Obama: Your Children Should Speak Spanish
July 11th, 2008 | by Sqotty |In the category of “say what?” Barack Obama this week stated that we should all make sure our children speak Spanish. His reasoning is that Europeans all speak English as a second language, and most Americans don’t know anything more than “thank you” in French.
Why do so many Europeans, in general, learn to speak English? Because it has become a universal language. A common tongue to communicate in, especially where tourism is concerned. Can you imagine what it would be like if there wasn’t a language chosen to be used as a commonly used language? Granted, it didn’t have to be English. It could have been French, or German, or Danish, or any other European language. Why it ended up being English is beyond me. Just the way it worked out. maybe the English Empire had a bit to do with it. Then what about the other countries in the world, outside of Europe?
As for Obama and his statement that Americans need to make sure our children speak Spanish, why Spanish? Why not German, Danish, Chinese, Japanese, or any number of other languages? And should it really be made mandatory? Is this still a free country? Will it remain so with an Obama presidency?
I took two years of Spanish in Junior High School and never used it outside of the classroom. Not in the U.S. I also took a year of German in High School. Same story. It wasn’t until after I joined the Air Force years later and found myself stationed in Spain that I had some need to speak Spanish, and I did learn enough to get by. Far more than being able to say “muchas gracias.”
The fact is, unless you are going to use a language in your day-to-day life, there really isn’t a need to learn it. This is not to say learning a second language isn’t a good idea, but it isn’t necessary, nor should learning any specific foreign language be forced upon our children. It should be up to the individual to decide which, if any, foreign language to study.
The thing with Obama saying it is more important for our children to learn Spanish than it is for immigrants to learn English is, well, unpatriotic. By the way, the drive to make English the official language of America has to do with how our governments conduct business, not how we deal with visitors.
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Tags: American Politics, Campaign 08, Moonbat, Obama
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3 Responses to “Obama: Your Children Should Speak Spanish”
By Bill Chapman on Jul 12, 2008 | Reply
What an interesting contribution! I am not sure that English is as widespread or useful as people claim. I would like to argue the case for learning and using Esperanto as the international language. It is a planned language which belongs to no one country or group of states.
Take a look at http://www.esperanto.net
Esperanto works! I’ve used it in speech and writing in a dozen countries over recent years.
Indeed, the language has some remarkable practical benefits. Personally, I’ve made friends around the world through Esperanto that I would never have been able to communicate with otherwise. And then there’s the Pasporta Servo, which provides free lodging and local information to Esperanto-speaking travellers in over 90 countries.
By Patsy Klink on Jul 13, 2008 | Reply
Mexicans sneaking into our country ILLEGALLY do NOT have the right to expect us to speak Spanish to benefit them–do not have the right to expect the American taxpayer to roll over, speak their language, give them the jobs that have not yet been outsourced to other countries–do not have the right to take jobs–knowing that they are degrading the wages, steal their identities (if they are actually paying social security, they are doing so on your and my stolen identifications) and our so-called “leaders” do not have the right to hand us the bill to support them. The people who support this kind of illegal and immoral activity are either brain dead or they are benefitting financially by putting the burden on Americans who have worked hard trying to keep up, get ahead and have contributed taxes in the belief that they are helping true Americans.
By Skwurl Nutz on Jul 20, 2008 | Reply
Obama is a moron. If America embarrasses him so much, why is he still here?
Both of my kids are multilingual. Not because of some concept of diversity and cosmopolitanism, but because they plan to involve themselves in international business and Christian mission work.
The reason that English is a dominant language around the world is because it is a language of ideas - ideas that work (unlike most liberal, socialistic ideas). I don’t care what Europeans think when they come to the USA; they are dying off anyway. In 50 years, the Middle Eastern immigrants to Europe will take over, simple because the European birth rate is so low. In 50 years, they won’t matter.