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Speak to Me!
March 17, 2008
I adore the Spanish people. I'm also highly attracted to women of spanish desent and love Spain having spent time there. Given the opportunity to
engage in the culture and the people and if circumstances allowed it I would live there. I understand that many of the Hispanic population in this country are not as it were true Spaniards coming instead from North or South American countries or islands that are scattered along the continents coastline.
Our country has had a long history of immigration. Even as I once joked to others (having a Native American bloodline), "You can all go back where you came from!" the remark is valid. At one point in time the first of the North American settlers crossed a land bridge from Asia. So in its very essence this area of the North American continent was homesteaded by animals.
I wonder then with the influx of heritage, culture, language, custom why we have then a universal language. The King's English as it were has been pretty much raped by our society through the years. When the English Settlers arrived they maintained the language they had learned. When the Germans arrived, the Polish, the Russian, the Slavic, the Italian, the Irish, the Chinese, the Jewish and the Japanese, not to mention the thousands of individuals who came from areas or tribes who spoke rare or unique languages they may have for a generation or two continued to voice family matters and conversation in a native tongue but as almost an entire whole it was necessary to learn what we called, "The English Language." The means of a blend conforming to a standard way of communicating and writing so that we do not in our need to interact with social standards fumble with our words as we're humans and hardly listen at all.
I wonder then why I am in a way being coerced into learning to read or speak Spanish? I am wondering why we are catering to a certain culture in our own. I find it hard to believe that with the huge influx of Hispanic residents in the area I currently live would have need for this kind of hospitality? Surely their parents are citizens or they themselves have become citizens, which in turn requires knowledge of the English language and more history than most of us will ever remember . Or is this a larger problem that is now enhanced by the duality of our government. As with the special language aides we also find our social welfare systems involved in preserving a basic quality of life. We have a woefully under funded immigration program that cannot stop the flood of illegality.
It seems to me quite simple: substantiate either the immigration laws in this country or rip all the rules aside and give more funding to the social welfare programs, the educational programs, and the environmental programs. We have enough signs in America, we do not need signs in other languages.
When I went to Spain I was confronted with a distinct language barrier. In school I had studied, and not very well French and Latin. I paid careful attention to the Spaniards and what they spoke as they bought items or talked at the café. Within a short time although fragmented I was quite able to navigate a day out in Madrid or exploring the countryside with little problems. I should mention that the Spanish are also a hospitable people and their tolerance and patience made the visits ones that obviously have remained well placed in my life's memories.
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For too long I've messed with the wiring in my head. Now it shorts out more oft than not. But at my age I just sit and enjoy the sparks. RJM '07
Many Exceptional Free and Pay for Images Available here Fotosearch.com
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