Someone who has lived in the USA for 23 years still doesn't speak English.

[Carolyn 1]

I think it's just a matter of lack of exposure: people who live in communities where no one regularly speaks English. How do you learn unless you need to? If it's easier to speak Spanish (or whatever native language they speak), how many people go out of their comfort zones to learn another language, even if it might be better for them in the long run?

The parents of many of my Latino HS students rarely speak English--and I bet if you find them 23 years from now they will not have learned, either.

[Nessa 23]

lol I still make those mistakes hahahahah

but the thing is, if you're not pushed to improve your english, it won't happen automatically.. as they say in spanish.. no porque el burro sople la flauta, la sabe tocar... you can think you speak well.. but if you're not pushed to improve.. well.. things like that happen

i do things like that too. I wanna say something in English, but I can't remember the word so I think of the word in portuguese and it makes sense in my head that translating that word will make sense in English

Like separate, I wanted Charles to ''set aside'' something but since I didn't know I was supposed to say set aside I said separate this for me and he was like #######?

[island_princess 2]

she/he is not interested to learn, and more likely, happy with his/her life or career. being bi-lingual is an advantage if you are looking for office or people oriented jobs..but if you do manual labor, broken english is okay.

[MrsCat 6]

well I can see it's a mix of gramatically incorrect english and a funny accent.. IMO an accent is not 'broken english'... it's just part of who you are and period

I forgot to tell you about the time he was going to fight this dude and had a wrench in his hand and said " I fukkie you up with this key." Because wrench and key is the same word in Spanish,he thought it was like that in English too.

:lol:

I would have paid good cash to see that.

[panamania79 2]

well I can see it's a mix of gramatically incorrect english and a funny accent.. IMO an accent is not 'broken english'... it's just part of who you are and period

I forgot to tell you about the time he was going to fight this dude and had a wrench in his hand and said " I fukkie you up with this key." Because wrench and key is the same word in Spanish,he thought it was like that in English too.

:lol:

I would have paid good cash to see that.

You probabaly would pay to hear the way he says "Don't make me laugh."

He says "Don't make me funny." instead. It's a riot !

[peejay 327]

I think it's just a matter of lack of exposure: people who live in communities where no one regularly speaks English. How do you learn unless you need to? If it's easier to speak Spanish (or whatever native language they speak), how many people go out of their comfort zones to learn another language, even if it might be better for them in the long run?

The parents of many of my Latino HS students rarely speak English--and I bet if you find them 23 years from now they will not have learned, either.

Another reason to quit catering to them. English should be the official language of government in the USA. All government business should be in English only. Especially voting. The US government caters to today's immigrants that was unheard of in years past.

Both of my grandparents arrived in the USA speaking only a few words of English. My oldest aunt was born here and started school not speaking English. In those days there was no bi-lingual education. She just sat in class and interacted with the American kids. Ditto for my grandparents. When they left the house they had to deal with the English speaking world. No ESL classes in those days. No government programs. They were no scholars, but they eventually learned enough on their own to read, write, and speak English on basis proficient enough to conduct business in the English speaking world at large. Ditto for my middle aunt and mom. The whole family was bi-lingual. My mom even prefered to speak English with my grandparents and did so most of the time.

Another reason why US immigration policy should be geared toward diversity instead of immigration by only one group. There would not be as much anti-immigrant sentiment if some of these people half way even tried to assimilate. They don't.

I have nothing against people speaking foreign languages. My wife and stepdaughter are bi-lingual. It is an admirable plus. But this is America. If you are going to live in a foreign country you might want to learn the language of the inhabitants. Especially if you plan to live there for the rest of your life.

Another reason I believe modern mass immigration in the USA is a total failure. Instead of "out of many we became one" it has become "out of one we have become many". Why did we do that? Multiculturalism is a dead end.

[Nessa 23]

If you are going to live in a foreign country you might want to learn the language of the inhabitants. Especially if you plan to live there for the rest of your life.

agreed.

[Ban Hammer 14,569]

My best friend has been here for 23 years and still speaks very broken English.I just don't understand it.

not surprising. a guy who worked for my dad, a beneficiary of the 1986 amnesty - he's been here over 25 years and still can't carry on a conversation in english.

[Heracles 417]

My best friend has been here for 23 years and still speaks very broken English.I just don't understand it.

There are quite a few teachers I know who tell me that every year they have to teach Latino kids that were born in the US yet do not speak a single word of English. These kids are approx 10 years old and in the 5th grade.

When I ask um why the #### not... They say they have been told they cannot force 'our culture' on to them. #######!!

Edited July 31, 2008 by Aficionado

[Heracles 417]

I think it's just a matter of lack of exposure: people who live in communities where no one regularly speaks English. How do you learn unless you need to? If it's easier to speak Spanish (or whatever native language they speak), how many people go out of their comfort zones to learn another language, even if it might be better for them in the long run?

The parents of many of my Latino HS students rarely speak English--and I bet if you find them 23 years from now they will not have learned, either.

Another reason to quit catering to them. English should be the official language of government in the USA. All government business should be in English only. Especially voting. The US government caters to today's immigrants that was unheard of in years past.

I thought, by default, the language was official considering every single founding document is written in English.

[kerewin21 2]

I have many patients who have been here 10, 20, 30 years and have not learned English. Part of the problem is that they don't have to; they live in communities where everyone speaks their language. Another part of the problem is that lack of access to affordable ESOL programs. We signed my husband up for a few lower priced ESOL programs 2 years ago and have only heard back from 1 of them, and that was just for a diagnostic test, after which it's another 6 month wait to get into a class! And these are not even free classes.

Another problem I think is that it's hard for someone with very little education to start with to learn to read and write a new language. Many of my patients can't even read and write in Spanish (or French or Bengali or Fulani, etc), so you'd have to start with very basic literacy programs (reading and writing in their native language) before you could move on to teaching English. I haven't really seen any programs that focus only on spoken language; not being able to read or write would get in the way of most of the didactic styles of ESOL programs.

[bevs 0]

no effort at all.

[Amby 490]

sounds a bit lazy to me

[MrsCat 6]

well I can see it's a mix of gramatically incorrect english and a funny accent.. IMO an accent is not 'broken english'... it's just part of who you are and period

I forgot to tell you about the time he was going to fight this dude and had a wrench in his hand and said " I fukkie you up with this key." Because wrench and key is the same word in Spanish,he thought it was like that in English too.

:lol:

I would have paid good cash to see that.

You probabaly would pay to hear the way he says "Don't make me laugh."

He says "Don't make me funny." instead. It's a riot !

He talks like my mom. She's french though.

One day she said "Cat, don't kick a dead horse in the teeth" otherwise known as the saying "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

[kerewin21 2]

sounds a bit lazy to me

It's not about laziness for some people. It's a lack of opportunity and lack of access. Try teaching someone who can barely speak their own language properly (let alone read or write it) to speak, read, and write another language. Is it really that easy to just go out and learn to read and write in Spanish (or whatever other language), then learn to read and write in English? There just aren't opportunities for some people. There are plenty of Americans who are illiterate. Are they just lazy?