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

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posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 12:41 PM
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Dunno if someone else has said something like this, but I can't bring myself to read all of the squabbling ...

I was born in South Africa and while my home language was not English, not Zulu, not Xoza, not Pedi, not Sotho .... I knew early on that if I was going to be successful, I would have to learn and become proficient in English. When in Rome ...

One cannot hope to make a living on the support of your minority ethnic or language group if they don't have the means to support you sufficiently. That is when one has to expand your horizons and learn other languages to enable you to trade more widely. Do you really believe that global businesses move into other countries and insist that the target market first has to learn their language?!

If you're serious about surviving and thriving you need to adapt and in any way possible ... Whining after you have failed to do so is just passing the buck ... Much like is happening in South Africa ... If some can do it, all can. Otherwise, you're just a cultural snob ...

Or can any of us still speak Indo-Arean or some such?



posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 12:43 PM
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YES!! me speak to not englisky but mr forced too. Me speak mixt too, mucho good to understand...NOT. But lets us just speak all what we will and see the results, if we dont undestand eachother speaking the same language imagen speaking a mix of them all. Porque me sabe mycket mer idiomas doesnt mean jag måste misturar eles all



posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 12:53 PM
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Having read the ops statement, and it is true not just for him, but the world over, where (Please excuse the term, but it fits) aboriginal peoples are forced to learn a language other than what is considered their native language. However, what the op is not stating, is that there is a drive and a push to preserve the languages of the Native Americans currently to help them maintain their cultural identity, along with preventing the different tribal languages from disappearing.
The English are not the only ones who attempted to get rid of or force others to learn a particular language, it was any who had a colony around the world. But the question is what are you doing about it now. If your native tongue is not English are you doing anything to preserve it, pass it down to your children and grandchildren, as well as others in your community to keep it alive and vibrant, or is it simply fading away.
Language is dynamic, and every changing, there are words today that have not been around for very long, and older words have lost their meaning or changed over time to mean something else entirely. Even the standardize English that the Americans use, is a melting pot of words from a whole range of other languages, going the world over. While there are those that seek to maintain the status quo when it comes to language, there needs to be a unifying language that the entire country speaks to do business and to communicate with others to share ideas and grow. This is neither new and has been around for years, longer than most of us put together.
However, the question still remains if people are going, as the op has clearly shown, let their native tongue die out, or keep it alive, as some of the native American tribes are starting to do, where the children are taught such in school, to bring such back from the point of extinction.



posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 01:20 PM
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Uh... so you went to an english school funded by american tax dollars and youre whining that they taught and made you speak english? Did you even consider the fact that there wouldn't even be enough teachers to cater to every individuals student's prefered language (you said for example you had a spanish and a native friend)? Or the fact that you should be thankful to learn a second language and no one made you "forget" your language or not speak it at home. Or the fact that one teacher/principal scolding you doesnt=the whole country would do the same. The only thing disturbing about your post is the fact that paddling was once acceptable in schools, but that has nothing to do with language or anything, it happened in all schools to all races.

If you dont want to be exposed to the national language then get home schooled or set up a private school for your language. The state can not cater to every single nonenglish speakers desires and stubborness to speak nothing but their language in public schools, it is impossible. This is not the states fault and really a self centered post that doesn't consider how hard it is to find new teachers let alone teachers for every language every student in america wants to speak. But apparently cause youre native american youre allowed to get away with whines like this that other nonenglish speakers would get flamed for.
edit on 19-6-2011 by darkest4 because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 01:34 PM
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posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 01:39 PM
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Yes he was and don't call people names

Edit: Removed unnecessary quoted insult.
edit on 19-6-2011 by intrepid because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 01:55 PM
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if anybody would care to read a little more history, you would find out that indian tribes and the larger nation tribes would war against each other long before the "white" man came over from europe. to say that all the native american indians were peaceful and full of harmonious spirit is a load of crap. they butchered and enslaved one another way before the evil white man came to america.



posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 01:57 PM
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posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 02:41 PM
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Because the world is looming more and more towards convergence of culture, politics and lifestyle it is not possible to keep all the national languages alive and kicking. We can see this on the Internet.
Polish Sci-fi writer Stanislaw Lem once wrote in 1999 in an interview with the Der Spiegel that he fears that the Internet will ultimately cause massive extinction of national languages because of the dominance of English. True it was, now the mainstream Internet is English only.
Just think dear OP: If a country has a specific dominant language, you've got to learn it, otherwise no one will be able to speak to you except for your national minority pals and/or a handful of others who happen to know that language.
Fore example in Poland we've got quite an amount of immigrants from the Eastern Bloc countries but also from China, Vietnam and other Asian communities.. They speak their native languages among themselves, but in schools and public places is Polish way or highway - they can learn their languages in special native language schools which exist in Poland, but this is Polishspeaking country. We've rather homogenous at that, and frankly I cant imagine what would happen to a cultural melting pot like U.S. if everyone there were allowed by the govt. to speak their native language ONLY. A tower of Babel, that's what.
So frankly, if you're of foreign descent and live in another country, you've got to accept to have to learn their dominant language. Its not "forcing" as probably no one chained you to a desk and forced to learn English so beat it and live with it.



posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 02:49 PM
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Originally posted by Stormdancer777
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.


edit on 093030p://bSunday2011 by Stormdancer777 because: (no reason given)


WTF...Who cares? I'm glad there's a multitude of languages. Variety is the spice of life. I don't care if you can't understand other languages. Maybe you monolinguals should go back to church and start communicating to each other in "tongues"

Damn...that is hilarious...They don't want to learn another language, but they'll get a high speaking in "tongues" at church...



posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 03:55 PM
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Originally posted by buster2010
You cry about English being forced upon you but you say nothing about Spanish being forced upon you why? If you want to deal with the Europeans you need to be able to speak their language even your ancestors knew that.


Have you considered that maybe it's because it wasn't FORCED on him??




posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 03:56 PM
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Originally posted by Phenomium

That was your parents fault, not America's. When in an english speaking country... it's custumary that whatever nation you live in...to learn the language. It's expected, if you were born there. How you percieved something doesn't mean that's the case. Everyone else in your class had to speak english as well, you just felt you were being prosecuted because you had to translate from one language to another hence more work. You parents should have saw to it that you learned english. If I moved to Mexico, do you think they would let me get away with living there my whole life and not speaking any spanish....could I even accomplish school? That would be a big no. The way I see it, you know at least 2 languages because of all this and that is a skill that even most Americans don't have. Seems to me that you are spitting in the face of a blessing....everything that is a good thing takes hard work to accomplish. In summation, America is an English country and you are expected to know the language....your parents ahould have prepared you better. America is a country and a name..not a person you can blame. Your parents knew when they came to America things were going to be different and they knew what language was spoken. Just because there is an influx of sanish speaking people into our country doesn't mean we have to change OUR ways for you. If I have a party at my house and have a lot of people come into MY house......do I then just give all of those people my house, simply because they outnumber me? Nope. Still my house....just with an influx of people,....who if they can't behave..must then leave. You sound like a whiner who doesn't want to work for what he gets.
edit on 19-6-2011 by Phenomium because: (no reason given)


Are you KIDDING ME??? Do you damn homework or YOU will get slapped.

en.wikipedia.org...



posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 04:03 PM
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Just a reminder to keep the conversation civil...



posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 04:08 PM
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Originally posted by Common Scarecrow
I have worked with people who came to America from other countries.

They were not allowed to speak anything other than english in their home so that they could learn the language. They took pride in becoming an American citizen.

America is a country. Before the early settlers came here it was NOT a country. It was just land that was inhabited by many different tribes, cultures, languages, etc. It was fractured and broken up.

America IS a melting pot from many different countries. My relatives were originally from England, Scotland, Poland, and Germany. I do not consider myself "euro-american". I do not fly a flag from some other country outside of my house. I am not into the whole, yuppy "it's fashionable to flaunt my heritage" crap. I am an American. I used to take pride in that before the government went down the toilet, but that is a different subject.

There is nothing wrong with the citizens of a country having and feeling a commonality between each other. Nothing "cookie-cutter" about it. It gives people a national identity. If you want to maintain the national identity of another country, go back there and suck their financial system dry.

Hyphenated-americanism is destroying this country. If that is what people want, they are about to get it. They will also no longer get government hand-outs, bail-outs, unemployment, etc.

When this country collapses, which it will, it will take the rest of the world with it. The rest of the world is too dependent on the U.S. to survive by itself.


Nationalism is disgusting. Your lack of wisdom keeps you proud and stupid.


"Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them!"
- Albert Einstein



posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 04:09 PM
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Originally posted by jimmyx
if anybody would care to read a little more history, you would find out that indian tribes and the larger nation tribes would war against each other long before the "white" man came over from europe....


So did the "white men from Europe"....what's your point exactly?

We are only human you know and most of the time we are at war with each other...



posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 04:10 PM
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posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 04:15 PM
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I was born in America too and English was not my first language either. But it was the language of the country that I wound up in (however I wound up here) and my choice was to learn it or take the consequences. It really can't get much simpler than this, no matter how backwards some are bending now to accommodate the most rapidly growing voting block with our taxpayer money.

But, coming back, I see the trend here that maybe be alarming some. Once the numbers of Spanish speakers are in the majority, which is likely to happen soon, will the language change to that? And will they be as accommodating?
edit on 6/19/2011 by ~Lucidity because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 04:17 PM
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reply to post by stevooo
 


Do you know that in many 'Indian Boarding Schools', teachers not only mentally and physically abused Native children but also sexually abused Native children?



posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 04:42 PM
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posted on Jun, 19 2011 @ 04:57 PM
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I have to say that i'm surprised by some of the ATSers here...Deny Ignorance indeed...and yet, I see a great deal of ignorance propagated.
Yes, and I find this mentality of "It was a long time ago," and "get over it," rather disturbing.
Do you know, you are not only telling Native people this, but anyone who has gone through what Native people have gone through in the past, the present and the future these words? Yes, even your ancesters.
This isn't about blame or contests, it's not about feeling bad for someone nor pandering nor wallowing. It's about learning, and as it is said in Hebrew, Tikkun Olam, that is, "reparing the world".

Someone on here stated (here I am paraphrasing) basically, that Native language is too primitive as a language for today's world. This tells me that the individual may have not taken the time to learn any of these languages and I have to wonder about other languages as well. Someone who has taken the time to learn a language (it dosn't even have to be fluent) knows that all languages have different ways of saying the same thing, they will also note that in many languages, there are untranslatable words. We will also note there are different modes of understanding. Much like reading a spiritual text or a mantra.

Also, by reading some of the posts here, I don't think some of you fully understand just what kind of education Native children recieved. It wasn't just a teacher making a child learn something they didn't want to learn nor was it just paddling and hand whacking. As I stated on another post, there was a great deal of mental, physical and sexual abuse. And this extends beyond just the schools. There are people alive here and now that have been harmed on multiple levels by this and have spoken out about it so you can look up their stories and see for yourself. We have learned well beyond the sterile and clean interpretation of what exactly the true meaning of the word 'Assimilation' means. And yes, Assimilation is alive and well today. It's another form of genocide and as one poster noted, it is the cleaner and more approved version. It tastes better but it is still the same poison.

Good people, you must know, that it is not only my people that hurt, but all peoples are hurt by this in the end.

Edit: To correct some errors.
edit on 19-6-2011 by Arles Morningside because: (no reason given)




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