<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ May 12 2007, 10:51 PM) [snapback]440903[/snapback]</div> Duh. I was just sitting here wondering what the hell he was talking about. Thank you Zone Alarm. OTOH -- Oh Well. I guess some folks can't abide by the fact that not everyone is talking to them.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ May 13 2007, 08:41 PM) [snapback]441353[/snapback]</div> I'm pretty sure they do.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ May, 06:41 PM) [snapback]441353[/snapback]</div> Hey good point. Now that I think about it, I've been forced to learn at least a dozen languages for my job. I ought to complain and insist that the only language used at work be English! <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jgills240 @ May, 07:12 PM) [snapback]441372[/snapback]</div> Mine offered it as an elective. It wasn't required. My high school & later grade school that is. In my early grade school, it was required but that was a private school.
Hey, kids, it's OLD JOKE TIME! What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone who only speaks one language? American.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(larkinmj @ May 13 2007, 09:50 PM) [snapback]441391[/snapback]</div> That's called "Compensating". Next thing we know you'll be driving a Hummer! :lol:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jgills240 @ May 13 2007, 07:12 PM) [snapback]441372[/snapback]</div> Some schools require that you take a language class. Very few require that you actually learn anything in that class. I took French in high school. I actually learned nothing but a few dozen words, pronounced with a Russian accent (the teacher was Russian). By contrast, the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Advanced Studies (Mexico's largest university system, with 26 campuses around the country) requires every student to learn English, and to pass a test called TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) before they can graduate. Fail the test, you get no diploma. We should require every student to demonstrate the ability to communicate at a conversational level in a language other than their native language, in order to graduate from high school. (And silly kid's games like pig latin or its variants do not count.) Additional languages should be offered to any student who wants to go beyond 2, and this should be encouraged.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ May 14 2007, 08:04 AM) [snapback]441557[/snapback]</div> LOL! That's so true. I "took" Spanish in college. Passed w/ a decent grade. Couldn't put together a complete sentence to save my life. Clearly learned more during a 2 week vacation in Spain than the entire semester in college. My only problem there is the fact that everyone has priorities and pet subjects that they feel deserve more time, emphesis, etc. And the always feel that said subject should be mandatory. Further, everyone has strengths, weaknesses and interests. Now, I'm not saying kids should be able to sit through a class and show no competance at all at the end of it, but making the case that the time, energy, expense, etc be so stringent for foreign language is worth it and would not be at the expense of other important subject woiuld be very difficult. I don't disagree with your general points. I absolutely believe that experience and understanding of other languages/cultures is critical in our international society and connected world is important. I just don't think we can 'force it' upon every student, nor should we try. The same arguement could be made for accounting competence and many other subjects. There just aren't enough hours in the day to justify. Again, if the school is large enough to be able to offer additional languages and such then yea, that's great. But many schools just can't afford to pay multiple language teachers or support such classes while they're working on simply getting kids to understand the 3-Rs.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ May 14 2007, 09:04 AM) [snapback]441557[/snapback]</div> Why? I could understand if the world did not speak English - but for us English speakers (not including the Queen's English or varietals found in South Africa or Australia) it is not a big deal - most educational material, research, etc is in English. I could understand if English was not my primary language requiring I would prefer demonstrating compentancy in Math, Science, and Computer skills before being allowed to graduate high school. What do you do with all those in this country that cant speek English? Do you believe that every American citizen be required to be fluent in English??????? Do you believe that any person applying for citizenship outside life or death emergancies be required to be fluent in English before being granted citizenship - or even admission to this country under a temporary visa status???
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ May 14 2007, 09:50 AM) [snapback]441584[/snapback]</div> Fortunately for them, computers have a thing called "spell check"! :lol:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ May 14 2007, 08:50 AM) [snapback]441584[/snapback]</div> Not to beat a dead horse here but, all puertoricans are american citizens, with spanish as the first language and most with only rudimentary knowledge of english. Just pointing out how narrowminded generalizations are. Cheers!
Internet web sites are part of a global community and as such I am somewhat suprised we do not see a higher frequecy of languages other than english. I will admit in my state, where the second most used language is French and we are 95% white puritans I am a bit peeved at having to "press 1 for english" at my local bank ATM...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alric @ May 14 2007, 10:12 AM) [snapback]441597[/snapback]</div> Dr. Berman should know better, as there are over a million Puerto Ricans living in NYC. And they don't just speak Spanish in P.R., but a variant that includes words derived from the African and indigenous pre-Columbian influences of the island. Just another example of the rich culture that we have in the US.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alric @ May 14 2007, 10:12 AM) [snapback]441597[/snapback]</div> isn't high school in PR taught in English?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tnthub @ May 14 2007, 10:26 AM) [snapback]441603[/snapback]</div> Perhaps, but Maine is probably happy to have that tourist money coming from Canada!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ May 14 2007, 09:31 AM) [snapback]441608[/snapback]</div> Nope. Just one class of many. Even undergrad is mainly spanish with some english textbooks.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(larkinmj @ May 14 2007, 10:30 AM) [snapback]441607[/snapback]</div> Yes I do - i thought as posted a minute ago that high school in PR is taught in English. Either way - i personally do not care what language(s) people speak - as long as my children are fluent in English, Math, Science and Computer Science. My kids do take another language in school and go to Hebrew School to learn Hebrew - for full disclosure - but i think you do a great disservice to you and your children if you live here and do not speak the language - one man's opinion.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ May 14 2007, 10:35 AM) [snapback]441614[/snapback]</div> I agree with you that anyone who goes to live in another country should learn the language, and their children should grow up speaking the native language. That only makes sense. But I don't understand why people get upset about signs in Spanish, etc., that are only minor efforts to be a little more accommodating to people whose native language is not English. I have maybe spent, what, two or three minutes additional during my lifetime listening to "Press one for English. Numero dos para Espanol" while waiting for someone who won't help me anyway. People spend a lot more time complaining about it. Having heard a few friend's kids recite a bat mitzvahs, I have a lot of respect for anyone who makes the effort to learn Hebrew. Sounds like it is as difficult a language to master as Dutch. My 10-year old daughter recently learned a song in Hebrew (she sang a solo in a performance of a play about Anne Frank- Liza Minelli was in the audience and said she did a great job, although I don't know if Liza speaks Hebrew!)
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ May 13 2007, 03:49 PM) [snapback]441067[/snapback]</div> Ditto Gaelic. I’m Scottish by the way. I’d like to see one world government, language, currency etc.. The ‘.com’ in ‘priuschat.com’ stands or stood for ‘company’ not ‘completely American’. I believe there is a ‘.us’ domain for that purpose.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stev0 @ May 13 2007, 09:43 PM) [snapback]441387[/snapback]</div> What do you call someone who can't speak any language? President Bush (Actually I had heard this as "fluent in multiple languages: multilingual, fluent in 2 languages: bilingual, etc.) <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Hobbs @ May 14 2007, 09:51 AM) [snapback]441624[/snapback]</div> If it's one world language we're after, it should be Mandarin Chinese because they outnumber all other speakers. Or pick a neutral language with phonetic spelling (what is that, esperanto?). Make English spelling phonetic at the very least. And switch over to Dvorak-style keyboards, they are much more efficient than the cobbled-together qwerty-style keyboard. Switch to metric, or even better, dozenal, this inch-foot-pound thing is the ultimate in useless silly nostalgia.
