Quote:
Originally posted by island911
Seriously, nothing divides a common culture/nation like seperate languages. Take a look at your Canada. The French speaking section has made efforts to secede from the rest of te nation.
If there exists an interest to bring people together then common communication is a must.
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This is very true since culture does spawn from language. It is one thing to travel to France or French Quebec and find you have to speak French to find the bathroom or order dinner, but it is a vastly different thing to find your language and a good portion of your culture no longer applies in your own neighborhood, which is what upsets many people in Los Angeles who have grown up speaking English in Los Angeles. Until someone has been through the process of losing their language to another which has been forced upon them - English to Spanish in this case - they don't know what they're talking about as far as it being a "good thing" to learn a new language. Instead, they are
forced to learn a new language, not invited to learn a new language.
Here's another tidbit: I can safely say every Latino who has gone through the correct procedures to become an American citizen also speaks proper English. And nearly every Latino who has not gone through the correct procedure does not speak English. But that's just my experience. Still, I think its somewhat ironic.