Don't you agree that...?

Crys*

English is not America's only language. Everything is printed in at least English and Spanish, if not more. There are accommodations for translation in any situation. If anything, it should be mandatory that ANY American "citizen" should speak English.

lexxxâ™¥

freedom of speech does not mean language, it means freedom to say that you dislike something

example : I dislike the president or the senate or whatever.

Jenny m

If I was going to be a citizen of another country, I would DEFINITELY want to know how to speak the language of that country. Just think of it, if someone says something insulting in their native language about me, I'd wanna know!

Plus, it's easier for someone to get a better paying job if they know inglese.

Sashie

Right ... in that case I would urge all Spanish speakers to learn Urdu, Vietnamese, Cantonese, German, Swedish ... the list goes on and on ... if not, why not?? Most countries have a national language for business and governmental purposes, so everyone can understand what is going on ...

Or did you mean that everyone should speak Spanish? Dream on .... :)

Smooth Criminal

I disagree with you. Americans can speak whatever languages they want, but as far as a national language is concerned, English should be it. Our founding fathers spoke English, our constitution was written in English and American citizens speak English. If you're here visiting or working and you don't plan on staying, fine, don't speak English. But if you want to become a citizen, it's something you should make an effort to learn.

FLHRCI

What language they speak doesn't matter. Every illegal alien should be DEPORTED. We are a nation of immigrants. LEGAL immigrants.

RENEGADE.

So, when are you going to learn MY language, I already know english.

One of the freedoms Americans enjoy is the freedom to sit back and watch someone open their mouth and make a complete fool of oneself.
Thank you for allowing me this small freedom which I enjoy at every opportunity.

Daniel

Freedom of speech refers to the content of what u say, not what language u say it in. One national language is good enough. Since we are so diverse, you are suggesting that we should have probably at least 50 national languages, which is kinda hard in regards to Americans communicating with one another. There is no way we can teach our kids in public schools with that.

tom

This country was founded by ENGLISH colonists who spoke ENGLISH. Thats were america came from. In the late 1800s and early 1900s when millions of Italian, German, Polish..... immigrants came here they learned to speak english without a fuss. And for freedom of speech go ahead say what you want in spanish noone cares. but illegals are coming here forcing us to have bilingual programs in school (extra money for taxpayers) and trying to abandon the hopeless wasteland of mexico and make america new mexico.

SITTINONTHEFENCE

Freedom of speech actually means more like no fear of retribution for saying things against another. Voicing Political or Religious arguments. One needs to put oneself in the frame of mind of the people who wrote and endorsed these words.

Our founding fathers experienced religious and political persecution in their native lands. Lord Baltimore of England refused to join the Anglican Church, he as a devout Catholic was offered lands in the new world. There are many more facts such as this.

The bottom line is we need to be able to comunicate with each other. My Grandmothers German family spoke German at home. It is the language they thought in. Having newly arrived in the United States, they learned enough English to get by and their children were fluent in both languages.

My Dad in his later years could only really remember how to cuss in German and I can't even do that. Necessity as it was I only needed to know English.

Lets let logic prevail here and not our hearts. Imagine that each of us take our Grampas foot and use it as the basic measurement unit. each family has two Grampas so first off who gets the honor? Second, every different family in the imagined land we are creating has a different unit of measurement.

I sell you six feet of wood based on the value of my Grampas foot.
He's a short but stout man and your Grampa is six feet 9 inches tall. My six feet is only two thirds the wood you were expecting because our imaginary land has no standardized unit of measurement. If the wood was milled in Seattle Washinton and sold to Bob Jones in New York, how does Bob know that he is getting the amount of board feet requried and how does he know he's not overpaying? Oh I've got a good idea here to heck with the size of some Kings foot that is going to change when his son takes the throne lets just standardize the mess.

Mark Twain made some comments about religion. He was observing the belief that when a person dies, they go to heaven and get their own cloud and a harp. Now given the fact that one person in thousands is actually a good musician can you imagine the God awful racket in heaven?

The same would be true for a City or Country with no accepted satandardized form of comunication.

All jokes aside we must be able to comunicate with each other on a National if not Global scale. I apologize for the fact that English speaking people run the world and have for six hundred years. It's a fact, deal with it. I can stamp my foot and say hey everybody see things my way or I can try to fit in with the majority.
After all isn't majority rules the most logical? Realizing of course that the majority in China is Chinese speaking but I'm in the U.S.A.

I think in English and try to translate it and comunicate with Spanish speaking people, I know by the expressions on their faces wether I've done a good job or made myself a fool.

What you are proposing is that all of us sound like a fool at some point or another because we all have to try to know hundreds of languages in order to get through the day.

If I go to France I better know how to speak French or I'm just some dumb bunny. Or should I expect that they should know Enlish because I have graced them with my presence!!

There is an old saying--WHEN IN ROME DO AS THE ROMANS DO.--

I try to think things through to a logical end. If perhaps I'm wrong how about you or someone else use logic rather than sentiment to try and convince me!!

Please quit trying to manipulate the Bill of Rights into something other than what was really intended.

A good example of this is the Gun control supporters. they say we don't need to hunt so we don't need guns. The RIGHT to keep and bare arms was given to us by people with a revoulutionary state of mind. Paul Revere did not ride the streets of Boston hollering out " to arms to arms the Elk are coming".

Some people want to manipulate those words to support their own adgenda. That is not what the words meant at the time or now.

It is not important we Americans speak Engish we could speak any one language and all get by just fine. Since the MAJORITY of us already speak English it is more logical to leave it that way and expect that if someone wants to do buisiness or converse in our Country that they please learn the language.

If logic is to much to ask then maybe we shouls just be illogical. Now there is an intelligent thought lets just refuse to use common sense.

DAR

Christopher Columbus wasn't in the US.

I agree about legals being able to speak their language, though. I wish they would learn ours, but I don't feel I have the right to compell it.

Princess_29_71

disagree and Renegade is so right.

Elise K

Everyone else has already made most of the pertinent arguments. I will simply add that:

a) The Norse (aka Vikings) had no part in the founding of the United States. They only colonized a place that is now in Canada, and they left nearly 1000 years ago.

b) Cristofero Colombo (aka "Christopher Columbus" in English) had no part in the founding of the United States either. In fact, he never set foot in it. He landed on San Salvador and other voyages to him around the Caribbean and to parts of what is now Central America.

c) The First Nations peoples (aka "Native Americans" or "Indians") is a better argument, but I notice you don't even attempt to list thier languages. That really don't help your argument; it appears as though you don't know any and therefore are just using them as rhetorical device. That's insulting. You could start with Algonquin; the language group of which Chief Powhatan's langauge was a dialect.

d) Frankly, languages evolve and new languages move into new regions. If this were not the case, not even the English would be speaking English. They'd still be speaking Saxon, Brythonic, Latin and whatever the Picts spoke.

So in short, get over it.

thelogicalferret

yes freedom of speech does mean that you are free to say what you wish. It does not mean that the taxpayers are responsible for your English teachers bill.

Just out of curiosity, if I call a government office in Mexico does it say press 1 for Spanish, press 2 for English? Really, I want to know.

Chee

I neither agree or disagree. I don't care what language people speak, it doesn't effect my life or the outcome of my life. I try to worry about more important things that do like the very real threat of a war.

la buena bruja

Creo que se debe hablar el ingles si quieren vivir aqui porque es el idioma oficial de este pais. Sin embargo, podemos hacer lo necesario para mantener la cultura de otras personas, y la lengua es parte de la cultura. Quiza el espanol sera el segundo idioma en los E.E.U.U. como el frances es el segundo idioma en Canada.

Mendi8a

of course I agree!

strawberry

agree, but how are you going to change racist people?

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