Rant-Must speak Spanish

[kathy11515]

One other thing-does anyone remember the time there was a plane coming in with a Chinese pilot who supposedly spoke English, but the tower couldn't understand one word he said? I believe English is the world-wide language required by IATA.

So what I think I'm going to do is apply for that job, and let them know I am planning to take a Spanish class. I believe the local Community College has a class for basic skills to help you with your job. Wish me luck.

 

[chrisl317]

"Many jobs that Americans won't do"
That's BS. I've dug ditches for $50 a day to put food on the table for my family. Our gov't won't dis-illusion themselves that people need a decent living wage in order to do those jobs. The immigrants picking fruit, while not making that much money are if fact making more than they would staying in their own country doing the same work. Also, these wages are typical under the table and sent home to their families, because their gov't is usually corrupt, can't support it's own people and much like our gov't only care about taking care of a small elitist group of crooked buddies.

 

[olderthandirt]

I just looked up xenophobia to refresh my memory.

OK...

And then I double checked atrophy

Hmmm...

As a body, individual or collective, ages, it will change. Simple fact, hard to escape. Certainly exceptions can be found, but for the most part change can be accepted as a constant. And again, for the most part, when a body ceases to change it will generally deteriorate.

As an alternative to fighting change, it has been suggested that actively seeking open-minded means of embracing change will generally be more productive, satisfying.

Breath, think, be.

Some that read this will get it, some won't.

If you don't, you can.

Embracing change for the better does not need constitute accommodation.

Peace

 

[olderthandirt]

... So what I think I'm going to do is apply for that job, and let them know I am planning to take a Spanish class. I believe the local Community College has a class for basic skills to help you with your job. Wish me luck.

Now that rocks kathy! Make it work for ya

 

[master_meow]

"Many jobs that Americans won't do"
That's BS. I've dug ditches for $50 a day to put food on the table for my family. Our gov't won't dis-illusion themselves that people need a decent living wage in order to do those jobs. The immigrants picking fruit, while not making that much money are if fact making more than they would staying in their own country doing the same work. Also, these wages are typical under the table and sent home to their families, because their gov't is usually corrupt, can't support it's own people and much like our gov't only care about taking care of a small elitist group of crooked buddies.

Their government is corrupt due to drugs. 90% of ....... in the US comes through Mexico. So who is to blame.

While it is under the table they still do buy items in the US. So they do contribute both to taxes and the economy. Think about how much more you would pay for fruits if you had to pay someone more to do that. Its a win/lose situation. There is no perfect solution.

As for english being a universal language, wont happen. Tourist spots in other countries can speak english usually, but outside of that they cant. Look at china, 90% come from rural areas that cant speak english. And talking about airplanes, anyhow ever hear the joke about the german pilot who was told to land on runway nine?

 

[klum]

It may be a lame statement but only because of the truth of it. I was only grouping the Spanish-speaking people who get catered to. At least, in my area. And they get plenty of services-90% of the kids get free lunches.

In my area, it's not based on what language you speak or what your nationality is, it's based on your economic status. Maybe 90% Spanish speaking are getting services, but you have to also conclude that 10% English speaking kids are also getting those services. And you also have to take in to consideration how many of those 90% are here legally. If you are here legally, are you still being catered to?

Another example that pisses me off-when I was divorced, I almost lost my house. This was about 7 year ago. I coud find no one to help, so I had to sell it. The people who bought it received $5,000 from a charitable agency. (I saw a copy of the MO) At closing, the mortgage company wanted them to have more savings in the bank. They received another 5 grand to buy my house.

They were there for 2 years, took out a home equity loan, suddenly couldn't pay their bills, gutted the house and disappeared. Probaly back to Mexico for a while before they come back and do it again.

First, I have to say sorry to hear about your house problem. Divorce is never easy and having to worry about your house, I'm sure, made it all that much more difficult. That said, 7 years ago almost anyone with a job could have qualified for a no or virtually no money down loan for a house. To hear that they did is not surprising. I'm sure that there are plenty of organizations that were around then to help specific groups get into home ownership. I don't quite see how this is related to them being Spanish speaking though. With what we have seen in the last couple of years and continue to see (1 in 5 houses in foreclosure or notice of default), this could have happened to Ward and June Cleaver had they purchased the house at that time. This is a story that is going on around the country. Too many people were qualified buyers who really weren't qualified. Bankers and loan companies allowing Equity lines to be taken out without checking to see if the borrower could actually pay for it. I remember that I took out an equity line for 90% of my homes worth in about 10 minutes. They never did any exhaustive checks on whether I could pay it back. I did pay it back, but the point is money then was easy to get.

kevin

 

[klum]

I've dug ditches for $50 a day to put food on the table for my family.

Props to you. You do what you need to do to take care of your family, but do you think that all of us Americans have this same mentality? I've interviewed so many people that have a different attitude about work and work ethic.

Our gov't won't dis-illusion themselves that people need a decent living wage in order to do those jobs.

This is one of those hard topics to tackle. Wages are what ever you can hire someone to do the job for, legally. The government shouldn't dictate the cost of any job. It should be up to the market. There are already minimum wages as the floor. After that it's really up to the market. I own a business that mainly pays minimum or slightly higher wages. If I were faced to pay a "living" wage that was more than the already minimum, I would seriously have to let people go. That would help the ones that I keep, but would also put more people into unemployment. It would also hurt our customers as they would have less employees to help them.

The immigrants picking fruit, while not making that much money are if fact making more than they would staying in their own country doing the same work. Also, these wages are typical under the table and sent home to their families, because their gov't is usually corrupt, can't support it's own people and much like our gov't only care about taking care of a small elitist group of crooked buddies.

You're right about the Mexican government. There really is a high upper class over there and a huge separation between the middle and lower economic classes. Immigrants picking fruit still pay for housing to a US landlord, still pay for food and entertainment to US companies and many do pay their taxes. Yes some does go back to Mexico, but you can also make a similar argument that US dollars are going to any country that you purchase foreign owned/made imports from, including our E-cigs.

We should all stop thinking that our government is going to stop illegal immigration and come to the realization that we have to think of better ways to solve the problems.

So what I think I'm going to do is apply for that job, and let them know I am planning to take a Spanish class. I believe the local Community College has a class for basic skills to help you with your job. Wish me luck.

Nice example of the above. Find a way to make it work for everyone. Hopefully, they will see it your way. Good luck.


kevin

 

[BARENETTED]

Kathy - I admire your determination. Good for you!

Now - only if we can get the ones that do not speak English - to do the same as you!

Note - If I went to live in a foreign country, my first order of business would be to learn the native language.

 

[Slea]

Well, as someone who has worked in a library for almost a decade in an area with a high Hispanic population, can I tell you something you might not have considered?

The *majority* of Spanish speaking people who come to the library are seeking materials to help them learn English.

Language acquisition doesn't happen over night, you know, especially as an adult. But, you know, screw people for trying....

 

[BARENETTED]

That is great Slea, but how do you know what is a 'majority'? Where did you get your research numbers from?? If that were the case, we wouldn't need everything in this country to be bi-lingual and I WOULD NOT HAVE TO PRESS 1 FOR ENGLISH!!

They should all be watching English TV shows and listening to English radio to hasten their grasp of the English language.

I only know about 10% of the Spanish I learned in HS. I was born in this country. I was in my local Post Office on Saturday. On a side note - My town is a mostly white, suburban town. The woman on line in front of me starts to speak to me in Spanish???? Why do they assume that this is a Spanish speaking country??

 

[Surf Monkey]

What a joke this thread is. Have any of you English boosters ever been to Europe? It's very common to encounter multi-lingual people there. You'll have no trouble finding people in France, Germany, Spain and Italy who speak their native tongues as well as English. Many speak French, English and German or French, Italian and English.

All the "This heres 'merica! You best speak English!" stuff is amazingly provincial sounding. It's the sort of thing that makes Americans look like dopes.

 

[chrisl317]

I've been around the world twice, from the outer most of the south pole to the north pole and most points in between. I'm a blue nosed shellback. Those of you who know, you know. Those of you who don't, who live in "merica" do something for the U.S. besides pay taxes! Jack was right 1/20/61

 

[Webby]

Hmmm I suppose I have to say it wasn't too bad...

well...it's no "99 luft ballons"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztYSlNazJno

 

[BARENETTED]

surf - what is your sole purpose in life - go from thread to thread and post to post - putting down everyone who does not agree with your thinking?

You are so PRO 'every other country but America' - why dont you just get the fock out! No one is forcing you to stay here. I am just so tired of your constant ranting and whining.

Go back to healthcare reform - I no longer read that thread - knowing you have posted more BS.

 

[talmadgemonroe]

I Luv Nena

 

[surbitonPete]

A lot of Brit's move to live in Spain and they all do their best to speak Spanish but understandably few become very fluent because it's so hard to learn another language when you are getting older but their 'children' usually grow up being perfectly fluent in Spanish 'or' English. What I don't understand is that a lot of foreign people are coming to live in the UK but their children grow up being barely able to speak English as well. It seems as if their parents don't want them to learn to speak in the native language of the UK.

 

[Surf Monkey]

surf - what is your sole purpose in life - go from thread to thread and post to post - putting down everyone who does not agree with your thinking?

You are so PRO 'every other country but America' - why dont you just get the fock out! No one is forcing you to stay here. I am just so tired of your constant ranting and whining.

Go back to healthcare reform - I no longer read that thread - knowing you have posted more BS.

The humorous thing about this post is that you accuse me of "putting everyone down" and the proceed to put me down. Projection seems to be a common problem amongst far right thinkers.

Look, it's a shame that you think that people who disagree with your viewpoint are "putting you down" or "ranting and whining" but that's something you're going to have to work out, not me. Until then, I'm not going to keep my mouth shut on topics I'm interested in simply because you don't want to hear anything but cheerleading for your viewpoint and I'm certainly not going to "get the fock out" because you don't like living in a nation where the free expression of ideas is the highest value.

 

[BARENETTED]

You arent worth a reply!

 

[Kate51]

The humorous thing about this post is that you accuse me of "putting everyone down" and the proceed to put me down. Projection seems to be a common problem amongst far right thinkers.

Look, it's a shame that you think that people who disagree with your viewpoint are "putting you down" or "ranting and whining" but that's something you're going to have to work out, not me. Until then, I'm not going to keep my mouth shut on topics I'm interested in simply because you don't want to hear anything but cheerleading for your viewpoint and I'm certainly not going to "get the fock out" because you don't like living in a nation where the free expression of ideas is the highest value.

Thing is Surf, while you are correct about free expression is the highest value, when you keep yelling "Fire" pretty soon somebody may just take you up on that.

"putting you down" or "ranting and whining"

, isn't that exactly the way you approach others' free expression? What kind of a statement is

because you don't like living in a nation where the free expression of ideas is the highest value

I'm sure we all love living in this nation, I think that's pretty obvious, otherwise why would we care so much Our Nation. I'm just not sure that includes living subjected to "snarkshooters" any more than we would like living next to a pig farm. Putting lipstick on them wouldn't make them smell any better. Course, pigs don't have to appologize for being stinkers. It isn't so much being able to "say" things, it's about "communicating" things. Communication involves a lot more than language, that's pretty evident from this Thread. You may have a right to say anything, but that doesn't make it the right thing to say. That, of course, is just my very own humble opinion. I think this Nation has always bent over backwards to accomodate all people who want to live here, but it always comes down to being able to hear and represent everyone without translating 2000 different languages first.

 

[talmadgemonroe]

Tranquilo, gringos locos.