Illegal Alien Thread

[*AQuietPlace*]

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

I saw a hateful fb post the other day by a woman I know quite well, ranting and raving about people being forced to learn English before they come into this country. I have the privilege of teaching two Burmese children in my class on Wednesday nights, and although their English isn't perfect, it's pretty good. The older girl not only speaks English, but she speaks some Spanish in addition to her native language, and is able to passably read and translate a third dialect. How many of us could do that? I took two years of Spanish and I can hardly remember any of it! And yet many Americans act like these people are somehow inferior because they stumble over their words.

I don't advocate hatefulness (at all), but the lack of English-speaking skills is becoming a real problem. I live in an area that has an extremely high Hispanic population, and sometimes the communication difficulties really complicate things. I don't have a problem with people struggling with English, but it seems like a lot of them are not even trying to learn. Since this country's official language is English, I think you should learn it if you plan to live here.

I wouldn't move to China and not expect to learn their language. The point of having a common language is so that we can all communicate with each other.