Loading ...
Hey Kids: Learn Spanish!
- Filed under: Obama, Presidential
- Date: Jul 10,2008
The order has been given.
Barack Obama, who does not speak Spanish, yesterday: "You know, I don't understand when people are going around worrying about, 'We need to have English- only.' They want to pass a law, 'We want English-only.'"
"Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that. But understand this. Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English — they'll learn English — you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish."
"We should have every child speaking more than one language. You know, it's embarrassing, it's embarrassing when — when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe, and all we can say is, 'Merci beaucoup.'"
(Note: "uhs" cut out, and there were many, he was off the prompter.)
They will learn English? Hmmmm. Will they? Well I am glad that Obama says he agrees that immigrants should learn English. Will he support any measure that would make this happen? Waiting, waiting, waiting……….no.
I am not sure if this was a call to all children to become more of a citizen of the world or a subtle pander to Latinos. Could be both. But regardless, Obama is telling Americans that they need to learn Spanish instead of worrying that immigrants learn English. Someone better be cutting a commercial right now at the RNC. It came gift wrapped.
Sad thing is that McCain probably agrees with him, but at least he isn't stupid enough to say it. Now we have an open border candidate that wants the entire country to learn the language of our neighbors to the south, have open borders, and give everyone amnesty and drivers licenses. He will face off against someone that wants to "secure" the border, make English the official language, and offer some amnesty. Not great choices, but the latter is better to me.
Rasmussen Poll: 83% place a higher priority on encouraging immigrants to speak English as their primary language. 13% take the other side and think it is more important for Americans to learn other languages. Such an opportunity here. Here is the video of Obama's deep thoughts:
The video then finishes with Obama and his crowd of supporters getting in a nice laugh at Americans who either haven't been to France and/or can't speak French. I have not been to France and I don't speak their language. I am sorry I embarrass you, sir. Obama also does not speak French, for the record.
Then again, maybe Obama is right and ahead of the curve (Obama supporters nodding). He just wants the youth to learn what will soon be America's unofficial language - Spanish - not too far down the road. I'd be fine if Mr. Obama just learned Spanish and started giving his speeches in it so I wouldn't understand them. I would be much happier. Taxman says Democrats are going to wish they had John Kerry back soon. Ahh, I wouldn't quite go that far……..
Picture courtesy of my boss, Rush Limabugh. Makes me laugh. The picture that is.
26 Responses for "Hey Kids: Learn Spanish!"
Ben, what foreign language did you take when we were in high school? If I remember correctly it was Spanish. ¿Podría usted hablar un poco acerca de cómo fueron capaces de superar la enseñanza del español como segunda lengua y mantener Inglés como su idioma principal de comunicación?
The line you left out of Obama's quote is the thesis of his statement: "You should be thinking about how your child can become bi-lingual." What is wrong with students learning a second language?
I took French in high school and college. I know - typical lib. Actually, my grandmother was a French teacher in Akron Public Schools and that is why I took it. Even though I didn't retain much of the language, I'm glad I had to take it was important to understand that there are other people in this world who live differently than me. I kind of wish I would have taken Spanish because I would have used it more. It would be great if students in high schools were able to learn Mandarin or Farsi.
Obviously foreign language instruction is available in public schools so what was Obama's point? Maybe he's just avoiding the issue.
He seems a little pre-occupied with making Europeans like us which makes me wonder if he's also avoiding embarassment by refusing to hold any meetings of that subcommittee on Euro affairs he chairs.
I confess to all the academic elite in his country as well as Europe. Yes I am an embarrassment. I attmepted French,Latin,Spanish and Chinese and what do I have to show for it? Zero. Just add dumb fucking rube to the bitter, gun loving…………..lecture.
[...] — Barack Obama at a campaign event in Georgia.Drudge Retort - http://www.drudge.com/|||Hey Kids: Learn Spanish!But regardless, Obama is telling Americans that they need to learn Spanish instead of worrying that [...]
It seems to me that this debate has been couched as opposing interests, when it is not. Should immigrants learn English? Yes. Should American child learn another language? Yes. One reason that students have a hard time learning is that we wait too long to implement foreign language classes. They should start in kindergarten. Although English may be considered an international language now, things change. Remember the global economy?
I dont know what that means Kyle. I got C's in Spanish.
I better re-learn Spanish so immigrants feel more welcome and so Lord Obama will be proud of me. I wouldnt want to let the junior senator from Illinois down.
his punchline of 'all we can say is Merci beaucoup' sounds an awful lot like something Jeremiah Wright would say.
Obama is one hilarious dude
up yours Senor Obama
I'm recommenting from an earlier post.
1. Of the 50 most widely spoken languages in the world, Spanish is 3rd with 332 million people (Mandarin Chinese is 1st and English is 2nd). While it would make a lot of sense to have students learn Chinese as a second language, as far as practical application goes someone in the U.S. would likely have more opportunities to speak Spanish than they would Chinese. Heck, if we had more interaction with Quebec, I'd say French.
2. Studies show that if you only know one language, your ability to learn a second one decreases dramatically by around 13, which is when most U.S. schools start their second language programs. If however, you already know 2 languages by that time, learning a third or fourth langauge is that much easier.
3. Many economists see Brazil (I know, they speak Portuguese) and the rest of Latin America as becoming the next "China" within the next 20 years, so learning Spanish can help citizens become competitive.
4. My comment about science (from earlier post) had more to do with asking what skills will enable a U.S. citizen be competitive in in the future? With the belief that the more skill sets a worker has the more likely he/she will be to find success in the workplace. It will also help to hedge against changes in the job market.
I actually took four years of French, then I married someone who's family came from Puerto Rico where English is not their first language, Spanish is.
However, after 9 years of being together and being around his family and watching those who have not tried to become better at speaking English suffer from a job and communication standpoint?
No habla espanole is the reality…
Lisa Renee,
Do you have children? If so, are you rasing them to be bi-lingual? The people I know, my son included, have no complaints about being able to communicate in more than one language. If it is done at a young age, the children have little to no hardships picking up two languages.
I think Obama is talking about the importance of knowing more than one language, more so than enabling non-English speakers to continue to not learn English.
I have five children, one took French, one took German, two took Spanish, one has not taken any foreign language yet. The spanish taught in schools is not the same spanish that is spoken in normal every day language as those who thought having their step father being bi-lingual would help them discover.
I have to disagree with your belief if done at a young age it's helpful, it's only helpful if you learn English well and don't rely on Spanish. If you rely on Spanish to the point where you can not hold a regular conversation in English it's not helpful and many of my husband's relatives can not function in English, some living on the east coast, those in Puerto Rico especially. My brother in law stayed with us for a month last summer, he barely spoke English, I barely spoke Spanish, it was quite an adventure. The only good thing about it was when he went back to Puerto Rico he enrolled in adult English classes so that when he comes back to visit he can communicate with the rest of us rather than only being able to speak to his brother…
Like Anne mentioned, kindergarden is the best time to start a second language program. I'm guessing your children did not have any second language instruction until middle school at the earliest. If they were raised with their father only speaking Spanish to them while you only spoke English to them, they would likely be perfectly bi-lingual.
I have been teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) in Korea for the last four years. I have worked with every age group from kindergarden through business people in the 50s and 60s, there is no question that the younger kids pick up the language much easier then the adults and older kids. There brains more readily absorb the second language in much the same way as they learned their first language, while the older students have to really study and generally don't get to the same level of fluency as the students who started studying an earlier age.
A couple examples:
1. At an English kindergarden I worked at, students come in their first year with zero English ability. By the end of the first year they speak in full sentences, can read age appropriate books, and write simple sentences. They have no problem interacting and understanding (for the most part) the Western teachers. By the end of the second year they are writing paragraphs and can have a normal age appropriate conversation with teachers in English. These kids are typically between 4-6 years old. Granted their English isn't perfect, but it is far better than my Spanish was after studying for two years in High School. Also keep in mind that at home and everywhere outside of school they are speaking Korean.
On the flip side, I have a couple of adult students I've been working with for the past year who have had very little improvement in their overall ability.
2. A good friend of mine has a Japanese father, Korean mother and was raised in Hawaii. He told me when he was younger he would switch between Japanese, Korean and English without a second thought. It was automatic and he didn't have to "study" to learn any of the languages.
As for "only helpful is they learn English well," doesn't that go without saying? In fact, if you watch or read an interview with just about any American born pro-athlete, it is pretty obvious their English ability is extremely poor. English is their first language!!! What is their excuse?
To sum up what I'm trying to say:
Only speaking English = Bad
Only speaking Spanish = Bad
Learning more than one language = Good
Starting as early as possible to learn a 2nd language= Really Good
Education = Good
Xenophobia = Bad
The world is not getting any bigger. Those who can communicate effectivly with the most people is sure to have a better chance of being more successful.
What Obama was speaking to was the misplaced arrogance of many Americans. Americans who are often times dumber than a box of rocks, yet still look down their noses at those, you know, Europeans.
The demagoguing of this Spanish/English thing is so embarassing. White supremacy-minded folks are making an issue out of multi-lingual teaching in a pathetic display of white American exceptionalism.
Many, many white immigrants to America didn't speak English at first. Many never, ever spoke it well.
I dislike this particular political ballgame more than some others. It is just so silly.
Nobody is looking down at the Europeans when this issue is discussed, Reverend. You and Obama have the wrong hemisphere.
I'm not. I dont like being told I should learn another langauge to accomodate others who come here.
I've visited dozens of countries and in darn near every one if you say beer, or bira or try to say beer with a funny accent you get a beer. So, I have no need to learn another language just because some Harvard educated putz says I should. This BS is not about being accommodating to new LEGAL citizens. I doubt any of us wouldn't help a new American who had trouble getting their point across. LEGAL immigrants who come here to make a better life for themselves and their families are intending to stay here and therefore make an effort to assimilate. Get rid of soccer and play baseball dagnabit!
BJ, it should go without saying but that is the problem for many of my relatives, they do not speak English well enough to function out of the Latino community and part of the reason why we are being encouraged to make sure our children learn Spanish well is to communicate with others. In reality, how many of our children are going to actually use a second language? If the second language is not spoken at home retaining it is going to be difficult. Which is a benefit that raising a child in a bi-lingual home can have if they develop English language skills at a high enough level to function in society.
I don't disagree with the concept of teaching children younger than high school, however if you look at the possible benefit scenario, a stronger focus on math and science at earlier grades would be just as beneficial and could possibly have an even larger impact than them learning spanish. If we were doing this from a global market place aspect we would not be worrying about spanish.
UPDATE: Now the messianic candidate says he is embarrassed to admit he doesn't speak a second language. The incumbent president (who the fools on the left consider stupid) is fluent in Spanish. Wouldn't surprise me to find out McCain learned a second language (Vietnamese or French) using the immersion method.
He isnt embrarassed by it - just to admit it.
LisaRenee,
Good points! I agree that math and science would also be a good focus. Basically, I'm pro education in any sense…with maybe the exception of teaching I.D. in schools.
Like the Rev touches on, my main problem with the second language discussion is that most people who are against going bi-lingual in schools have a weak, invalid agruement against it that is really just a mask for their own racism.
You mentioned your family in the Latin community, but lets not forget that in doesn't only happen in the Latin community. In every big city in the U.S. you have a little Italy, Chinatown, Koreatown, etc. If an immigrant wants to only function within that community it is easy for them to do so. However, their offspring will most likely learn to function inside and outside of that community. Granted it is going back awhile, but my grandmother tells stories of how her grandparents immigrated here and never bothered to learn English. With the Eastern European community in Cleveland at that time they didn't have to, so she would speak to them in German and Bohemian. Now, nobody in my family with exception of my grandmother can speak anything but English.
So what languages should schools use when they go bi-lingual, bj? Some should go German, others Italian, others Spanish?
Did your grandmother's children attend a bi-lingual school or would they have been better served if they had?
I'm not sure what your point is except to call other people racists or ignorant, same as the Reverend and unfortunately same as Obama's comments.
As I said in an earlier comment, given current demographic trends, teaching Spanish would make the most sense. If we had an more direct relationship with China, I would say Chinese or French if we interacted with Quebec.
My point is if you want to be against bi-lingual schools that is fine, just give me a better reason than, "You're in America speak American!" Show me a study that shows that a child learning two languages at a young age is more harmful to them than only learning one.
Larry,
Would you be against all school children having learn a musical instrument i.e. the paino or violin or would that be pandering to the Asian kids (tongue in cheek)?
I don't have any studies bj and I don't have any problem with teaching kids languages but to me the question is whether a bi-lingual school would be best for the spanish speaking kids … For all the talk of globalization, etc., immigrant children need English much more than the rest of us need Spanish.
Obama's statement and all the hullabaloo about pleasing Europeans, getting rid of American arrogance, etc., doesn't do anything to help immigrant kids. It's a pet peeve of mine because it's become a political football while little kids in areas with high migrant worker concentrations struggle through crappy schools with very little in the way of language tutors, extra instruction, etc.
Most of these kids learn English simply by immersion but do they learn the written language quickly and well enough to do well in high school and go on to college? Some do but lots don't, I'll bet.
For Obama to say Americans should be worrying about teaching their kids spanish while that's going on is an insulting joke.
Good comments and you are right children do need English more so than Spanish, if they didn't, I'd be out of a job. It is after all "the language of business."
I'm looking at this debate more from a standpoint of learning and/or fluency in more than one language is good for all U.S. students and the way that U.S. schools implement their second language programs is done at a time when learning a second language is most difficult for them.
Leave a comment