not speaking English?

Ola, dg, mi jita, puede ir al baile conmigo?

The DMV offers state manuals and test in English and Spanish.

Imagine that.

I love how you guys turned this into a debate about whether one should speak English or not. While I am of the opinion, as an Hispanic immigrant, that learning English is the proper way to go, what these tickets represent is a violation of the US Constitution.

You have the right to know what charges are being leveled at you. You have the right to due process of the law, and these 39 tickets represent 39 instances of the violation of probable cause, and the equal protection clause.

Regardless of what our opinions might be on whether these people should have learned English, it is important to understand the real issue, which is the violation of our rights. Contrary to opinion here on ATS the Law of the Land applies to all those living in the United States, and makes no mention of whether they're citizens or not. If the Supreme Law of the Land can be violated like this, when it comes to English speaking Citizens and legal residents, we should all expect that our rights will be trampled just the same.

I believe it is more important to look at this issue from a Constitutional standpoint than reactionary opinions and superlative reasoning.

[edit on 25-10-2009 by projectvxn]

It's not about discriminating. It's about assimilating.

If you want to go live in another country who's primary language is not your own then you will be expected to learn it.

Why is it that anywhere on the planet it is common sense and decency to learn the language of the country you live in but in the States ...well... expecting someone to learn english is just evil and mean.

Most of them are in the states illegally.

reply to post by badgerprints

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It's not like Spanish is a very difficult lanquage to learn.

In fact a lot Mexicans I meet here in the Southwest speak English much better than the anglos speak Spanish in fact some even speak English better than the anglos speak English.

I spend a fair amount of time in Mexico and the anglos in Mexico, approach to speaking Spanish is to speak English LOUDER.

The stupid cop was so moronic he could not even tell the difference between a federal commercial vehicle regulation and s state statute. Unreal.

Typically, some racist cops hate the thought of anyone not speaking the only language they comprehend...it is jealosy and shows that cops are not among the intelligentsia; people of substance , intellectually speaking, generally speak more than one language or at least do not get frustrated when confronted with an unknown dialect.

Should people who move legally to the USA learn English? If they choose to, yes. should it be mandayory? No. There are resources in virtually every language now and people do have the absolute right to isolate themselves with their own kind and enjoy any heritage they choose. We do not bash the Amish for secluding themselves socially but let a neighborhood turn Korean or Haitian or whatever and fearful white mid and lower class people will sound the alarm.

Choice. It is all about personal choice. I should not be forced to learn any other language and no one else should be either. I promise you none of the people demanding english only crap would be so ready to enforce it if they were required to learn some other language...human rights mean no forced or coercive language requirements.

reply to post by projectvxn

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Beg to differ on that point......just because you can walk across the border does not give you the rights and protection of this country. If that were true, you would be also crying about the treatment of the illegals being deported.
Face it, they are illegally here, you know....broke the law and to say they have the right to be here is just laughable.
Now regarding our rights.....please if these 39 tickets are your validation for some miscarriage of justice, all I can say is please....out of thousands of tickets 39. Again, learn the language and you won't have these cases. Sorry, but no sympathy here. There are far worse things happening out there to warrent attention.

reply to post by ufoptics

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Incorrect. I'm talking about legal residents and citizens. Who's to say these people were illegal immigrants? And if it's not in the article, where are you getting this conclusion? I know it's easier to ignore the Constitution and due process, but this is not a case of illegal immigration, it is a case of due process being ignored and it affects everyone.

[edit on 25-10-2009 by projectvxn]

reply to post by richierich

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Last I talk with my Amish friends they spoke English. Please your argument is quite clear against law enforcement in general, which I have issues with also. But in light of the topic of 39 tickets over the span of one year when thousands of tickets are written, well I just don't see the overly emphasized concern. Now, if that were in a smaller area with the numbers say like 39 out of 1500, well then I could see a cause for alarm.
This is such a non-issue, in comparison to other fish we have to fry. Off to another thread that warrants discussion.

reply to post by ufoptics

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How many of these "Non-issues" does it take, in your opinion, to become a serious problem if we don't cut the crap and enforce the Constitution now? How many are acceptable to you? 100 our of 1500? 1000 out of 15,000?

1 violation always leads to another, and so on.