“Why Aren’t You Speaking English?”

Perhaps I should excerpt one of the most important parts.

When the U.S. was founded, it was common to hear as many as 20 languages spoken along with many documents that were printed in different languages.
...
For more than 200 years, Americans have gotten by without declaring English our official language. Congress had never even considered declaring English the nation’s official language until 1981. The only previous official-language legislation dates back to 1923: a bill designating “American” the national tongue.
Americans have traditionally resisted language legislation, beginning in 1780, when John Adams proposed to establish an official Language Academy to set standards for English. This idea was rejected by the Continental Congress as an improper role for government and a threat to individual liberties. There was no English proficiency requirement to become naturalized as a U.S. citizen until 1906 the first major language restriction to be enacted at the federal level.
...

www.directessays.com...

Back to the beginnings of this country you could hear in the streets 20 different languages and read documents also written in different languages, and the Continental Congress rejected the idea of creating an official Academy to set standards for English, since it is a threat to individual liberty and an improper role for government, yet now what is exactly happening that SOME Americans want to do?...

I find it odd this place always has a "police state !! the constitution is being destroyed !" thread every day, but when the topic is immigration, the only people protected by the constitution are whites ?

do any of the "englishers" have any idea of how we got here and what language was being spoken when we got here ?

deny ignorance indeed

Originally posted by dbates

Originally posted by totalmetal
Maybe he's just expressing his freedom to speak whatever language he pleases? The united states doesn't even have an official language.

While the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides for freedom of speech it does not guarantee that your speech will be understood or force the listener to understand you in a secondary language.

No official language? What language do the words "or abridging the freedom of speech" appear as? What language were all of the official documents the Founding Fathers drew up written in? Please see the Deceleration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and the U.S. Constitution. Clearly their intent was for English to be the dominant language.

p.s. by the way, the founding fathers were racists.

Originally posted by hotbakedtater
Maybe the lazy snip knows English, but chooses to speak Spanish. You know because it is a free country and there are lots of non englsh speakers in Texas?

More from the story that the OP failed to share with us:

"Through his interpreter, Aguirre said Spanish is his “first language and since it is his first time giving testimony he would rather do it in Spanish.”

“It is insulting to us,” Sen. Harris fired back. “It is very insulting. And if he knows English, he needs to be speaking in English.”

No Sen. Harris, here is what SHOULD be insulting and IS insulting to a REAL American: that you have such little respect for a concept in our constitution called Freedom of Speech. That you choose to represent your constituents through bleating ignorance at a man exercising his rights under said constitution.

The insult is that an elected politician thinks it is ok to Bully someone like this. The insult that Sen. Harris thinks he can pick and choose which parts of the constitution he wants others to have access to.

Damn right this is insulting. And it disgusts but does not surprise me.

edit on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 07:51:59 -0500 by hotbakedtater because: added facts OP failed to list

This is just to let you know I completely support your post. Due to technical problem on ATS when I starred your post the star did not show up, I can imagine it must have happened with other people too.

It is unbelievable how the undertone of this thread stands out. It's quite obvious that most find those whom do not speak fluent, perfect English to be second class citizens, at best. And since the claws are out on the Spanish language, and not some of the other most commonly spoken mother tongues such as Cantonese or French, it's blatant that anyone with brown skin whom is a native speaker of this particular Latin descended language is just plain sub-human.

It is disgusting, and a disgrace to this county to use LANGUAGE as a veil for this kind of bigotry. How easy it is to forget your nation's roots, and turn around to use the exact same stumbling points generations have struggled with to shame an immigrant.

America, Land of Xenophobia & Intolerance. Be proud, brothers and sisters.

I'm disgusted with the majority of you.

I would like to go into how anti immigration is justifiable but unethical and how it's immoral when a meak country is being denied by a glutonous country, but that is all I'm going to say about immigration.

My main points on how a person has the right and is in the right to speak whichever language he/she feels most comfortable speaking in important matters. If you are from russia with a valid visa and have taken college level courses in english if you were to be arrested in america you would have the right to have everything related to your case and accomodations translated into russian.

If someone who doesn't speak english takes a driving test he/she can take it in spanish, but it's a seperate test from the engish one with minimal english on it. the only english is the english on the signs because even if you don't speak english you have to know that a red sign that says "stop" means stop to get your liscense.There is no extra ink or paper used.

I do believe the use of the words ignorant and disrespectful and even unamerican have been primarily used in ironic ways on this thread. To think we have a national language is ignorant.

To say the majority or amerians speak english is also wrong. Some speak amerian, some speak ebonics, some speak spanglish, some speak dixie but almost no one without a british accent speaks english. Yes, I understand these are all just dialects, but the point that I am making past that trivial point is still relevant and strong.

If they are in fact "lazy" for not learning english then we are "lazy" for not learning EVERY language, or at least unamerican.

I do agree that if we had a national language it would be the only language required and allowed for legal matters. I also believe if would be like spitting on the constitution. Not tearing it up, just really disrespecting it. I want to say read and come to an understanding of the constitution, most impotantly that the bill of rights arenot rights given to us but rights that we have already that are just being put in th face of those who may try to take them away so they remember that they can't.

In England, you speak to me in English. If you speak to me in any other language, you get told where to go.

Originally posted by dimburg

Originally posted by doobydoll

Originally posted by vschnz

Originally posted by gremlin2011
theres a saying ' when in rome, do as the romans do ' im in the uk and we got the same trouble with every nationality of the EU flooding our tiny island!!

wana live here then learn our language simple as that!!

So is Europe having the same problem with thousand of Brits flooding Spain, France, Switzerland, etc.. and not willing to learn Spanish, French etc.. sending their kids to an english school. Living in close knit British community. Going to a British own pub...

Do Brits claim welfare benefits, get free homes and medical treatment, from the taxpaying citizens of these host countries?

Have a guess.

Yes, free medical treatment if they have an UK registered EHIC card. Also Brits may be entitled to maternity leave payments and some other benefits from their host EU state if they paid tax in that country. Didn't you know this?

Well then how is it free if they have paid tax in that country?

Many immigrants to the UK take all this from us and more here in the UK and haven't paid one penny in tax, AND many refuse to learn our language, refuse English lessons offered free to help them get on better here, and won't even integrate in our communities.

So we have to provide interpreters forever for these people at our own cost? It is taking the P.

When they refuse English lessons they should pay for their own interpreter. Is that reasonable?

reply to post by doobydoll


You forgot to mention some of them that come to the country and get given giant houses that some of us wouldn't dream of getting.

Like I said before, Why come to ENGLAND and not want to learn ENGLISH, it's crazy at best. Like I said earlier, my ancestors immigrated here and they were proud of learning the English language, they didn't speak their native tongue even to other people from their country. That's how it should be.

You want to stay, learn the language.

Originally posted by Nyiah
It is unbelievable how the undertone of this thread stands out. It's quite obvious that most find those whom do not speak fluent, perfect English to be second class citizens, at best. And since the claws are out on the Spanish language, and not some of the other most commonly spoken mother tongues such as Cantonese or French, it's blatant that anyone with brown skin whom is a native speaker of this particular Latin descended language is just plain sub-human.

It is disgusting, and a disgrace to this county to use LANGUAGE as a veil for this kind of bigotry. How easy it is to forget your nation's roots, and turn around to use the exact same stumbling points generations have struggled with to shame an immigrant.

America, Land of Xenophobia & Intolerance. Be proud, brothers and sisters.

The guy testifying can speak English just fine. He is making a statement clearly. He is part of a larger agenda dealing with immigration issues, and the specific legislation he testified about deals with immigrations laws. The issue at hand is not that he is incabable of speaking English, or even that he falters in his English, but that his statement is the superiority of his "people". This attitude is everywhere in the rallies for illegal immigration where they place the American flag upside down underneath the American flag. There is clearly a seething anger and resentment toward the "gringo".
The larger agenda is that of the liberal establishment who courts the votes of certain peoples in order to push it's even larger agenda, which is Socialist/communist.
May 1 is the day used for these rallies, in fact, which is the traditional day of communist parades, and it is no coincidence.
If he and others hate the American flag and the English language and all it stands for, then what else can be their desire(but to destroy it and trample it) ?

Originally posted by lpowell0627
I think it's kind of ridiculous that we offer free ESL classes in most states paid for by taxpayers,

This really bothers me, too. Not that it's paid for by taxpayers, but that ESL classes are FREE to the student, but if my husband and I want to take SSL (Spanish second language) classes (which we would LOVE to do), we have to pay full price from our pockets...

Originally posted by hotbakedtater
No Sen. Harris, here is what SHOULD be insulting and IS insulting to a REAL American: that you have such little respect for a concept in our constitution called Freedom of Speech. That you choose to represent your constituents through bleating ignorance at a man exercising his rights under said constitution.

The insult is that an elected politician thinks it is ok to Bully someone like this. The insult that Sen. Harris thinks he can pick and choose which parts of the constitution he wants others to have access to.

Woo-Hoo! This is right on! I see this kind of behavior more and more in public, in politics and here on ATS. It's SICKENING how many people actually think it's OK to restrict certain rights, for SOME people that they disagree with. They cry for "freedom", but only for THEM and only for the freedoms THEY want. It's insane and shows how ignorant these so-called 'patriots' are about our founding documents and principles. The founding fathers would be rolling over in their graves.

Originally posted by Sherlock Holmes
So many of you people will go on and on about ''personal rights'', yet you want to restrict those supposed ''rights'' if the person in question doesn't conform to your narrow idea of how those ''rights'' should be expressed.

Exactly! No one wants the government to interfere unless it helps to support their position, in this case, of bigotry and racism. In that case, they are all for government interference and bullying this man into speaking a specific language!

Seems government interference is just fine with these people... As long as they're interfering with someone else!

reply to post by Sherlock Holmes


I take issue with the several times the poster to whom I am responding has said things in the same spirit as the "clinging to an 18th-century scrap of paper" comment. While I've been party to university class discussions and civics/govt classes in high school, I will admit the topic (the U.S. Constitution) can be made quite dry, depending on where one's interests lie (or lay, which is correct, i dunno). Some people don't know much about the Constitution. I'm no expert, either. But I will say the thing that gets me going, the feeling I get when I read parts of the document or hear eloquent discourse concerning the thing, is the fact that those men got together and worked it out, displaying incredible precision in the writing and pointed intent of the document, and perhaps even self-control and resolute ethic. They did happen to stand for a selection of sound principles I would perhaps call "timeless".
From www.archives.gov...

Among the chief points at issue were how much power to allow the central government, how many representatives in Congress to allow each state, and how these representatives should be elected--directly by the people or by the state legislators. The work of many minds, the Constitution stands as a model of cooperative statesmanship and the art of compromise.

I imagine them having spent most of the time on the actual 'terms of government' points, attempting to do right by their intellect, reason, faith (not the zealous kind) and sense of duty, and I feel saddened (for lack of a better word) by the state of things today. I surely will be called out for saying anything of the sort; the men who by some way ended up with some influence in the colonies around the time of a revolution planned by TPTB to only give people the impression that rich middle-aged and old white men could ever think of or give a damn about anything other than keeping live the flame of illuminati, or some reptilian agenda to mix Euro blood with Central and N.America blood, thereby ensuring 'the they's' grip of control for the entire foreseeable future, enslaving us all, while 'they' continue planning 'their' next thing to plot.

I did go off on a rant, there, but
My POINT was that my country was not always run by a bloated number of political careerists who seem to lack any ability to compromise or keep themselves in check.

Who cares? anymore, anyway.

reply to post by CanadaMaster


Long winded much?

Sorry where I live I AM SICK of illegals and those who refuse to speak the language here. I dont give a crap what country they are from and if Mexico is so damn great then wth are they sneaking in here?! Don't give me that their life is so great in Mexico crap, it's not.

My views on illegals and not speaking English won't change. Until you live where it directly affects you, you have no idea and spouting off useless statistics won't convince me otherwise. I have experience and to me that means more than some paper made statistic.

Originally posted by mblahnikluver
Until you live where it directly affects you, you have no idea and spouting off useless statistics won't convince me otherwise. I have experience and to me that means more than some paper made statistic.

Well, I have no interest in changing your mind, but I would like to point out to others in this thread that not all of us who live in areas of large immigrant populations where many speak another language, feel the same as you do. The fact that people around me speak Spanish doesn't bother me one bit. I have tons of experience here in southern New Mexico and Arizona with non-English speakers and I am a better, more educated person because of it.

I believe in Freedom of Speech, free expression... freedom in general. No, I mean I REALLY believe in it. I stand behind it and support it in EVERY case, not just the freedoms with which I agree. Freedom to speak with whom one wishes and freedom to speak the language one chooses. As I choose to speak English, others are EQUALLY FREE to choose to speak Spanish. It's a beautiful language and I feel uneducated because I do not speak it.

Americans are so arrogant to expect that everyone speak English. Yet, the US has no official language. My husband deals with people every day in the Czech Republic and in India. What language do they ALL speak? English. Why? Because my husband doesn't speak Czech or Hindi...

In India, the second official language is English and English is spoken commonly in the Czech Republic. Doesn't it seem arrogant that in our global position in the world, we aren't willing to learn how to communicate with anyone else unless they speak our language? It does to me. It seems to show our arrogance and lack of education. I think it's embarrassing.

Hope I wasn't too long-winded...

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic

Hola Benevolente, ¿qué pasa? Si, ya se lo que estas hablando. Estoy de acuerdo con usted acerca de la libertad. ¿Sabes dónde está el tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo fue "signed"? Practico mi español en disco compacto, todos las dias Que (i drive) en cuidad, adonde las tres cruces ver el rio vas dry. seco
Voy hablar en espanol muy rapido y con las ellos. Someday....

reply to post by kkrattiger


Thank God for online translations! I got some of your message, but had to have the rest translated. I think we both need some practice.

My husband and I have actually considered getting the language discs.

My Dad came here from Mexico in 1960. The only spanish my brothers and I learned was in school. We NEVER spoke spanish in our house growing up. When I was about 30 I asked him why (out of curiosity), he said "I didnt come to this country so my kids could speak spanish. I came here for a better life for my family". Any language is fine, but dont kid yourself by thinking English isnt the no.1 spoken language in the United States. Learn it. My dad learned to speak it and dammit so should every immigrant. And as far as illegals sneaking in the U.S. and then asking for rights ...what does that tell my kids? "Hey kids, apparently not following the rules is ok". Plus they really piss off people who have legally immigrated too.

It is one thing to speak different languages, it is quite another when one culture comes here and forces it down our throats and we have to cater to them. Press 1 for english, signs everywhere in spanish, documents and manuals in spanish, jobs that now require you to speak spanish if you want to get hired and provide for your family. You go to work you hear spanish, you go to the store, you hear spanish, you go to a restaurant, you hear spanish. When one is made to feel as though they have left their own country, that is a huge problem. For any citizen to be forced to speak a foreign language in their own country to get a job, is a huge problem and anti- American.

When all other cultures have learned english, when we have hundreds of languages known and spoken here but they all speak english, it is a slap in the face that all these people should have to cater to one culture.

Originally posted by Thwax
In England, you speak to me in English. If you speak to me in any other language, you get told where to go.

Is speaking to you part an integral part of visiting England? Do they actually go there?

Or is it just you blowing alot of hot air.

This is the same old rhetoric of the imperialistic bigot types. Take a land away from a people and force them to speak your language. They did it to the natives across the US and now they want the Mexicans to submit or die. They are like the Borg on Star Trek, assimilating everything while saying ressistance is futile. Homoginize and subjugate any culture in the US, destroy pride and heritage if not white.