Then why do voter forms come in at least 4 languages? If knowing English is not a prerequisite to vote then it should not be when it comes to ticketing. Communication is a two way street.

Seriously, all of our road signs are in English, if you can't read the road signs you shouldn't be driving, you are a hazard..

Road signs are symbols. I also think that the dept. of Motor Vehicle will give the test in Spanish. So you do not have to speak English, if you understand the symbols.


[edit on 25-10-2009 by Siren]

Originally posted by dgtempe
Ignorance is a terrible thing...

All first generation immigrants who ever step foot in this country, had a language problem, in fact, outside of a little broken English, they did not speak the language.

Second generation immigrants had a chance to learn when they were young and they could absorb it from school, etc.

Third generation descendants are often confused as "Americans" because they speak and go about their lives speaking it perfectly.

The moral of this story is: THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONSISTS OF THESE THREE TYPES OF PEOPLE ONLY.

There aint no one else.

Absolute nonsense! This only holds true for uneducated Mexicans who come here illegally or people that come off a boat from Cuba or in a Cargo container from China or as whores and slaves from Eastern Europe.

Most of people who come to this country "LEGALLY" by working with an embassy and getting employment in this country know English fluently.

My own family immigrated from Europe in the late 19the century and they were absolutely fluent in English.

There are thousands immigrants even today who come in as doctors, engineers, businessmen etc who are all perfectly fluent in English assimilate readily.

The myth that the first generation immigrant is too stupid to learn English is illogical and is only peddled by those who want to encourage more LATIN illegals into this country. English is apparently not a problem for even the Chinese immigrants but apparently LATIN America is too stupid to learn the most widelyspoken language in the world!

No consulate around the world would allow anybody to immigrate to America without fluency in English, especially if they are the first generation to come here. I can understand the elderly being unable to learn a new language but it is inexcusable for the rest.

I am moving to Amsterdam tomorrow. In order to become a Dutch citizen, I will have to learn to read, speak and write the native tongue. I have 5 years to do it. For me thats a small price to pay to live in a free, civilized country. But I don't expect to be ticketed for not knowing the language.

i agree that if a person was not driving a commercial vehicle, these tickets are unjust and will be thrown out. the officers gave the ticket bc, since these drivers would not speak english, it is a natural thought process to think they will just pay the ticket, or not pay it, let the fees rack up, and bingo, more money for the county.

now on to the topic that this has turned into...

i worked at a church for four years. we had a strong hispanic community.
every damn night i worked, i had between 5 to 10 phone calls IN SPANISH, and an additional 5 to 10 who came in, and looked at me like i was retarded for not knowing what they were saying.

now am i wrong to think that they should walk into an office, see a WHITE DUDE and expect them to know there is a slim chance that i actually speak spanish fluid enough for them to start rambling on?

my boss (the pastor) there even tried to imply that if i didnt learn spanish, i would be fired. i quickly informed him that that was kinda illegal, and that i wasn't the one going into their place of business and expecting them to speak english. also, that until he learned spanish first, he could forget about me learning it.

flash forward 6 years, i now work at a cab company as a dispatcher. i get people call in and start speaking spanish right off the bat. am i the only one that finds this retarded?

i went to italy in 8TH GRADE for less than a week and learned enough italian so i can get around day to day, if i got lost find my way to an embassy, order food, find a bathroom, and pretty much all the essentials. and this was while i a) had my own studies i had to take care of and b)knew in advanced that i would have a translator with me 24/7 not to mention a teacher who knew spanish to.

my point here...i would not dream of walking into a store in mexico and expecting them to know english. from my experience in italy, once they saw i tried to speak their language, they met me half way, and these were off the beaten path shops and restaurants, so not places that were used to tourists. much the way i acted when spanish speakers came into or called the church office and attempted english.

I don't know if those given the tickets were legal or not. Think about this for a moment here in the US we have spanish translation for absolutely everything from the phone book to applications. No matter where a spanish speaking person should go in the US they're encouraged to not assimilate and who's doing this encouraging. The US and this is done for spanish speakers not for all the other groups that come here.

A bit off topic but a few years ago immigration had found a home in Houston with several Chinese illegals occupying it, everyone of them in their eight months residing in this country had rudimentary use of the english langauge. Why? They understood learning the language would help them blend in with the populace here.

I didn't know police could give tickets for not speaking english this is new to me.

[edit on 29-10-2009 by Chai_An]

I guess all of our none British ancestors should have gotten a ticket upon arriving in NYC...

So the the government should dictate language?

Funny thing is many of you who support this also claim to hate government in general and us the world freedom like it was ketchup. I do not recall reading anywhere in the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION that defines English proficiency as a prerequisite to anything in America. As with all, Authoritarians (especially on the right) usually hide behind the word freedom when it support's their own agenda, otherwise, completely ignoring the concept of freedom.