I was born in America but English was not my first Language... English was forced upon me

So. English, along with Mandarin, is considered one of, if not, the most universal language

reply to post by laiguana

The US had its peak...most empires do. No empire lasts forever. Get over it.

We need ties that bind us together, no wonder the human race never advances beyond a certain level.
We are like a family torn apart,

evidently the "the dead are not powerless!"

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.

And the LORD said, Behold, the people are one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

Makes me wonder sometimes.

reply to post by DaddyBare


I sat back and read this post and just shook my head. The reason for this is because of a story my father told me of when he was a kid. He used to tell me that it would be common for kids to get their hands "Raked" with a ruler. My father had it done to him several times. Was it because he was Irish and German.. No! It’s because the teachers could get away with a lot more and they were just not good people. I also had a teacher in the 3rd grade that would bring people in front of the class to recite the times tables. Now, if they did not know or recite all of the allotted section for that day she would call them and idiot and ask them if they were stupid with a learning disorder. She would then ask if they have to go to special class to learn. Was it because we all were "Native American" . Once again, No. Teachers that act in that way were deplorable and have a big impact on the psychi on a kid.. But they were not the norm. no
Was your language beaten out of you? Dont sound like it.
It sound as though you ( and your "red Friend") associated more with the Mexican girl that you went to school with by speaking spanish to her and not leaning English when you were a kid. If I'm not mistaken you stated that you were Jicarilla Apache. But Decided to speak Spanish in class. We could open this up and dissect it all day, but that not the point..
The reason English was taught in school was to allow you to communicate effectively with the rest of society. If we had everyone speaking different languages with no one "giving in " to learn the predominant language, Nothing would get done.. It would be a modern day Babylon.

reply to post by Common Scarecrow


A star for your post.



Very well spoken.

I still say why don't we just make up one planet wide language, I don't care, any of you can choose which one just make sure someone is patient enough to teach it to me because I had enough trouble learning American English (I have a high frequency hearing loss and don't hear consonants.

Now, no offense to Germans, (I may have some German in me) but German sounds very harsh to me.

I prefer the sound of French, Mexican or Italian, East Indian and Japanese as they are soooooooooooooooo sexy sounding, so soft and beautiful sounding, almost like music.

English is a interesting language because it has a combo of almost all languages.

So the rest of you get together, decide on one planet wide "language of humanity" and make sure to have a really good CD on learning it and I'm flexible.

We have enough differences, why don't we just stop about fighting about the stupid stuff and start concentrating on saving our poor dying planet, free clean energy, food and water for everyone.............world population, war, famine, disease, pollution.

Sorry, I'm willing to learn any language (learning Mexican / or trying to right now).

We humans fight about the silliest stuff, it's called being distracted and manipulated.

Mankind needs to unite as one - we are all part of one grand whole, stop picking each other apart.

Join hands and try to get along.

We fight about language, religion, god(s), sexual preference, land, resources, god when will mankind grow up?

If you want to read about why man goes to war read, William Bramley's "The Gods of Eden"...........interesting.

divide et impera. (Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great) means Divide and conquer.

What you all should be asking is who the real puppet master are that are dividing us, keeping humanity fighting each other and distracted.............there in lies a real conspiracy.

The mf of all conspiracies.

reply to post by Gorman91


My apologies.

I misunderstood your point.

reply to post by ofhumandescent

I still say why don't we just make up one planet wide language,

Why that would be, Esperanto,

Originally posted by laiguana

Hm...I don't have a foreign flag outside of my house either. I don't care to mention my heritage unless it is brought up by someone else and it often is. Stop being pretentious.

The US had its peak...most empires do. No empire lasts forever. Get over it.

What is pretentious in what I said? I only brought up the origin of my grandparents to state the fact that my family IS from other countries.

Knock the chip off of your shoulder and you might learn a few things.

I HAVE gotten over the fact that the U.S. is collapsing. I have taken steps to prepare for it. I could care less.

Just like I think native americans, mexicans, and palestinians should "get over it".

world language is English, world is ruled by the British empire... if there is no common language then it becomes pretty hard to communicate... we could all be speaking German right now... could be worse

Originally posted by Griffo
So. English, along with Mandarin, is considered one of, if not, the most universal language

I don't think the whole world should learn English.

If I went to France I would not expect them to pander to me and all be speaking and writing in English. I would expect I would have to learn THEIR language. Just like anyone who comes here should be excepted to learn English. None of this "press 1 for English" crap.

If you don't want to learn French, don't go to France. If you don't want to learn English, don't come here.

There isn't one thing wrong with every country on Earth having their own national identity. Some people feel the need the try to shove everyone together despite their differences. That is what causes wars.

Leave other countries alone. Let them be what they want to be. They don't have to be just like us. Let them live how they want to live and just consider yourself lucky to be born in THIS country. If other countries want to worship a cow, I could care less. Let them. If other countries don't want to let women drive, let them. It's a shame but we have no right sticking our nose in their business.

The only reason all these other countries pander to English is because they want our money coming over there.

I am sure my thoughts have been expressed. We have come a long way in public schools in teaching English to kids.
When you say it is forced upon you, it makes me think you would rather be left alone to speak your own native tongue and continue the fine tradition of basket-making. Come to think of it, school is forced uponall kids in hopes that they can be productive members of society when they graduate.

It wasnt right to get hit by the teacher/s, and I understand not wanting to speak up/out in class.... It makes me wonder if you have children and what values in education do/did you want to see your kids instilled with..

It is all well and good to want kids to have a good education, but if values like dedication, neatness, being thorough, wanting to improve yourself for the sake of being a productive member of society are not instilled, then the education is taught in vain, IMO of course.

Thanks for sharing...

reply to post by DaddyBare


First Semper Fi, and nextly I remember a lesson once where I had a professor give the America is a melting pot speech. He went on about how we are not a melting pot but more like a tossed salad were we are actually divided and individuals, he had a tone to his voice. I asked is this a bad thing? of course it is according to some but why I bring this up is that in your post you discuss a starkly different kind of individuality and the systems methods of forcing conformity. I think while also probably difficult for a child I think it is very awesome that despite the differences in language you and your 2 other buddies still managed to figure it out it is ashame people dont understand that it is not about knowing the answer all the time rather it is more about finding the answer.

English is the Universal language for AIr transport and Maritime commerce....so lets just make it Universal...peiod.....no problem with that from me....

reply to post by Griffo


I was told that if you can speak spanish, english, arabic (egyption), mandarin, and swahili you can communicate with roughly 88% of the worlds population. I dont know if that figure is actual representative to the true figure or not but just a tid bit of info I learned from my former language instructor.

reply to post by DaddyBare


I feel for you my friend. What happened to your people are now happening to my people. History repeats itself and like last time, no one is batting an eye.

Originally posted by Brotherman
reply to post by Griffo

 

I was told that if you can speak spanish, english, arabic (egyption), mandarin, and swahili you can communicate with roughly 88% of the worlds population. I dont know if that figure is actual representative to the true figure or not but just a tid bit of info I learned from my former language instructor.

I really don't give a rat's patoot about speaking with 88% of the worlds population.

I just wish I could go down to the end of my street and walk into the convenience store and understand what the guy behind the counter is telling me.

I think about learning Dutch, because my family was originally Dutch, and teaching it to my daughter, so we have our own second language.

English is a mixture of many different languages, because England had been conquered by so many tribes over the centuries.

I think it is reasonable to make English the language of the world, because it is the British Empire which is primarily responsible for ending slavery around the planet.

It always saddens me to hear stories like these. I'm glad to hear you have done some work to help preserve your native language. There is something about the death of language - the demise of a unique form of communication - that always seems tragic and sorrowful to me. I hope that it can be preserved for future generations.

I understand people's points of view regarding assimilation. However it is my opinion that in an ostensibly free society, no one should be forced to converse at all, let alone in a manner they would rather elect not to.

At least you can say you are a Native American and your ancestry goes back 1000's of years, I was born in England and I can only go back for certain 400 years. If my ancesters were from this part of the world my tribe was conquered by the Romans nearly 2000 years ago.
We were probably living in a good place just like your tribes.
Untill the children of War decided to spoil it. We were civillized but not now unless it means under control.
War is for children and way to reduce population.

reply to post by DaddyBare


Being as i was not alive when "Your land" was stolen i have nothing to be ashamed of.

Enough of this 'they stole it from me' crap....everyone 'stole' something from someone....there are conquerors and the vanquished....fact of life...one indian tribe stole land from another indian tribe...ugh u have better hunting grounds than me...you die'...get over it....you live in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA...the spoken lanquage here is English.....change or die out....IMO...lololol