Travel warning for those going to West Virginia - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**omisan** · 04-13-2005, 05:10 PM

Just in case you thought your Swahili skills would help...

W. Va. Makes English Its Official Language

**space virgin** · 04-13-2005, 05:25 PM

Well, this answers the question of "what do politicians do all day besides buttfuck as many people as they can?"

answer: make up shit like this so that their other, bigger bullshit laws go unnoticed.

**kingcrazylegs** · 04-13-2005, 07:40 PM

I am sure they feel they have accomplished something

**agriadam** · 04-13-2005, 08:52 PM

Well I suppose that I will have to cross W.V. off the list of places to visit. cause I don't know a lick of English.....

**Sijuki** · 04-14-2005, 09:19 AM

They speak English in West Virginia? Well if that is English I guess I have a lot to learn. I mean, " I reckin y'all o'er yonder mih b akin tuh sum ov de here wurds."

no offense to anyone.

**tumblezweedz** · 04-14-2005, 09:20 AM

"There even are places where English completely disappears. In America they haven't used it for years!" (Prof. Higgins, My Fair Lady)

Who's going to teach Billy Wayne English?

**tumblezweedz** · 04-14-2005, 09:21 AM

Quote:

no offense to anyone.

Ditto Sijuki, of course!

**The Monsignor** · 06-28-2005, 10:12 AM

The article disappeared, but it makes some sense, economically and socially to make english the official language. Official documents only need to be printed once, in english, rather than translated into spanish, french, swahili, and gibberish (oh, wait, they're from the government and already written in gibberish)
By teaching school in english, you're helping to integrate other groups into society. By keeping their own language, and not being made to integrate, immigrants actually suffer in the long run. It leaves them seperate and segregated from society. Why give predjudice yet one more thing to point fingers at?

I'm the first generation American on my mom's side... She and her family had to learn English, as well as history, government, etc in order to gain citizenship (they were refugees). They did it, and my grandparents were naturalized and much more successful than their fellow refugees that refused to learn English (or didn't learn it that well, cause they could get by without it)

It sounds backwards and predjudiced on the face of it, but it really does make sense, in the long run.

**Joker** · 06-28-2005, 11:15 AM

Monsignor makes a valid point, and before this gets clouded in rhetoric and flamed...

When my mom's grandparents came over, they made sure that their children (my grandparents) spoke English in the house, since that's what they spoke at work, school, etc. But they also spoke Italian, too.

When my mom was growing up, she could speak Italian well-enough to get by, but over time she lost it. Her parents did with the older Italians from the neighborhood, but eventually lost that too.

As a part of the assimilation into the American culture, the language may have been lost, but the cultural identity was not.

Now, I'll go out on a limb here, and I'm sure someone will get pissed at me, but it happens...

If Americans emigrate to France, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Japan, etc, would we not be expected to learn the native language? Out of courtesy in the least? Sure, in many Western countries, English is taught, but the courteous thing would be to learn the native tongue. I've registered for conversational Italian classes next semester in prep for my trip, but have also picked up several language CDS so that I can better communicate. Its out of courtesy.

And I'll take this one step further, and piss off the rest of you

In my area there is a huge Asian, specifically Korean population. So much so that there are entire shopping centers that cater specifically and only to that market. (good thing, I can get daikon and black-black gum) But, the down side of it... there are entire groups of people that have to reason to learn the native language because they can exist entirely within their community, thus shutting off any outside influences, and not integrating into the community as a whole. Sort of a self-imposed segregation.

In the old neighborhood, my grandparents had to deal with English-speaking folks all the time, because they couldn't support everything in the neighborhood from within. At some point, there was an English-speaking vendor that had to be dealt with.

However, the difference is, they wanted to integrate into society as a whole, and become a part of the American Dream. These new immigrants seem to want to remain a seperate part...

I dunno, feel free to flame me. My brain isn't quite working today properly...

**space virgin** · 06-28-2005, 11:31 AM

^ Joker, you said it much, much nicer than a billboard I saw out in the sticks on the way from Seattle to Portland. It had a picture of Uncle Sam on it and said "Welcome to America! Now speak English."

**Joker** · 06-28-2005, 01:27 PM

Thanks SV.

I would hope that any of my fellow TPunks out there that would be moving to a foreign country for an extended period of time would at least make an attempt to learn the local's language, and customs.

As for making an official language in a state or even overall for the US, it has pluses and minuses.

it isn't the worst thing because it does save the government and business money in not having to have duplicates of everything. It does also force folks into the mainstream of this country both economically and socially. I can't tell you how many Laotian dishwashers i have that have been here for years, and the only English they knew was "hello" "thank you" and "sorry." These are grown men that have no opportunity available to them because they don't speak a word of English, and as a result will continue to bust their asses for $6/hour in some kitchen until they croak. Not right. But within their community, they haven't a reason to learn it, so they don't.

On the other hand, there is a potential of one's cultural identity being lost if forced to learn a new language. I don't think thats necessarily correct. My mom's family is as Italian as they come, even though its been years since any of them have heard someone speak Italian in the home. Did they lose their cultural ID? Nope. If anything, if learning a foreign language is in direct relation to losing one's cultural identity, I would argue that your cultural identity wasn't strong to begin with!

**omisan** · 06-28-2005, 01:37 PM

Shit, man, I'll learn a language even before I go to a new country for half a week. Part out of fascination, part out of respect to the natives.

I can't even fathom MOVING to any country without properly learning the language.

Like Joker, I live in an area with a LOT of ethnic enclaves. And I love shopping there, tasting the various foods, etc. and can't imagine the area without all the stuff the communities have contributed. But if I go into a restaurant or a shop, I want to be able to interact with them in the location's official language, not awkward hand gestures and short, sounded-out sentences. Is that too much to ask? Or do I have to go out and learn Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, Hindi, etc. to go hang out in my area and feel at home?

**Joker** · 06-28-2005, 03:59 PM

Omi, you are such a xenophobe. :D

**omisan** · 06-28-2005, 04:02 PM

Yeah, I'm gonna call the INS to have my own ethnic ass deported....

**worldwidemike** · 06-29-2005, 08:58 AM

So, what we have is a case of politicians trying to do something to appeal to the baser instincts of their voters for PR purposes, actually doing something beneficial, in the long run?

I'll bet if they realized that they would say, "Oh. Ahem. Of COURSE that was why we did it...!"

worldwidemike