Tuesday, 28 March 2006 - 5:20 AM CST

The majority of the world's people are bilingual (at least). Bilingualism is "the world's language." Your insistence on English as THE official language is on a par with a two-year-old's insistence that the meat not touch the vegetables. Monolingualism is a myth.

Tuesday, 28 March 2006 - 5:54 PM CST

Rider:

Your insistence on English as THE official language is on a par with a two-year-old's insistence that the meat not touch the vegetables.

Actually, it's nothing like that at all.

English is the most important language in the world for both quantitative and qualitative reasons. Pretending that's not so will continue to cost us a lot of social cohesion.

Tuesday, 28 March 2006 - 8:21 PM CST

"English is the most important language in the world for both quantitative and qualitative reasons."

Not even close.

Chinese (937,132,000)
Spanish (332,000,000)
English (322,000,000)
Bengali (189,000,000)
Hindi/Urdu (182,000,000)
Arabic (174,950,000)
Portuguese (170,000,000)
Russian (170,000,000)
Japanese (125,000,000)
German (98,000,000)
French (79,572,000)

Anyway, "the world's leading language" is not a language; it's bilingualism. One of those "extra" languages might be English, but not necessarily. In many places, it's the national written dialect plus a local unwritten dialect. The point is that having more than one language is the norm. The average European is multi-lingual. There are places in India where newspapers are in English but you need five languages crossing the city from home to work. There are about 90 mutually-unintelligible dialects in the Philippines. We are in the minority in the world thinking everyone in one country should speak one and the same language. It's an impoverished notion.

Tuesday, 28 March 2006 - 10:52 PM CST

You are very predictable. Are you a Lib-Bot?

English is quantitatively the most important language on Earth because of its scope and scale. It's a very large and inclusive language. Very adaptable and applicable in ways that no other language has ever even begun to be.

When Brazilian airline pilots fly to Japan, what language do you think they speak to ground control? Mandarin? Horseshit!

Wednesday, 29 March 2006 - 5:55 AM CST

No. I'm a Fact-Bot. Get over it.

What language do you think the Brazilian pilots speak in the cockpit? What language do you think the Japanese ATC's speak in the tower? Flying an Air Brazil plane to Japan involves Portuguese, English, and Japanese.

Wednesday, 29 March 2006 - 6:05 AM CST

"Very adaptable and applicable in ways that no other language has ever even begun to be."

Pure horseshit. You have no idea what you are talking about.

Wednesday, 29 March 2006 - 6:06 PM CST

To our man Roosevelt I say, "hear hear!"

I am most interested in his statements criticizing those with "divided allegiance."

I welcome people of any ethnicity and any nation to come and take part in our grand democratic experiment, but I expect them to try to be good neighbors, to "fit in" as best they can and really contribute to our society by participating with everyone. I have no sympathy, however, for those who come into this country with disregard for America's well-being and hearts full of contempt for Americans.

I believe it is a noble thing when someone comes here from a foreign country to find work so they can provide for their families back home, and I have no problem whatsoever with cross-border commuters. I just can't understand how any "visitor" could expect to be welcomed and provided for when they choose not to contribute.

If you sneak in through the back window of a house should you expect the same treatment as you would get if you had knocked on the front door first? No. In fact, you might get shot.

I think we should just emphasize that immigrant workers are welcome, but that they should be good guests and treat their hosts with respect.

Wednesday, 29 March 2006 - 9:55 PM CST

Bush Presses Guest Worker Program for Illegals

CNN more conservative Bus ???

Wednesday, 29 March 2006 - 10:43 PM CST

Can you guess who wrote the following, TP?

"First, bilingualism in itself is a desirable advantage which we ought to give the generations of Americans to come. Fluency in a second language means greater communication in areas of global trade and cooperation. It would become a matter of keeping the peace with a whisper in a friend's ear rather than trying with a staccato muddling through a set of headphones. Second, bilingualism helps to build transcultural bonds, which both increase understanding of others and reinforce notions of self."

http://tspweb02.tsp.utexas.edu/Interconnect/INDEX/STAUFFER-GOLD.INTERCONNECT$STORY

Thursday, 30 March 2006 - 7:20 PM CST

Sounds like a damned bunch of college boy crapola. "Notions of self"? That's gay!

(Thanks for helping me to nostalge. Whoever you are.)

Thursday, 30 March 2006 - 7:35 PM CST

I remember sitting in the lobby of a youth hostel in Athens many years ago, observing some Nigerian boys chatting up some girls from somewhere in Scandanavia.

Guess what language they were talking to each other in.

(Hint: It wasn't Mandarin Chinese.)

Friday, 31 March 2006 - 6:18 AM CST

Yeah, but they also spoke some language of Nigeria and of some country in Scandanavia. The point you keep missing is that those kids were bilingual. English-plus; not English only. When American businesses try to sell their products and services in foreign markets, guess what they discover? When you are trying to sell to people, they expect you to speak to them in their language. (It's only when they come looking to buy from you that they speak to you in your language.) We need to quit being so prissy and pissy about English and get with it and start learning the most important languages of foreign commerce ASAP.

TR's statement is sooooo 1907:

"We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language."

It ain't 1907 any more, Lou. Du - u - uh.

Btw, in Ben Franklin's day, there was a move to make German the official language of the United States.