Should there be requirements for people that immigrate to North America in regards to learning English?

pacdog

I don't think that this would even be a issue if we didn't have " push 1 for english, push 2 for Spanish" thrown in our faces every time we went out. It really makes me mad. There are over 150 languages spoken in this country, so why are we only catering to the Spanish speaking population ??
Yes, everybody migrating to this country should have to speak and read English. For safety reasons and for economic reasons. As a Business owner, it is a extra financial burden to either hire someone that speaks Spanish or to print materials in Spanish as well as English. This epidemic is killing the economy.

Yankee Thunder

I say if you live in an English speaking country then you have 1 year to learn the language or get out. However, there are 2 reasons why this will never happen. 1) Corporate America will do anything for a dollar, and illegal non-English speaking people have money just as green as English speaking people. 2) America does not have an official language designated, so even though the majority speak it and the country was invaded by settlers who speak it, it is still not the official language. So, Mexicans and anyone else who no habla inglis have every right to speak whatever they want. The rules need to be changed but it's a joke to think they'd even be enforced.

thinkingtime

Language skills are part of the evaluation for immigration to Canada.

melanieb1985

Depends where you immigrate in north america. If you immigrate in Mexico, sorry but you do not and should not be needed to speak english since english is not the national language of mexico. If you move to Quebec in Canada, french is the national language so you should be required to speak french. I'm from Quebec and if you would demand me to speak english in my every day life I would laugh in your face. As for the rest of Canada and the US, yes you should be speaking english. People should be required to speak the language of the country / area where they are moving to.

You should have wrote "immigrate to the USA" in your question instead of north america because you seem to think that only USA is in north america. Pretty stupid.

Edit - Ok then. Since you meant the USA, yes everybody who immigrates to the US should be required to speak english or to learn english right away. It is a matter of respect and courtesy. When you choose a country to immigrate to, you don't only choose the land. It comes with the language, the culture, the values.

CatHerder

Why would Mexico require people immigrating there to learn English? Or Quebec?

Yeah Right Again

YES.

lestermount

Any person moving to another country should learn the language of that country.
Today the U.S. political correctness in regard to language has gotten out of control
Judges have determined that any legal document must be printed in all languages that are represented in that area of the country.
Some ballots have been required to be printed in a language that is not a written language, and here the back of school report cards are printed in 43 different languages.

LISA C

yes,yes,yes, they should speak english, all of them if their citizens or not, if your gonna come over here and take our jobs at least speak our language! This really makes me mad to think how many Americans, are out of work because of immigrants taking their jobs and can't speak English. And Becoming Citizens OMG I would like to know the percentage of those who actually know English

Micky....the resurrection

YES!

Loretta C

yes. tell your friend to read the Constitution of the united states, 14 th amendment. we are to speak the language it was written in.

Ya heard me

Yep, learn it or don't come.

cantsuspendme31

yes/

Dennis K

No it should be a requirement for all lazy Americans to learn multiple languages. In Europe most people know many. But the Anglo Americans want everyone to learn English. Well the native language to North America would be Navajo or one of the other native dialects. Many Americans through out the history of this country did not speak English. this country has been built on immigrants that did not speak English.

Brian A

Please remember that North America is a very multi-lingual continent and contains three different countries: Canada, US and Mexico. In the case of the third, why should a person moving to Mexico need to know English? And in the case of Canada (where I'm from) there actually is a requirement that immigrants have a fluency in either French or English. Well...not a requirement really, but it does greatly reduce the chances of an application being approved if the applicant doesn't speak either French or English.

If you are referring to the US, however, then I would tend to agree with you on certain points. If a person is moving to, say, Boston or Detroit then I would definitely think that knowledge of English would be highly important, however there are large portions of the US where English-speakers are a minority. People moving to certain parts of Texas, California or New Mexico, for example, could easily get by with only a knowledge of Spanish, and there are parts of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont where only a knowledge of French would be needed.

So, it all depends, I suppose.

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